The Litter Box

~ Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Biblical Condemnation of the Occult:

There are many Biblical passages that described some prohibited types of occultic activity by the ancient Israelites. These include Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:26-26; 19:31; 20:6; Deuteronomy 18:10-11; Isaiah 8:19 and Malachai 3:5. Of these, Deuteronomy 18 is perhaps the most important. They forbade the Israelites from engaging in human sacrifice and in eight specific practices which some have been regarded as occultic. The King James translation is:

"There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

Various other translations of the Bible use the following terms or phrases here: augur, black magic, calls up the dead, charm, consults with spirits, fortune teller, interpret omens, look for omens, magician, medium, sorcerer, soothsayer, spiritist, weaves or casts spells, witchcraft, and wizard.

Clearly, translators have had a great deal of difficulty selecting unique English words or short phrases to match the 8 original Hebrew words:

*yid'oni = Making contact with spirits (not of God).
*sho'el 'ov = Making contact with the dead .
*qosem q'samim = Foretelling the future by using lots or a similar system.
*m'onen = Predicting the future by interpreting signs in nature.
*m'nachesh = Enchanting (perhaps related to nachash, a snake).
*chover chavar = Casting spells by magical knot tying.
*m'khaseph = evil sorcery; using spoken spells to harm other people.
*doresh 'el hametim = "One who asks the dead", probably via another method than *sho'el 'ov = The reference to passing children through the fire has historically been interpreted as the ritual killing of the first born child in each family.

Tribes surrounding the Israelites were believed to engage in this practice. In reality, it probably refers to a painful coming-of-age challenge that children had to endure. They would pass through the fire and (hopefully) emerge without much injury. In other traditions, they would run between two fires. This phrase has caused many people to believe that Pagans in ancient times engaged in child sacrifice. This appears to be the source of the belief among some Christians that modern day Pagans do the same thing. While we do not know what ancient Pagans did, we can be certain that modern-day Pagans do not murder children. This phrase (and many similar ones throughout the Bible) has probably contributed greatly to the public's widely held fear of Ritual Abuse and Satanic Ritual Abuse.

Interpreting Deuteronomy 18 in terms of modern-day practice, it is apparent that the following are prohibited:

*yid'oni = The New Age practice of channeling in which a person attempts to contact a spirit in order to gain knowledge.
*sho'el 'ov = Spiritualism, in which a medium contacts the dead.
*qosem q'samim = Casting stones or sticks and predicting the future by their position (e.g. I Ching, and perhaps runes).
*m'onen = Foretelling the future by looking for signs in nature (e.g. predicting the harshness of a winter by looking at moss on trees, or fur thickness on animals in the wild, or whether the groundhog sees his shadow on FEB-2.)
*m'nachesh = Snake charming.
*chover chavar = Casting (presumably evil) spells while tying knots.
*m'khaseph = Reciting evil spoken spells to injure others .
*doresh 'el hametim = Any other method of contacting the dead .

Other currently used methods of foretelling the future, such as tea cup reading, astrology, palm reading, tarot cards, runes etc. are not mentioned. It is thus not obvious whether they are forbidden (as in snake charming) or whether they are acceptable to God (as in scrying). A Membership in the Masonic Order (or similar fraternal/spiritual organization) is not banned. Wicca (Witchcraft), which does not allow its followers to engage in black magic or manipulative spells, is not prohibited either. Black magic rituals, are occasionally performed by Satanists as revenge to injury done to them by others; they would be condemned by this passage.

The Biblical passages appear to apply to persons who are directly engaged in the various practices (e.g. mediums, channelers, astrologers, etc.); they do not seem to refer to people who simply observe the activity.

posted by Nikki B at 2:40:00 PM