[x_custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″]Perhaps when you think of the word bewitched, you think about the 1960’s television program of the same name. This thirty minute weekly show was a “family” comedy about a woman named Samantha who was a witch, and the wife of Darren, the oddball “mortal” husband, and mother of their daughter Tabitha, who was also a witch. Although mostly silly, it seems to have served its purpose in making the American public comfortable with the whole witchcraft idea, as indicated by the influx of television programs all about witchcraft, and the works of the kingdom of darkness through demonic and paranormal activity that soon followed, and are still on TV to this day.[/x_custom_headline]
In fact, this show had such an impact on American culture, that two of the most popular baby names for little girls in the 1960’s were, Samantha and Tabitha. Oh yeah, what a brilliant idea! Purposely name your little girl after a witch on TV. But that is exactly what many American couples did.
Our maybe when you hear the word bewitched, you think of Halloween, and the onslaught of horror movies filling the television programming, and in most years, a number of new demonically inspired movies at the box office as well. Not to mention, the attention that the grocery and department stores place on costumes and decorations, all to promote death and evil in the name of family fun.
And of course we can’t forget about all of the folks in your neighborhood who turn the front of the home into a chilling land of fake blood, skulls and dismemberment, all designed to terrify young children.
But what most people don’t realize, is that the word bewitched is actually a Bible word. In fact, Paul used it when writing to the church in Galatia.
Here is what Paul wrote:
[x_blockquote cite=”Galatians 3:1 KJV” type=”left”]“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”[/x_blockquote]
What exactly was going on with the Galatians that caused Paul to say that they had been bewitched? Well, before I answer that, let me explain what the word bewitched used in this verse actually means.
[highlight]Bewitched means: To fascinate through false representation.[/highlight]
What had happened was that the Galatians were facing in their church, what so many churches and individual believers have faced in our day. The Galatians had become sidetracked by false teachings that caused them to stop obeying the Word of God. And this same bewitching work of false teachers and teachings have plagued the Body of Christ in these last days in the same way.
I have witnessed as pastors and ministers, who were seemingly solid on the Word of God, and loyal to those who they claimed as their “fathers in the faith,” began to one by one be bewitched by false doctrines that serve no other purpose than to corrupt the Church through their flesh pleasing, ear tickling messages. This then in turn, sidetracked entire churches, and hindered untold believers from fulfilling their assignments in the Kingdom of God, as well as running their race in a manner that is pleasing to Almighty God.
[highlight]Just like the believers at the church in Galatia, many believers today have been bewitched by unscriptural teaching that has taken them off course.[/highlight]
Instead of having heroes in the faith who are faithful and strong and uncompromising in the truth of God’s Word, far too many believers, and even ministers, have been bewitched by the fakes and charlatans.
And the problem with following the fakes is that you can never arrive where you were meant to arrive in life. False teachers cannot be followed because in the end, they are actually enemies of the cross of Christ. In other words, they believe that their teaching, to one degree or the other, is more important and more powerful than the true gospel of Jesus Christ. But they are wrong, and they are liars!
These false teachers teach what they do simply for the purpose of fulfilling their own natural and fleshly appetites. In reality, they have no interest in you or your spiritual condition. However, your support through your offerings and the purchase of their materials allows them to live a lifestyle that they are truly desirous of living, which of course contradicts the Holy Scriptures.
Although I would highly recommend that you avoid the whole Halloween mess, as well as the paranormal television shows, and the newest horror movie at the theater. I would also highly recommend that you stay away from the bewitching preacher and the false doctrine he is peddling. Because your life and eternal outcome may depend on you being on guard spiritually, to the point that you are not bewitched by the deceptive and unbiblical teaching that so many have already been sidetracked with.
[highlight]Live in the truth of God’s Word daily.[/highlight] Because the more time you spend with the genuine, the easier it becomes to spot the counterfeit.
