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Is There a Difference Between Witchcraft and Magic?

Did you know that there is a Fellowship of Christian Magicians? How can a magician be a Christian? Isn't the use of magic unscriptural? What does magic have to do with Christianity?

A Problem of Vocabulary

A problem rises from the fact that certain words have two meanings. The dictionary gives two meanings to the word magic. The first definition is as follows: "The pretended art of producing effects or controlling events by charms, spells, and rituals supposed to govern certain natural or supernatural forces; sorcery; witchcraft."

The practices contained in this definition are all condemned by God in the Bible. Whether these practices are claimed to be used for good or not makes no difference, they are still condemned as an abomination to God. God does not want man to dabble in games with the devil. Today's manifestations of these forbidden activities are such things as Ouija boards, tarot cards, the occult and horoscopes. The Christian has no business playing with these, since they open the door to demonic influence.

The second definition in the dictionary is for theatrical magic: "The art of producing baffling effects or illusions by sleight of hand, concealed apparatus" etc. This definition describes what people like David Copperfield and Andre Kole do. It is unfortunate that the art of misdirection and sleight-of-hand, for the purpose of entertainment, bears the title, "magic", since no true Christian magician or ventriloquist is in any way involved in the use of supernatural powers.

If you make a very careful study of every Hebrew and Greek word in the Old and New Testaments that has been translated magician, diviner, soothsayer, wizard, conjurer, astrologer, sorcerer, etc., you will find that the Bible is talking about the first of these definitions and not the second. Not one of the definitions of the Greek and Hebrew words describes or implies this second definition of the word magic which is used for entertainment purposes and which has no relationship with occult practices. And there is harmony between the teachings of both testaments.

OLD TESTAMENT TEACHING

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 is more inclusive than the other passages in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, and Daniel, so let's consider that passage and the titles listed in various translations of the Scripture.
The following is a summary of "magic" practices as explained in The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament edited by R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke and published by Moody Press.

DIVINATION:

The exact meaning of this practice is unknown. The word seems to convey the idea of obtaining an oracle (divine announcement) by means of drawing lots or some other "chance" practice. Ezekiel 21:21-22 is a Biblical clue as to how divination may have been done. In this passage the King of Babylon stops at a fork in the road and decides which way to go based on divination by shooting arrows.

OBSERVER OF TIMES:

The meaning of this word is uncertain, as the list of words used in various translations indicates (practice soothsaying, practice spiritism, fortune-teller, enchanter, etc.). Because this word is closely related to the Hebrew word translated cloud, it may refer to the reading and interpretation of cloud patterns. Another thought is that this is an onomatopoetic word, a word that is derived from the sound of the individual performing the practice.

ENCHANTER:

Because of the similarity of this Hebrew word to the word for snake, some scholars are of the opinion that there is a connection to snake charming. Others believe that since there is a similarity of hissing sounds between enchanters as they chant and snakes, this accounts for the similarity of the words.

WITCH:

The RSV uses SORCERER. Exodus 7:11 tells us that Pharaoh had this group among his court advisors. Nebuchadnezzar also summoned his sorcerers to recount his dream as reported in Daniel 2. These men were using natural means to promote the belief that they truly had supernatural powers and to lead the people into a superstitious, pagan way of life which turned them away from the true and living God.

CHARMER:

The Hebrew word reflects the sense of binding or casting a spell. The usual translation is enchantment which refers to the means that the charmer uses in attempting to influence people.

CONSULTER OF FAMILIAR SPIRITS:

A variety of terms including medium, necromancer, ghost, and spirit of the dead, are used to describe this Hebrew term. 1 Samuel 28 gives a vivid description of a medium; a person who supposedly can make contact with the dead.

WIZARD:

The root of this word comes from the Hebrew word to know, and implies knowledge available only to the specially initiated and not available to the ordinary person. The wizard was one who was thought to be acquainted with the secrets of the nonmaterial or unseen world.

NECROMANCER:

This is a general term given for the practice of spiritualism. The Hebrew word means seeking unto the dead and is a comprehensive term which includes all forms of attempting to make contact with departed spirits.

NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING

The New Testament speaks of four magicians. Simon (Acts 8:19-24) practiced magic in Samaria and amazed all who saw him. Along with wrongly using his natural abilities to try to convince the populace that he had great supernatural powers, he was also rebuked by Peter for supposing that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit could be purchased with money.
Bar-Jesus or Elymas (Acts 13:4-12) was a false prophet and magician who resisted Paul and Barnabas. Paul's condemnation of Elymas was not because of his natural ability to perform, but rather because of his wrong use of the ability and his opposition to the gospel.
Jannes and Jambres (2 Timothy 3:8) are two of the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses. If they were in fact advisors to Pharaoh, we may consider them in the light of the earlier study of Hebrew words (See WITCH).
The New Testament also uses various words to describe the practice of magic. Among these is the word translated "curious arts" or "sorcery" in Acts 19:19. The Greek word carries the root idea of being concerned with other peoples' business and is translated busybodies in 1 Timothy 5:13. It conveys the sense of interfering with other peoples' lives through the practice of magical formulas and secret information.

MAGICIAN:

Various forms of the Greek word magos are used to identify Simon, Elymas, and the Magi who came to visit Jesus after his birth. Although it is not easy to identify what the term magi precisely means, they "were clearly not crude practitioners of the occult arts" (see "Magic," The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, ed. Colin Brown, published by Zondervan). Daniel was a Magi in the court of Nebuchadnezzar (yet without involving himself in occult practices). Daniel became the chief over all of the Magi. His writings are probably the means by which the Magi who came to visit Jesus knew of the time of our Lord's coming.

SORCERER:

As used in the book of Revelation, sorcerer is translated from the Greek word pharmakos, and carries with it the idea of medicine, magic potion, drugs, and poison. Sorcery (witchcraft in KJV) is one of the works of the flesh as listed in Galatians 5:20.

SEDUCERS:

Some scholars feel that the seducers or impostors of 2 Timothy 3:13 may be translated sorcerer, wizard, or magician in light of the mention of Jannes and Jambres in vs. 8. Still, the context of the verse shows that this deceit will be in the area of doctrine and not in the area of legitimate entertainment.

SUMMARY

Once a person has done any amount of study of these and other related Scriptures and has any knowledge of the theatrical art of illusion, he would immediately realize that the practices defined by the above English and original Greek and Hebrew words are completely foreign to anything that anyone in the magic profession does today who uses the title "magician." Magicians do not tell the future, they do not try to communicate with the dead, and they do not accomplish or claim to accomplish their effects by the aid of demons or supernatural powers. Everything professional magicians do is for the purpose of entertainment and instruction and is accomplished by natural means that usually involve a tremendous amount of work and long hours of practice. There is a huge difference between conjuring demons and card tricks!

In fact, when someone arises on the scene that claims to possess some type of supernatural power, it is usually the professional magicians who are the first to investigate these claims. We should be thankful for theatrical magicians who keep the rest of us gullible human beings from following self-proclaimed prophets and psychic manipulators.

Andre Kole is an excellent example of a professional magician who uses his knowledge of trickery to expose so-called psychics and healers. He has exposed some TV faith-healers and demonstrated that they are using tricks commonly employed by magicians and illusionists. Andre is a Christian and uses his skills to share the gospel as a representative of Campus Crusade for Christ. It is very important for Christians to be aware of magic tricks and illusions, so that we will not be led astray by someone claiming to have supernatural powers.

SHOULDN'T CHRISTIANS AVOID THE APPEARANCE OF EVIL?

One could raise the objection that it is wrong for the Christian to do any performance that could so easily be misinterpreted as sinful by someone who doesn't know. Doesn't the Bible warn us to "avoid all appearance of evil"? (1 Thessalonians 5:22) Couldn't innocent parlour magic or ventriloquism be easily confused with forbidden activity?

There are two things to say about this. First of all, the phrase in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 is often taken out of context and quoted in a different way that Paul ever intended. In the context of the passage "avoiding the appearance of evil" refers to the testing of prophecies. We are to listen to prophecies, because they are the fire of the Holy Spirit (1 Thes 5:19-20), but we are also to test them (1 Thes 5:21a). After testing them, we are to hold on to the good prophecies (1 Thes 5:21b), but avoid even the appearance of evil when someone claims to speak for God (1 Thes 5:22). It has been a great hindrance to Christians and to the gospel to have this phrase taken out of context and misused by Christians to apply to everything from associating with unbelievers to going to movies. The point is that 1 Thessalonians 5:22 has nothing to do with magicians and magic shows.

Secondly, in dealing with right and wrong, of course, one must always think about appearances, but it is not the appearance that makes something right or wrong. The emphasis on appearance is the essence of hypocrisy. If the issue were that Christians are to refrain from doing anything that looks like sin or could be misinterpreted by someone who does not know, then we would never be able to do anything with confidence. According to this thinking, Jesus was correctly rebuked for eating with publicans, for forgiving prostitutes, and for touching lepers. Certainly these actions confused many people, but the Son of God knew His mission and performed His ministry in spite of possible objections. He definitely avoided evil, but our Lord did not avoid the appearance of evil.

Should a Christian magician avoid the appearance of evil? It is true that the Gospel magician could be confused with the secular entertainer, or worse, with the occultist. But so too could the Christian singer be identified with the acid-dropping Satanist. The preacher could be linked with the immoral talk-show host. The Christian who reads magazines or paperback books could be confused with the immoral people who publish sinful books and magazines. And the Christian broadcaster could be confused with those who use the same medium (like Howard Stern).

This argument holds no water. A godly performer should never stop a ministry he knows to be right, just because someone else might misjudge his motives or his methods? Some Christians are very superstitious and assume that anything they cannot themselves understand and explain must be supernatural. Hence they see negative effects as being produced by demons, and every positive event must be a miracle of God. There is, however, great room for neutral events which can be used either for good or for evil.

CONCLUSIONS

Andre Kole has this to say: "Anytime I mention astrology, communication with the dead, or any other form of the occult in my programs, it is either for the purpose of dealing with these subjects from a Christian point of view to alert people to the dangers of these subjects and their true nature; or secondly, it is a matter of applying 1 Corinthians 9:21-23 by using a subject that audiences are interested in today as a springboard to presenting the Gospel. When I do this I never compromise my beliefs or deal with these subjects in an unscriptural way.

In everything I do my primary goal is to present the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit in such an attractive and meaningful manner that people will be drawn to Him. Over the years thousands have prayed to receive Christ through this outreach, and I have never heard of one person who has turned to the occult or other practices condemned by Scripture as a result of witnessing my performances; however, on the contrary I do know of hundreds who have turned away from manmade or satanically influenced practices to Christ.
Magicians are legitimate deceptionists. They use their artistic skill for the purpose of entertainment. 'I love magicians because they are honest men,' said author Elbert Hubbard. 'They tell you they are going to fool you and then they proceed to do it. But no matter what happens at the show, when you get home you will still have your watch, your pocketbook, and your appendix. And that is more than I can say for some of my non-magician acquaintances.'

In my particular case I do use my art to entertain people for their momentary pleasure. But when my audience goes home, they not only have their watches and pocketbooks, but they also leave with the truth that the God of the Bible is still alive, the same today as yesterday, and He offers them abundant life and love for now and eternity through Jesus Christ."

We say "AMEN!" to that.