Rev. David Holwick ZH Halloween
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
October 28, 2007
1 Samuel 28:5-18
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I. The source of my title.
A. Your church leadership is divided.
1) My secretary thinks it's from Harry Potter.
2) My organist thinks it's from Macbeth by Shakespeare.
a) He wins.
B. Witches have a long and colorful history.
1) A favorite image for Halloween is based on the Salem witch
trials in Colonial America.
a) (I am related to one of them, Mary Clement Osgood.)
b) The hats, brooms and cats all come from that period.
2) Salem, Massachusetts, does a big business this time of year.
a) Ironically, the real events took place in Danvers, one
town over.
3) Are witches anything more than a quaint relic?
a) Current trends suggest otherwise.
b) The Bible says it is part of something very sinister.
C. The experience of one of our families.
1) Many of you are aware of Maria's nephew.
a) She brought him to this church.
b) They paid his way to Camp Lebanon a few years ago.
c) Recently he took his own life.
2) Darkness in his home.
a) His sister was a follower of Wicca, a modern movement
of witchcraft.
b) She collected the books and posters.
c) She practiced the spells and ceremonies.
d) She told her troubled brother how to commit suicide
successfully.
II. The fastest growing religion.
A. Wide popularity among young people.
1) Surveys have shown that Wicca and paganism now have close
to half a million followers.
2) A preacher named Rev. Claunch heard of a survey that asked
teenage girls what interested them most.
He smugly thought to himself, "I know that - it's boys."
But he was wrong.
The majority of teenage girls answered that witchcraft
interested them most.
The fastest-growing religion among teenagers is Wicca.
One reason is the way it is being promoted on television.
Consider these popular shows: "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,"
"Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," "Charmed."
The Harry Potter phenomenon is another influence.
#22050
B. Going mainstream.
1) Witch University.
The southern Austrian city of Klagenfurt has Europe's first
School of Witchcraft.
The headmaster says, "We teach everything needed to become
a real witch.
Being a witch is not inborn.
Anyone can learn to become one."
Students take courses in seven modules, write a thesis,
and receive a witch certificate when they graduate.
#22323
2) The United States Army.
The army base at Fort Hood in Texas has an estimated 100
covens. They are officially recognized and have services.
#4576
III. Wicca portrays itself as the worship of nature.
A. Goddess religion.
1) Mother Earth, called Goddess, often takes the place of God.
a) This is why it is so popular with feminists.
2) They think God is beyond our understanding, but we can
see "parts" of God.
a) Everything, and every person, is part of God.
b) They often greet each other with "Thou art God."
3) They do not view themselves as Satanists, because they think
their religion is older than Christianity.
#1280
B. A dubious revival.
1) Wiccans see their religion as one of the oldest on earth.
One popular writer, Miriam Simos, says the religion began
more than 35,000 years ago.
Its early followers worshiped a female deity, making images
of the goddess all over prehistoric Europe.
They lived for thousands of years in societies that were
egalitarian, attuned to nature, and focused on women.
Then Christianity came and exterminated them.
She claims nine million were killed.
#19370
2) The influence of a single Englishman.
According to the Atlantic Monthly magazine, probably not a
single element of the Wiccan story is true.
Scholars say they have concluded that Wicca is not an
ancient religion at all, but "a 1950s concoction"
influenced by Masonic ritual and the occult.
They concluded that Wicca was created by Gerald B. Gardner,
an English government worker and amateur anthropologist
who died in 1964.
Gardner was influenced by the German Romantics of the 19th
century, the occult, and Freemasonry.
In 1950, Gardner claimed to have rediscovered a religion he
called Wica.
But in fact he copied rites borrowed from occult rituals.
Ronald Hutton, a University of Bristol historian, also
concluded that Gardner's "ancient" religion was concocted
from modern sources.
The ancients did not worship a single goddess, but were
polytheists, building shrines to many gods and goddesses.
#19370
3) Draws upon traditions of the Celts.
4) It has even infiltrated the church, with some liberal
Methodist women's groups following the practices. #17471
IV. What's wrong with the church?
A. Many turn to witchcraft because of a spiritual vacuum.
1) A growing number of Americans have no spiritual heritage.
a) They have never attended a church.
b) They know almost nothing about the Bible.
c) Their impression of Bible-believing Christians is very
negative.
d) In Australia, witchcraft is growing and Christianity is
shrinking.
A Catholic leader there says,
I think it reflects the collapse of values and sanity
in our society that this mishmash of superstition
and fraud is to be recognized."
#17736
2) Vacuums want to be filled.
At that European witch school, one of the students said she
was drawn to it because something was missing from her
life.
She said, "I was looking for direction.
Christianity was too narrow for me and didn't give me the
answers I needed." #22323
B. The human desire for supernatural power.
1) People instinctively feel that there is more to this life
than what we can see with our eyes or touch with our hands.
2) Wicca offers spiritual power.
a) The moral requirements are very vague.
"As long as you don't hurt anyone, do what you want."
b) The spells and rituals give the feeling they can change
their destiny.
3) Although they won't admit it, Wicca appeals to the dark side
of human nature, too.
V. The Bible's warning on the occult.
A. Witchcraft is condemned. Deut 18:10-11
"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or
daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery,
interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells,
or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead."
1) Witchcraft is called detestable to God.
2) It was a capital crime.
B. Witchcraft was practiced.
1) King Saul turned to witchcraft after God abandoned him.
a) Ironically, he had opposed witches.
b) Now he consulted them.
c) The message wasn't a pretty one.
2) King Manassah, the worst king in the Old Testament, also
practiced witchcraft and human sacrifice. 2 Chr 33:6
a) He repented later in life.
b) However, the damage was already done.
C. Witchcraft comes from the flesh.
1) In Galatians 5, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit and
the works of the flesh.
2) Witchcraft is listed with the flesh.
VI. The power of God's love.
A. Jesus was accused of witchcraft.
1) His opponents said that was why he was able to cast out
demons.
2) But Jesus said only God's power can do that.
B. Jesus said he came to give us abundant life.
1) He wants us to have power, but only God's way.
C. Turn away from the dark side.
1) A notorious killer.
David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer, was attracted
to witchcraft.
The darkness of it controlled him.
He didn't find peace until he accepted Jesus as his Savior
in prison.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 1280 "Hallowe'en: Should Christians Be Apart?" by Albert Fames Dager,
Media Spotlight, January 1989.
# 4576 "U.S. Army Recruits Witches To Guard Pagans' Rights," internet,
submitted by Rev. Dick Lewis, May 14, 1999.
#17471 "Wicca Infiltrates the Churches," by Catherine Edwards,
November 15, 1999, Don Johnson Collection.
#17736 "Toil and Trouble," This Is True email newsletter by Randy
Cassingham, August 2, 2002; originally in the Melbourne Herald
Sun newspaper.
#19370 "Wicca Stories Are 'Bunk,' Historians Say," by the editors of
ReligionToday, Don Johnson Collection.
#22050 "What Happens When Almighty God Calls Your House?" by Doy Cave,
Baptist Press, http://www.baptistpress.org, December 27, 2001.
#22323 "School Demystifies Witchcraft," by Julia Ferguson, Reuters /
America Online, October 8, 2002.
#22716 "Son of Hope: The David Berkowitz Story," by David Berkowitz,
<http://www.forgivenforlife.com/1a-testimony.html>,
March 1999.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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