Sorcery

Acts 8:4

4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.

6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

7 For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.

8 And there was great joy in that city.

9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:

10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.

11 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.

14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:

16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,

19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.

20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.

22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

24 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

PRAY:

So, reading from the book of Acts here. Let me acts you a question? Do you believe in the existence of sorcerers? What about fallen angels? And what about demons?

The passage we just read was written during the period of the early church. And we know from reading the book of Revelation that demons had been poured out in Jerusalem in the days of the ministry of Christ and during the early church period.

Revelation 12:4

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

The woman here is the church, and the child is the Lord Jesus Christ. What Revelation is telling us here is that Satan put all of his forces behind stopping the birth of Christ and then stopping the church.

But today, people do not believe in devils or demons or sorcerers or fallen angels. To them lucifer is just a tv show. To them fallen angels and sorcerers are nothing more than the stuff of fiction. But the word of God tells us that those things are all very real.

Even in churches today people deny the existence of the supernatural. There are pastors all across this country who believe in evolution and believe in the big bang. But do not believe in demons or devils. They deny the miracle of the virgin birth as it is to them supernatural fantasy. They deny the death burial and resurrection of Christ as it is to them just a story told to make us feel good. They deny that life itself is a miracle. Even though science has no answer for how life came about and many say it must have been something beyond our understanding.

The word supernatural means: of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe

especially : of or relating to God or a god, demigod, spirit, or devil

Do these demons walk among us? Turn with me please to Genesis 3:14,15.

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Just read it as it is. Who is God talking to here? The serpent, right? Now the word serpent in Hebrew translates as Nakash which means a sorcerer or an enchanter. There is that word sorcerer again.

Now according to God, the seed of the enchanter will bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. We know that the seed of the woman here is Christ. As Christ came through Adam, Seth, Noah, David, Solomon etc.

Now who are these children that are the seed of the enchanter? Well, we know from the text that the seed of this evil sorcerer who used sorcery to entice Eve would crucify Christ. Right?

Am I adding anything to it? Other than explaining that it wasn’t a snake because the Hebrew here says enchanter. Is it possible that those who were the children of the sorcerer are among us today? Sure. I believe they very much are.

1 Thessalonians 2:14-15

14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: 15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:

But modern Christianity would prefer to remain silent on these truths. And it is the failure on the part of modern so-called men of God that has many Christians believing that they have no need of armor. They have no need to study their bibles. They have no need for church attendance. After all demons aren’t real. The devil is just a made-up character. These are false prophets who by failing to teach the entire counsel of the word of God have become nothing more than hirelings.

If you follow the ministry of Christ. You will see that there was a demonic horde following Christ throughout Palestine. Look at how many times he encountered demon possession in his ministry. How many times he casted out devils.

Yet people read the gospels and still refuse to see that demons, sorcerers and fallen angels are real and as a result lives are destroyed. Divorce in the church is at an all-time high. People are un-prepared for the battle that lies before us.

Church splitting is far too common today. As pastors have failed to teach the truth of God’s word. And that truth is that we are always under demonic attack both within and without.

Satan drew 1/3 of heavens angels into his forces and unleashed them upon the earth against Christ and against the early church.

Remember that I shared with you that wolves love high places. They like to get into positions of authority in the church. And use that position to hurt the work and to, if possible, destroy the man of God and his family.

Let me share this with you. When I took my first church, I was naïve. I wasn’t using any discernment. And by the way Christians today do not exercise the power of discernment at all, for fear that they will be accused of being judgmental.

Anyway, when this demon asked me a certain question, I should have seen right away that he wasn’t right with God. Here’s what he asked me. Now this church was in a small country town. A town close to Greenbrier. But he asked me. Preacher if we call you to pastor here will there be any blacks coming with you from Conway? That’s what he asked me. I didn’t want to falsely judge the man. But that was an odd question. I wanted to say why would it matter? But I just said I don’t know. I had ignored a clear sign that the man wasn’t right. And when I found out he had been accused of molesting his own grandchild it was too late.

That is what we are up against in this world. Demons. And it is a HUGE mistake to turn a blind eye to the enemy.

Back to Acts 8:9

9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:

10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.

11 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

I wonder how many people in our churches today are bewitched by sorcery. Watching every kind of filth on their television set. Then coming to church on Sunday. Watching pornography then coming to church. Bewitched by the devil.

I wonder how many people in our churches are bewitched by the false prophets on television. These television evangelists who teach another gospel. They teach that Gods enemies are Gods chosen. They teach that you can give enough money to earn your way into heaven. And on and on and on. Misleading and corrupting Gods children. Folks if they are on television there is very little chance that they are going to be men of God. You can believe they have compromised somewhere along the way to be where they are.

Bewitched by false leaders even within their own church. Men and women who have paid to have power in the church. Oh yeah. Your church needs thousands of dollars in repairs. You can bet a sorcerer would love to come in here and use his money to buy influence in the house of God. That is what Simon tried to do here.

Look at verse 18, again still in Acts 8.

18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,

Simon was more than willing to buy influence in the early church. His baptism was not an act of faith. It was an act of deception. How many people in the church claim to be Christians but only want power and influence. They want to be able to hinder the work of God. They want to be able to run off any true man of God and replace him with a false teacher.

Nobody in that community wanted to go against Simon, he was a man of influence and had used demonic sorcery to gain his influence.

You see Simon saw power. He saw signs and he saw miracles. And look at how Peter handled this demon.

19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.

20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

Satan wants to get inside the church so he can destroy it.

He wants us confused, discouraged and following false shepherds.

Can you imagine after this demon possessed man was baptized? All the members who rallied to his side. But he’s baptized. Who are we to judge? The man wants to do right we should give him a chance. You know he wants to pay to put a new wing on the church. Come on Peter. What have you got against church planning?

But Peter discerned immediately that the man was evil. That’s not an easy call for a pastor to make. Sometimes they will just out themselves completely like Simon did here. And other times they are far more deceptive and calculating.

Today something like this could easily cause a church split. Right? Simon would rally his supporters and they would all turn on Peter. And they would move across the street and form the second Baptist church.

Folks this is what Satan does. That is why it’s extremely important to have a pastor who is real. No, not a pastor who is perfect. There is no such thing. But a pastor who you know wants to do the best he can to serve Christ. And if you have such a man. Stand behind him. Just as the church here in Acts stood behind Peter.

Evil has what seems to be built in advantages in the Christian world. Evil people have no conscience. They are willing to do whatever they have to do to get what they want. I don’t know how many of you have had to deal with a meth fiend or an alcoholic. But I can tell you when they are craving their next fix. They will use you like you are nothing. They have absolutely no remorse and no conscience about manipulating you into getting what they want.

That is how these demon seed people behave naturally. It is their mission to destroy your church, to destroy your faith and to destroy your family. And they are not limited by the constraints of conscience. I think I just described almost every single politician in Washington.

Lying, deceiving, cheating, and murdering and not an ounce of remorse. The motto of the church of Satan is: Do what thou wilt, this is the whole of the law.

This evil group of demons who we read about in Genesis 3:15 always seem to win in this world. Because they act without conscience. They boast of their superior genius and intellect. But it is anything but. It is a group that always wins in this life because they are willing to do anything to achieve their goal. Good thing God gave us the book. Because we know in the long run that God wins.

I want you to think about this for a second. How many times have you watched the news. And sat back and asked yourself. How could they do this? What is wrong with this world? We see these horrible news stories. And the first thing we ask is how could anyone do such a thing?

It's easy. They are evil. Evil exists in this world. It is hard for us to imagine it because we have been transformed. And on top of that we are Gods children. We are not the seed of the Satan. We are the children of God. So, we cannot comprehend how they can act in such a way.

Listen to me church. What I am trying to get you to see is there are demons, there are fallen angels. There are sorcerers. And the devil has children living among us and they are evil. Listen to the words of Christ in John 10:10

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

The thief is evil. And we are so blinded by the false teachings of a church that is nothing more than a religious organization that we cannot see the truth about the world in which we live.

I had a minister/professor say this to me not long ago. This is what he said. Sure, there is bad in this world. And there might be a little persecution against the church in the states. But it isn’t as bad here as it is in some other countries. Don’t worry about it brother Tim. God has this.

I didn’t want to get an F so I just ignored his advice. Why? Because a true man of God is supposed to be like Peter here. He is supposed to be aware of evil and to be prepared to defend his church and his family against it. How can you be prepared when you deny that evil even exists? How can you be prepared when you take the attitude that we shouldn’t warn people about it?

I want to read two passages of scripture before I close. Think about them.

Isaiah 58:1

58 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

That’s easy to understand. The man of God is supposed to lift his voice against sin. He is not to be complacent or complicit. Complacent meaning what that professor said. To be so unconcerned that you fail to do what you know you ought to do. And complicit means involved in the wrongdoing. And that is what we have today in church after church. Complacent and complicit false pastors.

Afraid to take a stand because taking a stand would mean saying things that are unpopular and unaccepted in a world dominated by evil.

Evil only cares about one thing. Power.

Evil doesn’t care about your children. In fact, evil will go out of its way to torture your child.

Now I am not a fan of tv. And I am not a fan of Netflix. But this week Megan asked me to watch a documentary with her on Netflix. She said there is no cussing or dirty stuff in it. So, I agreed. And she signed into her mom’s account, and we watched it.

In the show a young girl had a rare illness. And her parents had spent a lot of time trying to treat the young lady. The mom was a nurse. And went through great lengths to get help for her child.

They found an alternative treatment in Mexico and a Dr who was willing to administer this treatment. And it worked.

A few years later while this young lady was improving. She had a setback. And they had to rush her to the hospital. The mom knew exactly what her child needed. But the hospital administrator had determined that the mom was abusing the child and suffered from Munchhausen’s. That is a disease where the mom keeps the child sick for attention.

So, without warning the hospital used the court to seize the daughter and lock the parents out of her life. And time after time the courts took the side of the hospital. The mother did what any mom would do and fought for her child.

But after months of fighting and having asked the court that they at least grant her a single hug. The mom finally gave up. She killed herself believing that the only way her daughter could ever come home was if she was dead.

And unfortunately, she was right because it wasn’t until then that the court released the child from the hospital.

Now that administrator has a long history of using the court to abduct children. That woman is evil. It is simple as that. And those judges who presided over those court cases are evil and without excuse and the judgement of God will be on them all.

I said all that to say this. Whether you see it or not. There is a great deal of evil in our country. There is a great deal of evil in our courts. There is a great deal of evil in our government.

And worse of all. There is a great deal of evil, in our churches.

As I asked in the beginning of this morning’s message. Do you believe in sorcerers? Do you believe in demons? Do you believe that the devil has children in this world?

If not what will it take for you to wake up?

The modern church says. Oh those demon seed in Genesis 3:15 don’t exist. Why would they deny the existence of evil?

I’m going to read from one more passage and then I’ll close.

Matthew 13:24-30

24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Who planted the tares? The enemy. Satan. Right? Isn’t that exactly what Genesis 3:15 is telling us?