Wicca: Sweet, Sweet Poison

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="002a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Home Page"><U>HOME</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Book Page"><U>BOOKS   </U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles"><U>ARTICLES</U></A></div> <bR> <div>  <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tapes"><U>TAPES</U></A>   </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spiritual Warfare/Occult "><U>SPIRITUAL WARFARE, OCCULT   </U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sexual Abuse Issues"><U>SEXUAL ABUSE ISSUES</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Exposing the Darkness Seminar"><U>***EXPOSING THE DARKNESS SEMINAR***</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:greid@elp.rr.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:greid@elp.rr.com"><U> <img src="HTMLobj-703/aniGif.gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="67" height="50">  </U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div>                      <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" >WICCA: SWEET. SWEET POISON</FONT></div> <bR> <div>    <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" >There's a new crusade underway in the heart of central Texas.</FONT></div> <div> It seems that there are practicing witches in the army. (Only a</div> <div> surprise to those who have had their head buried in the sand the</div> <div> last ten years.) And a Central Texas minister, Rev. Jack Harvey, is</div> <div> on a mission to get those devil-worshipping witches out of the</div> <div> army. He's calling for Christians to boycott the army. There's at</div> <div> least one congressman and several Christian organizations who</div> <div> back the movement. </div> <bR> <div>    On the other hand, we have the Rev. Robert Flowers of the</div> <div> Killeen First United Methodist Church says that the witches, or</div> <div> "Wiccans" as they prefer being called, are "misunderstood and</div> <div> misrepresented."</div> <bR> <div>    I am standing in the middle of these opposite and very, very</div> <div> wrong opinions, and again, I am angry, frustrated and fed up</div> <div> with the whole lot of people in this issue. I do not believe the</div> <div> efforts to boycott the army and ban witches are anything more</div> <div> than just yet another mutation of the efforts of some</div> <div> ultraconservative evangelicals that believe the answer to sin is to</div> <div> blast the sinners and legislate moral behavior. Those of you who</div> <div> have known me over the years know I opposed this approach</div> <div> when the church tried to condemn the gay population in the mid</div> <div> seventies, I opposed it when we put  all our  anger into closing</div> <div> down adult bookstores, and I opposed it  when scores of</div> <div> Christians showed up to protest the new "antichrist", Marilyn</div> <div> Manson. I am not about to change my stance now. I still feel this</div> <div> is an approach that is nonproductive and just serves to reinforce</div> <div> and promote the very things we are seeking to condemn and</div> <div> stop.</div> <bR> <div>    This may shock some of you. I may sound like a liberal or one</div> <div> of these casual Christians who thinks we should just sit back and</div> <div> let the world go to hell.</div> <bR> <div>    Nothing could be further from the truth. But I simply cannot</div> <div> support what I see as another useless, polarizing "thing",</div> <div>  another "anti-sin crusade", which like  all the others, I see as</div> <div> growing out of a church that has ceased to be relevant, powerful</div> <div> or meaningful in a decaying world. In other words, we're not</div> <div> making a difference and we know it - but rather than put our</div> <div> efforts where it can really matter - specifically in reaching out to</div> <div> the very people we are condemning, especially among the young</div> <div> - we turn our frustration on the world, and pour our passion into</div> <div> a "righteous cause" against the world who in fact cannot do any</div> <div> differently without Jesus Christ anyway. But no matter -  this</div> <div> kind of cause makes us feel relevant again, we're important</div> <div>  again, and we're in the center of the spotlight. And that makes</div> <div> me angry, because it's not God's spotlight. It's the devil's</div> <div> spotlight, putting us on display for ridicule, seeking  to prove to</div> <div> the world that we are unloving, ignorant and ridiculous.  That is</div> <div> the result when we hunger for any spotlight that will give us</div> <div> attention when we feel so powerless and our ranks are thinning</div> <div> to record lows. </div> <bR> <div>    I am sorry if this appears harsh, but I have had my fill of</div> <div> seeing kids die and fall into darkness and lose their souls while</div> <div> the majority of churches for the last decade have relegated the</div> <div> issues of occult dangers - and the kids who are being consumed</div> <div> by it - to such a low priority. Now that a "cause" comes up, such</div> <div> as witches in the military, well, now we want to get involved?</div> <div> And do what? Burn them? Ban them? What??? (No one is</div> <div> mentioning actually REACHING them.)</div> <div>    Where WERE these people the last ten years when we needed</div> <div> them to care??? Where were they when our brother Sean Sellers</div> <div> was being executed for murdering his parents for Satan? Where</div> <div> were they when Cornerstone and the Passantinos were</div> <div> destroying Christian ministries and ministers who were trying to</div> <div> sound a warning about satanism and the occult? Where were</div> <div> they when Wicca and Satanism crept in behind the church's back</div> <div> and began taking our young people by the THOUSANDS, while</div> <div> we desperately pleaded for some publisher to champion the</div> <div> cause to save them? </div> <bR> <div>    Where were they? They were telling us we were just glorifying</div> <div> the devil. That Jesus had the victory, so we needn't concern</div> <div> ourselves with this stuff. That we should accentuate the positive</div> <div> and eliminate the negative.</div> <bR> <div>    So now they want to do something? Sorry, folks, they're a day</div> <div> late,  a dollar short, and really, really picked the wrong issues</div> <div> here. As a Christian I want to get as much distance from me and</div> <div> them as possible. I do not want my Jesus misrepresented this</div> <div> way. </div> <bR> <div>    There are some things we need to settle. First, witchcraft, or</div> <div> "wicca" is a protected religion. So is worshipping a Furby, or</div> <div> anything else you want, as long as you don't break the law. That</div> <div> includes satanism. These crusading pastors would have a</div> <div> coronary if they realized the army sanctioned satanism over a</div> <div> decade ago as  a legitimate religion. In other words - the issue of</div> <div> wiccans in the military is not a religious one. It's protected by</div> <div> law - period. I don't have to like it. But it also means my faith in</div> <div> Jesus is protected too. No, the founding fathers may not have</div> <div> intended this. (But then, they were almost all Masons. That's</div> <div> another issue...) The fact is, we are NOT living in a "Christian</div> <div> country". We are NOT God's pet. And it is unrealistic to expect to</div> <div> go back to a bygone time when witches were still in the closet.</div> <div> We as a nation have been degenerating for a long, long time, and</div> <div> the practice of pagan worship is just, in my opinion, part of that</div> <div> regressive process. It was true of Israel - when they turned from</div> <div> the one Living God, they regressed to pagan worship, idolatry,</div> <div> human sacrifice, etc. The only way Christians can expect  a</div> <div> change is through genuine national revival, not by crusading</div> <div> against things that we permitted through our own powerless,</div> <div> prosperity-obsessed religious version of Christianity. Wicca is</div> <div> just filling a void WE have left, that's all. Don't blame the wolf</div> <div> for eating the sheep we let out of the sheep pen.</div> <bR> <div>    Having squared things with my ultraconservative brethren</div> <div> about this issue, now I want to tackle my Methodist friend's</div> <div> comment. about Wiccans being misrepresented and</div> <div> misunderstood. Folks, don't be deceived into feeling sorry for</div> <div> the Wiccans. I have had to deal with adult Wiccans for the last</div> <div> ten years, and they are experts at making people sympathize</div> <div> with them as the great persecuted ones. And I am ashamed that a</div> <div> minister of the Gospel is feeding into this great ploy for</div> <div> sympathy. I don't want to hear about them being misrepresented</div> <div> and misunderstood in a world that has seen more Christians</div> <div> butchered for their faith this year than in all the last 2,000 years.</div> <div> Take a look at that reality, Wiccan friend, then talk to me about</div> <div> persecution and misunderstanding. The fact is that Wiccans are</div> <div> more accepted, understood and welcomed than they ever have</div> <div> been and they have nothing to moan about, not even a few</div> <div> wayward preachers who are raising a ruckus over them.</div> <bR> <div>    Wiccans have attended almost every meeting I have done in</div> <div> the last twelve years. They are there to disrupt, to gather</div> <div> information, and if they can, to evangelize for their cause. At</div> <div> each law enforcement conference, I take pains - sometimes more</div> <div> than is warranted - to explain that Wiccans are not satanists - that</div> <div> they do not worship the devil - and that they have a protected</div> <div> religion and we are not trying to accuse them of crimes. I am not</div> <div> on a witch hunt, as they often accuse. I am trying to stop</div> <div> criminals who use religion, in whatever form, as their motive to</div> <div> commit crime. Yet I always end up being called a</div> <div> "fundamentalist" - and they always do their best to try to</div> <div> convince the sponsors to have THEM come instead to teach so</div> <div> people will get THEIR viewpoint. Really, they are FAR more</div> <div> evangelical in their quest than I am in mine in these settings.</div> <bR> <div>    But since I still never fail to be labeled a fundamentalist</div> <div> extremist, I'll give them something here to latch on to. You see,</div> <div> even though I consider what the crusaders are doing a waste of</div> <div> time, that doesn't make me Wiccan-friendly. Far, far from it.  I</div> <div> hate witchcraft with all of my heart, make NO mistake about</div> <div> that. Hate it with a white-hot passion. I don't hate Wiccans.</div> <div> They're admittedly not my favorite people, but I want to see</div> <div> them come to Jesus too. Especially the kids in it. But I do hate the</div> <div> evil behind their religion, and it won't do me any good to call it</div> <div> anything else, it would be dishonest.</div> <bR> <div>    They are not evil people. But I have seen the underbelly of</div> <div> Wicca. And it IS evil. </div> <div>       Wiccans want  you to believe that  all they do is respect</div> <div> nature and connect with the earth in a spiritual way. Kind of</div> <div> retro hippie stuff. Peace, love and mother earth. Good spells</div> <div> only; healing work; whatever new age phrase makes it more</div> <div> palatable. And many start there, and are drawn to it for those</div> <div> reasons. </div> <bR> <div>    But Wicca is much, much more. It is about calling out the "gods</div> <div> and goddesses" of the old world; Diana; Hecate; Isis; Imbolg;</div> <div> Samhain. And therein lies the evil, and therein lies the danger</div> <div> for every teenager who indulges Wicca. Because regardless of the</div> <div> constitutional issues, the spiritual reality is that Wicca is one of</div> <div> the best packaged spiritual killers of this age. It is a sweet, sweet</div> <div> lie; it is seductive, clothed in "light" which is really deep and</div> <div> deadly darkness. For everyone who calls on the gods and</div> <div> goddesses, regardless of who THEY think they are calling on,</div> <div>  are in fact calling up the powers of hell itself; principalities,</div> <div> "angels of light"; DEMONS who for centuries have sought just</div> <div> such people to open up the gates of delusion to allow them</div> <div> access to foolish humans who will then become their homes. For</div> <div> thousands of years, the demonic world has perfected the art of</div> <div> appearing as something good and desirable so that humans will</div> <div> not see, until it is too late, their true face. And they have found a</div> <div> perfect home in Wicca.</div> <bR> <div>    People say, "Well I respect their beliefs." I do not. I respect the</div> <div> people. And in a way, I suppose I do "respect" Wicca; in the same</div> <div> way a wise person "respects" a rattlesnake. It means you</div> <div> recognize its deadly potential and don't play with it; in that way,</div> <div> I "respect" Wicca. But I cannot but hate something that is</div> <div> weaving an eternal trap around thousands of hungry, lost kids</div> <div> looking for truth. "This is truth", Wicca says, even as it injects</div> <div> them with fatal poison. I will make that lie my enemy till the day</div> <div> I die, not out of hate for the people, but out of my love for the</div> <div> victims of it, and my love for truth. For you see, it is not an</div> <div> opinion I give; I was  a victim of the lies of the occult and it has</div> <div> cost me everything to be delivered of the lies that disguised</div> <div> themselves as truth, as good, as a gift from the gods or goddesses.</div> <div> Everything. And I  will not compromise my position:  To "accept"</div> <div> Wicca as harmless is a fatal error.</div> <bR> <div>    But to close I must return to the issue that brought this article</div> <div> into being: What SHOULD the church do about Wicca?</div> <bR> <div>    What I have been saying they should do for the last twelve</div> <div> years. Stop attacking the symptoms. Marilyn Manson is not the</div> <div> problem; Wicca is not; Satanism is not. They are all symptoms of</div> <div> a generation in the final throes of terminal illness. And yet we</div> <div> still insist on making the symptom the target. It is time to make</div> <div> the KIDS the target; not for attack, but for concentrated, intense</div> <div> outreach that will shame the Wiccans in their attempts at</div> <div> "evangelism", with the only true Power there is, the one that does</div> <div> not lie and does not destroy: The power of the love of Jesus; His</div> <div> gift of eternal life and overcoming life in this one. It is a message</div> <div> our kids are dying to hear; may God give us the guts to make this</div> <div> mission the highest priority we can.</div> <bR> <div>    Gregory  R Reid</div> <bR> <div>    "And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an</div> <div> angel of light; therefore it is no great thing if his ministers</div> <div> transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end</div> <div> will be according to their works." </div> <div>    - 1 Corinthians 11:14-15</div> <bR> <div>    "Therefore if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is</div> <div> that darkness!"</div> <div>    Matthew 6:23</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ritual Abuse, MPD and the Church"><U>Next Article</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>        </div> </td> </tr></table></body>