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Chapter 9: Occultism and the Supernatural

Occultism is a topic closely related to demonic miracles. While not everyone who dabbles in the occult produces a supernatural result, some people do. God detests the occult (Lev 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deut 18:9–14; 2 Kgs 21:2–6; Isa 8:19). But He never denies that such evil exists (1 Sam 28:7–8; Exod 7:11; Acts 8:9–11; 16:16–17). “These acts were strictly forbidden by God… because they demonstrate a lack of faith in him, involve sinful actions, and open the door to demonic influences… They are counterfeits of God’s power and have at their root a system of beliefs totally opposed to God.”1 The Lord directed the ancient Israelites to destroy the original inhabitants of the Promised Land precisely because many of them were deeply entrenched in the occult (Deut 18:12). He outlined these nine different practices the Canaanites were guilty of adopting (Deut 18:9–14):

  1. sacrificing children in the fire…; (2) witchcraft, seeking to determine the will of the gods by examining and interpreting omens; (3) soothsaying, attempting to control the future through power given by evil spirits; (4) interpreting omens, telling the future based on signs; (5) sorcery, inducing magical effects by drugs or some other potion; (6) conjuring spells, binding other people by magical muttering; (7) being a medium, one who supposedly communicates with the dead, but actually communicates with demons; (8) being a spiritist, one who has an intimate acquaintance with the demonic, spiritual world; and (9) calling up the dead, investigating and seeking information from the dead.2

None of this has gone away in the modern age. These practices are all regularly featured in movies, television shows, games, and books. Real practitioners also exist today, though in more prosperous communities, they do not always pursue these activities out in the open. Nevertheless, these actions are just as evil now as they were for the people in Scripture. Nothing has changed. In ancient Israel, horribly misguided kings built altars “to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the remaining heavenly lights” (2 Kgs 23:5 NASB)—the zodiac in other words. Today, there are people who practice astrology and write horoscopes in the same foolish attempt to predict and influence the future. Among the people of the ancient Near East, there were those who made a career out of consorting with spirits (1 Sam 28:7). Today, we have ouija boards sold as children’s toys and practicing psychics in most places where people live. Many Babylonians studied sorcery and spells from their youth (Dan 2:2; Isa 47:12). Today, we have spell books available in public libraries as well as communities who proudly identify as everything from contemporary pagans to modern witches. Occultism never went away.

From Pharaoh’s court to the city of Ephesus, the Bible contains numerous different accounts of places and people deeply involved with occult practices. Jannes and Jambres studied sorcery (Exod 7:11–12; 8:6-7). The shaman Balaam built a successful business on divination and black magic (Num 22:6). Babylon was known for its spells and horoscopes (Isa 47:9, 13). The Philippian slave earned her owners great wealth predicting “the future” for paying customers3 (Acts 16:16). Humanity does not have the same supernatural power as angels (Heb 2:7; cf. Ps 8:5), yet these stories all point to miracles and wonders otherwise attributed to God and angels throughout the Bible. There is simply no evidence in Scripture that humans can naturally produce the same miraculous wonders that God and angels can produce. Furthermore, recorded human history goes back a long time, but there have never been people at any point in history who could accurately claim to be peers with God or His heavenly host. If humans are not naturally capable of producing supernatural wonders—and yet these occur for some occult practitioners—something non-human is empowering the supernatural feats occultism can produce.

As stated earlier, the Lord never empowers that which He finds detestable (Hab 1:13), so He is not responsible. Angels, however, wield supernatural power and can easily subvert the laws of both physics and nature (Job 2:7; 1 Kgs 22:22; Acts 12:7–10). If an angel were to lend its power to a human being while remaining invisible to the naked eye (cf. 2 Kgs 6:17; Luke 1:11), it could easily produce supernatural results while remaining undetected. But holy angels are just as unwilling as God to support anything the Lord finds detestable (Ps 103:20). Simple process of elimination reveals that Satan and his demons are the only spiritual forces who are both willing and able to empower that which the Lord hates. And as further proof, this is exactly what will happen at the end of days. With divine permission, Satan will give the Antichrist and his false prophet tremendous supernatural power and authority over the entire world (Rev 13:2, 11–15). They will use their supernatural power to impress many people who will not realize this power comes straight from Satan (2 Thess 2:9-10).

In all of Scripture where biblically forbidden practices like sorcery or divination occur, the Bible never disputes that human practitioners had genuine proficiency with occult skills. Their abilities, however, did not come from God, nor were they natural. Their power ultimately came from Satan, “the god of this world” who “has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor 4:4 NASB). The Lord says a person who seeks out those who deliberately interact with demons—and, by extension, those who seek these supernatural experiences directly—will be defiled by them (Lev 19:31; Luke 10:19). It is not that simple proximity to something evil will defile a person; rather, spiritually illicit activities such as conversing with spirits, accepting whatever a demon has to say as true, or attempting to use demonic power are what will defile a person. The influence of a demon has a way of pooling in the human heart like poison (Mark 7:18–23) and then spreading the same corruption to other people at the very first opportunity (Luke 6:45). Consorting with demons distorts our view of reality as well as our sense of right and wrong until the truth becomes a lie and lies become the truth. At that point, deception is self-perpetuating because the deceived are willing participants in a grand demonic scheme.

There is nothing good associated with a demon. These fallen angels rebelled against God long ago, answer to Satan, lie by nature, and want to destroy humanity by keeping us thoroughly separated from God. Seeking evil can only lead to serious problems. This is why God tells us that demons are a tremendously corrupting influence. But despite what Scripture teaches, some people disregard the warnings in the Bible and intentionally seek out supernatural phenomena with intense curiosity. Should those people make contact with a spirit, they may even develop a “relationship” with that demon, and a relationship like this quickly leads to false beliefs, half-truths, and heresies. Those, in turn, trap the victim in a worldview that discounts or denies God altogether. This direct invitation to evil might even allow the demon to take temporary control over that person’s self-determination. Oddly, there are people who welcome this experience. These are the mediums of the world.

The Lord tells us mediumship and spiritism are akin to spiritual prostitution (Lev 20:6). One can find many scriptural references to spiritual prostitution (e.g., Exod 34:15; Lev 17:7) as well as spiritual adultery with foreign gods (e.g., Jer 3:6–10; Ezek 23:37). Both Moses and Paul link foreign gods to demons (Lev 17:7; 1 Cor 10:19–22), so what Scripture suggests is that those who seek the services of a medium or spiritist, along with the people who act in those roles, are two-timing God with a demon. This is an important observation for understanding why occultism both produces supernatural wonders and is utterly loathsome to the Lord (Deut 18:9-13).

So when the Lord says occult practices are detestable, He says that for our own good. One who engages in these practices willingly enters into a bargain with demonic forces who take great pleasure in destroying humanity (Job 1:13–18; Mark 5:1–5). Satan revels in wickedness (Rev 13:6–8), so it is no surprise when he willingly supports human efforts to defy God. There are some who might argue that occult power can be used for a good purpose, but that is a foolish delusion. There is no such thing as using evil for a good purpose. In fact, Paul writes that people who think along those lines are well on their way to eternal condemnation (Rom 3:8). No human alive has the personal authority to command either Satan or his demons. Those who bargain with fallen angels soon find themselves entangled in expertly woven lies that eventually result in their own personal destruction.

Pursuit of the occult is the pursuit of death. Demons may grant temporary power and knowledge over others, but it always comes at the steep cost of hostility toward God. Why even entertain such a one-sided trade? Only Jesus has the words of eternal life (John 6:68). Furthermore, since God always has full authority over everything that happens—both seen and unseen—failure or success in this misguided pursuit is entirely subject to what He will permit to happen. Nothing good comes from interacting with demons. Believers should avoid this entirely and lovingly-yet-sternly rebuke fellow believers who look with longing into the darkness.

The Demonic Motivation for Empowering Occult Practices​

Why would Satan and his demonic angels ever agree to lend their power to humanity when they work tirelessly to destroy us? Quite simply, they hate God. What better way to rebel than to embrace everything God detests? Fallen angels have known the full glory of the Lord and yet still chose to reject Him. That speaks to a thoroughly depraved nature that takes pleasure in doing everything the Lord says is wrong.4 When Satan or his demons empower an occult practice, it is not about helping humanity. It is almost certainly about twisting the proverbial knife in God’s heart by entrapping and destroying His beloved creations with full malicious intent.

For now, the Lord permits Satan to rule over this world (Luke 4:5–7; 2 Cor 4:4). That has implications for all the esoteric knowledge and philosophies readily available to those who seek it. Because there is no neutral spiritual ground, occult knowledge is never from God no matter what form it takes. Even occultism with religious trappings is still occultism. We can be certain that only the spirituality taught in the pages of Scripture is directly inspired by God. The Lord does not force anyone to accept Him or agree with His ideas; people make their own choices and will reap the consequences. Those who embrace occult practices turn their back on God and transition into the kingdom of darkness. Sometimes this is done intentionally and sometimes inadvertently, but harm is always the result (Prov 15:29).

Those who knowingly reject God in their pursuit of esoteric power are in the most vulnerable position of all. Once the Lord permits their occult practices to produce supernatural results, demons have become involved. Satan’s motivation for empowering these misguided individuals may be as straightforward as eternally depriving God of as many people as possible before his time is up. If granting the occasional supernatural boon is enough to ensnare those who have rejected God, so much the better. Satan is a defeated enemy (Matt 25:41), but that does not mean he has stopped fighting, and while Satan can do nothing the Lord does not permit him to do, the Lord probably gives Satan additional leeway to govern his own spiritual children. Satan’s governance can only include cruel mistreatment and insidious deception because that is what his heart contains. The power he offers is never worth it.

Other people—even professed Christians—learn quite by accident that the activities God labels as detestable (Deut 18:9–13) are all very real and, unfortunately, highly available to them. Satan is all too eager to encourage anyone to take up that which God hates; this includes occultism in all its many forms. Participating in these pursuits only serves to normalize satanic ideas and blind the participant to new demonic lies. Enough lies piled up form distorted worldviews that are inevitably at odds with Christian beliefs and are often difficult to dislodge. This, of course, pleases Satan. It makes his own goals easier. Satan would condemn the entire world to eternal separation from God if he had his say (Zech 3:1–2; Rev 12:10).

When we bind our loyalty to demonic forces, intentionally or unintentionally, supernatural happenings can result. Demonization seems all but assured when an individual reaches this point. It is plausible that the more soundly one rejects God and pursues demonic power, the more fiendish the demon this will attract. Every demon is evil, but some are more evil than others (Matt 12:45). There is presumably a noticeable difference between the power wielded by a demon on the bottom of the hierarchy versus one of Satan’s most trusted lieutenants,5 and that may make all the difference when it comes to the extent of the supernatural phenomena made available to those who pursue the occult.

Occult practitioners who go so far into the kingdom of darkness that they develop proficiency with the supernatural are part of a spiritual war whether they realize it or not. They give commands through whatever methods their esoteric knowledge dictates, and demons carry out those commands, often invisibly, building an illusion that the occultist somehow possesses tremendous personal power that others do not. Diabolic wonders become possible through rituals, incantations, esoteric objects, intentional imagination, and force of will. A lost soul busy with sorcery, for example, may discover a knack for causing illness or “healing” disease. The illusion of personal supernatural power is a potent snare for the occultist while, at the same time, it potentially ensnares everyone who perceives a benefit from these demonic miracles. Pride, self-reliance, and blasphemy quickly become familiar friends. Enabling advanced occultism only benefits Satan because it pushes people away from God. All of ancient Babylon succumbed to these very same traps and will forevermore serve as a cautionary tale (Isa 47:12–15; Hab 1:5–11) because, in the end, “the wicked will fall by [their] own wickedness” (Prov 11:5 NASB).

The understandable desire to feel exceptional lures many people to pursue occultism in the hope of having a special talent that sets them apart from other people. Each “one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own [desires]. Then when [desire] has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death” (Jas 1:14–15 NASB). This is a dangerous temptation for the Christian but downright disastrous for the unbeliever. The irony of the situation is that God is always in control; whoever looks to demons for miraculous power is ultimately limited by what God will permit. Satan himself can only act with divine permission (Job 1:10–12; 2:4–6), so why would God ever permit a wayward soul the unrestricted use of satanic supernatural power? This simply does not happen (Isa 47:1–3). The Lord permits or denies demonic activity as He sees fit, but He has no tolerance for evil behavior (Ps 5:4; Zech 8:17) and protects the righteous against Satan, his schemes, and those who side with Satan in a foolish attempt to gain supernatural power (2 Thess 3:3).

Biblical Examples of Occultism​

Actions always reveal the true spiritual condition of a person (Matt 15:19-20; 1 John 2:4-6). Some people will choose to hang onto the demonic influences in their lives, but no matter how they justify themselves, accepting demonic influence as something beneficial indicates a tainted heart. Practicing occultism does not mean we will be eternally condemned on the basis of those sins alone, but it does often indicate deeply internalized deception or a person who was never redeemed in the first place. “No one who remains in [Jesus] sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him or knows Him” (1 John 3:6 NASB). We can never be so far away from God that He withholds forgiveness when we earnestly desire to make amends. However, coming back to God from deep inside enemy territory is not guaranteed to be easy for those who experience a change of heart. Following Jesus can be difficult even for the spiritually healthy. Nevertheless, the door to a renewed relationship with God is always open while we still live.

People who continue to reject Jesus and persist in their occult practices may enjoy the illusion of supernatural power during their lives, but whatever advantages it might bring are short-lived, especially when compared to the grim reality of eternal separation from God.6 While there are many people in Scripture who desired to be free from their bondage to evil, there are also many others who, for different reasons, demonstrated the more destructive side of our self-determination. Their stories clearly show that occultism leads to disaster even though it can produce demonic miracles for certain individuals. If, like the psalmist says, the wicked seem to prosper (Ps 73:3–9), they will not prosper forever (Ps 73:17–20, 27). It is only a matter of time before the consequences of their actions catch up with them.

Jannes and Jambres, who practiced sorcery in ancient Egypt (Exod 7:8–13, 19–22; 8:5–7, 16–19; 9:8–12; 2 Tim 3:8–9), deliberately studied occultism to acquire the supernatural abilities they exhibited in Pharaoh’s court. Mimicking Aaron and the power of God, these men conjured snakes, blood, and frogs using their esoteric knowledge. However, God produced more miracles with more impact than these men could ever hope to muster on their own. They eventually hit the limit of what their demonic power could accomplish when they “tried with their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not” (Exod 8:18 NASB). Their only accomplishments were to increase the misery found in Egypt and further provoke the Lord’s anger, resulting in more and more destructive plagues leveled against Egypt. Jannes and Jambres eventually recognized that God was superior to them (Exod 8:19), but these men of depraved minds continued to oppose the truth of God to their own foolishness (2 Tim 3:8-9). Their “reward” for siding with Satan was intense suffering. They suffered; their families suffered; their friends suffered. Although these sorcerers were able to produce some of the same divine plagues that Aaron facilitated, they could not replicate most of the divine plagues recorded in Scripture, nor could they match the scale of the divine plagues they did mimic. There was nothing these men could do to stop the Lord from extracting the Israelites from Egyptian captivity, and they suffered greatly for thinking their occultism stood a chance against God.

Balaam was a freelance prophet who practiced sorcery and divination (Jos 24:9–10; Num 22-24). He was so famous for his occult talents in the region where he lived that he had made a lucrative career out of cursing and blessing others for a fee (Num 22:5–7, 17) as well as communicating with the “gods” (cf. Num 22:8). If the thought ever even occurred to Balaam to change his ways, he must have believed the cost of giving up his occult practices far outweighed whatever benefit he would derive from doing so. The Lord showed Balaam that occult arts have no effect against those whom God chooses to protect (Num 23:23; Deut 23:5); nevertheless, Balaam persisted in his evil ways, enticing Israel into spiritual adultery and sexual immorality (Num 31:16; Rev 2:14). He experienced enough supernatural success to build a thriving business (2 Pet 2:15), yet his borrowed satanic power failed to permit him free reign to oppose God (Num 22:20, 33). Even when a prestigious client paid Balaam to curse the Israelites (Num 22:17), he could only pronounce blessings because the Lord overrode him (Josh 24:9–10). Balaam’s immoral behavior and firm acceptance of demonic power eventually ended in his violent death (Josh 13:22). Whatever material wealth he amassed during his life meant nothing in the grave.

The medium at Endor regularly made deliberate contact with spirits (1 Sam 28:8, 11). She defied God by attempting to contact the dead, perhaps to earn money despite God’s strong prohibition against mediums and spiritists (Lev 20:27). Her practice was evil and she knew others viewed it as evil (1 Sam 28:9). This medium was well-known for her talents (1 Sam 28:7) and was a good host (1 Sam 28:22–25), pleasing attributes one might associate with enjoyable company. The problem was not necessarily her personality. It was her deliberate acceptance of an evil practice, no matter how she might justify it. Whether she knew it or not, this medium was regularly dealing with demons and encouraging others to view what God forcefully prohibits as just another harmless activity. The Lord has harsh words for those who encourage evil and lead others astray through their occult practices (Ezek 13:20–23).

The false prophets of King Ahab participated in idolatry and divination (1 Kgs 22:6–7). They told the king exactly what he wanted to hear (1 Kgs 22:12) despite listening to a true man of God warn that their “divine revelation” came from a lying evil spirit who might have been Satan himself (1 Kgs 22:22–23). These prophets did not care (1 Kgs 22:24). King Ahab did not care (1 Kgs 22:27-28). They were in full agreement the Lord could be safely ignored and instead embraced the tantalizing results of their wicked actions. Ignoring what God has to say carries serious consequences, something King Ahab learned the hard way when he was shot and killed by a stray arrow in a battle that he should have never fought (1 Kgs 22:34–38).

Babylonian culture was deeply immersed in occult practices. This was a culture so ensnared by supernatural obsession that many Babylonians labored to learn sorcery, enchantments, astrology, and divination from childhood (Dan 2:2; Isa 47:12). They believed they had potent supernatural power (Isa 47:9), but for all their occult training, no Babylonian could produce a miracle that matched what the Lord could do. Their culture succumbed to the grand delusion that absolute trust in occultism assures success (Isa 47:8, 10), but when it came down to it, the height of Babylonian occult power could neither read nor interpret dreams (Dan 2:10–11), could not interpret a direct written message from the Lord (Dan 5:7–8, 25–28), and could not even save their own empire from destruction (Isa 47:3, 9, 11). “Behold, they have become like stubble, / Fire burns them; / They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame” (Isa 47:14 NASB). All the borrowed demonic power in Babylon could do nothing useful for them when it counted. Its astrologers and diviners experienced occasional success7 but could not produce a coherent or consistent prophecy when they truly needed one. Instead, they only succeeded in wearing each other out with erroneous predictions (Isa 47:13–15). Babylon possessed tremendous experience wielding demonic power yet found it to be wholly unpredictable and entirely self-destructive (Isa 47:11, 13–15). Not even their friends and longstanding business acquaintances were willing to help them when they needed it (Isa 47:15). It does not matter how skilled a person might be in occult practices; they can do nothing to stand against God.

Simon was the aforementioned sorcerer who was famous throughout Samaria (Acts 8:9–10). He produced so many demonic wonders that people called him “the Power of God” (Acts 8:10 NASB) and paid attention to him as a celebrity (Acts 8:10–11). Two things Simon seems to have loved more than anything were fame (Acts 8:9) and power (Acts 8:18–19). When Philip (not the apostle) traveled to Samaria preaching the gospel, he made such an impression that Simon believed in Jesus and became baptized (Acts 8:13). However, Simon did not give up his lust for the supernatural. He followed Philip everywhere, observing all the signs and miracles God worked through His missionary (Acts 8:13). When Peter and John traveled up from Jerusalem to join Philip, Simon asked to buy the supernatural power to send the Holy Spirit to others (Acts 8:19). To Simon, it seems signs and miracles from God were merely additional spells to bolster his occult practices. He did not appear to understand that a miracle from God is not the same as a miracle from Satan (Acts 8:20–23). Tradition has a lot to say about what happened to Simon after Peter rebuked him. The stories indicate that Simon sank deeper and deeper into occultism and self-delusion. One story says that he claimed “he could cause statues to speak,”8 a demonic miracle with similarities to the miraculously talking statue of the Antichrist (Rev 13:14–15). Additionally, “[a]ccording to one legend, he offered to prove his divinity by flying in the air, trusting that the demons whom he employed would support him; but, through the power of the prayers of Peter, he fell down, and had his bones broken, and then committed suicide.”9 Not everyone who believes in God is saved (Jas 2:19). Lust for the supernatural is a satanic snare calculated to eternally condemn everyone who falls into its trap.

Elymas (also known as Bar-Jesus, or son of Jesus) was a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet living on the island of Cypress (Acts 13:6–8). This sorcerer opposed Paul and Barnabas in an attempt to keep the Roman official he accompanied from developing saving faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 13:7-8). Given Elymas’s Jewish heritage, it is ironic that he exhibited a complete disdain for righteous behavior. Mosaic Law carries strict prohibitions against sorcery (Deut 18:9–13) and false prophecy (Deut 13:1–5), resulting in capital punishment for those found guilty of these spiritual crimes. Elymas was a liar and a deceiver (Acts 13:10) who had become so entrenched in his deviant behavior that he was unable to recognize true servants of God when he met Paul and Barnabas. Power and personal influence were demonstrably more important to him than righteous obedience to the Lord. Paul harshly rebuked Elymas before afflicting him with temporary blindness, which showed that the God Paul served was not the one Elymas claimed to know (Acts 13:10–11). All the occult knowledge Elymas possessed could do nothing to prevent or reverse the sudden blindness he suffered as divine judgment for his actions.

A certain slave in Philippi hosted a demon who enabled her to practice fortune-telling (Acts 16:16). The people of Philippi viewed her fortunes in such high esteem that her divinations, a practice God expressly forbids (Deut 18:9–13), earned her owners considerable money. Demons cannot predict the future because they do not know the future (Isa 41:21–24). God alone is omniscient (Isa 46:9–10; Heb 4:13). But demons are expert liars and can affect human affairs to the degree the Lord permits. These capabilities produce fortunes that are highly compelling for the unwary. The slave owners saw an immoral opportunity for profit and exploited it; the citizens saw an immoral opportunity for “knowing the future” and purchased it. They were all happy to abuse this slave and push her deeper into demonic oppression. The irony is that the citizens of Philippi were just as much slaves as the fortune-teller. They eagerly lived under the harsh yoke of demonic control, hoping it would somehow bring them joy. Paul did the citizens a favor by asking Jesus to drive out this demon, but unfortunately, they did not see it that way. Satanic lies had so thoroughly ensnared the city that citizens joined with the Roman magistrates to beat Paul and Silas before throwing them into prison (Acts 16:19–24). The Philippians were so blinded by welcoming demonic forces into their lives that they were entirely unable to recognize truth and joy when God sent it directly into their lives, the very things they sought through purchasing demonic fortunes. This was a tragically missed opportunity for everyone ensnared by these demonic fabrications.

The sons of Sceva were itinerant Jewish exorcists operating near Ephesus (Acts 19:13–14). While they did not overtly side with demonic forces, these men did believe they were clever enough to control them. Many Jewish exorcists of the day were in the habit of reciting names they believed had power in order to remove demons from the afflicted. In this case, the exorcists used the name of “Jesus whom Paul preaches” in their incantations (Acts 19:13 NASB). They did not actually know Jesus, nor did they have a saving relationship with Him. They were merely using His name as part of an incantation intended to force a demon to do what they said. However, that in itself is a form of occultism—it just comes draped in religious sounding words. Whatever pseudo-religious formulas and rituals convinced these men of their own spiritual prowess failed spectacularly when a demonized man beat them to a pulp and drove them from his house (Acts 19:15–16). The sons of Sceva witnessed firsthand that we are never strong enough, smart enough, clever enough, careful enough, or righteous enough to control demonic forces. Attempting to do so results in our own deception, or worse, destruction.

Occult power is unpredictable. It is inconsistent, self-destructive, and fails at critical junctures. There are times when it will appear to be successful; there are times when it will not. Since occultism rests on the back of demonic power, it is only as strong as the Lord permits it to be. Moreover, just as Satan cannot thwart God, not even the most experienced occultists in the world can oppose God. The Lord prohibits occultism in Scripture for very good reasons; occult power is always harmful but never truly beneficial. Demons will exact their toll one way or the other, through direct harassment or subtle deception. Perhaps they will tell their version of the future but at the cost of demonic slavery to a powerful lie. Perhaps they will heal a physical wound but at the cost of deep emotional trauma or a shattered relationship with God. Although occultists throughout Scripture wield potent demonic power, that power is like a splintered staff that breaks under stress, piercing the hand of anyone who leans on it (cf. 2 Kgs 18:21).

Every occult practice, no matter what form it takes, is a clear violation of God’s law. The Lord is holy and cannot let sin go unaddressed (Ezek 18:20; Rom 6:23; Ps 145:20). This is an underlying principle of our entire human existence. He does not desire to punish anyone (Matt 9:13), yet the weight of our sins creates a crushing debt that we can never pay without Jesus. We are born into sin, continually sin, and must choose whether to accept or reject the help God freely offers for absolving our sins. The choice is ours alone. Pursuing the occult intrinsically rejects God’s offer. Unlike God, demons seek only to destroy humanity by whatever means necessary (1 Pet 5:8). We cannot worship both God and demons (1 Cor 10:20-22), and when we choose demons, we reject God. Such choices frequently have eternal consequences. In the end, the hopeful expectations of the wicked will evaporate like water on hot pavement (Prov 10:28). Occultism does not and cannot produce anything of lasting value. These are fundamentally flawed activities that make an enemy of God.

The Righteous Example at Ephesus​

“Ephesus was a center for black magic and other occult practices. The people cooked up magical formulas to give them wealth, happiness, and success in marriage. Superstition and sorcery were commonplace.”10 But once the Ephesians heard about a group of itinerant exorcists who tried and failed to use the name of Jesus as part of their occult incantations, they realized Jesus was far more powerful than the various occult activities they had been so obsessed with pursuing (Acts 19:13–20). Many people began to place their trust in Jesus rather than their occult practices, and a number of “those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they added up the prices of the books and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver” (Acts 19:19 NASB). The value of the occult books they burned would be worth millions of dollars in today’s currency—each silver coin was equivalent to a day’s wage. This was repentance in action. The Ephesians realized Jesus was the key to everything they were missing in their spiritual lives, and once they aligned themselves with Jesus, they removed everything in their lives holding them back from a proper relationship with Him.

Repentance is a necessary part of salvation (Acts 2:38). Depending on the circumstances, It can also be a necessary part of recovering from demonic oppression. Owning spell books, guides to contacting spirits, occult items like tarot cards or ouija boards, and objects of worship for any other religion is spiritually very dangerous. Ownership implies interest, and any personal interest in the occult is a serious problem. Occult books and objects often lead their owners into terrible temptation, easily filling the heart with deceptive promises of forbidden rewards. “Once you begin to dabble in these areas, it is extremely easy to become obsessed by them because Satan is very powerful. But God’s power is even greater (1 John 4:4; Revelation 20:10). If you are mixed up in the occult, learn a lesson from the Ephesians and get rid of anything that could keep you trapped in such practices.”11

Some people believe occult objects themselves are neither intrinsically good nor bad. From a certain perspective, this is technically correct. Paper, ink, metal, animal bones, and other materials are just that. The Lord abhors everything occult objects represent—spiritual adultery with demonic beings, rebellion against what the Lord has commanded, and dishonoring God—but it is what people do with them and the temptations they pose that are the fundamental considerations. For example, there might be seminaries studying these objects in an academic setting in order to better understand biblical context or educate missionaries on what to expect in the field. That seems to constitute legitimate ownership of these questionable artifacts (cf. 1 Cor 14:20). Other people, however, have no such reason for hanging onto anything related to occultism. If anyone is convinced it is sinful to own such items and yet keeps them anyway, that person has sinned (Rom 14:23). And if owning these items creates a situation that causes someone else to stumble in their faith, even when the owner believes there is nothing wrong with these items, love is not the motivating factor and therefore ownership violates Christian principles (Rom 14:20–22). We must all give a personal account to the Lord for our conduct (Rom 14:12). When that thought makes us squeamish over something we are doing, it is a strong indication that we should probably not be doing it.

The people whom the ancient Israelites displaced from the Promised Land were heavily involved in idolatry and occultism. The Lord instructed the Israelites to destroy the objects used in these practices as they were moving into the land so as not be destroyed alongside them (Deut 7:25–26). It would have been an unnecessary moral and spiritual trap for the Israelites to keep any of these items in their homes, and that is just as true today for many people as it was thousands of years earlier. Those who already own personal occult objects would do well to destroy them regardless of the amount of money invested. This represents a sunk cost in economic terms, or in other words, the money has already been spent and is no longer relevant for future decisions. God warned the Israelites not to covet the material value of idolatrous objects (Isa 30:22; Deut 7:25) because their spiritual health was far more important than whatever material value those objects were worth. The modern corollary is that selling occult objects to someone else is frequently an immoral choice. If these objects are harmful for the owner who is trying to repent, they will be doubly harmful for the buyer who has no such intention. The Ephesians recognized this important truth, so they burned their books worth millions of dollars rather than attempting to sell them to someone else who would become just as ensnared as they had been.

Practicing occultism is a serious sin. Holding onto occult items is, at the very least, a trap and a representation of activities that are an abomination to the Lord (Deut 7:25–26). We should never test His patience by holding onto implements intended for pursuits that He expressly forbids (Deut 6:14-17). Yet this is not to say that we should destroy property owned by someone else. As Paul rhetorically asks, “You who loathe idols, do you rob temples?” (Rom 2:22 NASB). While God’s commandments lead to spiritual truth and understanding, we are not free to force His commandments on other people. We are to teach our children (Prov 13:24; 19:18; 22:15; Mal 2:15) and warn fellow believers who have gone astray (Jude 1:22–23; Prov 27:17; Eph 4:11–16), but we cannot control the actions of the people around us. Others will either see or not see the truth for themselves (John 6:44–45; 1 Cor 3:6–9; Mark 2:17 par.). Willful sins of every variety greatly offend the Lord, and there is no such thing as doing evil in the hope that good will result (Rom 3:8).

Curses Are Always Subject to Divine Review​

Certain occult practices include the notion of inflicting a curse upon something or someone else. A curse is “a prayer or invocation for harm or injury to come upon one,” often thought of in terms such as, “People believe that there is a curse on the house.”12 The Bible also contains its share of curses. Some people erroneously pray for God to curse others (cf. Luke 6:28; Rom 12:14), ancient Israel entered into a covenantal agreement with the Lord that included national curses for violating their agreement (Deut 28:15–68), and biblical authors occasionally prayed for God to level these covenantal curses against others who had violated them (Ps 109). Context is everything. We need not worry about anyone asking God to curse us. Jesus quoted the prophet Hosea when He said, “Now go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, rather than sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt 9:13 NASB; cf. Hos 6:6). The Lord is not going to curse anyone who earnestly seeks Him. That, however, does mean life will always be easy.

There are situations when God permits adversity.13 Jesus told us we will experience many trials and troubles in this world (John 16:33). Furthermore, the Lord also disciplines those whom He loves and accepts as His children (Heb 12:5–11; cf. Prov 3:11–12). When adversity happens, it is an opportunity to grow in our faithful endurance, looking forward to the future day when Jesus will clear away all adversity (Jas 1:2–4, 12). And when the Lord disciplines His children, it is out of love and always for our own good “so that we may share His holiness” (Heb 12:10 NASB) by living according to His standards. Yet adversity and divine discipline are not the same as curses, which may be thought of as deliberate harm. There is no need for Christians to live in fear that the Lord will ever maliciously harm His own children. That is simply not in His nature (1 John 4:8)!

But since a curse is a prayer or invocation intended to cause deliberate harm, the umbrella of what constitutes a curse also includes occult invocations and prayers to demons. Demons are fully capable of harming individuals and destroying whatever pleases them. The question is whether God allows this. Demonic curses, like everything else, are entirely subject to the Lord’s sovereignty. King Solomon writes, “Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, / So a curse without cause does not come to rest” (Prov 26:2 NASB). Determining what constitutes “cause” is important to understanding what curses God does and does not permit to take effect. There are fundamentally two different groups of people to consider: those who reject the Lord and those who accept the Lord.

For the unbeliever, there are few guarantees. God loves them just as much as He loves His children (John 3:16–17; 1 John 4:16), but those who reject God have made Satan their spiritual father rather than the Lord (John 8:44; 1 John 3:10). Such people love “the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed” (John 3:19–20 NASB). Scripture does not promise any blessings or protections from spiritual evil for those who live apart from God. The Lord said that He will show mercy and compassion to anyone He chooses (Exod 33:19), and anyone includes those who have rejected Him. Who is to say whether the Lord’s compassion might not be part of some greater plan to bring a lost soul into a newfound relationship with Him? That is beyond the scope of what we can ever know for certain. However—and this is crucial—the Lord does not promise to show mercy and compassion to those who reject Him. It is entirely His choice (Rom 9:16; 11:22–23). In practical terms, that means there will be times when occult curses do have an impact on the lives of those who choose to live in spiritual darkness. Satan is a harsh father who readily causes pain and suffering; relying on his mercy is a grave mistake because he has no mercy.

As for the children of God, demonic curses do not “come to rest” on the Christian believer. There was once a king who asked the aforementioned shaman Balaam to curse the ancient Israelites (Num 22:2–7). They were, at the time, traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land, and that frightened the king so much he wanted to stop them. The king sent word to Balaam, “I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed” (Num 22:6 NASB). Balaam was a professional occultist with a successful business. He had built a reputation for pronouncing effective curses against the enemies of anyone with enough money to pay for his services. This was a man who was well-versed in exactly those things the Lord says are vile, and judging from his reputation, Balaam was unaccustomed to failure. Nevertheless, he failed dramatically three separate times when he attempted to invoke a curse against the Israelites.

When Balaam made his first attempt, God gave him this message to report back to the king: “How am I to put a curse on him upon whom God has not put a curse? / And how am I to curse him whom the Lord has not cursed?” (Num 23:8 NASB). They tried a second time, and again, God gave Balaam a message to report back to his royal client: “For there is no magic curse against Jacob, / Nor is there any divination against Israel” (Num 23:23 NASB). God was not about to budge in His decision to protect the Israelites from Balaam’s occultism. Still, the king tried once again, and God gave Balaam a third message for the king concerning Israel: “Blessed is everyone who blesses you, / And cursed is everyone who curses you” (Num 24:9 NASB). This pair failed in their foolish schemes. Moses later said to the Israelites, “[T]he Lord your God was unwilling to listen to Balaam” and “turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you” (Deut 23:5 NASB). Nehemiah repeated that explanation many generations later (Neh 13:2). The Lord loved Israel (Ps 28:8–9; 33:12; 94:14); therefore, the Lord was not going to allow Balaam to place a demonic curse on its people.

That is excellent news because God considers all Christians everywhere to be a part of Israel (Rom 11:17–18; Ps 82:8). The same God who loved His people thousands of years ago is the same God who loves us today. Fear of demonic curses is ingrained in certain parts of the world, but demons are always subject to the Lord. Demonic curses are only effective when the Lord permits them to be effective, and as seen in the story of Balaam and Israel, the Lord forbids demonic curses to land on His people. No human and no demon can ever overturn His decisions. While God’s first response to Balaam implies there are people who are prone to receiving a demonic curse due to their divine condemnation (Num 23:8), that does not apply to Christians. God specifically told Balaam to ignore the messengers sent from the king when He said, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed” (Num 22:12 NASB; cf. Gen 12:3) by the Lord’s irrevocable decree. God emphatically defended Israel three separate times against a knowledgeable shaman. The Lord dearly loves His children and guards them as closely as He would guard His own eyes (Deut 32:10; Ps 17:8). “Because the believer belongs to God, Satan must operate within God’s sovereignty and cannot function beyond what God allows… While Satan may persecute, temp, test, and accuse the believer, God protects His children and places definite limits on Satan’s influence or power”14 (1 John 5:18). God is in the habit of blessing His people (Eph 1:3), not cursing them, and He has no patience for wicked behavior (Ps 5:4). That unequivocally includes occultism—including demonic curses—in all its many forms (Lev 20:6, 27; Deut 18:9; 2 Kgs 21:2).

Of further interest are the many warnings throughout the Bible that caution against intentionally modifying Scripture to say something it was not intended to say (Deut 4:2; 12:32; Prov 30:6; Jer 26:2). Perhaps the most well-known of these warnings is the threat of plagues and condemnation for anyone who tampers with the prophecies contained in Revelation (Rev 22:18–19). “These warnings against altering the biblical text represent the close of the NT canon. Anyone who tampers with the truth by attempting to falsify, mitigate, alter, or misinterpret it will incur the judgments described in these verses.”15 There is every reason to take this seriously; however, these are not demonic curses. These are divine judgments against any attempt to deliberately falsify Scripture. In a similar fashion, Paul invites God to judge anyone who deliberately preaches a different gospel message than what he and the other apostles preached (Gal 1:6–9). Twisting the truth found in Scripture and then teaching it as if it were legitimate Christian doctrine comes with serious consequences.

There Are No More Covenantal Curses​

Some Christians read the Old Testament and are afraid the covenantal curses found there might still apply to modern believers. They do not. But understanding why requires an explanation. Throughout the Bible, God is called “the Lord” as a title of respect; it denotes sovereign power and authority as He is of a much higher rank and standing than any human being. When God first made a covenant with Israel to set its people apart as His people, the Lord said, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants” (Deut 30:19 NASB). He was proposing a legal agreement between Himself and Israel (Deut 29:10–13), and as a sovereign deity, the Lord was in a unique position to oversee them. If they agreed to His terms, God would become the covenantal ruler (or suzerain) over the nation that would pledge itself to Him. The terms of the agreement included a list of stipulations the Israelites were to follow in order to remain in the Lord’s good graces, which included obeying the Ten Commandments and serving no other ruler—more specifically, no other gods—but the Lord alone (Deut 6:1, 4–5, 13; 10:4). Mosaic Law was not the covenant, but obeying this law was part of the covenant.

To make a binding contract with real weight for the people who agreed to it, the legal agreement between God and Israel included blessings for remaining true to the covenant (Deut 28:1–14) and curses for breaking it (Deut 28:15–68), similar to the international laws that govern nations. God was going to give His people a special place to live—the Promised Land—and “all of these promised blessings can be summarized into a single statement: ‘If you obey, you will keep the land.’”16 The curses can also “be summarized in a single statement: ‘If you disobey, you will lose the land.’”17 This was all well within the rights and capabilities of God as their covenantal ruler. The curses for breaking the binding agreement with the Lord included disease, drought, war, infidelity, and exile among other penalties, which unfortunately, Israel experienced throughout its history as a result of its many infractions against their covenant agreement with God.

However, these curses were never intended to be permanent for the Israelites. The Lord knew that His people would not be able to fully keep the laws stipulated in their covenant agreement, so He added a clause to specifically address this problem: He promised to have compassion on the Israelites after they rejected Him as their Lord in the future so long as they turned back to Him (Deut 30:1–5). In other words, “[e]ven if the Jews deliberately walked away from him and ruined their lives, God would still take them back.”18. The covenant agreement provided for rewards and penalties, blessings and curses depending on how closely the people kept this binding agreement. But as important as all this was to the development of the Jewish people, the laws of this covenant were just a placeholder to show people their sins; it was designed to last only until God established a new covenant through Jesus Christ (Gal 3:19).

The Lord said long ago, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jer 31:31 NASB). He also said of this new covenant, “I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer 31:33 NASB) in a preview of what the Holy Spirit would do for future believers. God would forgive people of their wrongdoing and no longer remember their sins when that day came (Jer 31:34). At the Last Supper, Jesus announced that this new covenant with Israel had nearly arrived when He said, “This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:20 NASB). Once Jesus had taken our sins upon Himself and died on the cross, the new agreement was ratified as an act of God’s grace (Eph 2:8–9).

The entire world is now eligible for entering into the new covenant agreement with God because Jesus has paid our way. Through Him, those who accept this new covenant are grafted into the same promises God made to the Jews (Rom 11:17–18). “Israel” is no longer just a specific group of people chosen by virtue of a lineage going back to Abraham; rather, Israel has become the people of this new covenant agreement no matter who is in their family tree. And just as with the older covenant, there is an important condition associated with this new agreement: it is only available to those who accept Jesus as their Lord (John 3:16; 14:6; Heb 9:15). Those who openly declare Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead are signatories to the new covenant (Rom 10:9). Everyone else is excluded.

People throughout the entire world stand guilty under the terms of the law given to Moses. Even the Jewish people were guilty of violating the covenant agreement because they did not fully keep its terms. The penalty for breaking God’s laws is death (Rom 2:12–15), with or without a covenant agreement in place, but Jesus personally took on every penalty associated with both Mosaic Law and the original covenantal agreement. That includes the curses; for “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us… in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles” (Gal 3:13–14 NASB). We are all guilty of crimes against God; Jesus, on the other hand, was completely innocent. He willingly took our punishment on Himself so that every person who wants to be part of the new covenant agreement is no longer convicted under God’s law or the terms of the old covenant.

Covenantal curses were very real for ancient Israel. Those who depended on the Law alone to make them right with God were under His curse because they could not keep the Law by their own power (Gal 3:10). They needed faith in God and a reliance on His mercy, two attributes that were often missing (Isa 65:2). As a result, the nation and its peoples suffered everything God promised for violating the agreement. But these curses do not apply to Christians because we live under a new covenant agreement. Jesus suffered in our place the curses meant for our disobedience. His blood paid our penalties so that we do not have to pay these penalties ourselves, though that does not exclude Christians from keeping the Lord’s commandments.

If we love the Lord, we will want to please Him, and part of pleasing Him is remaining obedient to Him. While we are no longer bound by Mosaic Law, it still serves one of its original purposes by showing us what God considers to be sin. As for the Lord, “what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deut 10:12–13 NASB). If we celebrate the Lord, serve Him only, and do our best to live according to what He teaches through Scripture, that is enough. There are no more covenantal curses for us to incur when we inevitably stumble.

  1. Ronald A. Beers et al., eds., Life Application Study Bible: New International Version (Wheaton, IL; Grand Rapids: Tyndale House; Zondervan, 1997), 648.↩
  2. John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 220.↩
  3. See Chapter 6 for why God alone knows the future.↩
  4. See Chapter 6 for more on the nature of demons.↩
  5. See Chapter 6 for more on the structure of the kingdom of darkness.↩
  6. See Appendix E for more on what happens when we die.↩
  7. See Chapter 6 for why demons do not really know the future.↩
  8. Ellicott’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (BibleSupport.com, (1905) 2014), https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/ §Acts 8:24.↩
  9. Ellicott’s Commentary on the Whole Bible §Acts 8:24.↩
  10. Beers et al., Life Application Study Bible, 2002.↩
  11. Beers et al., Life Application Study Bible, 2002.↩
  12. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, “Curse” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.), https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curse.↩
  13. See Chapter 12 to learn more about the causes of adversity.↩
  14. MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary, 1969.↩
  15. MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary, 2040.↩
  16. Sandra L. Richter, The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 86.↩
  17. Richter, The Epic of Eden, 86.↩
  18. Beers et al., Life Application Study Bible, 320.↩