Modern-day Wicca still practice the same magical arts described in the Bible. Therefore, a person cannot be a Christian and practice any magic. God wants to protect us from Satan and his demons. If you read between the lines, you can see that the authors of the text had a real reason to be afraid of the magic of other religious groups, because there were times when it actually worked, or at least they believed that it worked, as it was depicted by magicians who were able to turn their chopsticks into snakes, just like Aaron. However, the power of Yahweh was nevertheless demonstrated when Aaron`s stick snake devoured the magicians` stick snakes. Or maybe you`ve heard of the magic of the Harry Potter series or seen a Disney movie with fairies performing magic. In mainstream culture, magic is portrayed as a good thing, but what does the Bible say about magic? In the book of Exodus, God commands that sorcerers, witches, and anyone who participates in magical arts must not live (Exodus 22:18). This is because magic is directly related to Satan and his demons. Magic is not what Hollywood does with it. It is not full of magic spark, happiness and goodness. In 2 Kings, you will find the best examples of royal attitudes towards magic. Jezebel is condemned as a witch (9:22), and Manasseh`s apostasy included the worship of Baal, human sacrifice, divination and boldness, and the treatment of media and sorcerers (21:3-6).

In contrast, Josiah, his grandson, «set aside the media and the sorcerers and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations… » (23:24). As in the Old Testament and New Testament, the number of examples among the Church Fathers on the theme/struggle of magic is overwhelming. Some church fathers such as Origen (2nd century AD) treated magic as a means of defense; That is, he wrote an apologetic work against antagonists who believed that Christians worked magic and dealt with demons. Other Church Fathers such as Irenaeus (2nd century AD) went on the offensive, so to speak; He accused other Christian groups of magic in order to discredit them and slow or even stop the number of those who flocked to their banners and brand of Christianity. The New Testament. Magical practices were also prevalent in the New Testament world. Although the authors of the New Testament did not explicitly condemn magic, no one practicing the magical arts has been flatteringly described. There were many warnings of witchcraft (Gk. pharmakos [Farmakov»], the one that dealt with drugs and potions Gal 5:20; Revelation 9:21; 18:23 ; 21:8 ; 22:15). Marsilio Ficino advocated the existence of spiritual beings and spirits in general, although many of these theories ran counter to the ideas of the later Enlightenment and were treated with hostility by the Roman Catholic Church.

However, Ficino theorized a «purely natural» magic that did not require the invocation of spirits, malevolent or malevolent. [18] The Benedictine abbot Johannes Trithemius is said to have created his own incantations in relation to beneficial communication with spirits. His works, including the Steganographia, were immediately placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. [18] Later, however, it turned out that this work dealt with cryptography and steganography, and that «magic» formulas were cover texts for cryptographic content. [20] [21] Behind their methods, however, lies a theological motive for their invention. The preface to polygraphy establishes the daily practicability of banal cryptography as a «worldly consequence of the ability of a soul specially authorized by God to go from earth to heaven by magical means.» [22] Many of the practices accepted in the New Testament (exorcisms, healing of faith, and use of many Acts 1:26) may have been interpreted by pagans as similar to their own rituals. In fact, there were some linguistic similarities between the words used in the New Testament for exorcism and healing and pagan magical rites. Pagans regarded miracles as magical in nature, confusing those of the apostles with their own magic (Acts 8:9-11).

Jesus` exorcisms appeared to some as magical (Matthew 12:25-37; Mark 3:23–30; Luke 11:17–20), as well as His use of saliva to heal the blind (Mark 7:33). In fact, some rabbinical references claimed that Jesus was a magician. But the authors of the New Testament regarded Jesus and the miraculous act of the apostles as of divine origin. The woman`s healing with the question of blood occurred because of her faith (Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:25–34; Luke 9:34-38), not by magic. The Inquisition within the Roman Catholic Church had argued against so-called witches in the 13th century, but these trials were intended to punish heresy, of which belief in witchcraft was only a variant. [6] Inquisitorial courts were not established until the 15th century. In the case of the Madonna Oriente, the Inquisition of Milan was not sure what to do with two women who confessed in 1384 and 1390 to having participated in a kind of white magic. Deuteronomy 18:10–11 says, «. who use divination or an observer of the time or a sorcerer or a witch or a charmer or a consultant with familiar spirits or a sorcerer or necromancer. Finally, Jeremiah 27:9 says, «Therefore, ye do not listen to your prophets, nor to your fortune tellers, nor to your dreamers, nor to your sorcerers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you and say, `You shall not serve the king of Babylon.` Each of these five excerpts from the Old Testament has one fundamental thread in common: they denounce magic and its kind. What they also have in common is that everyone is spoken as if they came directly from Yahweh.

It is not the subject of this discussion to recognize whether or not Yahweh really exists and whether He actually said these words to His people. Either way, each of these five commandments conforms to the definition of magic used in this discussion. That is, it is religious propaganda that warns against the leaders of other religions. From the perspective of an Old Testament believer, as the Church Fathers were, these passages would immediately suggest, if not require, two facts of believers; First, magic is evil and does not come from God, and second, those who practice magic must be condemned, if not killed directly. Although these passages actually come from Jehovah, they are still religious propaganda that preaches against other religious practices in order to preserve one`s own religious practices. Then Aaron took out his stick and let the frogs emerge from the river, but again, the Egyptian magicians did the same. Then Aaron brought lice across the country and when the magician went out to do the same, they were unable to do it. Thomas Römer explains that although magicians have power, in the end this power is nothing compared to the priestly power that Moses and Aaron of Yahweh received. Here is a New Testament story similar to that of Moses and Aaron in the Old Testament when they fought against the Egyptian magicians. Although they are able to perform any kind of magic, it is only a cheap imitation of true religion and the power of God.

However, it is understandable why ordinary Christians later believe that they (i.e. Christians themselves) were able to use magic to control demons and angels or invoke God. The Jews were unable to do so because they had lost God`s favor and were no longer His chosen people, while Christians and now were and should be able to perform such miracles, as the apostle Paul did. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer and alchemist, wrote the influential Three Books of Occult Philosophy, which incorporated Kabbalah into their theory and practice of Western magic. This greatly contributed to the Renaissance vision of the relationship of ritual magic to Christianity. [23] Giambattista della Porta developed many of these ideas in his Magia Naturalis. [24] Giovanni Pico della Mirandola promoted a syncretic worldview that combined Platonism, Neoplatonism, Aristotelianism, Hermeticism, and Kabbalah. [25] Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1077 (6th century AD) is an amulet with a healing spell. He quotes Matthew 4:23-24, apparently in the hope that its bearer will be healed, just as Christ healed people during his lifetime: «Gospel of healing according to Matthew. And Jesus went through all of Galilee, teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all diseases [and all diseases] and infirmities among men. And his glory spread throughout Syria, and they brought the one who was sick, and Jesus healed them.

An example of Irenaeus and his hatred of magic, or rather his hatred of his rival Christian leaders and their groups, is as follows. He rises against a Marcus: a word that the Hebrew Old Testament uses to refer to magicians and magic is Chartom; This word literally means engraver or writer, but it is used in a strictly derogatory way and is therefore usually translated into English as astrologer, fortune teller or magician. There are many accounts of Chartom in the Old Testament. Five of them are strict commandments against magic and its application. Exodus 22:18 says, «Thou shalt not allow a witch to live.» Leviticus 19:31 says, «Do not look upon those who have familiar spirits, nor do you seek sorcerers to taint by them; I am the Lord your God,» as Leviticus 20:6 reads, «And the soul that is transformed after those who have familiar spirits, and after the sorcerers weep for them, I will even turn my face against that soul, and cut it off from its people.» 1 Samuel 28:1 Chronicles 10 accompanied by another fascinating battle between the servants and mages of Yahweh.