Breaking the Spell!

Q: IS IT RIGHT TO PRAY FOR THE DEATH OF UNREPENTANT WITCHES AND WIZARDS?

A: That is an interesting question. Perhaps, we can answer it by asking it in a different way. “Is it consistent with the Christian ethic to pray for the death of someone else?” The obvious answer would be “No.” In 2 Peter 3:9 it says that “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” It is clear that God does not want anyone to perish, but to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Besides, each person on the earth is going to die someday regardless of whether or not his or her death was prayed for by another person. Instead of praying for the death of these people, you could pray that God could use you in some way to bring them to faith in Christ. The fact that these people are identifying themselves as witches and wizards is evidence that they do not have a relationship with the living God through faith in Jesus Christ.

In Deuteronomy 18, God had a harsh warning to the nation of Israel regarding involvement in the practices you mention in your question. God says, “do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist (wizard) or who consults the dead (Deuteronomy 18:9-11).” This passage is a definition of what witches and wizards practice. God says to practice these things is detestable to Him. It is detestable to God because witchcraft and wizardry are closely associated to Satanism and the occult. Under the Old Covenant, the penalty for this type of activity was death (Leviticus 20:27). Therefore, you might think it is okay to pray for their deaths. However, that would not be an act of love and it is not how God is dealing with humanity now. Witchcraft and wizardry are sins and Jesus Christ has already paid the price for those sins.

All of us, including you and me, deserve death for our sins. Whether it is something as terrible as witchcraft and wizardry or something smaller like worry or envy, we all deserve death. In order to save us from our sins God had to deal completely with all of them. That is why the Bible says, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19).” The sins of the world were taken away for eternity when Jesus died. God is no longer judging humanity based on our sins. The desire of God was to restore His life, lost when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, to humanity through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In order for Him to do this He had to deal with the sin that caused Him to remove His life from Adam (Genesis 2:17). Therefore, when someone accepts Jesus Christ by faith, they are resurrected from the dead spiritually and given eternal life. Moreover, because of the eternal consequences of the death of Jesus Christ, there is now no sin that can cause the life of God to leave. That is why the life a believer has is an eternal life. It is a life that will carry them through this life, past death and on into eternity.

The practice of witchcraft and wizardry are listed amongst a whole litany of sins that God despises. They include astrologers, mediums, diviners, fortunetellers, magicians, psychics and enchanters. If we listed all the activities that could be defined as sin eventually something you do will be mentioned. How would you feel if someone was praying for your death? Thankfully, our prayers do not persuade God in this way. God does not want anybody to die apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you are saved and have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you understand how fortunate you are, and how thankful you are, to have been rescued from the darkness you were in. Be encouraged by what you have experienced and take that to the Lord in prayer. “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone … This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:1,3-4).” God wants witches and wizards to be saved just like he wanted you and me to be saved. It doesn’t please God for you to pray for someone’s death when He has already died for them. The least we can do is pray that through their sinful behavior they are led to the end of themselves and into the loving arms of our Lord.