Print

By Tyson Thorne

February 27, 2019
 

ChristianWitch Large

Coming this April to Salem, Massachusetts is the first ever "Christian Witches" Convention. The convention is being organized by Valerie Love, an ordained reverend by the "Minister of Spiritual Consciousness" and a practicing witch, according to CBN News. Love's website reveals she was raised Jehovah's Witness and had an awakening to the world of magic at age 26. Since then she went on to found the Covenant of Christian Witches Mystery School and to author The Christian Witches Creed which, apparently, has a large following despite the term "Christian Witch" being an oxymoron. Is this practice genuinely Christian or synchronism in action?

In my younger years I frequented a bookstore only a mile from the home I grew up in (I think it was a Walden bookstore, on the corner of Alameda Avenue and Union Boulevard). I initially frequented the store because it was nearby, but then I started going in more frequently because of one of its employees. She was very pretty and we flirted a bit. That ended when I found out she was something called a "white witch". From my limited understanding, a white witch is a regular witch with high moral values. She moved from a possible dating opportunity to an evangelistic one. Even white witchcraft was incompatible and opposed to Christianity. To this day I wish my efforts had produce better results.

When I first heard about this Christian Witch movement, I investigated with one part caution and two parts skepticism. The Bible is very clear that any form of witchcraft is evil:

There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, 11 one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer. 12 Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things the Lord your God is about to drive them out from before you. --Deuteronomy 18.10-12

Witchcraft is also condemned in the New Testament as "an act of the flesh" and which guarantees practitioners "will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5.20). If these passages make you think that there can be no participation in witchcraft for the child of God, you'd be right.

The Christian Witchcraft movement is synchronism at its worst. Their own creed states, "I love my cross and my wand; I consult my Tarot deck and my Bible; I adore and am devoted to Christ and the Goddess." Apparently she doesn't consult her Bible very well, or she would know that we are to "have no other gods" (which includes the Goddess), that Tarot cards are condemned and that a person cannot serve two masters. The creed also lists several spiritual "gifts" that I guarantee would never appear in Paul or Peter's lists, including abilities that are worthy of the death penalty in ancient Israel. I'm talking about things like, "psychic insight… the ability to commune with departed souls…" and "of channeling higher beings."

Love doesn't work alone, however. She sometimes teams up with Calvin Witcher, who claims the Bible is not a Christian text. "The Bible is a huge book of Sorcery," Witcher claims. "You literally can't get around that. You can't get around Jesus being a magician. There is just no way." Even if I didn't know this guy is a medium I'd be suspicious of him for the inappropriate use of "literally". That and the fact that there is a way to "get around" Jesus being a "magician." For starters, Jesus wasn't a showman. The miracles he performed were in accordance with prophecy and proved his power was from God, not the earth, fire, water, air or goddess. Furthermore, Jesus' disciples had a run in with a magician who wanted to learn how they healed people, and Peter sent him packing saying the gift of God could not be purchased (Acts 8.9-25).

Clearly there is no such thing as Christian witchcraft or a Christian witch. So why the deception? If you guessed "money" I'd say you're on to something. Both Love and Witcher (do you think that's his real name?) do readings for people to the tune of $50,000.00 according to Christianheadlines.com. I imagine the convention this April will bring a nice cash crop too. I am certain that none of our readers would ever be duped by such obvious charlatans, but if you live anywhere near Salem you might want to warn your friends and neighbors.