An encounter with the spirit of witchcraft

In Acts 16, there is a narrative about Paul’s encounter with the spirit of witchcraft. I think there is much we can learn about identifying the false spirit and how to war against it. The spirit of witchcraft will always try to destroy the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Love.

The narrative begins. “Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ” (Acts 16:16–17, NIV84) The phrase predicted the future is derived from the Greek word for prophet and it speaks to a false prophet. Someone who speaks for the supernatural under inspiration that is not from the Holy Spirit is a false prophet. What we learn about the spirit of witchcraft is that it likes to speak and talk about supernatural activity. It also speaks with a motive for personal gain.

“This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. (Acts 16:17–18, NIV84) The spirit of witchcraft likes to attach itself and come close to the Spirit of truth. The spirit of witchcraft will speak and sound like it is proclaiming the truth. Today, there are some who are motivated by personal desires who try to attach themselves to leaders in the church. Their goal is to gain credibility for their own message and to draw people to them. Their motive is focused on themselves. Jesus described them as wolves. “”Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ” (Matthew 7:15, NIV84)

It may take time to discern a false prophet. The false may sound and look like the true. Their fruit and their motivation though show they do not speak from a love for God but from a love for themselves. When we understand that there is a false prophet or a spirit of witchcraft attaching itself to us, we must rebuke it. ” Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. ” (Acts 16:18, NIV84) Paul rebuked that spirit that attached itself to the ministry he was involved in.

There are some who like to spend their time looking for false prophets attached to various ministries and then they like to rebuke them. Today, that occurs on the internet quite often with these “heresy hunters” and “demon seekers” decreeing their judgments in blogs or other electronic postings. The people who do this have no authority. The “heresy” or what is false is not attached to the ministry they are leading. The condemning of that which is outside your realm of authority also opens up the door to you operating in the realm of the spirit of witchcraft.

A good example is this. I have spiritual authority over my children. When I see a spirit of witchcraft try to attach itself to our family, I have every right to rebuke it. When I see a spirit of witchcraft rise up and try to speak against me, I have the authority to rebuke it. “no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord. ” (Isaiah 54:17, NIV84)

However, when I see a spirit of witchcraft rise up against a ministry that I am not involved in, I have no authority. I must pray for those leaders. I must seek God on behalf of the leaders. However, I do not have the authority to make a public decree about that ministry or what I perceive to be false. My response for others is intercession.

When we rebuke the false prophet and speak against the spirit of witchcraft, we can expect warfare. For Paul and Silas, their outcome was that they were thrown in prison and beaten. Their response to the warfare was interesting. They did not debate with those who tried to destroy them. Instead, because they understood that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ” (Ephesians 6:12, NIV84) Their response was to worship and pray to God in the midst of the spiritual attack and in the midst of their pain.

Worshipping God brings light into darkness. For Paul and Silas this light opened the prison doors and created another opportunity to preach the Gospel. The jailor asked “What must I do to be saved?” Your worship will open doors of Godly opportunity into your life.

If you found this article helpful, this is part of a series of articles found in the book “Break Free! Destroy the Power of Manipulation.It is available on Amazon for $5.99. It is available on the Kindle for $2.99.You can see all buying options here.

Jezebel Spirit