You have wandered into The Mystic Region of

Witchcraft and the Bible Exerpts from the forthcoming book

By D.F. Stallings

Chapter 5_______________Spiritual Heritage

Focusing on the world around us, we are faced with some very peculiar observations. One such observance is that even though the cultures around the world are diverse from one another, they have many things in common. One such similarity is how almost every culture has some sort of religious belief system. In addition to this, when one examines these belief systems there are also similarities between them. In most cases, these beliefs are also accompanied by their venerated Holy writings. Many of which are very ancient indeed! Where do such writings come from? It is obvious that some are attributed to some Great Spirit or even angels themselves. What is often overlooked is how human intervention has been the primary foundation of such writings. If one were to undertake the project of writing something which could be accepted as inspired or holy, or to even re-write something that is already in existence, it's a sure bet that the finished product would be sure to work to one's advantage. In order for such a work to be accepted on a large scale, the author would have to take into account the phenomenon of human nature. It's a fact that mankind has the tendency to accept things which are pleasing to the ear, as well as those which allow pleasure to abound in one's life. Such things are simple human nature! To go against these principles would insure wide scale rejection. The only way for such a work to gain acceptance would be to accompany it with some form of corporeal institution. It is much easier to follow the guidelines surrounding our human nature, incorporating it into the literary composition. Thus, one would be ensured of complete success and acceptance. This principle is very well understood in the advertising field which in turn has proven this point by reaping multi-million dollar results. There are those skeptics who refuse to accept the Bible as the written Word of God. These claim that, since it is written by the hand of mankind, it must be flawed. Considering all things in the above discussion, this is an understandable line of thought. These same skeptics go on to affirm that the Bible has been changed, misinterpreted, re-written, twisted out of its original context, and that it is loaded with numerous errors and contradictions. If this were the case, then these same allegations must therefore be applicable to the venerated Holy books around the entire world. Nothing could be trusted. And therefore nothing should be accepted without the same level of scrutiny. It is sheer hypocrisy and prejudiced bigotry that blinds one's insight into this simple truth. Those who don't believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God are usually those who have a hard time accepting: An Adam and Eve; A worldwide universal flood and Noah's ark; The story of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea; the very old age lifespans of the ancients; The creation of the earth, its decor, and its inhabitants in six literal days; The long day of Joshua in which the sun and the moon stood still; The physical return of Jesus Christ to the earth, literally; And many other seemingly impossible events. In essence, those who rule out the Bible are those who rule out the phenomenon of the miraculous. The number one observation is that these have taken the concept of an All Powerful God, and reduced Him to a god who has as many limitations as human reasoning will permit. Those who reject the biblical concepts are usually those who have a much easier time accepting: an Adam and Steve, as well as lesbianism; a worldwide universal lifestyle of sexual pleasure and unnatural perversions; the extermination of the Ten Commandments, the Jews, and fundamental Bible believers while promoting the philosophy of hedonism; the theory of reincarnation; the theory of evolution as a cosmological concept of beginnings amidst the mathematical impossibilities; UFO's defined as aliens from other galaxies visiting our earth; and a human messiah who will arrive on the scene to reinforce these thoughts and solve the perplexities of our worldwide problems. Those who reject the Bible are also those who promote the wide scale acceptance of doctrines which eliminate the concepts of hell, the Devil, and a knowable God. These also promote the fantastic philosophies which arise from mythology, astrology, magic, and the occult. In retrospect, it takes a massive amount of faith in order to put one's trust in these latter things. For instance, pleasure is always fleeting, thereby leaving one empty and in search for something more tangible and permanent. Unnatural perversions leave their victims in a wake of disease and death on most occasions. The extermination of moral absolutes has become the reason why much of society does that which is right in its own eyes, leading to untrustworthiness, theft, murder, violence, and gang warfare. The extermination of select groups is the foundational principle behind genocide. The adherence to theories such as reincarnation and evolution is an adherence to something which is yet to be substantiated by the principle of fact. To believe in the existence of life as we know it, elsewhere in our universe, is to multiply the chance factors of the above theory known as the evolution hypothesis. In essence, such beliefs take faith the size of a mountain in order to put one's trust in them. Yet, according to the Bible, it only takes faith the size of a grain of mustard seed in order to move a mountain such as this and toss it into the sea. This is the faith that it takes to believe that the Bible is the written word of God. If it is not God's inspired word, then it should be tossed into the pile heap of vain philosophical trash and burned as refuse. But, before one can justify doing this, it is imperative to first weigh out its contents to see if it is for real or just fantasy. We cannot afford to take someone's word for it. We must check it out for ourselves! This is the true and only acceptable doctrine of self. Such a search for truth is only fair, since it is evident that both fantasy and mythology have been accepted into the notions of possible past, present, and future events. There is one fact that is generally overlooked when critics contest the validity of the Bible. If the Bible is just an uninspired composition written by humanly flawed authorship, which was derived through pre-meditated motivations, then just why doesn't it glorify the human race from a self-ish point of view? Why do so many different authors come to the same conclusions concerning the nature of God and the plight of human depravity? Instead of contradicting on these points, the biblical accounts reveal truth in the midst of human deceit. They point out human flaws, lies, and shortcomings which are merely the symptoms of a genetic disease called sin. The literary content of the Bible violates every principle of appeal to human nature, yet it remains on the best sellers list. It has been said that the Bible was originated by a Church that wanted to oppress the masses and create guilty consciences . It is perhaps true that a church has oppressed the people by suppressing and abusing biblical principles. Even though this may be the case, it is not fair to blame all Christians for the bad example of a particular so-called Christian institution. This holds true even if such an institution claims roots as far back as the beginning of Christianity. It would be like blaming Hitler for a mechanical imperfection within the newest "Volkswagen" prototype. It has also been rumored that the Devil and an eternal place of torment such as hell are creations of the church: that these are not real, but instead are mythical creations intended as fear tactics in order to keep people in line. In this way people would feel guilt, attend church, pay tithes, and then the churches could become wealthy through people's misfortunes. Those who circulate such rumors also hold to the belief that the best friend the Church has ever had is its adversary—that it is the Devil who has actually kept it in business since its conception. These are interesting accusations in lightof the fact that it is very expensive to join "the Satanic Church," and to remain a member. One can only wonder who it is that has kept that church in business since its conception. In ignorance of what it is that the Bible actually teaches, one could believe these accusations. In reality, it was Jesus who taught about the place of outer darkness (Gehenna), the weeping and gnashing of teeth, and the Devil. He spoke more about these things than anyone since Him. One could say that He was the fire and brimstone preacher of all time. It was not the Church who invented these things, but instead it was Jesus who proclaimed them as very true and real manifestations. It was through His first- hand knowledge that these beliefs were brought to the surface. This only reinforced what the Greeks had known all along, but Jesus described the subject with a more realistic perception. He simply brought more clarity to that particular dark subject. In fact, times have changed the point that it is a very rare experience to actually find a church that will sport a preacher who will even touch upon those subjects today—with the exception of "the Satanic Church." If one leaves the subject in their hands, it should be no surprise that they should promote it as a good thing, as they demote those who teach to the contrary. Don't be misled by the Hollywood personification of the fundamental Bible-thumping, fire and brimstone fanatics. Today, most preachers would rather give their audiences what they want to hear so as to boost the income at the offering. They rarely dare to scare their flocks with a place such as Hell and notions of a Devil roaming the countryside as a ravenous lion seeking someone to devour. Heaven forbid that they should chance a poor showing at the offering by delivering a message of undiluted biblical purity. But rather, what is heard is: You are a god, and God is a man. It's positive this and confession that; or just visualize it, claim it, and it's yours. Such teachings parallel witchcraft and mystic writings more than they do the Bible. In addition, people are barking and roaring, and rolling around in the aisles, which is something that even witches and mystics wouldn't do. In short, people have been brought to a level of shame, ridicule and scorn to the outside observer. It has become an experiential form of faith that people are flocking to see and feel. The modern hymns are sung: Me, me, me, me, me, and I, I, I. It is preached: I had a vision, and I heard the voice of God. There's usually a quote from some famous mystic, but rarely does one hear: and Jesus said... "Because of this, it is also contained in the Scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion an elect, precious Stone, a Corner-foundation; and the one believing in Him shall never in any way be ashamed. Then to you who believe belongs the honor. But to disobeying ones; He is the Stone which those building rejected—this One became the Head of the corner, and a Stone-of-stumbling, and a Rock-of-offense to those disobeying, stumbling at the word, to which indeed they were appointed.". . .