The King of Israel was the Lord God: He had the right to determine the crimes against His sacred and sovereign state and the punishments for them. The one who practiced sorcery was united with Satan, the enemy of God. Such a union was a betrayal of the government of Israel, a government led by God Himself.

Even now, treason is often punishable by death. However, since the state is not now a theocracy, that is, it is not directly governed by God, the punishments defined in the Old Testament cannot be applied. But this is not high treason. Jesus Christ warned that physical death is by no means the final punishment.

Those who practice witchcraft and witchcraft, thereby showing that they reject Jesus Christ, should remember His warning: "And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28).

WITCHCRAFT TODAY

Although witch hunts and trials are no longer there, witchcraft and witchcraft are alive, the modern witch has little in common with the stereotype that developed in the Middle Ages—many who practice this craft are ordinary members of society. The question arises: why? Why did interest in witchcraft revive and embrace both the uneducated and the educated? Daniel Cohen points to two reasons: "The first is the age-old interest in the magical, the hope, however vague, that there are mysterious manipulations by which to gain power, money, love, and quickly and simply. The second reason is that witchcraft is the rebellion and overthrow of established beliefs, institutional religion, science, and rational thought. The historical relationship between witchcraft on the one hand and drugs and sex on the other is also undeniably appealing. Here we see a set of beliefs that is supposedly part of a very ancient religion. And this is a religion in which drugs and free sexuality are not only not condemned, but, on the contrary, encouraged.

Despite widespread publicity and organized communities of witches, this activity is still not taken seriously."

Modern witchcraft bears little resemblance to medieval witchcraft, much less to witchcraft in primitive societies. It has a relatively short history (the last 200 years), embraces hundreds of teachings and practices, and has hundreds of thousands of followers. The moment that unites them is the belief in actions that are forbidden by God in the Bible as occult and their performance.

"Two decades ago," as in previous centuries, witches were not successful in society. Most people considered witchcraft to be something like a superstition and did not trust it.

Now, due to the rapid growth of interest in the occult in our culture, the situation has changed. Tens of thousands of people across America, including those with advanced degrees, are involved in witchcraft, Satanism, voodoo, and all manner of white and black magic. Witches openly appear on television' It is said that every high school has its own witch. In Cleveland, you can hire a witch to liven up the party, white magic is practiced by 80,000 people in the United States, 6,000 of them in Chicago alone.

There are a lot of funny things here. But, unfortunately, not all of them. One murder after another is solved, in which the murderers directly declare" that they worship Satan. The police are finding more and more evidence of sacrificial killings of animals, as well as human sacrifices."

THE BIBLE AND WITCHCRAFT