Today I want to address a subject that is both sensitive and controversial, yet one that the Church cannot afford to ignore, and that is witchcraft in the Church. When many believers hear the word witchcraft, their minds immediately go to witches, warlocks, spells, rituals, divination, and people deliberately practicing the occult. While Scripture clearly warns against these practices, there is another dimension that deserves serious attention: the operation of spiritual manipulation, intimidation, ungodly control, rebellion, divination, superstition, and the misuse of spiritual authority within Christian environments.
During my lifetime, I have attended churches where I became aware of individuals involved in occult practices while holding significant positions within ministry, including areas connected to prophecy and intercession. Eventually, through prayer, discernment, and intervention, those situations came to light. Experiences such as these taught me that spiritual deception does not always announce itself openly. Something can look spiritual, sound spiritual, and even operate within a ministry setting while its source, motive, or fruit is contrary to the Spirit of God.
However, this subject requires wisdom. We should never become suspicious of everyone around us, nor should we casually accuse another believer of being involved in witchcraft simply because that person is difficult, controlling, emotionally unhealthy, spiritually immature, or even rebellious. Scripture in Deuteronomy 18:10–12 directly condemns occult practices such as divination, sorcery, necromancy, and consulting mediums. Manipulation, jealousy, selfish ambition, control, bitterness, and rebellion are also serious sins, but Scripture frequently identifies them as works of the flesh that must be confronted and brought under the lordship of Christ; you can read this in Galatians 5:19–21 and James 3:14–16.
Therefore, discernment must always operate alongside truth, humility, evidence, biblical accountability, and love. In 1 Corinthians 12:10, we see that the gift of discerning of spirits comes from the Holy Spirit, but discernment should never become suspicion. Jesus, in Matthew 7:16, taught us to examine fruit: “You will know them by their fruits”. We examine patterns, doctrine, conduct, motives, and fruit over time rather than building accusations around one strange interaction or personal disagreement.
So how can believers recognize unhealthy or potentially occult influences within a church while remaining biblically balanced? The following areas should prompt us to exercise greater discernment.
1. OBSESSION WITH POWER
One warning sign is an unhealthy obsession with power, titles, platforms, influence, manifestations, spiritual secrets, or access to authority while showing comparatively little hunger for holiness, humility, obedience, and intimacy with God.
There is nothing wrong with desiring the best gifts of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 14:1, Paul encouraged believers to desire spiritual gifts. The danger arises when someone desires spiritual power primarily for what it can do for their reputation, influence, or position.
Acts 8:19 gives us the example of Simon, who had previously practiced sorcery. After witnessing the Holy Spirit being given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, Simon offered money for that authority, saying, “Give me also this power”. Peter immediately confronted the condition of his heart.
Simon wanted access to spiritual power without understanding the holiness and surrender that accompany life with God.
This remains a serious warning for the Church. People can become obsessed with prophetic titles, apostolic authority, visions, manifestations, spiritual ranks, demons, angels, and supernatural experiences while neglecting character. Yet spiritual maturity is measured by far more than manifestations. Galatians 5:22–23 declares that the fruit of the Spirit includes “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”.
We must desire God Himself above the power He gives us. God's presence should always matter more to us than a platform.
2. MANIPULATION AND INTIMIDATION
Manipulation occurs when fear, guilt, pressure, spiritual authority, personal influence, or even supposed prophetic revelation is used to control another person's choices.
A statement such as, “God told me that you must do this,” can become spiritually dangerous when it is repeatedly used to override another believer's conscience, wisdom, prayer, or freedom to seek God personally. Under the New Covenant, prophecy must be weighed and tested. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14:29, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge”. He also instructs believers in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 to, “Test all things; hold fast what is good”.
Genuine spiritual leadership does not require people to surrender their ability to think, pray, discern, ask questions, or seek confirmation from Scripture.
Intimidation can also produce an atmosphere in which people become frightened to disagree, afraid to ask questions, terrified of displeasing a leader, or fearful that questioning an instruction means questioning God Himself.
The Holy Spirit certainly convicts, corrects, and warns us, but His ministry continually points people toward Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 16:14 that the Spirit “will glorify Me”. Whenever spiritual influence consistently produces bondage, fear of human beings, dependence upon personalities, or confusion that draws people away from Christ, it deserves careful examination.
3. SOWING DISCORD AND DIVISION
Another serious warning is the deliberate sowing of discord among believers. Proverbs 6:16-19 lists several things the Lord hates, including “one who sows discord among brethren.”
This can happen through whispering, gossip, secret conversations, calculated criticism, recruiting people to take sides, misrepresenting leadership, spreading unverified information, or creating factions within the congregation.
Instead of approaching someone biblically when there is an offense, private conversations begin planting suspicion throughout the church. Rather than pursuing reconciliation, people build alliances. Instead of resolving a disagreement, they recruit others emotionally into their conflict. Jesus provided a biblical pathway for addressing offenses in Matthew 18:15–17, beginning with speaking directly to the person involved. Gossip and faction-building bypass this process.
The enemy understands division's destructive power. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 12:25, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand”.
Yet we must also distinguish division from legitimate concern. Raising a genuine biblical concern about misconduct, abuse, false teaching, or wrongdoing is different from sowing discord. Biblical accountability should never be silenced by accusations of rebellion.
4. RESISTANCE TO ACCOUNTABILITY
Another area requiring discernment is the persistent rejection of correction while simultaneously craving visibility, authority, or influence. A spiritually healthy person may initially struggle with correction, because none of us enjoys it. Yet humility eventually produces reflection and repentance. Proverbs 12:1 teaches that the person who loves instruction loves knowledge, while rejecting correction demonstrates foolishness.
Serious problems arise when someone continually demands loyalty from others while refusing accountability themselves. They desire authority but reject oversight. They demand submission while refusing correction. They want the microphone but resist the process that develops the character required to carry it.
In 1 Peter 5:3, Peter instructs spiritual leaders to shepherd God's people willingly and faithfully, “nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock”. Christian authority is therefore never permission to dominate others.
At the same time, accountability must work in both directions. Submission within the Church does not mean blind loyalty to human beings. The Bereans in Acts 17:11 were commended for examining even Paul's teaching against Scripture, and when human commands contradict God's Word, Acts 5:29 remains clear: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
5. UNHEALTHY ATTACHMENT TO SPIRITUAL LEADERS AND INTERCESSORS
Unusual or unhealthy attachment to spiritually influential people should also be approached carefully. Acts 16 describes a young woman possessed by a spirit of divination who followed Paul and his companions for several days. Interestingly, some of the words she spoke about them were factually true. Yet in Acts 16:16–18, Paul eventually discerned that the spiritual source behind what was happening was wrong and commanded the spirit to leave her. The passage shows us an important truth: something can sound spiritually accurate while still requiring discernment concerning its source and purpose.
Leaders should therefore be wise about flattery, excessive access, unhealthy dependency, possessiveness, and individuals who attempt to become indispensable to them. Proverbs 29:5 warns, “A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.”
This does not mean every enthusiastic supporter, intercessor, armor-bearer, ministry worker, or person who desires closeness to leadership has an improper motive. We examine patterns rather than making accusations based on personality.
A NECESSARY WARNING ABOUT DISCERNMENT
At this point, we must emphasize an important warning: not every unusual manifestation is automatically demonic, not every disagreement is rebellion, and not every strong personality is operating in witchcraft. We must look for consistent patterns and fruit.
Scripture tells us in 1 John 4:1 to “believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God”. That instruction calls for testing, not paranoia. Discernment should make us wiser, not more suspicious. Mature discernment produces clarity, humility, prayer, wisdom, and appropriate action. Scripture also addresses additional practices more directly.
6. SEEKING COUNSEL FROM DIVINERS, MEDIUMS, AND OCCULT PRACTITIONERS
Throughout Scripture, God's people are specifically commanded to stay away from divination, sorcery, mediums, necromancy, and attempts to obtain supernatural knowledge through forbidden spiritual sources. Deuteronomy 18:10–12 warns: “There shall not be found among you anyone… who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer… or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.”
Yet even today, some who identify as Christians visit spiritualists, fortune-tellers, mediums, occult practitioners, or people claiming supernatural knowledge outside the boundaries established by Scripture. Others participate in rituals to seek answers about relationships, money, enemies, health, business, protection, or the future.
The temptation often becomes stronger when prayer seems unanswered. Saul provides one of Scripture's most sobering examples. In 1 Samuel 28:6–20, when he became desperate for guidance, he eventually consulted the medium at Endor rather than humbling himself before God.
Believers must resist the temptation to seek forbidden spiritual shortcuts when God's answer appears delayed. A delayed answer does not give us permission to seek another spiritual source.
7. OCCULT OBJECTS, CHARMS, CRYSTALS, AND RITUAL ITEMS
Another practice requiring discernment involves placing spiritual trust in objects. People may wear charms, crystals, healing stones, special rings, bracelets, necklaces, amulets, or other items because they believe the objects provide supernatural protection, attract prosperity, repel evil, bring love, influence circumstances, or carry spiritual power. Others may purchase oils, perfumes, powders, baths, candles, or similar objects from occult practitioners and use them ritualistically.
The central issue is deeper than the physical object itself. A stone, necklace, bracelet, oil, or crystal is part of God's creation and possesses no independent moral character merely because of what it is. The spiritual problem arises when faith, ritual power, protection, divination, or supernatural trust is attached to the object through practices contrary to God.
Scripture repeatedly calls God's people away from trusting charms, idols, divination, or spiritual substitutes and back to trusting Him. Psalm 121:2 declares, “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
In Acts 19:18–19, when people came to Christ in Ephesus, many who had practiced magic publicly renounced their former practices and burned their occult books. Their conversion produced a decisive separation from the spiritual practices of their former lives.
Christians should therefore carefully examine objects or practices they have deliberately received as instruments of occult protection, divination, ritual power, or spiritual guidance and renounce involvement in practices that contradict allegiance to Jesus Christ. Our confidence is in Christ.
8. OLD WIVES' FABLES, SUPERSTITIONS, TRADITION, AND CULTURE
I live in Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean nation enriched by many cultures, religions, customs, and traditions. Yet alongside legitimate cultural traditions, generations have also passed down numerous superstitions and beliefs concerning spirits, luck, dreams, death, pregnancy, houses, money, protection, animals, numbers, days of the week, and countless other things.
Christians must learn to separate culture from Scripture. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, “But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.” The expression “old wives' fables” comes from older English translations and refers to foolish, godless myths rather than reliable spiritual truth.
Many people have heard certain beliefs so often since childhood that they eventually accept them without questioning their origin. Yet longevity does not make a belief biblical. What our grandparents, parents, community, or culture practiced does not automatically make it spiritually harmless or true. Colossians 2:8 warns, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men… and not according to Christ.”
Every tradition should therefore be examined against Scripture. Faith is powerful, which is why Christians must be careful where they place it. Our confidence should rest in God and His Word rather than fear-based superstitions inherited from generations before us.
9. ASTROLOGY AND ZODIAC SIGNS
Another increasingly normalized practice is astrology. Some Christians casually identify themselves by zodiac signs, read horoscopes, follow astrological predictions, use birth charts, or allow these systems to explain their personalities, relationships, compatibility, decisions, and futures.
Yet Scripture repeatedly warns God's people against divination and attempts to discover the future through forbidden spiritual means. Isaiah 47:13–14 speaks directly about astrologers and stargazers who tried to predict future events, showing that these practices could not save those who trusted them. Deuteronomy 18:10–14 likewise condemns divination, interpreting omens, sorcery, and related practices.
The issue is ultimately one of spiritual authority. Who defines you, who directs your future, and who reveals your identity? Christ gives the Christian identity, and God gives wisdom. James 1:5 tells us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.” When answers seem delayed, we must resist seeking spiritual substitutes. God remains our source.
10. REBELLION
One of the most frequently quoted Scriptures concerning witchcraft is 1 Samuel 15:23, which says, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” But what does this passage mean? The context is extremely important.
King Saul had received a specific command from God through the prophet Samuel, yet Saul deliberately disobeyed and then attempted to justify what he had done. In 1 Samuel 15:22, Samuel confronted him with the words, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.” Saul's rebellion placed his own judgment above God's command.
This is one reason rebellion is compared with divination or witchcraft. Both represent attempts to operate independently of God's authority. Witchcraft seeks power, knowledge, or influence through forbidden means; rebellion elevates human will above God's revealed will.
However, we must be extremely careful with this Scripture. Disagreeing with a pastor is not automatically witchcraft. Asking a question is not witchcraft. Reporting wrongdoing is not witchcraft. Leaving a church is not automatically rebellion. Challenging an instruction that contradicts Scripture is not rebellion against God.
Otherwise, this very verse can itself become a weapon of spiritual manipulation. Biblical rebellion is ultimately rebellion against God and His truth. Church leaders therefore should never use 1 Samuel 15:23 to demand unquestioning obedience to themselves.
11. WITCHCRAFT PRAYERS
Prayer is one of the most powerful privileges given to believers, yet even prayer can be approached with wrong motives. One danger occurs when prayer is treated like magic, as though particular phrases, repetitions, chants, formulas, volumes, or techniques can force God to produce a desired result.
Jesus warned in Matthew 6:7 that, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Jesus was not condemning persistence in prayer. He Himself prayed repeatedly, and He taught His disciples to persevere. The warning concerns meaningless repetition used as a religious formula, as though words themselves possess magical power.
Biblical prayer involves relationship, faith, submission, and communion with God. Jesus Himself prayed in Luke 22:42, saying, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
Another dangerous practice is using prayer as a weapon of personal vengeance, which includes praying curses, destruction, suffering, or calamity upon someone simply because we dislike them, they offended us, competed with us, rejected us, or stood in our way. Jesus commanded in Matthew 5:44, “Love your enemies… and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”
Paul in Romans 12:14 likewise writes, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” Scripture certainly contains prayers for justice and divine intervention against wickedness. However, there is a difference between asking a righteous God to administer justice and using prayer to satisfy personal hatred, jealousy, revenge, or control.
Prayer should place matters in God's hands rather than turn spiritual authority into a weapon for personal vengeance.
12. CHARISMATIC WITCHCRAFT
The expression “charismatic witchcraft” is a contemporary Christian term rather than a phrase found directly in Scripture. It is sometimes used to describe the misuse of charisma, spiritual language, prophetic influence, personality, fear, flattery, or ministry authority to manipulate and control others.
Charisma itself is not evil. God gives people personalities, communication abilities, leadership gifts, influence, creativity, and spiritual gifts. The problem arises when those abilities are deliberately used to bend people toward another person's will.
A charismatic personality can persuade people. A spiritually manipulative personality can exploit them. This can show up as excessive prophetic flattery, promises of access or promotion, fear-based warnings, claims of exclusive revelation, emotional dependence, public shaming, spiritual threats, pressure to give money, demands for unquestioned loyalty, or declarations supposedly from God that conveniently advance the leader's personal interests.
Someone may gradually build an environment in which sincere believers believe that pleasing the leader is equivalent to pleasing God. That is extremely dangerous. Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 4:2, “We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully.”
Peter, in 1 Peter 5:3, likewise instructed leaders to shepherd God's people without “being lords over those entrusted to you”. Whenever spiritual authority becomes domination, something has gone wrong. Where manipulation, intimidation, selfish ambition, jealousy, and domination are repeatedly tolerated, an environment can become spiritually unhealthy and increasingly vulnerable to deeper deception.
James writes in James 3:16, “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” This is why character matters. A gifted person without character can injure people. A prophetic person without accountability can become dangerous. A charismatic leader without humility can create dependency instead of discipleship. And a congregation that stops testing everything against Scripture can gradually surrender discernment to personalities.
THE CHURCH MUST BECOME DISCERNING
The answer to witchcraft, deception, manipulation, and occult influence within the Church is neither panic nor paranoia. The answer is Jesus Christ, biblical truth, prayer, holiness, discernment, accountability, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Church should never become so fascinated with demons that we lose our fascination with Christ. We should never become so determined to expose darkness that suspicion begins to govern our relationships with other believers.
At the same time, neither should we become so afraid of controversy that we refuse to confront what Scripture clearly condemns.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:11 to “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” Yet exposure must be governed by truth, wisdom, proper evidence, biblical process, and godly authority. Accusations against believers, especially leaders, are serious matters. Scripture itself, in 1 Timothy 5:19, cautions against receiving an accusation against an elder without appropriate witnesses. Discernment is never gossip, humiliation, or spiritual sensationalism. The purpose is protection, repentance, restoration, freedom, and truth.
Believers must know the Word of God for themselves. Know Christ, including His voice through Scripture, His character, and the fruit of His Spirit. Test what you hear and what you are taught. Test prophecy and even traditions. Examine spiritual practices and ask where something originates and whether it agrees with God's character and Word. Most importantly, examine your own heart.
Before looking for witchcraft operating through someone else, ask the Holy Spirit to expose any manipulation, jealousy, rebellion, bitterness, superstition, ungodly ambition, desire for control, or hunger for power operating within you.
David prayed in Psalm 139:23–24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” That should be the posture of every believer discussing a subject this serious.
The Church's safest place is neither ignorance nor obsession. It is discernment rooted in Scripture and a life surrendered completely to Jesus Christ. Our protection is in Him. Our authority is in Him. Our identity is in Him. Our wisdom comes from Him. And every spiritual influence, practice, tradition, prophecy, teaching, and manifestation must ultimately be brought beneath the authority of Jesus Christ and the written Word of God.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ with humble and surrendered hearts. Search us, O God, and reveal anything within us that is contrary to Your Spirit. Forgive us for every form of manipulation, control, rebellion, jealousy, bitterness, selfish ambition, superstition, pride, or ungodly desire for power that we may have knowingly or unknowingly allowed into our lives.
Lord, we renounce every involvement with occult practices, divination, witchcraft, astrology, charms, rituals, superstition, and every spiritual practice that seeks guidance, protection, power, or knowledge from a source outside of You. Let every area of our lives come completely beneath the lordship and authority of Jesus Christ.
Holy Spirit, sharpen our discernment. Teach us to recognize truth from deception and to test every spirit, teaching, prophecy, tradition, and spiritual influence according to Your Word. Guard us from fear, suspicion, false accusation, and spiritual pride. Give us wisdom to discern carefully, humility to examine our own hearts, and courage to confront darkness in a manner that reflects Your truth, love, and character.
Father, purify Your Church. Raise up leaders and believers who love holiness more than platforms, Your presence more than power, and obedience more than recognition. Protect Your people from manipulation, intimidation, deception, and every work of darkness. Where there has been bondage, bring freedom. Where there has been confusion, bring clarity. Where there has been deception, reveal truth. Where repentance is needed, give us hearts that respond quickly to Your correction.
May Jesus Christ remain at the center of our lives and our churches. Let Your Word be our foundation, Your Spirit our guide, and Your presence our safest dwelling place. Keep our hearts pure, our minds discerning, and our lives fully surrendered to You.
In the mighty and matchless name of Jesus Christ,
Amen
Author: Kimberly A.S. Williams