2. DID GOD ALMIGHTY CREATE WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY?
No, no, no! This question is tantamount to asking if God Almighty created the atomic bomb that did destruction in Japan or if God manufactures weapons of mass destruction most powerful countries possess? No, God Almighty had never done, never does, and will never do such things. People possessed with evil spirits use the knowledge which was obtained from the fruit of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden wrongly and manufacture these weapons. God has nothing to do with these weapons. God has also nothing to do with witchcraft and sorcery which in fact is the invention of those still using their knowledge of good and evil wrongly.
The plain truth is, all sorts of demonology have to do with witchcraft and sorcery. It is piteous that people of the world under the influence of Christianity and Muslim religions ended up adopting demonology as part of their way of worship. Consciously or unconsciously ending up believing as they even to this day do, in two ethereal forces opposing each other. They believe in the power of good or light which is God and the power of evil or darkness which is Satan. They have fully adopted the teachings of the Magi, Manichaeism, as well as Zoroastrianism.
Witches, wizards and Satanists use their knowledge of witchcraft and sorcery to create demons, evil spirits and diabolic creatures and cause people to be hooked on them. Such had been done by them in the days of our ancestors. Such is still done by them even in our time. Sorcerers were, as they are even to this day, able to create the spirits of darkness. These spirits are found all over the world. They are owned and controlled by those practising witchcraft and sorcery. In Africa especially in South Africa, Zulu people refer to them as otokoloshe, izizwe and abalozi. These spirits especially otokoloshe are said to be able to enter any place with ease. They could easily enter a fortified building with the best security system. They could talk. They could appear and disappear. Izizwe are said to be able to cause people to go hysterical and ran away as if insane speaking in tongues or claiming to see things other people could not see. Abalozi are said to be used by sangomas, African mediums, to help them in their divination. Yet people of South Africa have never confused these spirits with divine beings such as uMvelingqangi (The Precosmic One) which is God Almighty. They also have never put these spirits on par with God. All South Africans know that these spirits, especially tokoloshes and izizwe are manmade. They are the work of witchcraft and sorcery. No one gets even the least confused and claim God created them.
Christianity came to South Africa with devils and demons which almost all native converts did not fully understand. The converts just like the white Christians who brought Christianity ended up dualistic in their worship of God Almighty. They ended up preaching God Almighty and at the same breath, teaching people about Satan and his powers as well as his demons. As a result the converts and their descendants just like all other Christians the world over found themselves honouring God Almighty and acknowledging the existence of Satan and his demons. God and Satan in Christianity are great rivals. Most Christians would sin and blame it all on being tempted by Satan.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica states that witchcraft and sorcery were closely connected with matters of demonology. There is also a story in this Encyclopaedia which was written by Athanasius about Anthony who died in 355 or 366AD. This story states that Anthony was tempted and even attacked by the devil. The attacks were in such a way that those who witnessed them in broad daylight were convinced that they were real hand-to-hand encounters. At night the devil conjured up obscene visions which Anthony repelled by prayer and acts of physical penance. Anthony eventually defeated the devil.
In South Africa Anthony would have been said to be suffering from izizwe which are sometimes referred to as izipoliyane or ufufunyane. This is the work of witchcraft and sorcery. People practising sorcery and witchcraft are able to create evil spirits which can change form and appearance or take a form of anything especially snakes, lizards and birds. Sorcerers can also easily destroy these familiar spirits if they so wish. Prayer and deep faith easily repel these spirits.
The Dictionary of the Bible states; “In the beginning these arts (magic, divination, and sorcery) were associated with religion; diviners and magicians were those thought to be most intimately connected with the Deity, and, owing to their superior knowledge of Him and His ways, were best able to learn His secrets or secure His aid. Among the Arabs the priest was originally also the soothsayer.”
Micah the prophet has this to say about these people.
So the seers shall be ashamed,
And the diviners abashed;
Indeed they shall all cover their lips;
For there is no answer from God. (NKJV) Micah 3:7 The word magic was derived from the word Magi. Magi meant wise men. The wise men could also do a lot of magic and magic tricks. These people, as Herodotus put it, formed one of six tribes or castes of the Medes.
Who are the Medes?
The Dictionary of the Bible states that; the Medes were the first of the Iranian immigrants to form a settled government on the borders of the old Semitic realm. The Magi therefore would be an aboriginal sacred caste… It also states that … they conformed to the religion of the conquerors, profoundly altering character as they did so, and thus gained the opportunity of re-asserting their own sacred functions among their fellow-countrymen. They were also good at astrology, divination by dreams as well as magic.
VALUABLE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Ancient religions of the people of the Middle East are:
1. The Magianism (religion of the Magi),
2. The Manichaeism (religion of the prophet Mani)
3. Zoroastrianism (religion of the prophet Zarathushtra the Iranian name or Zoroaster the Greek pronunciation thereof).
These religions had a great influence on Judaic religion. It was Zoroastrianism in particular that influenced Judaic greatly. This influence subsequently spilled over to Christianity. Christianity in return created a better picture of heaven and hell, claiming hell to be in juxtaposition to heaven. The concept is in fact quite correct. Emmanuel Keih Revelation clearly puts it, saying that in fact it is not a hell but a hospital for the sick souls. This revelation concurs with the concept that souls have first to go via Hades so as to be purified before entering heaven.
Hades in fact is a hospital for souls and not the place of punishment. According to EKR; SOULS ARE SINLESS. Souls have never come out of anyone's body to sin and then re-enter it. God the most knowledgeable, could not allow for the soul to be punished for sins it never committed. The flesh, according to EKR is punished here on earth. The Holy bible says that the punishment for most heinous sins never ends with the perpetrator only, but it also falls upon his or her generations. Read Exodus 20:5 For I, the Lord your God, am a jealousy God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. (NKJV)
Jesus even tells us of a rich man and a poor man called Lazarus. To many people this is only a parable but the fact is, Jesus wanted us to have an idea of the set up of things in heaven. The Hades, a rich man's soul was in, is the hospital for sick souls in heaven. That is why that rich man was able to see Lazarus with Abraham in the section set aside for healthy souls in heaven.
If a good person dies, whose soul is not diseased, it goes straight to heaven in the company of angels. If an evil man dies, his sully soul will start by going through a healing process in The Hospital for the Sick (HSS). If his soul is not in a critical condition, it might not be quarantined but allowed to move around in the hospital yard just like that of a rich man. If his soul is lucky enough, it might even see souls belonging to people it knows on the other side of the border which divides the hospital premises from the place of good souls which is paradise. That is why the rich man was heard talking to Lazarus yet could not come into contact with him. Read Luke 16:19-31.
Was the flame which tormented the rich man symbolical or not? It goes without saying that the flame was symbolical. Someone burning in flames could not be able to stand up and talk to someone a distance from him. Flames could not allow him to do so. A person in flames usually runs around frantically not even aware of what is taking place next to him. So the rich man was in hospital feeling the flames of treatment he was receiving there.
Theodicy, which according to Reader's Digest Great Illustrated Dictionary, is a vindication of divine justice in the face of the paradox that God is both omnipotent and benevolent and yet permits evil to exist among men. The stance EKR takes is; The first human beings, Adam and Eve, on their own waywardness and stubbornness transgressed and ate the fruit they were instructed not to eat. As a result they were able to discriminate between what is good and evil, for their mental faculty had developed a sense of knowledge. God drove them out of Eden. To this day it is up to us to choose between right and wrong. God never intervenes to permit for both right and wrong doing. We make these choices on our own free will. It is the fulfillment of what God Almighty said to Adam and Eve : “Behold , the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.” (NKJV) Genesis 3:22.
People on their own volition in most cases choose to do evil things. They choose to do evil they know. They choose to do evil they have heard of. They also choose to do evil they have been warned about. No one can just do drugs having not seen someone doing it, or having not been informed or warned about it. At their own discretion, being not forced to do so in any way, many people just like Adam and Eve of old, choose to do evil things.
When a person has long been bogged in evil deeds, evil in turn possesses him. It is just like doing drugs, which in turn take control of its perpetual doer turning him or her into an addict. A condition one could not easily free oneself from, but through strict medication and rehabilitation processes. Evil spirits and their evil powers are made by people using their power of invention wrongly. When their evil spirits get out of control, unfortunately, people would claim those evil spirits to have been created by God. If God Almighty had truly created evil spirits and demons, He would have made that known to us all. God Almighty had mentioned all He had created. Evils spirits, Satan and his demons are not mentioned in the story of creation because God Almighty never created these diabolical forces but are all manmade.
Through the love of God Almighty there is a solution to evil spirits. The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is powerful enough over demonic forces. The power of the name of Jesus Christ has been used to exorcise people of these evil powers ever since Christianity came into existence. The power of the name of Jesus Christ is known in South Africa for being able to free even those possessed of the spirits of their ancestors from become sangomas (traditional diviners). What Anthony relied on in 300AD is still very much effective in our time, the 21st century. That is the power of the name of Jesus Christ. Anyone can do what Anthony did as long as he or she has strong faith and belief in Jesus Christ and is not shy or ashamed of calling upon His name with all his or her conviction. This evidence proves beyond doubt that Jesus Christ really is the son of God Almighty.