Witchcraft - Public Enemy Number 1

There are three main words that are commonly used in the English language to speak about the various aspects of satanic power. They are witchcraft, divination and sorcery. Divination is essentially the fortune telling realm. It operates by revelation, by gazing into a crystal ball, by dreams, by palm reading, by teacup reading, by tarot cards and many, many other ways. That all is classified under the one heading of divination.

Then there is sorcery. Sorcery operates through objects or through something which produces a physical impact or result. Sorcery operates through fetishes, through charms, through amulets, through bracelets. Many times people are enslaved because some kind of a ring or other object has been given them which is satanic in its origin. Sometimes they’re not aware of that.

Let me illustrate this by a little example. In Miami, in a hotel, about two years ago a friend of mine was ministering to people as I have been doing this morning, finding out if their legs were unequal and by the power of God, causing them to grow out. There was a young man who came forward whose legs were manifestly unequal but when the man who was ministering held them up, the short leg did not grow. It would not budge. So, the man ministering noticed that this young man had a bracelet on his ankle. He said, “Where did you get that bracelet from?” He said, “My girlfriend gave it to me.” He said, “Are there any particular associations with that bracelet? Does it mean anything special to you?” He said, “No, not really.” “Did it mean anything special to your girlfriend?” He said, “I wouldn’t know.” “Would it in any way represent rebellion on the part of your girlfriend?” He said, “It might do.” So, the man ministering said, “Would you be willing to take the bracelet off?” The young man took the bracelet off and the moment he did, without further prayer, his leg grew out. See, that was a way that Satan was binding him with power through this object.

Sorcery also works through music, through dancing. There are many forms of music and dancing which are channels of satanic, supernatural power. Much of rock and roll and so on is actually energized by evil spiritual forces. The people that get involved in them open up to those forces. I have had many people delivered from demons that came through rock and roll music and other kinds of music in the same category. That is sorcery.

Witchcraft essentially is the dominating satanic force. It’s the force that captivates, that dominates, that controls. It works by spells and by curses and by personal domination. Let me say right at the beginning that it is never the will of God for one person to dominate another. In any situation where one person dominates another, the force that enables that person to do so is evil. It is never the will of God for a husband to dominate his wife or a wife to dominate her husband or parents to dominate children or a minister to dominate his congregation. Any time that you get domination by one person over another, the force behind it is evil. Very often it is actually witchcraft.

You see, there’s such a thing as the soulish which is quite distinct from the spiritual. There is no time to go into this tonight, but the spiritual is one thing, the soulish is another. Paul says in 1Corinthians 2:

“The soulish man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.”

And in James 3, let me just read this short passage. Verses 14–15:

“But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth...”

If you can’t live in peace with your husband or your wife, don’t tell everybody that you’ve got it all from the spiritual point of view. Now then, it goes on:

“...this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.”

The literal translation is “earthly, soulish, demonic.” There is a “downgradation,” you come down to the earthly level, you go into the soulish level and the next thing is the demonic. So, the order is earthly, soulish, demonic.

When anybody in their own natural willpower and intentions decides to get somebody else to do something, the force that they’re exercising is soulish. It frequently ends up by opening to the demonic. It’s most important to understand. Much prayer is soulish. Prayer is not a way of getting God to do what we want him to do. Any prayer that’s based on that kind of motivation is soulish to start with. Prayer is not a way of getting other people to do what we want them to do. Any prayer that’s based on that motivation is soulish. Frankly, there are some people who come to me and say, “Brother Prince, I’m praying for you.” I sometimes wish under my breath, “I wish you weren’t.” Because, there are soulish prayers that do not bring the Spirit of God in their train but bring dark, evil, oppressive power. Earthly, soulish, demonic.

When a person in the name of being spiritual becomes soulish in order to assert his own will and express his own personality, get his own desires and ambitions fulfilled, get other people doing what he wants, that person—and it’s usually a woman—is in danger of coming under the influence of witchcraft. There are, let me say, two kinds of witches. I’ve dealt frequently with both kinds. There are the witches who know they are witches, they intend to be witches. They cultivate Satan’s power, they deal in spells and curses and things like that. I’ve dealt with many of them, we’ve had some here in these meetings. Some have been delivered.

But, there’s another kind of witch who really, in many ways, is more dangerous because she doesn’t know she’s a witch and other people don’t know she’s a witch. She’s usually a good church member. A man phoned me a little while back long distance, he was quite excited. He said, “Brother Prince, are there Pentecostal witches?” I said, “Yes, there are. And there are Charismatic witches, too.” He said, “Oh, what’s the difference?” I said, “Pentecostal witches usually operate in Pentecostal congregations and try to control the pastor and the congregation. Charismatic witches usually operate in home prayer groups and try to control the home prayer group and usually their husband as well.” So he was silent for a few moments and then he said, “Well, I think what we have is a Charismatic witch.”

This may sound shocking to some of you but I’m speaking on the basis of experience. I have run into this more times than I can count. I’ll give you just a few examples. About two years ago I was preaching in a camp meeting taking the sessions on deliverance. God opened my mind to this while I was preaching which is what frequently happens to me. I began to see truth that I had not prepared to preach. So I spoke about how many, many women unwillingly dominate their husbands and their families and try to get everybody doing what they think they should be doing. Usually, with the best of intentions and motives. I pointed out how in those homes the husband really never takes his place of headship in the family. And though he may be successful in business and in secular enterprises, he never becomes a fully developed spiritual person because there’s a pressure in the home that keeps him from developing and that pressure is witchcraft in the wife. I pointed out how usually it will produce rebellion in the children and it will cause a home to break up. Let me say that witchcraft is number one home breaker in the world. It’s the prevalence of witchcraft in the United States that causes one out of every two marriages to end in divorce. Broken homes are in direct proportion to the power of witchcraft in a nation. Measured by that standard, the United States has more witchcraft at work here than any other nation on the earth. I believe it.

Well, at the end of this teaching session, a woman who I know quite well, I’ve actually visited and stayed in her home—she has a husband and two teenage or just about teenage children. They’re all Christians, all baptized in the Holy Spirit. She came up to me and she said, “Brother Prince, you described me this afternoon. For the first time I saw what’s really in me. I’m what you were talking about. I’m a Pentecostal witch. Will you pray for me?” She said, “Though my whole family is baptized in the Holy Spirit, there’s no peace in our home, the family is falling apart.” I began to pray with her and I was amazed at the power of the manifestation of Satan out of that woman. In fact, I had to ask two people to come and hold her down. She put her hand up on her spine and she said, “It’s fastened here in my spine and it won’t come loose.” Praise God, it did get loose but that opened my eyes to the reality of this power.

I’ll give you another example. Some five years or so ago an Assembly of God evangelist who is quite well known, though probably not known by name to any of you here, called upon me for help. He told me that he was in spiritual need and asked me if I would go and speak with him and counsel with him. He took me out to lunch and I sat and listened to him. He told me about his home problems and his own spiritual problems. When we had finished lunch we went back together to his hotel room and he waited for me to offer my opinion. I said this: “Brother, I have only one source of information and that’s what you’ve told me. If your information is not reliable, my diagnosis is not reliable. But if what you have told me is true, then your mother is a witch.” He said, “That’s what my wife says.” Now, the mother was a good Pentecostal believer, a member of a Pentecostal congregation, used to give utterances in tongues and interpretations and so on. Then he said, “Would you pray for me?” I said yes. I put my hand on his shoulder and realized what was going to happen. I jumped across the room, grabbed the wastepaper basket and got it there just in time. For about 20 minutes he was throwing up some filthy, slimy stuff that was just coming streaming out of his body. When this was finished he said—and this was his comment—“Isn’t that remarkable? We’d first been out to lunch together and we ate fried chicken. In all that I’ve brought up there isn’t a trace of fried chicken. It didn’t come from my stomach.” That was his observation.

I phoned him the next day to inquire how he was doing and he said, “I feel fine but I feel as if I’ve run a 12 mile race. Every bone in my body is aching.” Then he said, “Could you advise us as to what to do about our daughter?” She was, I think, 13 years old and completely out of control. She went out all night, stayed out with men, was on marijuana and so on. I said, “What I suggest you do is get together with your wife, fast and pray and when you really feel you’re in the victory and you’ve got the power of God at your disposal, get some piece of clothing or other garment that your daughter wears regularly, lay hands on it and rebuke the satanic power in your daughter.” Well, that was the end of that.

A year later, almost to the day, he contacted me. He was back in the area, gave me a report on how he was doing. Then I said, “What happened to your daughter?” He said, “I want to tell you the story. We did what you suggested, we waited till we prayed and fasted. Then we got an old blue T-shirt which our daughter used to love very much. Without telling her, we prayed over it, laid hands on it, rebuked the enemy. Our daughter put it on and to make a long story short, she’s now in a very high class Episcopal girl’s boarding school. She’s getting grade A in every subject and they rate her a perfect little lady.” That was one year later. He said, “But, that’s not the whole story. One day my mother, the girl’s grandmother, came to our house and did something she hardly ever did. She offered to do some washing for my wife. In the laundry that she washed was the blue T-shirt. You can accept it or not but ever since my mother washed that shirt, she’s been a different woman, too.”

With a few details, that’s an exactly accurate record of what that man told me. See, his mother was a Pentecostal witch and it was her influence that was ruining the entire home. I have noticed this with such persons. Very frequently such a woman will have one grandchild whom she particularly favors and that grandchild will become the object of her witchcraft. It’s disastrous for the child.

Well, some of you have probably heard. I don’t know whether it was a radio broadcast or a telecast about a person who was me—I wasn’t named—who told a lady that she was a witch. How many of you heard that? It was broadcast over KHOF by Brother Ray ?Shock?. I didn’t hear it, I couldn’t get anywhere to hear it. Well, there’s a measure of truth in it. I know who the lady is and I’ll tell you my side of the story. I’m not doing this to defend myself but I’m doing it because it’s a crystal clear example of what I’m talking about. In the Full Gospel Businessmen’s regional convention in St. Louis last year, this family came all the way from southern California: father, mother, daughter, son-in-law and grandson to see me in St. Louis. What they really wanted to do was gang up on their son-in-law and get me to squelch him because he had a lot of problems—some of which affected his wife. I must be careful that I don’t say anything that will betray secrets that should not be revealed but as I sat and listened to them, I felt that that mother, in the name of being spiritual, was seeking to dominate and control her entire family. Those children that didn’t get out from under her influence were ruined. The ones who had the gumption to get out were preserved. The daughter that was with me was the one who had the least ability to resist her mother’s domination over her life. The grandson was a problem child. I mean, psychiatrically classified a problem child. I felt that behind all that was the evil dominating influence of the mother and grandmother. I told this lady very frankly to her face, I said, “If I’m correct, you’re a witch. You may not recognize it and you’re ruining your family and your home.”

The husband was a gifted businessman with a very successful business and he could be a man in every field except two: his home and the church. There he was a zero because the power in his wife could not allow that man to become spiritually a man.

In the end, the young couple accepted what I told them. So did the husband! The only one that was a little upset was the lady I said was a witch. The young couple said, “Do you think that we should separate ourselves from the mother-in-law and not keep going to her home and not in any way remain under her influence?” I said, “That’s my emphatic conviction, it’s what you should do.”

There’s a lot in that scripture that says, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.” Friends, when a couple get married, the parents don’t have any business sticking their finger in that pie.

So, what happened was the parents, the elderly couple drove home alone. The young couple and the grandchild flew by air back here, so they really made a division. Remarkably enough, a week before I came here the young man wrote me a letter. I’d forgotten about the incident, it wasn’t in my mind. He described in some detail all the changes that have taken place in his family since they got out from the influence of the mother-in-law. Every change was dramatically for the better—including the little boy who scarcely could be regarded as a problem child any longer. The young mother had become an active, joyful, witnessing Christian. The young man had entered into a special field of ministry and has just been promoted in that ministry to a position of responsibility. All that happened in the course of about nine months from the time that the influence of the mother over that family was broken.

I am not afraid to be ruthless when it comes to a situation like that. There are many, many, many such situations in the United Sates. I meet man after man after man who can never become what God requires him to be in two areas: in his home and in the work of the Lord. He can be successful as the president of a bank, he can be an athlete, he can go to Vietnam and get decorated with medals; but there’s two areas in which, for some reason he doesn’t understand, he’s inhibited, repressed and unable to develop. I’ve met men in their 50s and 60s, extremely successful in the business world, who never really matured spiritually or emotionally because they were still tied to a mother’s apron strings.

My personal conviction is that this is the greatest single problem that threatens the United States. I also believe that the resolution of this problem will produce the greatest revolution this nation has ever known. Basically, and I hope you’ll go on loving me, the United States is a woman dominated nation. I’ve traveled widely and lived in many nations. I have never met any other nation which was in any degree like that—dominated by women. They say 80 percent of the capital of the nation is in the hands of women. This is partly through the laws of inheritance and so on. This is not an attack on women. But, for every 10 active women workers in the church you’re lucky to find one man. Is that right? The church and the home, the two areas of spiritual responsibility, in most cases, are woman dominated. I don’t say that in every case such a woman is a witch but I do say that it’s the power of witchcraft over this nation which is holding men down spiritually and putting women in positions of leadership for which they are not qualified and to which God did not appoint them.

Furthermore, I do believe that witchcraft is the great national danger politically. I’m a Britisher and I came to the United States and took United States citizenship. I’m an American citizen by choice which is more than most of you can say! I knew nothing of American history. As far as the British are concerned, the Pilgrims were dropouts and when they made that mistake, that was the end. I have become acquainted in the last years with just a few of the background facts of American history. I see this: two spiritual streams in this nation. One is a pure stream of the truth of God such as no other nation outside of Israel has ever enjoyed. The other is Satan’s counterfeit and, essentially, it’s witchcraft. The two are in opposition and the destiny of this nation is settled by how those two influences work out.

All Americans, I suppose, are aware that every 20 years since 1860, the president elected in the 20th year has died in office—usually in rather tragic circumstances. The first such president was Abraham Lincoln. I think a tremendous amount turns around what happened with him. I’m a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln, I’m convinced he was a sincere, dedicated, committed Christian. I have a book coming out shortly which is called Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting. In that book I have three presidential proclamations made by Abraham Lincoln calling the entire nation to a day of humiliation, prayer and fasting. The statements he makes in those proclamations are amazing. One of the things he says is this: “That nation only is happy whose God is the Lord.” This is officially recorded in the Statutes of the United States. I can give you from my book the volume and the number of the proclamation. Few Americans know that. I’ve talked to many quite well educated Americans: lawyers, doctors... They’re not aware in the history of this nation four of your presidents proclaimed days of national humiliation, prayer and fasting for the whole nation. The language of those proclamations would do credit to most preachers.

George Washington himself was a man who believed in prayer and fasting. In his diaries he records of a certain day, the 1st of June—what would it be, 1773, I think—went to church and spent the day fasting.

But, in the case of Abraham Lincoln, his wife—though I’m inclined to think she was a Christian—became deeply involved in spiritism. She persuaded her husband to allow her to conduct a spiritist seance in the White House which Lincoln attended, though he did not participate in. I am personally convinced that that has a tremendous amount to do with the subsequent events in American history. I believe a curse was imported into the White House and came down over the presidency and it is still being worked out and it will probably take tremendous prayer by the leading Christians to revoke that curse.

I see, in what little I know of the history of the United States, the conflict between the forces of light and the forces of darkness in a very vivid and real way.

Now, having said that much I’m going to the scripture and I’m going to give you a brief picture of witchcraft in the scriptures. We’ll begin in the New Testament. Acts 8, beginning at verse 5 and reading through verse 11:

“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.”

I mean to speak about that tomorrow morning.

Let me mention this, this is just a little comment. I feel free to be slightly discursive this evening, though I’ve got an outline ahead of me. Don Basham and I and another preacher who is a friend of mine, a Pentecostal preacher, were in a series of meetings in a certain place which is outside the United States, a British domain. One evening Don conducted the deliverance service such as you have seen here the last few nights. The next day the other preacher, the Pentecostal, got very indignant and stood up, complained about this and said, “Where in the New Testament did you ever read about a service like that?” Don Basham—he’s a very quiet and gentle person—stood up and he said, “What about Acts 8:7? For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many that were taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.” Let me point out to you that in the last few days that has been exactly fulfilled here. I mean, I just say that as a matter of objective fact.

Well, this dear Pentecostal preacher was not satisfied with this. He was still upset. At the back of the room in both meetings was an Anglican rector and he came up to me afterwards in a very friendly way and he spoke about this Pentecostal preacher who had objected, and he said, “Isn’t it amazing? It happens right in front of his eyes and still he can’t see it!” I really marveled that the Anglican rector could see it and the very long-standing Pentecostal preacher couldn’t see it.

That caused me to think about something else. The assumption was in the mind of that preacher that the kind of service that we’re familiar with is the scriptural norm. And, you know, you can describe that kind of service if you’ve been in Pentecostal or the Baptist church or any of those churches. It’s two hymns, the announcements, a special, a word of testimony, a message—and don’t be too long with it because our favorite TV show is on at 9:30—and the benediction.

I was in a Southern Baptist church, where the Holy Spirit has fallen, on a Sunday morning meeting. He said, “Brother Prince, don’t worry about the time. Our Sunday morning services are no longer a countdown to the benediction!” That, basically, is true, isn’t it? That is the accepted, recognized pattern. The hymn, the special...

Do you know what I thought to myself in the light of this? I thought where in the New Testament do you ever find any service remotely like that? My answer is nowhere. I’m not saying it’s wrong but what I am saying is it’s ridiculous to act as if that were the sacred cow that mustn’t be touched. Which is exactly what it is! It’s the sacred cow, that’s all it is. I have no objection to having services like that but let’s not claim that these are the only authorized, normal pattern for Christian services. We don’t find them in the New Testament.

Now we’re going back to Philip. Verse 8:

“There was great joy in that city. But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one...”

There’s one sure mark of a servant of Satan. He’ll take the glory for himself, he’ll claim to be himself a great person of power. But he had bewitched the whole city, he had the whole city under his control. One man, by the power of witchcraft. He was what we would call in Africa, a witch doctor. They were all under bondage until Philip came, preached Christ and liberated the people with the ministry of deliverance.

Do you know why there was such a tremendous manifestation of evil spirits in Samaria? Because of the power of witchcraft that dominated the city. Anywhere witchcraft is in power, when deliverance comes, there will be a tremendous manifest conflict because it’s the two kingdoms brought into the open. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. And let’s say again, and I’ll probably say it several times, I traveled widely. I’ve lived 8 years in Africa, was born in India, brought up in Europe. I’ve traveled in New Zealand and Australia and many other countries. I do not know of any country today in the world where there is more witchcraft and deliberate cultivation of satanic power than the United States. There’s far less of it in Africa today than there is in America. That’s why the deliverance ministry is so greatly needed and that’s why there is such a conflict when the deliverance ministry is brought into play. It’s exactly as it was in Samaria.

Now you’ll notice about Simon, that when he saw the superior power of God demonstrated by Philip he said, “This is the right thing, I’ll follow this.” He believed and got baptized. Then Peter and John came down, the rest of the chapter records, and prayed for those believers and they received the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands these believers received the Holy Spirit, he offered the apostles money and said, “I’ll give you money if you’ll give me this power.” I have to observe that if Simon had been in some modern churches, he wouldn’t have offered them ten cents for what he saw! But there was something there that was worth money, he thought. Of course, he was wrong. It could not be purchased for money.

And notice what Peter says to him. Verse 20:

“Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou has thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.”

Even though he had believed and been baptized, his heart was not right in the sight of God.

“Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.”

Very strong language. The next thing is typical.

“Then answered Simon and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.”

To me, that’s typical of the person deeply involved in the occult. Especially ministering it. It is very, very hard for them ever to make a real total break. They still want to go the old, crooked way. They do not understand the true meaning of repentance. So, instead of Simon repenting, he said, “You pray for me.” I can’t tell you how many times people have come to me and said, “Brother Prince, pray for me that I may be delivered.” My answer is you repent. I don’t mean that people that have been practitioners of the occult cannot be delivered. They can and I know many who have. But, I mean you’ve got to make a 100 percent total renunciation of everything that was involved.

We go on to Acts 13:6–11. I must read quickly. This is Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey.

“And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found there a certain sorcerer [it’s the same word that’s used of Simon in Acts 8], a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man...”

That’s another thing about the practicers of the occult, they like to get close to political power and authority and exercise influence through that. The second half of verse 7:

“...who called for Barnabas and Saul, desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.”

Notice the occult will always seek to hinder and prevent the preaching of the truth and will always seek to keep those who are under its control from hearing the truth. This is a universal fact. Many people come to me and they say, “Brother Prince, I find I can’t read my Bible. I try to but every time I sit down something seems to come. Though I may actually read the words, there’s no understanding.” Almost invariably the background of that is involvement in the occult.

Don Basham has in his book, Deliver Us From Evil, a story of a friend of ours, the wife of a physician who’s known to both of us. Both of us have ministered deliverance to her at one time or another. She received progressive deliverance but though she was a Baptist Sunday School teacher, her own acknowledgment was she could not read the Bible and enjoy it for years and years and years. One day Don Basham was preaching in a service in a hotel and in the middle of the service something like a neon light went on in this woman’s mind flashing. All it said was Oiuja board, Oiuja board, Oiuja board. She could not contain it. She got up, rushed out of the service, went to the lady’s restroom and brought up something that almost choked her. She was delivered from this involvement with the Ouija board which she had been introduced to by her father when a little girl. Her testimony is in his book. From then on she could love her husband, love her children, and rejoice in the knowledge of the reality of salvation and loved reading the Bible. The barrier had been removed, the occult will always be a barrier to enjoying the things of God.

Another common experience is that people are in a meeting where God is being worshiped in Spirit and in truth. They’re reaching out in worship and somehow, just when they seem near to touching God, some barrier seems to come down between them. I’ve heard many people tell me that and I have almost always found that they’ve been to a fortune teller. Almost invariably.

I remember a man of Catholic background who had come into the Charismatic movement. He’s a friend of mine today. He’s a quite well educated, intelligent man. I was with him in some meetings and I said, “Are you baptized in the Holy Spirit?” He said, “Yes, but...” And when people say yes, but, you know what that but is, don’t you? A trunkless elephant. Yes, but I don’t speak in tongues. I said, “Wouldn’t you like to?” He said, “Yes. Somehow I just can’t do it.” I said, “Did you ever go to a fortune teller?” He said, “Yes, when I was a boy of 15, but it was just a joke. I didn’t mean anything by it.” I said, “You did go.” He said yes. I said, “Have you ever renounced it?” He said, “Not openly.” I said, “If I lead you in a statement of renunciation publicly now, will you follow me?” He said yes. I led him to confess that as a sin and renounce it and release himself from it. I put my hand on him and he spoke fluently and effortlessly in an unknown tongue. The barrier had been removed, you see.

Here are the unseen barriers that are binding and hindering the people of God, their ministries, their prayer life, their Bible study, their homes, everything. Dark, unseen barriers that have to be removed.

Elymas stood between the preachers of the gospel and the man in position of a political authority who needed to hear. Then, oh glory to God, this is a beautiful passage. Verse 9:

“Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost...”

Notice the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit. At this moment of conflict the Holy Spirit refilled Paul so that he could deal with the situation. He said to this sorcerer, magician, practitioner of the occult, false prophet—listen to the language that the word of God uses.

“O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness...”

That is strong language, and it is true of every person in that category. They are full of subtlety and mischief, they are the children of the devil and the enemies of all righteousness. I wouldn’t want to be in that category.

After that, Paul told this man:

“The hand of the Lord is upon you, a darkness and a mist shall come upon you, and you shall be blind for a season.”

And the man walked out of Paul’s presence looking for somebody to lead him by the hand. It says the deputy believed, being astonished at the teaching. I would have believed, too, if I would have seen that, believe me! I tell you, we need more teaching like that.

Acts 16:16–18. In Philippi, Paul and Silas have been there, they contacted the ladies prayer group in the city, they’re going every day to the prayer group. Then, Satan gets on their tail. Don has got a beautiful message on this, I wish I could give it to you but it would take too long.

“And it came to pass as we went to prayer...”

Luke was included in this.

“...a certain damsel [a slave girl] possessed with a spirit of divination...”

That’s not a good translation. The Greek says “having a spirit, a python.” That’s the word used in Greek. The word python comes from Greek. The python is the snake that does not kill its victims by biting and poisoning but by coiling itself around their body and crushing them to death. This slave girl had a spirit, a python. It says in English, divination, a fortune telling demon. She brought her masters much gain. When people lost things, they went to her and she told them where to find them. I tell you, it did work. Satan has supernatural knowledge and he makes it available. Things that a fortune teller will tell you do sometimes come true.

Let me tell you this story while I’m about it. I’m trying to get through and God helping me, I’ll be through by midnight! This is an example. When you go to a fortune teller, you may not realize it but you are going to a servant of Satan for help which you should seek only from God. And in doing that, you are really making Satan your god in the person of the fortune teller. And if you go and hear what the fortune teller says and believe it, you are really submitting to Satan’s decree for your life. That’s when Satan gets power over you.

I was in a service in Chicago and a woman came forward and asked me to pray for her for deliverance. I looked at her and said, “No, I won’t pray for you because I believe you’re a medium. I won’t pray for you.” She went away and about six weeks later she came back and said, “I’ve repented, pray for me.” I was far from convinced that she had repented but I thought I can’t refuse on that basis. I began to pray for her and I prayed and several spirits apparently left her. I was getting somewhat tired so I just leaned against the altar with the woman standing by me. And while I was leaning there she looked at me and she said, “I see you in a car and it’s wrecked against the tree.” Praise God, I was on the alert. That was Satan’s decree for me. I said, “You divining spirit, I reject that, I do not receive it, I don’t intend to be in any car that’s wrecked against any tree. In the name of Jesus!” But, had I said, “Oh, I’m going to be in a car that’s going to be wrecked against a tree.” I would have submitted to Satan’s decree for my life.

I know of another case of a woman who is a dentist’s wife. She came for deliverance in meetings that I was in, also in Chicago. She’s one of these people who would look at me and say, “Am I completely free?” I always say, “It’s not my business to tell you.” “Am I completely free?” I said, “Well, you could be. But, then on the other hand, I’m not sure that you are.” She came to me the third time. I said, “If you want to be frank, I’ll stick my neck out. I don’t believe you are free.” She said why not? I said, “All I can sense is that somewhere you crossed the line into forbidden territory, you got involved with a representative of Satan.” She was rather indignant. So, the couple that brought her who were friends of ours—she was going away complaining. “Brother Prince didn’t help me.” They said, “Why don’t you pray to God and ask God to show you if what he said might have been true.”

The next morning, alone in an apartment she got down on her knees and said, “God, if that was true and if there was a time when I crossed into forbidden territory, show it to me.” Immediately, she remembered that before she converted, as a nominal church member in a Methodist church, the most spiritual—I would have to say quote, spiritual—lady in the church came to her once and said, “Let me read your palm. Let me tell your fortune.” She submitted to this lady and the lady said, “You’re going to give birth to a baby and it’s going to be born dead.” She believed it and she gave birth to a baby and it was born dead. It had the umbilical cord wrapped twice around its throat which choked it. The doctor who delivered the baby said, “I have never seen another case like this in all my experience.” Praying there in that room, all this came back to her and she realized that she’d crossed forbidden territory by going to that woman in the Methodist church and letting her tell her fortune. That woman had decreed Satan’s decree over her life and she had submitted to the decree and permitted Satan to do it.

She then renounced and rejected that spirit of divination, released herself from it all by herself in the apartment and she said, “I had a most violent physical reaction all by myself. But, I was delivered.”

Here’s this girl with a spirit of divination, a fortune telling demon.

“The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, who show unto us the way of salvation.”

Notice two things. Number one, every word she said was true. Number two, she was the first person in Philippi to recognize the preachers of the gospel. And yet, she was saying it by the influence of an evil spirit. So people say so naively, “What she told me was true, it must be of God.” Friend, I want to tell you this. Satan mixes truth and lies. If he only told lies, no one would ever believe him. So he tells you enough of the truth to get you believing him and then he injects his lies.

For many days Paul and Silas were tormented by this girl following them. Some people believe she was a believer, some say she wasn’t. I don’t think you could prove it either way. Then the Holy Spirit showed Paul what to do. He turned, he did not speak to the girl, he spoke to the spirit of divination in the girl and in the name of Jesus Christ he commanded that spirit to come out. And it says:

“He came out of her the same hour.

And she lost the ability to tell fortunes. Her owners got mad because they couldn’t make any more money out of her, they had Paul and Silas beaten and thrown in jail.

Then Don Basham’s message goes like this: Sitting there in the jail ‘round about midnight Silas said to Paul, “There you are Paul. If you hadn’t gotten into the deliverance ministry, everything would have been all right!” Mind you, there’s a lot of truth in that.

See, it’s fantastic. When you think of the reaction, because one slave girl lost the ability to tell fortunes, the whole city was turned into an uproar. Friend, there was more in that than was natural. Behind that slave girl was the whole kingdom of darkness. Paul challenged it and the whole kingdom of darkness reacted against it. A very deep truth in that.

Acts 19:11 and following.

“God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul...”

We talked about special miracles this morning. Thank God for even ordinary miracles but praise the Lord for special miracles! I really believe we saw one or two special miracles here this morning. That lady that had the power of God even going through her feet, I would call that a special miracle, myself.

“So that from Paul’s body were taken unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”

Notice, evil spirits and physical disease are very closely connected. In many cases, healing could only be accomplished through deliverance from the spirits of disease that caused the condition.

“Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists...”

Exorcists are people who go around claiming to be able to get rid of evil spirits. They’re a well known breed in many parts of the world. The Jews have practiced exorcism for more than 2000 years. The Muslims practice exorcism. One of the ways the Muslims use to get evil spirits out of a person is to put hot irons on the area of the body affected by the evil spirit. I’ve seen people with bodies burnt all over by the exorcists applying this hot iron to get rid of the demon. I don’t think, in most cases, it works. But that just shows you all pagan nations know that evil spirits are real. The only thing they don’t know is how to deal with them. That comes through the gospel.

Anyhow, these exorcist Jews:

“...took upon themselves to call over those who had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. The evil spirit in the man answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?

In the English, the word “know” is the same but in Greek it’s different. He said, “Jesus I acknowledge, and Paul I know about; but who are you?”

“And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

You understand that a person who has an evil spirit often has totally supernatural strength. So, one man could beat up and drive out seven men.

I remember a woman that we dealt with, my wife will vividly remember her, who had amongst other things the spirit of antichrist. In a certain Pentecostal assembly, when I was not present but she told me this herself, she went forward to the altar—you know, the kind of wooden bench they have at the front—for prayer and they began to pray for her deliverance. She said the pastor was sitting on one end of the bench and his wife was sitting on the other end of the bench. She said, “When this spirit manifested itself, I lifted that bench with both of them sitting on it.” She was a weak, diabetic woman.

What the Bible says is up to date, it’s real.

Verse 17:

“This was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds.”

Notice they were believers, they were Christians; not unbelievers.

“Many of them also which used curious arts [that’s magic and the whole realm of the occult] brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.”

Fifty thousand dollars worth of books publicly burned because those people had suddenly seen a real demonstration of the conflict between the power of God and the power of Satan. No longer were they going to fool around and keep these Christ dishonoring occult books in their homes.

I tell you, the church of Jesus Christ needs a literal home cleaning. There are thousands of Christians who need to go through their libraries, their basements and other places and get out and burn masses of Christ dishonoring, satanically inspired material. The Bible says in Deuteronomy, I think it’s the 7th chapter, God warned Israel, “If you take an accursed thing into your house, you become accursed like the thing.” Again, I have many examples but time does not permit me to go into them.

What I’m pointing out to you is these people were believers, that they had one foot in both camps. One in the Lord’s camp and one in the devil’s camp. They thought they could get away with a little intermixture of the occult until they saw the real power of Satan (?) and then they said “Away with it.”

A woman came to me for help, sometime back, from New England—which is a center of witchcraft—and I had the most pathetic letters from her. My wife will probably remember. She said, “Every time I take a letter to the mail to mail it to you the devil tries to kill me on the way to the mailbox. I don’t know whether I’ll get back home alive.” She said, “I am a doctor of theosophy and I have spent years in studying the occult and I need help. Are you willing to help me?” I said meet me in a certain camp I was going to and I’ll do my best. My wife and I spent several hours ministering to her. She got a measure of deliverance but at the end I said to her, “God will not finish this deliverance off until you get rid of all your books. He’ll keep you on the hook in his faithfulness and mercy ‘til you’ve gotten rid of the books.” She said, “My books are worth about eight or nine thousand dollars.” I said, “What’s your soul worth?” As far as I know, that woman never got rid of those books. She’ll probably end a lost soul because of eight thousand dollar’s worth of occult literature.

All these things in the Bible are true and up to date. I must keep going.

Galatians 1:6–9. Paul is really upset with the Galatian Christians. He says:

“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel...”

We don’t need to read the next two verses but the problem with the Galatians was a false gospel had been brought to them after they had become Christians, been saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. A false gospel had been brought to them and they began to accept it. Paul is tremendously disturbed about their condition and he writes these words to them.

Then in Galatians 3:1 he says:

“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you...”

Notice through receiving a false gospel they had come under the power of witchcraft. They were Spirit baptized believers, the very next verse says that they had received the Holy Spirit but because they had turned away from the truth of the gospel and embraced a false gospel, a deceptive teaching, they had become bewitched. They had come under the power of witchcraft. The evidence is found in Galatians 4:9–10:

“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

The modern translations say “elemental spirits.” They’d gone back to the worship of elemental spirits.

“Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.”

There’s the outward mark of it. Horoscopes and astrology. How many Charismatics are in that category today? Millions.

Going on to 2 Timothy 3:6 and following.

“For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

There are some teachers who get into homes and prey on silly women. Paul then goes back to the history of Israel and the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and reminds the Christians of the conflict Moses had before Israel could be delivered from Egypt with the magicians of Egypt whose names were Jannes and Jambres. That’s why they’re named there.

“Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.”

So just as magicians resisted Moses when God’s people were to be delivered from Egypt, so in this age practitioners of the occult will resist the messengers of the gospel. I love the next verse, oh, you should underline that verse!

“But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be made manifest unto all men, as was the folly of the Egyptian magicians.”

Friends, we’re coming to the place of an open conflict between the forces of Satan and the forces of Christ. It’s going to be fought out in the supernatural realm. But praise God, the Bible declares that the folly of Satan’s administrators will be openly manifested. I believe it will happen in the next ten years. I believe there will be a showdown between occult power and the power of the Holy Spirit in the true church of Jesus Christ. Thank God I’m on the winning side.

The same chapter, verse 13:

“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

This is a picture of the approach of the close of the age. Where the King James says “seducers,” the Greek says “magicians.” It’s the same word that’s used in Acts 8, 13 and elsewhere. So, as we come near the end of the age there will be more and more of evil men and the practitioners of the occult deceiving but themselves deceived. That’s exactly the way it is and I suppose there’s no place in the world where it is more manifest today than Southern California. These words are being exactly fulfilled in Southern California today. Evil men and magicians, practitioners of the occult are getting worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. You could really put a line against that and say happening now. I really believe it is.

Now, we’re going back to the Old Testament for some other examples. God has shown me that every time he’s going to do something tremendous for his people, the last opposition of Satan to what God is going to do comes through occult, supernatural, satanic power. That’s Satan’s last attempt to frustrate the purposes of God.

Go back and we won’t turn there tonight because I don’t have time to read it, but to Exodus 7 and 8 and you’ll find that when Moses was sent back by God to deliver Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, he was given certain miraculous signs that he was to perform. One of those signs was that he was to cast his rod on the ground and when it was cast on the ground it would become a snake. At a certain point God told Moses, “Go in before Pharaoh and do your sign as evidence that I’ve commissioned you and this is my seal of authority.” Moses went in before Pharaoh—this is remarkable when you think about it—took his rod and threw it down on the ground and it became a snake. Do you know what Pharaoh did? He said, “Send for my magicians.” He said to the magicians, “This is what Moses can do, what can you do?” And they said, “We can do the same.” They threw their rods on the ground and they became snakes. But there’s one happy detail. Moses’ snake ate up the snakes of the Egyptians.

I often think about that when I’m at a spiritual conflict confronted by the forces of enemy. “Well, let’s throw our rods down.” But God’s rod will eat up the snakes of the enemy. However, notice the point that the magicians could do the supernatural by the power of Satan. They could do what Moses did.

Then God said to Moses, “Do the next sign. Take the water out of the river and turn it into blood.” Aaron stretched out his rod over the rivers and waters and ponds of Egypt and they all became blood. What did Pharaoh do? He sent for the magicians. He said, “This is what Moses and Aaron can do, what can you do?” They said, “We can do the same.” They did.

The third sign God told Moses, he said, “Call for the frogs. Call them up out of the rivers and ponds of Egypt.” And the frogs came up out of all the rivers and ponds and filled the houses of Pharaoh and his servants so that they just couldn’t go to bed for frogs, they couldn’t use their cooking utensils for frogs; there were just frogs everywhere. Pharaoh was not unduly impressed. He may have been inconvenienced but he wasn’t impressed. He sent for his magicians and said, “This is what Moses did, what can you do?” They said, “We can do the same.” They called the frogs up out of the river. You should read that carefully, it’s in Exodus 7 and 8. Satan’s practitioners can do the supernatural by the power of Satan. And, in many cases, they can mimic what the supernatural power of God does.

Then God said to Moses, “Stretch out your rod over Egypt and the dust will become lice on man and beast.” Moses did it. Pharaoh sent for the magicians and they tried to do the same and couldn’t do it. Moses had gone beyond the ability of the magicians. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God. This is something we can’t do.”

But notice that was the last attempt to frustrate the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. Satan resorted to occult, supernatural power. My conviction is every time God is going to deliver his people, the last opposition will be in the occult, supernatural realm. But the battle will not be fought on the natural plane.

We come to a point about 30 years later when Israel were just about to go into the Promised Land. Balak the king of Moab feared them and wanted to hinder them but could not defeat them in battle. So what did Balak do? He called for a magician. Balaam. Balaam was well known, he was probably the Edgar Cayce of his day. He was in touch with the true God. This is an amazing story. Time doesn’t permit going in detail. Balaam said to God, “Shall I go?” God said, “No, because these people aren’t cursed, they’re blessed, they’re my people.” Balaam sent a message back to Balak that said can’t come. Balak said, “We’ll increase the honorarium. We’ll give you twice as much if you’ll come.” Balaam said, “I tell you, I can’t come.” He was pretty interested in the money. So, he prayed to God a second time—which he had no right to do, really. God said—you can find this in Numbers 22—God said, “If they come and call you again, go with them.” They didn’t come and call him again but he still went with them.

Then there’s the famous scene of the angel standing in the way and God opening the ass’s mouth and showing Balaam that he was rebellious and disobedient. But, he arrived. Balak said, “Curse me the people.” Balaam said, “I’m warning you in advance, Balak, I can’t say one word more than God gives me.” When Balak asked him to curse them he opened his mouth and blessed them. Every time he opened his mouth he blessed them more than the time before. The purposes of Balak against Israel were frustrated. Notice that he resorted to the supernatural, the last weapon of Satan is in the occult realm.

We go to 1Kings 18, the great conflict between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. There were 400 false prophets in one group and 450 in another group. 850 evil prophets, satanically empowered prophets. Elijah said, “Come on, we’ll see which God will answer by fire. You take a bullock and I’ll take a bullock. You’re many, you start.” What impresses me about that story is that they really believed they could get fire down out of heaven. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have accepted the challenge. It says they leaped on the altar, they cut themselves with lancets ‘til the blood gushed out. They behaved exactly like the dervishes of the Middle East and the Orient seeking to get supernatural, satanic power to kindle that sacrifice on the altar.

But it didn’t work. You know why it didn’t work, in my opinion? Because of the presence of Elijah. His power restrained the supernatural power of Satan.

In Revelation 13:13 it says at the end of this age the false prophet will be able to call fire down from heaven and work many other miracles. The ability to work miracles is not necessarily an attestation that a man is a representative of the true God.

Then Elijah called down fire and it fell. The people fell upon their faces and said, “The Lord, he is the God.” All through Old Testament and New Testament we see that every critical point in God’s dealings with his people, the ultimate in Satan’s opposition is in the realm of the occult and the supernatural. He has to be defeated in that realm.

Let me now give you two cities which are pictures in the Old Testament of the power of witchcraft. The one is Nineveh, the other is Babylon. I’ll only briefly read these scriptures. Nahum, the prophet Nahum is the prophet that describes God’s judgment on Nineveh. In Nahum 3:4, speaking to Nineveh in the word of the Lord, Nahum says:

“Because of the multitude of whoredoms of the well favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts that selleth nations through her whoredoms and families through her witchcrafts.”

That’s what witchcraft does. It sells nations and families into the hand of Satan. Nineveh was a center of witchcraft, it was a center of the deliberate cultivation of satanic power.

Now turn to Babylon in Isaiah 47. Again we’ll just read quickly a few verses. Isaiah 47:1 and a couple of other verses.

“Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon...”

This is spoken to Babylon, it’s God’s predicted judgment on Babylon. Verse 9:

“These two things shall come upon thee in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.”

Babylon also was a city totally given over to the cultivation of Satan’s supernatural power.

In verses 12–13 of the same chapter God again challenges Babylon. He says:

“Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shall be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.”

Enchantments and sorceries. The next verse says:

“Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.”

That is essentially astrology and horoscopes. Monthly prognosticators are horoscope readers in modern English. Babylon was a center of all that.

It is significant that in the New Testament, Babylon is the name given to the final, abominable, religious group that become the harlot at the end of the book of Revelation. The false church. I want to point out this to you in reading from Revelation 18. The ultimate enemy of the true church is always the false church. The greatest, the most cruel persecutors of true religion are the representatives of false religion. It has been that way from the beginning of human history ‘til the end of human history, it does not change.

The first scene, the first picture of human religion are the two sacrifices of Abel and Cain. Abel representing faith in God, the need for a redemptive sacrifice, shed blood, the supernatural testimony of God’s power. Cain representing human religion of good works without shed blood or substitutionary sacrifice, simply offering the fruit of an earth that was already cursed of God. The net result—listen friends—Abel’s religion produced a martyr, Cain’s religion produced a murderer. That’s been so ever since all through human history. The great persecutors of the saints of God are the representatives of false religion.

Now, looking at that, look in Revelation 18 which is the picture of God’s judgment upon this evil end time religious system called Babylon and see what God says. Revelation 18:2:

“And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become a habitation of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit...”

That’s the Prince version just a little brought up to date. Babylon became the center of all demons and unclean spirits.

Now look what it says about Babylon at the end of that chapter. The last two verses, verses 23–24:

“And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee; for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.”

Babylon at the end time is the center of satanic deception for all nations.

And now, look at the next verse.

“And in her [Babylon] was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

All murder originates in false religion. You better give heed to this because it hasn’t finished. The last great conflict is just ahead. You want to know the real enemy of the true church? It isn’t the Communists, it’s the false church.

The true church, true to Jesus Christ is going to be more and more filled with the Spirit of God. Conversely, the false church, disloyal to Jesus Christ, is going to be more and more filled with psychic and occult power. The conflict and the contrast will be open for all to see. God intends to demonstrate it.

Now, it’s only just about 8:30 and I have a little more to say. I think this is good. Now I’m going to take one final character, the epitome of witchcraft. One woman who is the Bible picture of witchcraft. I suppose most of you know her name. Jezebel, that’s right. Jezebel is mentioned precisely seven times in the Old Testament and once in the New. I’ll take it, we start in 1Kings 16 and we read through in 2Kings just picking out a few verses. 1Kings 16:30–31:

“And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.”

Ahab was the king of God’s people, the northern kingdom, Israel.

“And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam [who made the two golden calves], that he took Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.”

Under the influence of his wife Jezebel. And Satan made a master move in Jezebel because he put Jezebel beside the political head of Israel. Ahab, a weak man, came under the total domination of his wife Jezebel. This is the typical picture, it’s not very much different in Washington D.C. from time to time in these days. Satan will try to capture a nation by witchcraft working through the political leaders. Here’s the whole pattern unfolded in scripture.

Jezebel was a bitter, cruel, relentless enemy of every true servant of the true God. 1Kings 18:4, it was Jezebel who cut off the prophets of the Lord.

1Kings 19:2–3, after the great conflict on Mount Carmel when Elijah had demonstrated the superior power of the true God in the supernatural realm, Jezebel sent a message and I’d like to read it.

“Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them [those prophets that were killed on Mount Carmel] by the morrow about this time. And when he [Elijah] saw that, he arose, and went for his life.”

Do you know what God showed me? You can measure the power of witchcraft in a woman when you consider the fact that even the prophet Elijah fled from Jezebel. When I saw that I realized the enormity of the evil power that confronts us. I mean, if ever there was a man of God, a man of strength, and a man of courage, it was Elijah. But even he fled from the witch Jezebel.

See, I’m coming back to this. Unless the eyes of men—and I mean males—are opened to recognize what they’re dealing with, men are no match for witches. They cannot fight that power. You’ll find that where witchcraft prevails, the man is a spiritual dropout. He may be a church member but as for having any gumption or doing anything for God, he’ll never do it. That’s the reason why I would say 80 percent of American males are spiritual dropouts. Can you say amen to that? I think that’s an underestimate. The American male can succeed in any other area of activity remarkably except the two areas of the home and spiritual leadership.

We’re going on. 1Kings 21:5–16. Jezebel procured the death of Naboth, an upright servant of God by false witnesses.

1Kings 21:25–26. This is summing up the influence of Jezebel over Ahab.

“But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols...”

The real power in that situation was not Ahab, it was Jezebel. Ahab did what Jezebel told him to. That is always wrong. I’ll come to the basic spiritual reason for that in a few moments. A situation where a husband is dictated to by his wife is always evil. You probably heard about the man who was telling his friends how well he and his wife got along. “We never had any trouble because when we got married we agreed that I would make all the major decisions and my wife would make all the minor decisions. We’ve never had any trouble because we’ve never had any major decisions.”

2Kings 9:22. This is the utterance of Jehu and we don’t need to go into the background, you can read it for yourself. Jehu said:

“What peace can there be, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?”

Jezebel was a harlot and a witch. They frequently go together. Jehu, God’s avenging instrument, said this kingdom can never make peace as long as Jezebel continues with her prostitution, her immorality, her sex life and her witchcraft.

The last scene, Jehu rides into the city. Jezebel realizes judgment has come and she tries one last trick. Oh, how true this is to human life. 2Kings 9:30–31:

“And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and did up her hair, and looked out of the window.”

What was she trying to do? She was trying sex appeal on Jehu. Maybe she could get Jehu under her thumb like she had Ahab before.

I am not narrow minded about women wearing makeup. I want you to know that. I don’t even notice whether they do or don’t. People say to me, “Did she wear makeup?” I don’t know. I don’t look at women that way. But, when it says Jezebel painted her face, there’s something that you need to take heed to. That’s not a correct translation. I venture to say I know what it means was she put black lines across her eyes and out at the corners. If you’ve lived in Oriental countries, this is the regular practice. For instance, of all Hindus. They always put that on the girls even from the age of 3 and 4 because they believe it wards off evil spirits. You keep loving me. I don’t mind if you want to use eye shadow, go ahead and use it. Rouge, lipstick, whatever it is. I’m sure the names have changed. It doesn’t matter to me but there is a way that some women adorn their eyes that makes them look like a witch. No Christian woman can afford that. There is a way of drawing these black lines out and even turning them up that shouts at anybody with discernment, “I am a witch.”

I’ve had women come to me for deliverance and I’ve had to say, “Sure, I’ll pray for you if you go and wash your face first. But as long as you want to look like a witch, why should you be delivered from the spirit of witchcraft?” I hope you got me right. I didn’t say it in a bad or a hard spirit. I’ve seen homes changed—and I’m thinking of one in particular—when the woman removed the things from the corners of her eyes. It was an act of submission to God and to her husband.

See, I’ll tell you this now. We’re coming near the end. 1 Samuel 15:23 says this:

“Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.”

They’re very closely related. When a person is in witchcraft they will almost always practice rebellion. A woman who is a witch will never be in genuine submission to her husband, she will not do it. In fact, there’s something in her that will not let her do it even if she wants to.