What a question. Is Churchianity, the church system, under a spirit of Witchcraft?
I ask the hard questions. For some reason, I ask questions, often about things that no one else seems to question, things that most people take for granted. Because of those questions, which revolve around the church system, I have been called a backslidden Christian, a so-called Christian, a heathen, and probably worse. Those are just the ones people have said to me personally or online.
Recently, I heard an audio clip of Derek Prince speaking about the spirit of witchcraft. I don’t have an exact quote from that minute-or-so sound bite, but the gist is that the spirit of witchcraft has three main characteristics: manipulation, intimidation, and domination.
Prince stated that people, governments, businesses, and organizations can be under the influence of a spirit of witchcraft, and it is evidenced by the presence of at least two of these three characteristics.
He went on to comment that the spirit of witchcraft uses either manipulation or intimidation (guilt) to gain domination (control). He stated the individual involved may not even know the spirit is influencing them, but if you see these characters at play, you can rest assured that the spirit of witchcraft is at work at some level.
As I listened to this, I realized that this is how many, many, many church groups function. Honestly, it is what I experienced and how I functioned within the church system for much of my adult life.
Within the church system, leadership needs to get people to follow. In other words, for the system to work, people need to do what the leader wants. When that does not happen, the group will cease to exist.
Sadly, for this system to work, many times, the leadership reverts to manipulation and intimidation to accomplish the goal, not realizing that the spirit of witchcraft is working behind the scenes.
For example, when giving is low, manipulation will take place. A leader will preach a sermon about giving, its importance, and how children in other countries will starve if we don’t give a more significant offering. If the manipulation doesn’t work, intimidation and even condemnation set in. Now, God can’t bless you because you aren’t giving. God won’t protect you from the devourer; everything you have is under a curse. Manipulation and intimidation ultimately lead to conforming and control. Some gatherings I’ve attended do this week after week with mini-sermons before the offering is taken, uh, received.
Indeed, not everyone will fall for the tactics, but they are there. I know from both sides of the pew.
When I was in the church biz as a pastor, I never really liked the intimidation part. It always seemed wrong to me. I would have people tell me I needed to control the flock more. I needed to call them out and make them toe the line. I even had one person tell me that I needed to do what a pastor in his church back in New York used to do. He would hire private investigators to follow someone before allowing them to do anything in the church. Ultimately, that is intimidation on steroids.
Today, when I visit a church, I see manipulation and intimidation at work. The leaders work hard to convince the people to follow them and do what they want. They manipulate through praise, telling them what a great church they are. They try to intimidate or guilt them into compliance if that doesn’t accomplish their goal.
The most prominent example of this I can recall is the TV telethon that Christian channels employ. For years, I worked with a company that was part of the behind-the-scenes telethon operations of two major networks. I watched them manipulate and intimidate with hour after hour of preaching about giving. I would hear how God couldn’t bless if they didn’t give and how He would if they did. When that wasn’t matching up with the monetary goal the network set, they would switch to, “If we don’t reach $XXX.XX by 5 p.m., we will have to go off the air.” But they never did.
It’s not all about money.
It’s not all about the money. There are other ways this plays out. Church attendance is another one. If you love God, you will attend church; if you really love God, you’ll be here each week. Manipulation.
God’s not going to bless you if you don’t attend church. Don’t forsake the assembly, brother. You can’t be a Christian and not attend church.
I heard it all, and sadly, I said some of it, too. While I never went too far down the rabbit trail with finances, I sure did on church attendance. I honestly believed that if you loved God, you would want to attend church.
Today, my tune has changed. I love God and the people who attend church services, but sadly, I have little patience with the church system. Every time I attend a gathering, I see what I now realize is the spirit of witchcraft at work in the system. It’s not that the people are bad, but they are under the influence of this spirit without knowing it.
Today, I long for community and relationships, but I can’t fathom having to sit under a spirit of witchcraft week after week to obtain the desired fellowship. Nor do I believe this is God’s best plan for His Ekklesia.
Before I close this post, I need to clarify that the role of witchcraft does not just affect pastoral leadership. In many local congregations, the hired pastor is the one fighting against the spirit of witchcraft. The local organization firmly entrenched that spirit long before the pastor arrived. The board of directors, deacons, elders, or whatever title they’ve given themselves want to run the show. It’s the “If you don’t do what we want, you can pack your bags” mentality.
Regardless of who the spirit works through, the spirit of witchcraft is deeply rooted in the churchianty system. It seeks to control through manipulation or, if needed, intimidation. Whether it works through the congregation to maintain the pastor, the leaders to control the congregants, or even the denomination to control the local churches, it is at work.
Sadly, I think the spirit of witchcraft is at work in much, if not most, of the church system. The result is that through this spirit, the pastors, boards, or other individuals are in control of the show. Unfortunately, that leaves Jesus and His Holy Spirit outside.
I’m hopeful that there are exceptions. I long to find His Body gathering where there is a complete absence of top-down authority structure, where the Body comes together, each functioning in the gift that God has given, working together as One. That is, after all, what the Ekklesia is supposed to be.
