by J. Randal Matheny

Who could resist the wiggling nose of Samantha Stevens as she solved problem after problem in "Bewitched"?

Who didn't have fun as a kid dressed up in a costume going door to door collecting delectables?

What's the problem with letting the kids read Harry Potter?

Why the criticism of video games that spice up their offerings with touches of magic?

Magic and witchcraft are all the rage these days. The challenging question is how the Christian deals with its appearance in the arts, literature, holidays, and culture.

What does the Bible have to say about witchcraft?

First, there is no such thing as good witchcraft or white magic.

When people converted to Christ in Ephesus, they burned their magic books. "And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver" (Acts 19:19, ESV). The practice of magic was so evil, it was considered necessary to publicly confess it and publicly destroy its tools. If Judas had been there, he might have complained that the books might have been sold and the money given to the poor. But this fortune was worth only burning.

In the Old Testament, those who practiced witchcraft, sorcery, and necromancy were to be stoned (Lev. 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deut. 18:9-14). These were "abominable practices" before the Lord.

In God's kingdom today, witchcraft is still abominable and damnable. One cannot affirm that the type of witchcraft condemned in the Bible was the evil kind, for all kinds, for whatever purposes, are condemned.

That means there are no good witches, no white magic, nothing positive in sorcery.

Second, the Holy Scriptures condemn all magic and witchcraft unreservedly, because magic attempts to manipulate circumstances and people and put supernatural forces at man's disposal. Man seeks to use lesser forces than God to fulfill his own will, not the divine purpose. Sorcery purports to determine events, not God.

The famous case of King Saul consulting the witch of Endor is a case in point. Saul "took things into his own hands"/1 and tried to work around the word of God to find a way out of his predicament.

For that reason, sorcery is a work of the flesh that will keep one from inheriting the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).

"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8).

Third, the Bible prohibits even the "naming" of sinful behavior among the saints.

Paul commanded, "But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness no foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. ... For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret" (Eph. 5:3-4, 12).

The NIV appropriately translates "named" as "there must not even be a hint." The NEB says these things "must not be so much as mentioned" among Christians. Making light of serious sins is not for the follower of Jesus.

What religious people invite their children to pretend at sexual immorality? What church sponsors a festival for impurity and covetousness? So why is sorcery different, that we will make light of magic and use witchcraft as a source of entertainment? The inconsistency here seems obvious.

Practices that might have been considered innocent enough 30 or 40 years ago have acquired sinister meanings today. Wiccan is a growing religion. The Harry Potter books have caught the crest of a wave and incited children's interest in the occult. All the while parents smile over the indoctrination of their children into the wiles of the devil.

The great temptation is to rid yourself of problems with the wiggle of the nose or the wave of a wand. Even in our fantasies.

God wants real people facing life realistically. Playing around with magic flies in the face of true Christian faith.

1/John Willis, First and Second Samuel, Living Word Commentary (Sweet, 1982), p. 261.

by J. Randal Matheny

My homeschooled daughter Leila started a new grade this morning. As I was finishing off my almondshake for breakfast, Vicki cranked up the first exercise of the new school year.

Appropriately enough, her first spelling lesson grouped words about "time."

First, Vicki read a historical, philosophical quote from the wonderful historical, philosophical figure, Benjamin Franklin, "Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."

Leila then had to pronounce, spell out, and pronounce again important terms associated with time. I spelled them out in my mind with her.

Simultaneously - All those things I'm trying to do at once.

Chronic - Ongoing, often in a negative sense, like "chronic pain" at losing to Leila in rummy or to the boys in basketball.

Occasional - Once in a while, with no regularity. Like my exercise routine.

February - The book said the first "r" gets a slight pronunciation. Who wrote the book anyway, a Bostonian?

Seasonal - Occurring certain times of the year, like Christmas, Easter, or my poetic inspiration.

Century - How long I plan to live.

Ancient - How old my daughter thinks I am. Wait till she sees me at 100.

Contemporary - What some men in mid-life crisis want to be. And some churches.

Punctual - Arriving on time. But I live in Brazil, where everybody's late.

Continuous - Nonstop. Like my daughter's conversation when she gets to sit by her dad on the airplane.

The Bible has some time terms it wants us to know as well.

Always -

"Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity" (Prov. 28:14, ESV).

"You shall therefore love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always" (Deut. 11:1).

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice" (Php. 4:4).

"but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Pet. 3:15).

Soon -

"The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you" (Rom. 16:20).

"And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book" (Rev. 22:7).

Never -

"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:20).

"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28).

"But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Rom. 10:14).

Ancient -

"Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set" (Prov. 22:28).

"Thus says the LORD: 'Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, "We will not walk in it"'" (Jer. 6:16).

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days" (Mic. 5:2).

Opportunity -

"This will be your opportunity to bear witness" (Luke 21:13).

"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).

"and give no opportunity to the devil" (Eph. 4:27).

Time -

"Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, but your time is always here'" (John 7:6).

"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:13).

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you" (1 Pet. 5:6).

Conclusion -

That's what I have to do now.

by J. Randal Matheny

"But He gives a greater grace. There it says, 'God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'" Jas. 4:6, NASU

Grace is a slippery slope for some, a blanket to cover the shoddiness, laziness, rebellion, and stubbornness of the recalcitrant heart. But I don't want to go there today.

How to conquer the desire to be friends with the world, at the same time we try to hang on to God? How to douse the lust and envy we've allowed to lodge in our spirit which God made to dwell in us?

Any time we look in our hearts, we despair. The more we delve, the more we see how entrenched sin is in us. Those who would counsel listening to our heart, searching for truth within us, or discovering the divine in our own soul are so deluded, they have yet to really take the first look.

Jeremiah looked, and this is what he saw: "I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23).

After a hard lick, David woke up: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me." He wasn't talking about his mother, but how deeply sin had rooted itself in his life.

Terrified at God's glory, Isaiah wailed: "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips;..." (Isa. 6:5).

Randal, who was reared in a Christian home, pulled back the religious talk and syrupy smiles, and gasped: "How can this be? Where did this sneak in? How did my life get this way?"

It's a sorry sight, my heart, and yours. Enough to make us want to throw in the towel.

So right after James calls us adulteresses, and right after he slaps us with, "You think the Bible is flapping in the wind?", he moves in quickly with, "But He gives a greater grace."

It's not an easy believism that smoothes over ruffled feathers. No quick kiss and make-up, and everything will be all right in the morning. No never mind what I just said.

It's a hard answer, a tough-poise reply, a shake-you-down-to-your-boots response.

God gives greater grace. Husky, burly truth here, that will buckle you to your knees, wrench your body, and convulse your soul. The tears won't stop, the nose runs from weeping, the lungs lose their breath from sobbing. (Read Jas. 4:7-10.)

God gives greater grace. To do the impossible, to extend forgiveness, to break the habit, to remake the image, to turn envy into contentment under his shadowed hand.

God gives greater grace. Greater than my puny sacrifices, greater than my trials and temptations, greater than my hang-ups and obsessions, greater than my personal pity party, greater than all the darkness and dirt that lurk in the deepest crevices of the soul.

God gives greater grace.

The one truth that keeps my head afloat.

The single spasm that puts one foot in front of the other.

The only rope that pulls me out and up.

The hardest rock that makes my softest pillow.

God gives greater grace.

I want to go there today.

by J. Randal Matheny

In his practical letter, James entertains such a philosophical question as, "What is your life?" (Jas. 4:14, ESV). But his interest is not philosophical. He demonstrates by the question/1 that life is short and we cannot assume we'll be alive tomorrow. James questions our assumptions about how life really works and of what it actually consists.

The nature of the essence of life is a frequent subject in the Bible, as we might expect. As Moses winds down his series of farewell sermons, he too addresses the issue.

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them" (Deut. 30:19-20, NASU).

By his phrase, "this is your life," the embattled leader points up at least three qualities that make up what life is, or should be.

1. Your life is CHOOSING GOD.

The old adage, "Life is what you make it," is close to being true. Life is, truly, as you choose it.

God made man a being conscious of himself, his surroundings, his social relationships, and the invisible realities beyond his senses. He created man with free will, with the ability to choose for himself. With that, he became a creature capable of love and righteousness, capable of true interaction with his Creator.

The story of man is the history of his choices. Recognizing that, Moses urges Israel to choose rightly, wisely, godly. Their choice must be for faithfulness, loyalty, constancy.

"The making of a decision, however, involved more than simple affirmation; it involved a whole way of life based upon that decision."/2

Choice is not God, but choice certainly brings one to God and to life in and with God.

2. Your life is RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

To choose life is to choose God. The atheist is a fool, says the Psalmist, because in his struggle against God he admits by his negation that he is overpowered by the existence of God.

The English Standard Version translates our key phrase here as, "he is your life."/3 God is your life. The NASU margin says that it is literally, "that is your life," and P. C. Craigie so translates it, apparently referring to the choice.

In the end, both translations are correct. The choosing puts one in relationship with God, who gives life and makes life what it ought to be. Perhaps the ESV wanted to get away from the idea of life depending upon any action of ours and point directly to God as the source of life.

However that may be, Moses' phrases, "by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him" all point to our relationship with God and to what must be its necessary basis.

In the New Testament, the same truth is evident.

John writes of Jesus, "In Him was life" (John 1:4a).

Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).

True life is surrendering to God and to being found by him.

3. Your life is RECEIVING THE PROMISE OF GOD.

God had promised to make of Abraham a great people and give him a special land in which to dwell. Moses now reminds Israel that God is fulfilling his promises, but their enjoyment of its fulfillment depends upon their faithfulness.

The New Testament makes use of the language of inheriting the land and spiritualizes it for the church of God. "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth," Jesus proclaimed. Inheriting the earth in this beatitude is on the same plane as receiving the kingdom of God, seeing God, and being called the sons of God, among others.

In Ephesians 6:3, Paul apparently reinterprets the promise attached to honoring one's father and mother, of living long on the earth, in spiritual terms.

The land promise was restricted to Israel under the Old Testament. Now, Christians await "new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet. 3:13).

In Christ we have, says Peter, "precious and magnificent promises" far greater than the Israelites could ever imagine (2 Pet. 1:4). These promises, the greatest of which is to "become partakers of the divine nature," compel us to add every divine quality to our faith (vv. 5-9). Thus, the promises entail the very nature of what our life is all about.

Summing Up

There seems to be a subtle difference between saying "this brings life" and "this is life." The latter might be well expressed by the popular phrase, said perhaps by one out on the lake fishing or stretched out in a hammock, "This is the life!" The act engaged in supposedly expresses what it means to truly live.

Similarly, we may say that, in the very act of choosing God, of relating to God, and of receiving the promises of God, this is the life. This is what it means to be alive.

Choose life; choose God; choose his promises. This is YOUR life.

1/ The NASU text takes the question as part of a statement: "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow."

3/ Also, ASV and AMP; NIV: "For the Lord is your life;" RSV/NRSV: "for that means life to you." Clyde M. Woods comments, "Less likely is the older rendering, 'he is your life' (Living Way Commentary, vol. II [Lambert Book House, 1974], p. 288).

by J. Randal Matheny

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you."

Isa. 60:1, ESV

Some writers quibble that we cannot add to God's glory, and I suppose they have a point. Perhaps we can but recognize God's glory and reflect it to others. At least, we can enlarge the shining of God's glory among men.

Isaiah's verse above suggests to us several lessons about the glory of God.

First, God bids us leave our sin. Jerusalem is pictured as a prostrate, humiliated woman, punished for her sins, now bidden to rise to welcome the coming of God's glory. How can we cling to the past, to transgression, to guilt, when God shines upon us?

Second, God bids us bask in his light. His desire has always been to bless man. The first thing he did after creating Adam and Eve was to bless them. God's favor spills upon the pentitent, upon the one who is willing to rise to meet the splendorous shower of his presence. His light is cleansing, transforming, empowering.

Third, God bids us fulfill his mission. Shine God's light to the nations. "His glory will be seen upon you" by the peoples of the world (v. 2). Stand up straight, stand tall, let God be evident in you to those around you. "Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me," we sing. Yes, indeed. Through word and deed (both are necessary) God will be made known and the nations will come to him.

Give glory to God by leaving sin, receiving his glory, and shining as lights in a dark world. Now that's heavy!