Jesus was a 'sorcerer,' Bible a 'book of magic,' say Christian witches ahead of first annual convention
The first annual Christian witches convention is set to be hosted in Salem, Massachusetts, this April and will feature internationally recognized Prophet Calvin Witcher who agrees with the convention’s host that Jesus was a sorcerer and the Bible is really a “book of magic.”
The Rev. Valerie Love, the force behind the event who describes herself as a practicing Christian witch and an ordained minister of spiritual consciousness, recently launched the Covenant of Christian Witches Mystery School to help Christians tap into magic, which critics are condemning as "dangerous." She insists there is nothing wrong with the idea of Christians practicing magic despite biblical warnings against it.
In an extended discussion with Witcher approximately two months ago on reconciling the practice of witchcraft and Christianity, Witcher, whose website says he “brings God’s messages to humanity through powerful teaching and training, allowing non-traditional followers to hear the divine voice of hope,” said the Bible is a “huge book of sorcery.”
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“The Bible is a huge book of sorcery. You literally can’t get around that. You can’t get around Jesus being a magician. There’s just no way,” he said.
Asked to elaborate on what he meant by his statement, Witcher pointed to miracles from Jesus’ adult ministry as clear examples of sorcery.
“You’re talking about sorcery at its base understanding, it’s really just being able to change the natural by supernatural means. That’s really it. It’s an alchemical process. It’s to say that you turn water into wine. One, two fish and five loaves of bread, feeding the multitude - absolutely forms of sorcery. Walking on water defined the natural realm and laws that govern this physical plane. That’s all realms of sorcery. Magic is simply just using the props to do it,” he contended.
“You’re talking about the whole of Jesus’ adult ministry is all magic, all sorcery. Even if we just say ‘Jesus.’ Every particular miracle Jesus does defies human law, defies the laws of the universe and the world. So … you can’t really talk about being a Jesus follower without doing what he did which is magic."
Love revealed previously that she was "born a witch" but was forced to stifle her identity as a Jehovah's Witness from age 4 to 30 when she finally left the "cult."
She told Witcher in their conversation that she wasn’t taught how to do the things that Jesus did such as raising the dead even though Christ declared that those who follow Him would do greater works than He did in John 14:12.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father,” the Scripture says.
Witcher, who describes himself as a believer in Christ who still speaks with tongues from his background in the Pentecostal church, said the Scripture has “haunted me” and agreed that they were both still working on getting up to Jesus’ level.
“My background in Pentecostalism really set me up on a good foundation. We had tools. We did anointing oils, prayer shawls, demonology was taught very regularly at least in my circles. So those conversations were not weird. We talked on the gifts of the spirit … going into magic was a very easy segue. … The only thing it did was expand that particular power outside that particular practice,” he said of his full entry into the realm of magic.
Among the rituals he and his community have conducted he said are “money magic” and “warding of entities that we don’t necessarily want to work with at that particular time.
Love said she believes that “it’s only natural” for Christianity and witchcraft to be integrated while Witcher argues that church leaders teach against it to keep people as “slaves.”
“The interesting thing is, most of the time when people come against magic, sorcery, mysticism, the occult, you name it, the new age community … they are not really coming against the Bible because the Bible honestly doesn’t teach that when you understand it and break it down,” he said. “The Bible is not against magic. The Bible is a magic book. The Bible is a grimoire, hands down.”
He argued that for people to fully appreciate the power of John 14: 12, they need to understand mysticism which is “simply just absorption with the divine.”
“We believe that we are one with the Spirit, we are not just an emanation or extension of God, we are as it is. All Christians are mystic, especially Charismatics [because] it was always taught that I and my Father are one. We are one with the Spirit. We are the children of God. We are the children of the Almighty. … There is no difference between me and the Father. There is no difference between me and Jesus,” he said, arguing that “you’ll never rise to a level that you don’t believe you’ll achieve.”
R.C. Sproul, late theologian and founder of Ligonier Ministries, previously took on the interpretation of John 14:12 in a blog post and argued that Christians who believe that there are people on earth performing greater works than Jesus are suffering from a “serious delusion.”
“There are many today who believe that there are people running around this world right now who are performing greater miracles, performing miracles in greater abundance, and actually doing more incredible acts of divine healing than Jesus Himself did. I can’t think of any more serious delusion than that, that somebody would actually think they have exceeded Jesus in terms of the works He has done. There’s nobody who comes close to the work that Jesus did,” he wrote.
“If Jesus meant that people would do greater miracles than He performed in the sense of displaying more power and more astonishing things than He did, then obviously one of the works that Jesus failed to perform was sound prophecy, because that just didn’t happen. Nobody exceeded Jesus’ works. That’s what leads me to believe that’s not what He meant. I think He’s using the term ‘greater’ in a different way,” Sproul argued.
“If you look at the record, you will see that it was the Christian church that spearheaded the abolition of slavery, the end of the Roman arena, the whole concept of education, the concept of charitable hospitals and orphanages, and a host of other humanitarian activities. I think, personally, that that’s what Jesus meant when He talked about greater works,” Sproul added.
In a video this month promoting The First Annual Christian Witches Convention which will be held April 15-21, Love said Witcher will be teaching at her Mystery School as well as bringing a “powerhouse word.”
She said on the final day of the event, Easter Sunday, the witches will also gather for their first ever church service.
“Sunday morning, Resurrection Sunday. Easter Sunday, the first ever that we’ve ever done, Christian witches church service. And this is probably the heart of the whole convention for me. Bringing a word to you from the pulpit [of] Rev. Valerie Love at a Christian witches church service,” she said. “We have musical guests that you will love and we have all the inspiration and a powerful word, especially for Christian witches, oh my God!”
A report in The Christian Post last fall highlighted the astronomical growth of self-identified witches in the U.S.
Jennifer LeClaire, founder of Jennifer LeClaire Ministries and director at the Awakening House of Prayer in Florida who has been tracking the Christian witches’ movement for several years, has warned that the mixing of witchcraft and Christianity is "dangerous" and said the movement is growing.
"In this season, I've seen a rise of Christians practicing witchcraft. Or maybe they aren't Christians at all. I won't judge someone's salvation, but when people in church release word curses, pray against you, and conduct unholy fasts to destroy you, the fruit of the Spirit is clearly lacking," she wrote last fall. "Galatians 6 lists both the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh. Witchcraft is among them. But there is a higher level of witchcraft that some so-called Christians are tapping into and it's dangerous."
