THE PROBLEM OF BEWITCHMENT | Deliverance From Evil Foundation by Dr. D.K Olukoya

THE PROBLEM OF BEWITCHMENT

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: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Acts 8:9-14.

The Bible makes it clear that there is a weapon called sorcery and its agenda is to bewitch people. In the passage above one man bewitched a whole city giving the impession that he was a great one. All the people in the city were saying that; he was a great man of God.” They had regard for him because for a long time he had bewitched them with sorcery.

But when they believed Philip who preached of the things of God, a contrary power moved to the city. It was the power of the kingdom of God which cannot be challenged or contended with. As a mater of rule, whenever a great power comes across a lesser power, the lesser power must bow.

WHEN POWER CHANGES HANDS

The hurricane is boasting, dry leaves are talking and the terrible are boasting. But the moment of truth is coming. When the greater power came into Samaria, power changed hands.

Bewitchment is a horrible thing. A lot of people are under the same position that

the Samaritans were. A lot of people under demonic sufferings for the whole of their lives. They are under blindness and satanic illusion, yet they still praise the man responsible for their plight.

The Samarians did not know who Simon was. He was sapping them dry but they believed that he was delivering them. He was destroying their properties and he also made sure that they were blinded. And the people were ignorantly hailing the enemy that was putting them down.

Bewitchment had taken place in Samaria. They called their enemy friend and called their friends enemies. Sadness, sickness and infirmity were everywhere in the land. Unclean spirits have possessed many people. Nevertheless, they went on with their lives as if there was no problem. They were blinded by the devil.

There was sickness in the land and it never bothered them. Unclean spirits were everywhere and in everyone yet they strangely felt normal. They thought that Simon was the answer, whereas he was the question and the problem.

Ironically, slowly and happily they were dying and praising the one who was drowning their boat. They were bewitched. It was the Holy Spirit that located Simon.

AN EVIL INFLUENCE

What does it mean to bewitch a person?

To bewitch is to spiritually influence a person through witchcraft. Bewitchment is a terrible thing.

A beautiful lady was to get married in Port Harcourt, Nigeria and was in the church waiting for the groom. For two hours the groom was not seen. People went looking for him surprisingly found him playing lawn tennis. And he said he was no longer interested in the marriage.

Later, the sister found another person man and the relatives advised that they should wed quietly. They should wed at a registry and there to where a small party would be held without making a noise.

They went to the registry and as they left there, the man all of a sudden pulled off his dress and ran mad. The lady had been bewitched.

THE REAL BONDAGE

While I was at the university in the United Kingdom, we were told that a professor of Old Testament was coming. The professor would read Psalm to Psalm 155 from his memory in Hebrew and English. We were very anxious to see the man.

He came to the podium and greeted us, read Psalm to Psalm 17 and asked that he wanted to rest. We were amazed that he could read those chapters off hand. But we were shocked that the man brought out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. Immediately everybody packed his bag and left.

He was a man who had memorized the word of God even more than a believer, but his life was bewitched. When you are influenced by sorcerers, diviners or magicians, it is called bewitchment.

I was at a prison to minister to the inmates. I met a boy of 2 and asked about his jail term. He said he was jailed for 25 years. I asked what was his offence. He said he raped a woman of 80 years old. By the time the boy would leave the prison, he would be at 45. He would have wasted the prime of his life in jail.

THE EVIL VOICE

I asked him why he decided to rape an 80 year old woman, not even a young woman, he said a voice told him to do it. That voice that said the evil words to him was a voice of bewitchment.

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? Gal 3:1.

Bewitchment can make a person not to know the truth. It blinds. A bewitched person is somebody dancing to the drum beat of evil drummers. He is somebody who keeps repeating the same mistakes. When a person is bewitched, he will make unpardonable mistakes.

A university lecturer liked a girl in his class and gave her the question paper to study, so that she could pass the examination. But despite this the girl still wrote rubbish in the examination.

The lecturer, a professor, now with his own handwriting, wrote the answers for the girl. Incidentally he was not the teacher of the course. It was another lecturer that would mark the answer papers. Immediately the lecturer saw the girls paper, he knew it was the professor’s handwriting. That was how the professor’s beautiful career was spoiled. The professor had been bewitched.

A bewitched person always operates under a power that is beyond his control. He would completely lose joy. He is somebody who finds easy things very difficult. He is always pursued by a particular terrible force. It is a terrible thing to fall into the cage of bewitchment.

THE CRAB SPIRIT

If you take a cursory look at the life of a black man, you will notice that he operates like a crab. If you put a lot of crabs in a bucket, you will notice that not one of them will not be able to rise up because they pull one another down. The black man pulls himself down. If you look at the black countries of the world, it seems as if there is no hope for them to have good leadership.

Anything about starvation and poverty is associated with Africans. This is bewitchment. For a national bewitchment there must be a city bewitchment and personal bewitchment. If majority of the people are bewitched, definitely they will get bewitched leaders. Unfortunately, our forefathers do not help matters at all. They worshiped idols. Anytime you give yourself to an idol, it gets God very angry. The Bible says, “I, the Lord your God, I am a jealous God.” The Bible also says that you shall not worship other gods except Him, and thou shall not make unto yourself any graven image nor anything in the likeness of Him.

A lot of people put over their neck a cross with the image of Jesus Christ. Unknown to them Jesus Christ is no longer on the cross. If he were still on the cross then a lot of believers would be doomed. Unknown to the people who put a cross over their neck, when a hole is made on the cross, it is no longer a cross, it is a hank. A hank is the cross of witchcraft. The cross on which Jesus died is called St. Anthony’s Cross.

Bewitchment has dragged very many people below the standard God wants them to be.

How do you deal with bewitchment?

1. You need to surrender your life to Jesus Christ.

• You need to realise that there is a problem.

• You need to wage war against bewitchment.

• You need to barricade your life so that bewitchment does not catch up with you.

Any consistent problem is bewitchment. Any consistent dream that puts you in trouble is bewitchment.

You need to pray for total freedom from bewitchment.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Bewitchment power from my place of birth, die, in the name of Jesus.

• Bewitchment power of my father’s house, die, in the name of Jesus.

• Any power that does not want to let me go, you are a liar, die, in the name of Jesus.

• Any power that wants me to die the way I am now, die, in the name of Jesus.