110 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
110 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
A CHRISTIAN SPEAKS ON THE FAITH AND PATH OF WICCA
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by James Clement Taylor
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I am a Christian and not a Wiccan. A Christian is one who has been
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baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and who has
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made a personal, free-will decision to commit himself and all his or her
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life to our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Both of these things
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are true of me. I am a member of St. Mary's Eastern Orthodox Church,
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Calhan, Colorado. In this paper, I am not speaking as agent for any
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church, but I am, entirely on my own responsibility, speaking the truth
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in love, as we Christians are supposed to do.
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A Situation of Strife and Shame:
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There are many Christians today who believe that anyone who is not a
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Christian is doomed to an eternity of suffering in hell. Any decent
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person, believing this, would be compelled to try to save as many people
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from this fate as possible. But is this belief correct? Jesus Christ,
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having noted the faith and righteousness of a Roman centurion, a Pagan,
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proclaimed:
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"Assuredly I say to you, I have not found such great faith,
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not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come
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from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and
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Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the king-
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dom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be
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weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:10-12)
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If we accept these words as true, and surely we should, then it is clear
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that heaven will contain many who are not Christians, and hell will
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contain many who are! Clearly, throughout the Gospels, Jesus Christ
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sets forth the criteria for entrance into the kingdom of heaven, and
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those criteria include love, kindness, forgiveness, and a refusal to
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judge others:
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"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
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Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive
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men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
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your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15)
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"For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and
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with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to
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you." (Matthew 7:2)
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"But go and learn what this means: `I desire mercy and not
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sacrifice.'" (Matthew 9:13)
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"Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
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Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and
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you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be for-
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given." (Luke 6:36-38)
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Is it not clear? Anyone who fails in these things, will calling himself
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a Christian save him? Anyone who obeys God in these things, will being
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unbaptized condemn him? Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord,
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Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My
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Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)
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Yet it is not by good works that we earn our way into heaven, because
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there is no way we can earn the free gift of God's mercy and grace, which
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alone can save us. But it is clear that it is not by faith, in the
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sense of sharing the Christian faith, that we are saved, either. The
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faith which saves us is not faith in the goodness of our works, nor
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faith that we have the right theology and/or belong to the right church.
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Rather, it is faith in God, and in His mercy:
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"So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs,
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but of God who has mercy." (Romans 9:16)
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But the Wiccans, you will say, do not have faith in God. Yet by their
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own theology, they certainly do. Those who call them Satan-worshippers
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are entirely wrong. They do not worship Satan, or even believe that
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Satan exists. Instead, they worship a Goddess and a God whom they
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understand as manifestations of a higher and unknown Deity.
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Now if you are a Christian, this will sound familiar to you, and it
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should. In the Bible we find the following:
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"Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said,
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`Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are
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very religious; for as I was passing through and con-
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sidering the objects of your worship, I even found an
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altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
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Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing,
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Him I proclaim to you" (Acts 17:22-23)
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The Wiccans worship the Unknown God, as manifested to them in the form
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of a Goddess and a God. Therefore, our Bible tells us they worship the
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same God we do; and if they do not know this, we should know it!
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For those of us who are unable to simply stand on God's Word, and must
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prove to themselves the truth of what it proclaims the holy Apostle John
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has given us the method for doing this. You have only to attend any
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public Wiccan ceremony, and test the spirits which are there, to see
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"whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1). You will find that, while the
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power manifested there may be less than what you have experienced as a
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Christian, that power is clearly the power of God.
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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, these people of Wicca have been
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terribly slandered by us. They have lost jobs, and homes, and places of
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business because we have assured others that they worship Satan, which
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they do not. We have persecuted them, and God will hold us accountable
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for this, you may be sure, for He has said, "Assuredly I say to you,
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inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did
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it to Me." (Matthew 25:40)
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Let us, from this point onward, repent of our misdeeds and declare that
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henceforth we shall obey Christ our God, and not judge others or condemn
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them, so that He will not have to judge and condemn us for our sins.
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