Witch one was it?

Yesterday we all went to Salem MA, about a 2 hour drive, to do some training with a church called "The Gathering". It was really good, the guy who spoke, Pastor Phil, has such a heart for the New Age/Pagan people.

He did a really good job explaining what a pagan was, and common ways we offend them and misconceptions about them. For example, many people lump witchs and people like that as Satanists, however, that's really offensive to them, because most of them don't even believe Satan exists, and they'd say that we, as christians, are closer to Satanists because we at least believe there is a Satan! So to call them a satanist or something like that, it shows how ignorant we are to them.

We learned alot about that kinda thing, and about the differences and similarities between Paganism and Christianity.

Probably the biggest thing I received was freedom from wrong mindsets. There's a lot of stigmas associated with witchcraft and pagans and the new age, all that kinda stuff. If you tell people you are friends with a witch, that doesn't usually go over that well. People tell you not to go into certain stores because they sell occultic stuff. Etc...

Isn't this kind of backwards thinking? Who is immeasurably more powerful? Why should we be concerned? In fact, by limiting where we go, who we talk to and who we build relationship with, we are just giving more power to the enemy. I never previously would have called it fear, I would have said it was just being wise avoiding those places. However, alot of those ideas were based on the fear that if I went to those places, I would get a demon, or someone would place a curse on me or something like that.

As I start to understand more and more about who my God is, who I am in in him and who I'm supposed to be, the more I lose any fear or reservations about the new age or any kind of "weird stuff". Mostly because I know who is so much more powerful, and in fact, that very spirit resides in me. So those people who work in the witchcraft stores that line the streets of Salem, should be more afraid of God entering their stores through me.

Why is it considered noble for christians to befriend the homeless, or even prostitutes and tax collectors, but when it comes to someone steeped in the occult or paganism, it suddenly is a different story. Is it maybe we are confused about who or what is charge? Who has authority? Are these people in any less need of Jesus? Do they not deserve salvation? Are these people any different than any other person who sins? Are they any less of a human being?

Think about your own attitudes and mindsets to these people. Just because they may understand there is a spiritual realm, that shouldn't scare us, in fact, we should be even weirder and more spiritual than they! Yes? No? Leave a comment...

It was an awesome day I learned just as much about myself and my own fears/insecurities as I did about Neo-Paganism. Not only did I learn about those things, but most of all, I learned more about the character of Jesus and who I am in him.