The
following quotes are taken from evilbible.com:
"Kill
Witches - "You should not let a
sorceress live." (Exodus 22:18 NAB)
"Kill
Fortunetellers - "A man or a woman
who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they
have no one but themselves to blame for their death." (Leviticus 20:27 NAB)
You can
read the full chapters containing these laws here:
The question that has been presented
is this: Why was capital punishment prescribed for those who practiced sorcery/witchcraft,
mediums, fortunetellers, etc.? Later in
the Law (Torah), in Deuteronomy chapter 18, God gave the reason for the death
penalty in this instance - it matched the severity of the crime. "When
you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to
imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among
you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or
sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a
medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD; because of these same detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you" (Deuteronomy 18:9-12, NIV).
In
this passage, we learn that the reason that God expelled the inhabitants of
Canaan from the land that they were living in was because of the things that
they did. One of their practices that
God referred to as "detestable" was sorcery, fortunetelling
(divination), and consultation of the dead.
God forbid these occult practices on multiple occasions (Leviticus 19:26,
31; 20:6).
The
reason that God calls these practices "detestable" is because they encourage
people to reject God, seeking answers and power apart from him. God is the only
God, the Lord and creator of all the universe.
When anyone bows down and worships or pays tribute to a false god/idol,
worships any created thing, or seeks to utilize powers of demonic nature that
are not from God, they are taking credit away from God and giving it to
something undeserving of that credit.
It is important to note that capital
punishment commands such as these were given specifically to the nation of
Israel during the time period and culture of the Ancient Near East. All of Scripture, both Old and New Testament,
condemns occult practices; however, the capital punishments prescribed do not
apply in our time period and culture (Acts 19:13-20; Romans 6:14).
