The Occult – Why do we leave THE LIGHT and walk into DARKNESS?

I would like to add here that anyone who dabbles with the Occult, gets training to become a witch, keeps crystals and other charms in their homes or wears them on their person believing that it will bring them good luck, bring them healing, good fortune etc. has decided to walk away from God and His Light and to walk into Darkness and the Evil Realm.

I give below a few scripture verses from the Old Testament regarding socery, witchcraft etc.

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 NIV. “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 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.”

Ezekiel 13:18, 20 & 21 NIV. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people but preserve your own? I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds, and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds. I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power.’ ”

Psalm 103:2-4 NIV. “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.”

My advice to all is to follow Our Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Exodus 23:25 And you shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless your bread, and your water; and I will take sickness away from the middle of you.

Psalms 103:3 Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;

Psalms 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

I would like to add here that God is all powerful for John 3:16 says:¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.Job 12:10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Yes, we are the Children of God.  We belong to His Kingdom, so if we are children of the Most High God, we must believe that we will not be in want for anything.  Our God is our Fortress, Our rock, Our protection, so WHY DO WE TURN AWAY FROM THE LIGHT AND TURN TOWARDS DARKNESS AND THE OCCULT.

I found the following article very interesting which was posted by The hermeneutic of continuity :

A patron saint for rejecting the occult
Posted: 27 Jan 2015 01:51 PM PST

Sadly it is common in England today, to see advertisements for psychic fairs, shops selling occult paraphernalia, and booksellers displaying books of spells for young people. I recently called into a shop I thought might be interesting but walked out again smartly when I saw that there was a tarot card reading session taking place.Christians were blamed by superstitious Romans for natural misfortunes. Tertullian pokes fun at this. I quote him first in Latin, because lovers of his barrister’s tour de force style will enjoy it.

Si Tiberis ascendit in moenia, si Nilus non ascendit in arva, si caelum stetit, si terra movit, si fames, si lues, statim Christianos ad leonem! adclamatur. Tantos ad unum? (Liber Apologeticus 40.1)

The translation gets the meaning, but not the accelerating punch of the original:

If the Tiber rises too high for the walls, or the Nile too low for the fields, if the heavens do not open, or the earth does, if there is famine, if there is plague, instantly the howl is, “The Christians to the lion!” So many to one?
The venerable Tshimangadzo Samuel Benedict Daswa of South Africa experienced a similarly savage expression of superstitious ignorance. He was a convert to Catholicism, a married man with eight children, a Catholic school headmaster, and an upstanding and socially responsible member of the community conspicuous for his charitable work. You can read more about him at the Benedict Daswa website.

In 1990, after heavy rain and lightning in the Venda area, and while Benedict was away, a traditional healer was brought in to find out who was the witch that was responsible. On his return, Benedict refused to pay a share of the healer’s fee and insisted that lightning happened because of natural causes. For his stand against the occult, Benedict was ambushed on the road a couple of weeks later by a mob who stoned and beat him to death. Before his death, he said “God into your hands receive my spirit.”

Just the other day, Benedict was officially recognised as a martyr, so the way is open for his beatification.

Pray to him for all those involved in the occult, for young people tempted to dabble, for those who sell occult items or promote occult events. When you pass a shop selling crystals, tarot cards, witchcraft accessories and suchlike, quietly pray the prayer to St Michael and the prayer to your Guardian Angel. If you don’t know those prayers, it would be a very good idea to learn them. In the meantime, say three Hail Marys.

Prayer to St Michael
Holy Michael Archangel, defend us in the day of battle, be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the wicked spirits, who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Prayer to your Guardian Angel
O Angel of God, my guardian dear,
to whom God’s love commits me here,
ever this day, be at my side
to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

Lovers of Latin may like to know that the Guardian Angel prayer is translated from a Latin prayer that rhymes. Not classical of course, but easy to remember:

Angele Dei
qui custos es mei,
me tibi commissum pietate superna;
illumina, custodi, rege, et guberna. Amen.