Tricking Or Treating God Series

Halloween is a holiday that most children look forward to, because they get to dress up as their favorite storybook character or superhero; and then go knocking on doors and hopefully come home with a big bag full of candy. And what’s that expression that kids say while they’re standing on someone’s doorstep? TRICK or TREAT! Meaning, “You’d better give me a treat or I’ll play a trick on you!” According to Dictionary.com, the word “trick” is defined as “a crafty or underhanded . . . maneuver, stratagem, or the like, intended to deceive or cheat,”(1) and the word “treat” means “to act or behave toward (a person) in some specified way,” such as treating someone with respect.(2)

I’ve entitled our message this morning “Tricking or Treating God.” We should all be “treating” the Lord with our devotion and reverence. But how many of us are trying to “trick” Him? How many of us are doing things that we believe will appease God, while at the same time we’re pleasing the world or perhaps even ourselves? Allow me to ask another question related to our Scripture. How many of us going to church on Sunday morning, while dabbling with the occult during the week? Now, you’re probably thinking that these are some silly questions, but we’re going to see something this morning which many of us do that God equates with occult practices. So, let’s go ahead and get started with Deuteronomy 18:9-12, and I’m going to be reading from the King James Version.

Stay Away from Occult Practices (Deuteronomy 18:9-12)

9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11 or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

This passage describes what we would call occult practices. The first thing we read in verse 10 is this: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire.” According to Leviticus 18:21, passing children through the fire was done in the name of the Phoenician deity Molech. These idols were huge metal statues of a man with a bull’s head. Each image had a hole fashioned in the abdomen where a fire was lit and babies were burned. When a couple sacrificed their firstborn, they believed that Molech would ensure financial prosperity.(3) Now, you might say, “Preacher, we don’t do this kind of thing today.” But we do. In America, we are sacrificing our children to abortion, which claims the lives of nearly 862,000 babies each year.

Verse 10 also mentions, “There shall not be found among you any one . . . that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.” “Divination” is telling secret things, or things to come, by unlawful arts and practices,(4) such as someone who uses a crystal ball or tarot cards, or who reads palms. An “observer of times” superstitiously pronounces some days good and others unlucky. He is an observer of the heavens, who divines by the motion of the clouds, by the stars, or by the flight of birds,(5) such as the writers of the Farmer’s Almanac. An “enchanter” discovers hidden things by observation of water or smoke, or by observation of animal behavior.(6) He remarks that certain things are ominous; as when a morsel of food falls out of a man’s mouth, a deer crosses his path, or when someone’s staff falls out of his hand.(7) A “witch” is one who is in covenant with the devil, and by his or her help deludes and hurts other people.(8)

Verse 11 mentions, “There shall not be found among you . . . a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer” (vv. 10a, 11). A “charmer” is one who pretends to cure diseases by charms; or he is a charmer of serpents.(9) He is also one who foretells the events of men’s lives by the conjunction of the stars, such as those who make use of horoscopes.(10) A “consulter with familiar spirits” is one who calls upon spirits to engage in evil and harmful works through the use of certain words or rites.(11) Some of them fooled people through ventriloquism, as they seemed to speak out of the belly.(12) A “wizard” is a male witch. He is a cunning man, who by superstitious ways undertakes the revelation of secret things.(13) A “necromancer” is one who calls up the dead and inquires of them.(14) The witch of En Dor who, at Saul’s request, called up Samuel from the dead is an example of a necromancer (cf. 1 Samuel 28).