Miracles and Magic

We crave the supernatural because we are made for a Kingdom which rules from that realm. Our world is immersed in practices which promote power, control, provision, attention, and vanity while slowly killing, stealing, and destroying our bodies and souls. I grew up with a great interest in magic and the supernatural realm, not understanding that God had wired me to operate in the supernatural glory of His power. Satan, knowing this, had attempted to deceive and lure me into the dark practices of witchcraft and occultic practices with seemingly harmless books, shows, and movies like Harry Potter, Van Helsing, Cirque Du Freak, Disney productions, and many others.

I want to bring to light the difference between miracles and magic, as one stems from God Himself, bringing glory to the earthly realm to build up and empower. While magic, promoted by Satan to gain “power” (but truly what the flesh wants), comes to deceive and destroy.

Merriam-Webster defines a miracle as; “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs”. Miracles are acts of supernatural power by God Himself, which are used for the GOOD of people and their souls.

Magic is defined as “the use of means (such as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces”. There have often been times where people have used sage, séances or other occultic practices to rid a dwelling of demonic presences. This does not actually work, as stated in Matthew 12:

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan,^[d] the prince of demons.”²⁵ Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart. ²⁶ And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive. 

Those demonic spirits may have decreased their activity to appear to have left the place, but it is a trick of the enemy to cause those participating in witchcraft to believe in its power.

The most important thing to understand about the difference between miracles and magic is that Satan has NO authority or power to create, so those who practice witchcraft, divination, sorcery, magic etc. require instruments or things derived from nature (God’s creation), to receive power or create the illusion of power. The enemy needs your agreement to wreak havoc in your life, whether through mental agreement or physical agreement.

The Holy Spirit does not NEED anything to perform a miracle for He IS the power and breath of God Himself. But He LOVES to partner with believers to bring about the manifestations of His glory in many ways.

In the book of Acts we find a magician named Simon who tricked the multitudes with his witchcraft and sorcery.

But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. -Acts 8:9-13

However, he attempted to purchase the Holy Spirit from the disciples so that he too could lay hands and impart the Holy Spirit to others. The disciples sternly rebuked him for wishing to purchase the power of God, for the Holy Spirit is given freely. He wanted to purchase power, most likely to continue his greed for attention.

This account in Acts shows that the power being performed through the disciples was great enough to confound and intrigue even one of the most popular sorcerers in the New Testament. The power of God is so much greater than the counterfeit power of satan!

If you have found yourself drawn into witchcraft, new age practices, sorcery, divination, or the occult, know that forgiveness is freely given through Christ! There’s been so many books, shows and movies released in the last 20 years which have proclaimed witchcraft and the occult as make-believe or innocent fantasy. However, these practices lead to death and destruction because to participate you must come into agreement with the enemy, and his ways which are firmly commanded against by God throughout the bible.

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With the Holy Spirit, you do not lose anything to operate in authority and power. This power belongs to God, and we are vessels for His glory which means we are offered grace, protection, mercy, and authority as we walk alongside of Him and participate in faith to do His works. Jesus throughout the bible walked in signs, miracles and wonders and spoke to the disciples saying;

There is a resurgence coming to the Body of Christ in the ways of the supernatural power of God. People are beginning to renounce their old ways of witchcraft for the power of the Holy Spirit, which we receive through believing in Christ’s death and resurrection.