Hoopeston is also the home of a Wiccan/pagan-owned bookstore, Beads and Botanicals.Starting Saturday, in the unlikeliest of places, a real witch school opens its doors to the public ...
After almost five years of existence on the Internet, Witch School is expected to operate under normal business hours in the town of Hoopeston, Ill., about 100 miles south of Chicago.
The school has roughly 120,000 active students who enroll in Witch School's Internet courses... Students then take at least one test a month to stay active and can eventually become an accredited member of the clergy.
"We're really getting to be a functional community," Hubbard said of the increasing presence of Witch School online.
What is a Christian to think of this?
God says "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them." (Lev 19:31)
Deut 18:9- directs, "...Do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations...Let no one be found 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..."
These portions of moral law are repeated in the NT: "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:...witchcraft...Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Gal 5:20)
We have become so sophisticated (in our own judgment) that we think we can play around with witchcraft or astrology, that we can put a New Age label, like Wicca, on it and participate in it as a curiosity and laugh it off. But God says it is detestable, it will defile you, it will exclude you from your inheritance. It's no joke.
Therefore, I was pleased to read that Pastor Steve Nelson of Hoopeston's First Baptist Church understands the importance of praying and of using all his civic freedoms to speak out against the school. Would that there were more like him.
(courtesy of DonnaL)
