charles_r51;575552 wrote: who determines what is and isn't witchcraft? you? the bibble, a book of supposewdly factual, but really edited texts from before and after the life of jesus, nothing any earlier than thirty years after his death or centuries before his death, compiled by wealthy, powerful, and ignorant men, not any angelic beings or god(s). how can you limit god's gift to ONLY nine? are you his instructor in spiritual gifts here on earth?
if you knew anything, you would know that the term demon was daemon (spirit) in greek and that the church decided what was good and what was of the devil based on ignorance, not factual investigation. witches are a term developed by the christian church to explain their reasoning for condemning anything and everything that was not understood. a witch was one who was able to do anything the church, its priests and its full litergical hierarchy, popes included, could not grasp. the use of herbs and certain foods could cure an illness, therefore since jesus didn't pop up, it was of the devil so let's kill her/him for being a witch. that is where and how and why such foolish ideas of witchcraft and devil worship came from. the only idea of the devil being a real, or fictional creation is from man's own oignorance.
if you think there is a devil, you are ignorant of what it really means. look it up. daemon, a greek word, means spirit, not the term it is made up tp be which is demon. oif there is no demon, then there ccannot be a devil. besides, try spelling devil backwards, as well as speeling evil backwards. that, along with what the bible and most of its writings are comprised of will lead you to the true light, not some fictional place made up by ignorant men to explain what could not be comprehended by them. you should als0o realize that most of the writings used to compile the bibble were NOT those which should have been, but just thjose which suited the men of the fourth century after the roman empire's military needs were met when constantine fooled everyone into believing that he was to go forth under the sign of the cross to CONQUER_ the very thing jesus spoke and taught not to do when he said those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.he was a man of PEACE, not of war which is just what the christian faith decided was the way to spread the GOOD news throughout the world- AT THE TIP OF SWORD AND SPEAR ANd THE BARREL OF THE GUN! how wonderful that the wonderful followers of christ followed his example. and how stupid they were to follow the devil they claim they were against. HYPOCRITS are sons of the devcil. and you are amongst them for not understanding that there are 76 seperate and distinct gifts of the spirit, each and every one of which is described in various books of the bible, but defined by those which are foremost in corinthians. do some research, and stop assuming what you are ignorant of. remmenber what happened to job. he denied the truth, and suffered according to a spirit sent by god, not the devil, in order to test him. you also are being testecd, so don't think you know anything. learn and maybe you will come to understand that THERE IS NO DEVIL, just a spirit of god sent to teach and test you!
jesus was tested of satan, a spirit sent to do just that- test him, not destroy him.
god is incapable of doing anything against man, and he will not allow anyone to do anything against his willingness to be ALL forgiving. he does not pick and choose what and who to forgive. he just does it. it is up to you whether you learn to accept what he seeks to give you, even if you don't want it. it will not harm, nor can it ever harm you. it will only instruct you in his kingdom.
so i

tell you again, if you do not know a subject, whether you call it psychic or spiritual gift, learn something about it, then you may be able to speak of it in words other than "OF THE DEVIL", a ficticious character used to justify ignorant men's actions against others. so don't show your ignorance and call it something of great wisdom or faith or anything of the devil without knowing it thoroughly and i guarantee it will take years to understand it. i have studied religion, not just one, but numerous ones, for decadesa and i have yet to find one which is worthy of being called FROM GOD, because they all claim it and they are all lacking much which is of value, and putting forth much which is destructive for mankind since they all claim to be the full and only TRUTH, regardless of who preaches it. none of them have the most basic of truths, man is on this earth to do njothing less, nor more than to live and learn, from one lifetime to the next, to the next, until enough has been learned to not NEED to take up an earthly existance, but that is far from where it will go.
Satan is Lucifer, Lucifer was one of Gods' angels, Lucifer tried to take over Gods' throne, God threw him down to his own kingdom and make him the ruler of it, A.K.A. Hell. No, the Roman Empire didn't justify if Jesus was the Son of Man. The bible simply states that Jesus is the Son of Man. "1 Corinthians 1:18-25 18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." Alright, if you don't believe what I believe, then there is no sense in arguing, and God Bless.