ms_emt asked this question on 5/16/2000:
Blessings from our lord above to those who attempt to help me! My problem is my son-18 yr.old just told me that he is a witch and also his girlfriend of one month. He was raised in an christian enviroment and accepted Christ at approx. age 14. He says that these witches(wicca) only do good spells on themselves. I believe there is only one God and that any magic/power recieved from other sources is evil. I don't know what to do! I know that it promises if you teach a child the right path to take that he will come back to it and I know to pray. He says that he did this two weeks ago., and I asked him if he still believes in God,Christ and his salvation and he said yes, but I'm not so sure that he isn't just telling me what I want to hear. Please help me and let me know if there is anything I can do further. Thank you to those who answer my question and may the Lord bless you!
lizmarc gave this response on 5/17/2000:
My advice will surprise you and probably outrage some. So before I give it. please allow me to give you some brief background on myself. I used to be a Branch Davidian and I knew the 80 people who died in the 1993 Waco fire. They were good friends of mine. My wife and I left before it happened and, through God's help, managed to convince many to leave. Because of all the exposure Waco has, we have been able to help lots of people get out of cults, the occult or whatever is dangerous. I do not like sounding my own horn but in this case, I tell you this so that you will consider what I have to say from the perspective of one who knows what he is talking about in this matter.
The first thing to do in this situation is remain calm and reasonable. Your child is 14 and is prone to ask why. If you show him all the Bible verses which condemn witchcraft he will wonder why. That's fine. It is good to discuss things. Tell him calmly that you are concerned but that you are willing to allow him some latitude in making his own decisions. Why? If he is talking to these people, he will have, or will soon, tell them he comes from a conservative Christian household. His witch friends will immediately predict you'll hit the roof and Bible bash him. If you do that, they will seem true to the mark, and you will come across as narrow minded and even bigoted.
They will judge you for condemning them as satanic, when all they are doing is practising good or white magic. So the important thing is not to give them the satisfaction. What you want your child to think is, wow, I didn't expect such a cool and open minded reaction.
This approach gives you a very important link with your child. Your child will retain a much more open mind toward you and your reasoning, then a straight forth denunciation of the beliefs of others. He'll know you don't agree, and that you are deeply concerned, but he'll also think that you are not being unfair. This is very important.
There are two main problems with the Bible verses mentioned in some answers. First, the witchcraft condemned there is not wicca, it is mainly necromancy. Most wicca practitioners do not practice necromancy. If any of them have any knowledge, they will counter your biblical arguments quite easily to your child. If the truth be known, the early Christian church had little or no problem with wicca but I won't go into that here as it involves a good deal of history. I am pretty sure this is surprising to most, but it is historical.
In discussing things with your child, I would stress that some spells, especially love spells, force people to act or believe in certain ways. Ask him whether that is ethical? Would your child like to be forced? If someone were in love with him, but he not with her, would he want a spell cast over him to "force" him to love her? I doubt it. So some spells, those which force attitude or action, are unethical because they force people against their will. You might be tempted here to argue that spells have no power, but that won't work to well. Argue on the basis that spells may indeed have some power.
Contrast this with prayer in which the Christian does not force anyone to do anything. A Christian does not force his enemies to stop being his enemies. A Christian does not force an attitude change. Instead a Christian tries to change attitude through love and through communication and interaction with the person.
Other wicca spells claim to promote healing, and some do as they employ herbs and other medicinal ingredients. Lose the battle, and win the war. Don't fight on healing grounds. Concentrate on the issues that are important, like the idea that people sometimes try to force others.
The important thing is that your child sees love, tolerance, and reason. These, along with prayer, should see you through. It is actually not too difficult to break people away from cults or the occult IF you have a line of calm friendly communication with them.
Unfortunately, the tack that "this is wrong because the book says it is" is almost certainly doomed to fail. Finally, many practitioners of wicca are sincere and genuinely want to help others. There are far worse things for a child to get involved in. I say this because many witches perceive Christians as people who trash them without knowledge. Try everything you can not to give fuel to this perception and things should work out. I hope and pray they will.
The average rating for this answer is 4.7.
ms_emt rated this answer a 5.
Hi.I appreciate your advice from your previous experiences. It is nice to be reminded that we should not attempt to force someone to change because they will rebel against that attitude. Thanks again for sharing and your prayers.