Tuesday February 2, Fort Lauderdale First Baptist Church was involved with a project called “Love Bags.”

Love Bags are one gallon Ziplock bags filled with necessities such as, socks, deodorant, a toothbrush, soap, lotion, etc. ,and handed out to the homeless.

Participants met at Brew Urban Café in Fort Lauderdale where they discuss what to do for the event.

“The Brew is our meeting location where we learn from the Love Bag leaders about what to do and what to expect before heading out to Holiday Park where we meet up with the homeless. We want to go out there and recognize equality,” said Tom Faw event sponsor.

The opportunity to participate in Love Bags is opened to everybody who is willing to go out and help other people.

“I just wanted to get out there and help people, not because I’m forced to do it, but because it shows what kind of people we are,” said Matthew Parkin, sophomore. “Rather than sitting back and playing with our friends or playing our X-Box, we could be going out of our comfort zone and help those in need with one or two Love Bags.”

Love Bags was started four years ago in Fort Lauderdale by Ryan Alexander, one of the sponsors. It takes place every Tuesday night, 52 weeks a year.

Love Bags are created to show compassion and generosity. Every Tuesday night a different church would also come out and serve dinner, to the homeless people. Those who come for the Love Bags are usually already there for dinner.

Love Bags is a volunteer based project. Without volunteers they would not be able to go out and assist the homeless.

“I believe it is our lifelong project to strive, to be ever-presently involved in the true meaning of Love Bags. Do unto others as you would have done on you,” said Faw.

Many of the volunteers sit down and have conversations with the homeless about what has been going on in their lives. The volunteers do their best to listen intently and be an encouragement, hoping to bring light and joy into their life.

“This not only helps the homeless people but it really makes you feel good about yourself. What a lot of people fail to see is that even though they are homeless, we are all the same. They are just less fortunate than us,” said Parkin.
Felicia Fish, one of the volunteers, believes in order to bridge any ideas of an “us” and “them” gap, they [people] have to see them [homeless] as an equal first.

Fish’s life has been changed drastically after participating with Love Bags for the past two years. “Love Bags has been such a monumental step in the right direction in my life,” said Fish.

The Love Baggers who come out every Tuesday have become a second family to her. She no longer feels any disgust, disgrace or fear towards a homeless person, but instead has been given a feeling of love and compassion and mercy that conquers over the bad judgment that she used to have.

“We have conversations. We give deeply to people to change their lives. We need to break away from everything and recognize what is going on in the world. I believe that Jesus gave us everything so why can’t we try to give something back. We really should fight away negative thoughts. God is not okay with people sleeping on the streets. Why should we be?,” said Alexander.

When my mother was a young teenager, she began experimenting with
drugs. She abused street drugs such as crank, and was known to steal prescription pads to fill fake prescriptions of painkillers. When she became pregnant, nothing changed. She continued to fulfill her desire to maintain a constant high, and received very little prenatal care.I was born five weeks early and had to be sent to a hospital that could handle intensive care neonates. I weighed only four pounds seven ounces, and had a severe case of jaundice. I stayed at the hospital for four weeks before I could go home. At the time, the only clothes small enough to fit me were Cabbage Patch Doll clothes, and I had to have special formula and bottles ordered from the hospital.

My mother moved in with my grandmother when I came home from the hospital. She rarely changed a diaper or fed me, and soon thereafter, met a drug dealer that she thought she was in love with. I stayed with my grandmother. My grandmother loved me and took good care of me, but she had two other children at home and was forced to work a lot. I started staying with a baby-sitter that lived out in the country. I remember her yard was filled with red mud and I had to have a bath every night to get it all off of me.

About that time, my great-grandparents retired, and they were able to keep me while my grandmother was working. After a while, I didn’t want to leave them. I wanted to live with them. My mother gave Mamaw and Papaw permission to adopt me, and at four years old, I finally had parents. After I was grown, and my Papaw was already in Heaven, I found out that Papaw had never been able to have children, (Mamaw had remarried after her first husband passed away related to injuries he acquired in World War II), and he had always prayed for a little baby girl. God answered his prayers, and I received a better life than I would have ever known otherwise.

After this brief background, I want to share a story of a little
client I had recently while working as a student nurse. It was my
rotation on OB, and I dreaded it. I had never been around babies and was quite frankly, scared to death. The first couple of days in OB I was on the Post Partum unit, and it was pretty uneventful. I would bring babies to their mothers, and I was actually warming up to these new experiences. I loved to see the warmth that a mother had for her baby the first time she held it, and how the baby quit crying as soon as she picked it up.

Soon came time for my rotation in the nursery. Again, I was nervous, but feeling a little better. The first day in the nursery, I had a great RN showing me the ropes. She guided me every step of the way, and didn’t make me feel insufficient for having such scant knowledge of newborns. At the end of the day I was so excited that I actually wanted to have a baby of my own, far from what I had always wanted before. I was actually looking forward to my second day in the nursery, which would also be my last.

When I arrived that second morning, I was informed that we were going to have a “drug baby.” After further inquiry, I learned that the mother had tested positive for Valium, Vicodin, and had admitted to taking Goody pills like candy. She was also a known alcohol user. I didn’t think much more about the situation except for the prescribed medications that I currently take. I take Lexapro and Klonopin for anxiety everyday and the thought that crossed my mind was that God wanted me to have this experience so that when he blesses me with a child that I would have a basic knowledge of newborns and that I would see firsthand what could happen if I became pregnant while on these medications.

When the “drug baby” arrived she was very small; five pounds, five
and a half ounces, to be exact. Other than her size, she looked
normal. She was pink, had all of her reflexes, a good cry, and full of energy. After she was all cleaned up, the nurse went to make her ID bands and I tried to comfort her as she was crying. I tried to rub her check to calm her down and she reached over with her tiny hand and pulled my finger into her mouth. As she suckled my finger she still held it in her hand. I instantly fell in love with this baby. The nurse came and took her to place her in the warmer as is customary with all new lives.

I went on lunch break with a couple of other student nurses and I
told them I had decided I liked OB, and that I wanted a baby of my
own. I told them how the baby had suckled my finger and I loved it so much I wanted to adopt it. We laughed and went back to the OB unit. When I went back in the nursery I was shocked to see that my little baby had been placed in the emergency incubator. Her oxygen level had dropped very low to 78, and her pulse was running 80-85 as opposed to a normal 120-160 for newborns. She had a heart murmur so loud that her heartbeat could barely be heard. She had all kinds of monitors hooked up to her and an Oxygen mask placed over her. Doctors and nurses were running around like crazy trying to help this little baby. I asked the doctor if she had a normal murmur that would go away. He said, “No,
this baby has a major heart defect that will not heal itself.” It was decided that she would have to be sent to a hospital that could handle her situation. As a matter of fact, she was going to be transported to the same hospital that took care of me when I was born.

The transport team arrived and I watched helplessly as tubes of blood were drawn, and IV’s were inserted. The little baby did not even cry when stuck with a needle because it was so sick. After getting her ready for transport we took her to meet her mother. This would be the first time that the two would meet. Inside I was so mad at this woman who would do this to her unborn child, who didn’t ask to be conceived, let alone be born with this horrific burden. However, when we arrived in the room, God’s love must have come over me. I saw this mother, who in her own way was visibly distraught over the situation of her baby. I saw her baby lying in the incubator with the needles, wires, tubes and monitors, and realized that this whole situation was very similar to the one I had been in 22 years earlier.

As the mother told us that this baby was named Madeline I began to
cry. I felt sympathy for this mother, knowing that she would probably never know her daughter, and I wondered what would become of this tiny baby. Would she have a good home like I did? I at least had had my health. She had an incurable major heart defect. About that time, the flight nurse informed Madeline’s mother that Madeline would not be able to eat for 12-24 hours because she was going to go through withdrawal from all of the drugs that she had tested positive for. She would be so sick, and in pain, that she would cry until she vomited. If she ate, she would aspirate on her stomach contents. The mother wanted to kiss her goodbye and they had to open a tiny port hole on the side of the incubator. I was so sad that this was the first time they had touched each other and it was in this manner. I continued to cry.

I was allowed to go downstairs to help the flight team load Madeline on the helicopter. I told them I wanted to adopt her, and they told me, “You don’t want this one. It’s defective.” I think they were half joking, but I didn’t care. A baby is a blessing from God, even if it’s not what we would perceive as perfect. By the time I got back upstairs, the rest of the students were already gone for the day, but I went back to the mother’s room. When I got in there I couldn’t say anything, but another nurse was there thankfully, and I just nodded at the mother to let her know Madeline had gotten off safely.

It was unbelievable how Madeline’s mother reminded me of my own
mother. Her mannerisms, speech, intellectual level all seemed very
similar. Although Madeline was sicker than I had been, she still
reminded me of myself when I was born. I walked out to the parking lot to go home and found that another student had waited for me. We drove home and she made me eat lunch with her. I cried the entire way to the restaurant and then all the way home. Every time I thought about Madeline for the rest of the day, I cried. That night, I called the hospital and they said she was in the same condition with no improvement. I was so upset that I called one of my teachers, and cried as I spoke with her about the situation. She talked to me on the phone for 20 minutes. I really needed to talk to someone who’d understand, and I was blessed to have great teachers who had been in similar situations.

That night, I got down on my knees and prayed for Madeline. “Dear
God, I know that when I was born, I didn’t really make a sacrifice, because I had my health, and you blessed me with Mamaw and Papaw who loved and cared for me very much. They raised me with morals, and integrity. They also raised me to know You, and I don’t know where I would have ended up if You hadn’t sent me to them. But, as a child, it still hurt me to think about why my mother didn’t want me. I still wanted to know her, and have her in my life. It hurt me when I saw other children with their biological parents and not have parents that could do the same things with me that they could do with theirs. Now that I’m older, I realize that those things didn’t matter, and I received many other blessings and lessons that they never got to receive, but I still know that that’s how I felt as a child. Dear Lord, please, let me make this sacrifice for Madeline. Even though I was blessed more than I deserve and had wonderful parents, please let her have her health, and let her mom turn her life around so that they
may have a wonderful life together. Let her mom quit using drugs, and provide a decent home for her daughter, and please heal Madeline. I was fortunate to have my health, and at this point, she doesn’t. Please, do this for me Lord, since I couldn’t live with my mother, and do this for her mother, so that she doesn’t have the regrets that I’m sure my mother has. Please Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

I didn’t hear anything more about Madeline until the following week when I went back to clinical. I was met by the nurse who had worked with me in the nursery when Madeline had been born. She was the bearer of good news. The day after Madeline was sent to the other hospital, the day after I had gotten down on my knees and prayed, she had been sent back to the original hospital. They couldn’t find anything wrong with her. She still had a small heart murmur, but it was the kind that all babies have when they’re born, and the doctors said it would go away. To top everything off, she never went through withdrawal from the drugs, despite testing positive for them. I went and held her in the nursery. Her oxygen and pulse were normal, and she truly was a healthy baby. Her mother was renting a room at the hospital and had made a remarkable turn around. She was breast-feeding Madeline and
bonding as well with her as any other mom, if not better. I had a
feeling of warmth over me, and knew that God had answered my prayer.

Madeline was healed and her mom was on her way to recovery.
When Madeline went home, she was not allowed to go with her mother, but went with a staff member of the hospital. Social Services was trying to work with her to get visitation rights until she was able to provide complete care. This little baby truly touched my heart, and showed me that miracles really do happen. It also made me question my ability to be a nurse and see situations such as this one. However, I believe God had me encounter Madeline for several reasons. It taught me to take better care of myself so that I could have healthy children
one day, and that even if I can’t help someone physically, I can be a spiritual nurse as well. I realized that I truly feel that this is the profession God is calling me to be in. He wants me to help people. I think I’m overly sensitive sometimes, but maybe that will make me a better nurse. Also, God will always take care of His own, so I shouldn’t worry about things I can’t control. He showed me the power of prayer, and that when doctor’s say something is impossible, as the ultimate physician, He can show them that it’s not impossible. I also received some closure from my own situation with my mother. I understood that Madeline’s mother really did love her, and for whatever reason, she hadn’t made the right decisions during her pregnancy. Maybe one day, I will meet Madeline when she is older and see that she has had a healthy life and relationship with her mother. I probably won’t, but I will always remember Madeline’s miracle.

It was nearing the holiday season,
1994, time for our orphans to hear, for the first time, the
traditional story of Christmas. We told them about Mary and Joseph
arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to
a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger.

Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word. Completing the story, we gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a
crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square, cut from
yellow napkins I had brought with me. No colored paper was available in
the city.

Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an
American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the
baby’s blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt we had brought from
the United States.

The orphans were busy assembling their manger as I walked among them to see if they needed any help. All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat. He
looked to be about 6 years old and had finished his project. As I
looked at the little boy’s manger, I was startled to see not one, but
two babies in the manger. Quickly, I called for the translator to ask the
lad why there were two babies in the manger.

Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at this completed manger
scene, the child began to repeat the story very seriously.
For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately…until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus
in the manger. Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending
to the story as he said, “And when Maria laid the baby in the manger,
Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I
have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay.
Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t,
because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did. But
I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that
maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would
be a good gift.

So I asked Jesus, “If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?”

And Jesus told me, “If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.”

“So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him…for always.”

As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his
shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed.

The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him…FOR ALWAYS.

I’ve learned that it’s not what you have in your life, but who you have in your life that counts.

— Author
Unknown

Terri Cafazzo opens the spiritual gateway; soon they enter this physical plane.

October 29, 2009, sounds of the evening wind whispering outside creep into the small room; a room that is barely able to occupy its’ 23 inhabitants.

17 female and 6 male members of the newly formed, High Desert Spirit Society of Prescott (HDSS), gather in the dim, candle lit room, located at the Health Restoration Center, 412 N. Washington, in Prescott, to embark on an experience like none other; a séance.

The High Desert Spirit Society of Prescott is a non-religious organization which delves into the spiritual realm. Mrs. Terri Cafazzo, an intuitive counselor and spiritualist, is the founder of the society.

The séance is the association’s first official meeting. More events are currently in stages of planning, said Cafazzo.

A séance is an event where a group of people gather in order to receive spiritualistic messages or observe manifestations from the deceased.

According to Adeptness.net, many notorious individuals have extensively participated in séances. This list includes, United States Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, physician and author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and inventor of the telegraph, Alexander Graham Bell.

Séance’s are usually conducted through a medium and traditionally begin with an induction. Cafazzo, as an experienced clairvoyant, served as the medium for this HDSS séance.

Following tradition, she asked the group to hold hands, a process which allows energy to pass through the room with more ease, and initiated the induction.

“Infinite, infinite spirit, intelligent Supreme Being, God, Goddess, we thank you for being here at this time.” Cafazzo said. “We invite all the Archangels to now come into the room and every corner; representing Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel. We thank you for being present and casting the most protection that we can experience at this time” she said. “Hosting all elements balanced: fire, air, water, earth, we allow the portal to be open at this time.”

A male member of the group, who wishes to remain anonymous, recalls that the wind outside began to significantly increase in power as Cafazzo opened the gateway. “I felt as if I was be pummeled with spiritual energy coming from the wind. It suddenly became horrendously difficult to breath” he said.

Cafazzo continued, saying, “bless us, bless you, show us that which you come to share. If you wish to dim the light, if you wish to ring the chime, if you wish to flicker the candle, or just quietly be in each and every one of our hearts. For we know that there really is no separation. Nothing truly lies between you and ourselves. Welcome” Cafazzo said, ending the induction.

Adeptness.net, states that following the induction, the séance group will often attempt to transcend into a meditative trance. HDSS’s group was no different. The members meditated for nearly 15 minutes.

However, an unusual occurrence happened during those 15 minutes of silence, which individualized the HDSS’s séance from the norm; Cafazzo began channeling the Archangel, Muriel, the being of light.

“You are the beings, you are of mine, you are just like me.” Cafazzo channeled. “I have been sent…to protect you, to let you have this time. I come from a place that you all know in your heart.”

“Don’t let these things that come in front of you [and] be around you, make you disturbed. Throw them away, they’re not real. You are real” she said. “I want you to understand, what you is. You are this loving, perfect, fully complete, living light being.”

“All of those that are around me are around you; all the time. They come in love. When you feel love you feel them, remember this” Cafazzo declared, finishing the channel.

Some mediums are fully conscious and aware of the situation while functioning as contacts; others may slip into a partial or full trance Adeptness.net posted. Channeling allegedly offers opportunities for a more positive and mutually beneficial interaction between the living medium and the spirit.

Cafazzo ends the meditative state; people begin to share their experiences.

One female member was in emotional hysteria once the meditation session completed. The vision she experienced was of a passed loved one which carried heavy emotional attachment.

A small black dog named Skip appeared to one member. Another affiliate visualized an array of plummeting meteors. Several others acquired random onsets of heat and cold flashes, uncontrollable twitches, itching, and the observation of floating colors during the séance. These occurrences are all common when spiritual energy is abundant, Cafazzo said.

In an e-mail, Cafazzo described the occurrence of a couple who were lingering around the wellness center after the ceremony. They had brought a camera to take pictures of the room, attempting to see if they could capture a photograph of any light orbs, a common manifestation spirits take on film.

To ensure the camera functioned, the owner had installed brand new batteries immediately before attending the session. The camera was unused until then and when the operator attempted to turn on the camera, it was found that the batteries were completely drained; a common occurrence when spirits are present.

It’s understood that an entity will use the energy from equipment batteries to assist in manifesting itself.

“There’s our confirmation spirits were present” Cafazzo said.

The session ends. The flickering candle light extinguishes; once again, the room is dark, silent, and empty.

For questions about spiritual and intuitive development, or to learn more about the High Desert Spirit Society of Prescott, please contact Terri Cafazzo at 928-499-9332, or shelby02@cableone.net.

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I walked down the heated pavement, clutching a cold, minty iced coffee in my hand as I walked next to my friend Madison. We entered the local Half-Price bookstore and looked around until we made our way to the “Religion and Philosophy” shelves. It was a running joke between us to see what kind of ridiculous things we would find- bright yellow, snakeskin bound bibles, Religion of Peace?: Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t, Wicked Voodoo Sex, and many other strange things.

Seeing nothing incredibly interesting, I picked up a small siddur and flipped through some prayers. “WOW, look at this!” Maddy said next to me, pointing at the “Wicca and Neo-Pagan” section. “It’s huge!”
“Oh…yeah.” I said, looking up. A tall shelf stood, stacked with spell books and introductory books on Wiccan philosophy.
“You’d think there wouldn’t be so many… Look at this! Satan worshipping has gone a bit too far…”
“Uhm, Maddy, that’s Wicca. Not Satanism. Definitely not the same thing.”
“Really?”
“Well… A lot of Satanists are atheists, it’s just a philosophy. The others think that Satan is good, so it’s not like they’re doing anything wrong, it’s just a misconception that they’re evil. Wicca is a fertility-based nature and mystery religion- they worship, for the most part, the Triple Goddess and the Horned God, and cast spells instead of saying prayers.”
“Oh…oops. How did you know that?”
“Wiccan relatives…I googled Satanism once. How did you think they were the same thing?”
She just didn’t know. And herein lies the problem. While many Middle and High Schools teach a “World Religions” course, they mostly cover only Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. They avoid smaller and more controversial religions.
As a result, Neo-Paganism is, for the most part, ignored. Why? Many parents consider the practitioners of such religions “evil,” or a “negative influence.” The fact is, many people do not know what these religions are.

Since it was officially recognized as a religion in 1985 as a result of the Dettmer v. Landon case, Wicca has only continued to grow. Wicca has gained about 126,000 members from 1990 to 2001, according to the American Religious Identification Survey. With popular shows such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” incorporating positive views of Wicca into their episodes, awareness has certainly raised.
But there needs to be less backing down of schools on the issues of Paganism. It is a legitimate and large religion, that deserves people giving it a fair chance, before throwing it in with Satanism (also not an evil religion) and terrorists. The broomsticks, “skyclad” rituals, and wands made out of crystals may be too much for people. The mention of tarot cards is sure to draw stares from people. So many people have no idea what the religion stands for, and though it does, again, deserve more, I can’t see much happening in the near future.

Why do we sleep in church but stay awake through a 2 hour movie? Why is it so hard to talk about God but so easy to gossip?Why are we so bored when we look at a christian magazine but find it easy to read playboy?Why is it so easy to ignore a godly text message but resend the nasty ones?Why are churches gettin smaller but bars and clubs are growing? Think about it, are u goin to send this to your friends? Or are u going to ignore this because u think youll get laughed at? Jesus Christ said: “If u deny me infront of your friends I will deny you infront of my father”. Its sad but kind of true, may u find opportunities to live for Him today, and be blessed.

I am disturbed by the behavior my fellow Christians have been displaying toward Barack Obama. Let me explain:

If you know me, you know that I am a supporter of Barack Obama, but this blog post isn’t written as an Obama-supporter. It’s written as a Christian.

As a Christian who actively, although not perfectly, strives to follow Christ’s teachings of love, forgiveness, and nonjudgment, some of the comments I have heard leave the mouths of Christians as of late have struck me as oxymoronic. Let me juxtapose them with Christ’s teachings for you, if I may:

1. “I’d assassinate Barack Obama.”– a 13-year-old boy in my youth group, in response to a question about what he’d do if he had two hours and unlimited resources

“Love your enemies.”– Jesus Christ

2. “Obama is a retard.”– a 15-year-old boy who attends a conservative church

“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”– Jesus Christ

(I’m pretty sure “Love your enemies,” would work here, too, but I don’t want to be redundant.)

3. “Obama is a terrorist,” or (my personal favorite), “Obama is an Arab.”– many of McCain’s supporters who claim to be Christians

“Be as shrewd as snakes.”– Jesus Christ (i.e. know the facts so you don’t look like illiterate fools)

This behavior particularly disturbs me because it represents Christ negatively and inaccurately to the world. No wonder so many people have a crummy perception of Christians if so many of us act with such hatred, anger, and judgment!

You know what really amazes me? So many atheists run around ranting against Christianity, using intolerance as grounds for their disbelief and their antipathy. I will be the first to argue for anyone’s right to believe what they want to believe. I will not, however, tolerate intolerance of other people’s beliefs, and I’m a Christian. I also won’t allow nonsense to be spewed against my beliefs without making a few clarifications.

First of all, true Christianity is not intolerant. Yes, Christ is Truth and Justice, but He is also Love. It is unfortunate if some who have claimed to be Christians have represented Christ differently, but don’t let these misguided people destroy your image of the Source of all that is pure, right, and good. Go straight to the Source of love before you make your judgments.

Next, even if you do believe that Christians are intolerant, that doesn’t give you the moral right to be intolerant toward Christians. Groups called, “F*** Christianity” are not appropriate for anyone who claims to be tolerant, no matter the excuse. This is where sayings like, “That’s like the pot calling the kettle black,” and, “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” come into play.

Finally, realize that Christianity is meant to be a force for good in the world. Christians are called to be broken and poured out for those who are suffering and in need, just as Jesus was broken and poured out for every wretched person on the face of this earth, myself included. If the Church is doing more harm than good in the world, then something has gone seriously wrong, and for that I am truly sorry.

There are several factors attributed to the rise of witchcraft. Many of witches are radical feminists. The practice of witchcraft, if followed faithfully, makes the practice female dominate. The high priestess leads the ritual ceremonies. This fact may explain why the practice of witchcraft has risen so expeditiously. The female fertility goddess will always receive most of the worship. Wicca is specific for women who desire power and authority over men. Because Christianity is patriarchal, feminist philosophy pushes many women to witchcraft; this is due to the fact that they are unable to change Christianity to the way they would have it.

The rise of witchcraft can also be attributed to the complacency and ineffectiveness of Christianity during the nineteen-nineties. Today’s Christian leaders have lost their spine and are toothless in regards to witchcraft. In the book, “Witchcraft Today” editor Chas S. Clifton states, “some Christian clergy, no doubt, are convinced in their own minds that we are going to their hell in a hand basket, but they are courteous enough to keep the thought to themselves and not bother us with it.” Unfortunately, for wiccans this is so. There is a voice willing to label it for what it is; the rebellion against the almighty God, that voice is the Holy Bible.

Wiccans claim they have no Bible or revealed scripture in their religion. Although, few rely on it the Christians do have such a source. The Bible is the given word of the almighty personal God. Isaiah 45:5-6 states, “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: that they may know from the rising sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me, I am the lord and there is none else.” The Bible tells us that God created the earth, moon, and universe. It tells us that God has a purpose for all men and he wants us to live happy, abundant lives, but live them his way.

Witchcraft is contradictory to Gods way of live. Witchcraft is a religion inspired by Satan and his demons. The Bible was not written for the past, it was written for the future, and that future is today. Although most archeologists will not admit it, every word in the bible can be confirmed with known history. They also will not admit that the confirmations they find in the Bible post dates the bible by many years.

People can look to the Bible for answers to the witchcraft issue. I Samuel 15:23 states, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” Witchcraft is a sin according to the Bible, but which sin? Is it idolatry? Yes, worshipping a goddess or horned god represents disrespect and dishonor to our holy creator. So the wiccans different path to god leads them to the god they worship, Satan. Wiccans admit their idolatry; they claim it makes them joyful. Witchcraft will never bring them happiness. Worshipping the earth, moon, sun, or animals will never bring a person true spirituality, it will only bring them the wrath of the one true God.

In Romans 1:18-25, Paul taught, “For the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth of unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for god hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through lusts of their own hearts, worshipped and served the creatures more than the creator, who is blessed forever.” Liberals and wiccans ridicule Paul; he pretty much answers the question on where exactly wiccans stand with God.

The men and women, who gave birth to the religion of witchcraft, as Paul shows, refused to glorify God. Even when God revealed himself and his knowledge to mankind, they were not thankful for his blessings towards and to them. Today wiccans refer to themselves as the wise ones as did their earlier counterparts, but as Paul showed they only became fools. What Paul was telling us is then, during Paul’s time and earlier God gave the people over to uncleanness and lust, allowing them to dishonor their own bodies. That is what I believe he is doing today. Witchcraft is a work done in the flesh. It will keep a person out of the kingdom of God (See Gal. 5: 19-21).
Witchcraft is not good for the person and it is not good for a nation.

While instructing the Israelites Moses stated in Exodus 22: 18, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” While things like that are not done in the 21st century, Moses was not singling out witches; he was speaking to any person in Israel during that time committed idolatry was put to death. Why so serious of punishment? Because, if idolatry was left to run rampant it served only to turn that nation away from God. After Moses and other great leaders of that time died, only a few followed what the nation had been taught. History will show that ancient Israel that the northern tribes did fully embrace paganism. In turn, the nation suffered captivity, siege, and slavery. Israel suffered terribly for their idolatrous practices, they learned their lesson, but can America learn theirs, before it is too late.

If the modern wiccans have their way, what happened to Israel will happen here in America. Where are our leaders who will see the Wiccan religion for what it is and stand up to it? On a brighter side there is hope, there is a promise. Jesus will soon return and establish his kingdom according to the laws of God. He will put an end to all of the false religions (see Rev. 21: 8). Every knee will bend and every head shall bow, may that day hasten to a dawn.

To most people a witch conjures up image of an old warty hag of a woman in a pointed hat. With this same image, people attribute witches and warlocks only to legends or fairy tales. However, there are many regular everyday Joes practicing this so-called religion. They could be insurance agents, lawyers, and nurses, anybody. I myself served in the army with a self-proclaimed witch, although, when things got tight we didn’t hear that soldier praying to any pagan God.

Witchcraft was nearly eradicated almost five hundred years ago, but it is make a slow recovery. Here in the United States there is an estimated sixty thousand plus people of all races and sex claiming to be witches or warlocks.

One of the severe problems with the resurgence of witchcraft is its negative effect on America’s teens. The adult practitioners are no longer hiding in the closet. Young girls are encouraged by these false teachers to embrace this “craft.” They prey on young women they perceive to have low self esteem. This only serves to destroy these children, not help them. As a society, we should be more alarmed at this growth of witchcraft. Unfortunately, it is being ignored.

A quick look back in history shows us that in the early forties, a man named Gerald Gardner established the modern witchcraft movement in the United Kingdom. Mr. Gardner called this movement Wicca, derived from a Celtic word “wise one.” Moving from the United Kingdom to the United States during the sixties, the lost Americans saw it as an alternative to Christianity. There is even a special school for witchcraft in North Carolina, not to mention classes taught on witchcraft at many mainstream universities. Wicca is even recognized as a religion by the internal revenue service, complete with tax-exempt conditions.

Returning to the military, it is not as publicized as other outlets, but the practice of witchcraft is alive in the military. In Austin, Texas, Fort Hood became the first military base to allow and sanction witchcraft as a religion. This occurred in nineteen ninety-seven; since then there have been many others to allow Wiccans to practice their craft. Bob Barr a Georgia representative was outraged at the military for allowing witch rituals to be conducted on American bases. Representative Barr is determined to have them halted.

The Texas Fort Hood group call themselves Open Circle, and claims they have 250 members. Representative Barr wrote a letter to the commander of Fort Hood citing that supporting witchcraft may win the approval of liberals, but “its effect on combat readiness of your troops may be far less spectacular, to say nothing of its detrimental effects on our society more broadly speaking, which has heretofore looked to our military as epitomizing the American spirit of for God and country.”

Representative Barr’s comments have invoked outrage with the military’s witches. They are all demanding formal apologies. I hope they are not holding their breath. Although Barr has tried several ways to stop witchcraft being practiced on our military bases, he probably will not make much progress. Why? Experts in the Wiccan field state that witchcraft is growing exponentially among our military personnel. This means, the practice is growing faster in the military than in the civilian sector.

Where will the Christian stand if the subject of witchcraft becomes a national topic? Did the founding fathers while writing the Declarations of Independence and the constitution fathom the practice of witchcraft on our military bases? If we can gather a bit of wisdom of what Wicca encompasses we may rethink the blind eye we have been turning to the problem.

The large California based organization called covenant of goodness defines witchcraft on their website in this way: “Wicca or witchcraft, is an earth religion, a re-linking with the life force of nature, both on this planet and in the stars and space beyond. In city apartments, in suburban backyards, in country glades, groups of men and women meet on the new and full moons and at festival times to raise energy and put themselves in tune with these natural forces. They honor the goddesses and gods, including the triple goddess of the waxing, full and waning moon, and the honored god of the sun and animal life, as visualization of immanent nature.” Simply put and without the positive spin. They worship the pre-Christian fertility goddesses and gods, and proudly proclaim their paganism.

Most Wiccans call their movement a neo-pagan movement. They study Druidic, Celtic, Norse, and ancient Greek mythology for encouragement and direction. On the other hand, it could be said they make it up along the way. Witches believe in reincarnation and karma, they believe spiritual power comes from the sun, the moon, and the earth. They do not believe in the true Christian god. One of the wiccans favorite tools (or hoaxes) is divination.

Witches use the circle and pentagram, brooms (how cliche), the wand (how Harry Potter), candles, crystals and a knife called “athame.” Sometimes they are unclothed or “skyclad” which has caused concern over sexual abuse in regards to children during these rituals.

Witches brew herbs and other ingredients together in order to cast spells and other invocations. Most “covens” are led by high priestesses, but many men participate in rituals. Many wiccans claim they use white magic instead of black. I have failed to see the difference. Wiccans claim that white magic benefits all of humankind. I guess they have been a bit lax lately. Wiccans insist they do not worship the devil. Any person well versed in the holy word knows the poor souls are deceived on this.

Wiccans celebrate the changing of the seasons on the solstices, equinoxes, and the midpoints between the seasons. Festivals are held known as “sabbats,” some of the important ones of which no self respecting pagan would not miss are “Samhain” the worshiping of the lord of the dead held on October the 31st, “Yule” honoring the sun god held on December 21st, and “Ostatra” honoring “Eostre” goddess of the dawn held on march 21st. If it is not yet obvious, some of the Christian holidays such as Halloween, Christmas, and Easter are rooted with these pagan festivals.

Many Christians do not take Wicca seriously. This is a terrible mistake. Wiccans take their religion very seriously, and are very anti-Christian. Their practices and beliefs are constantly trying to destroy Christian beliefs, moralities, and values. Practitioners of witchcraft see Christians as a threat. Wicca is a weighty and grim problem to today’s young Christians, as well as the older.

Contained in her book, “Teen Witch: Wicca for the new generation”, Silver Ravenwolf states, “Our only animosity toward Christians, or toward any other religion or philosophy of life, is to the extent that these institutions have claimed to be ‘the one true right and only way’ and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practices and belief.” Any dictionary defines animosity as hostility or feeling of resentment. Here Ravenwolf admits that wiccans hold hostility towards Christians.

Ravenwolf goes on to state, “Witches are sick and tired of people in other religions passing judgment and spreading lies about our belief system just because they are either insecure in their own faith or don’t realize that many paths to God exist in our universe. These unenlightened people think that hurting us is better than admitting that people should be free to believe, as they want to believe. Witches do not hate Christians, or Jews or followers of Islam; however, when people from these structured groups try to hurt us with lies, they can expect us to be upset and fight back. So, we have here a statement if a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or an Atheist tries to stop witches from infiltrating their homes and lives, they intend to fight you. If the numbers of witches are anywhere close to correct, you mothers and fathers can expect considerable resistance if you try to stop them from entering your child’s mind. In order to halt the problem, we must confront the problem and understand it.

[END OF PART ONE OF TWO PARTS]