Black magic is “the use of supernatural powers for evil and selfish purposes.” The Bible often refers to it as “sorcery.” We have an example of one who practiced black magic in Acts 8:9-11, “But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously PRACTICED SORCERY in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is the great power of God.’ And they heeded him because he had ASTONISHED THEM WITH HIS SORCERIES for a long time.” Clearly, Simon was a wicked man who craved attention and was willing to use “black magic” in order to achieve it.

Voodoo is “a religious cult of African origin practiced in the Western Hemisphere and characterized by a belief in sorcery and fetishes and rituals in which participants communicate by trance with ancestors, saints or animistic deities.” As you can see by this definition, it is another form of “black magic.”

The Bible utterly condemns the practice of black magic in the following passage: “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or ONE WHO PRACTICES WITCHCRAFT, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a SORCERER, or one who CONJURES SPELLS, or a MEDIUM, or a SPIRITIST, or one who CALLS UP THE DEAD. For all who do THESE THINGS are an ABOMINATION to the LORD” (Deuteronomy 18:9-12…NKJV). All of “these things” fall under the umbrella of the OCCULT, which is defined as “dealing with, or knowledgeable in supernatural influences, agencies, or phenomena.” Of course, the “supernatural” is referring to the “powers of Satan” and NOT to the power of God. As we saw in the case of Simon, his ability to “astonish the people of Samaria” was not through his own power or through the power of God (even though the people attributed his power to God); it was given to him by Satan or demons. He reminds us of the coming Antichrist who will have similar “Satanic powers” as we see in the description of him in 2nd Thessalonians 2:9, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders.” This “lawless one,” like Simon, will attract the attention of the masses and astonish them with his supernatural powers. Notice how the Spirit of God refers to them as “LYING wonders,” for they are meant to “deceive people” and not to bless them with the knowledge of God’s truth. When the Lord Jesus was here, He performed miraculous “signs and wonders” too, but they were done through God’s power and for His glory. The Apostle Peter said, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man ATTESTED BY GOD TO YOU BY MIRACLES, WONDERS, and SIGNS which GOD DID THROUGH HIM in your midst, as you yourselves also know” (Acts 2:22).

All forms of the occult should be avoided altogether. Some may seem innocent (as in the case of the Ouija Board), but they are all Satanic and are, as we saw, an ABOMINATION to the Lord. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you have the power to resist “these things,” for you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you and if you yield yourself to His control, He will keep you from involvement in the occult by keeping you occupied with your Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will GLORIFY ME, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:13-14). The Apostle Paul wrote: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). He then gave a list of the “works of the flesh” and among them is SORCERY (see verses 19-20). Then he gave a list of the “fruit of the Spirit” in verses 22-23 and in that nine-fold cluster of fruit we have a moral portrait of the life of Christ, for He exhibited all of those moral qualities from the manger to the cross. All of them serve to glorify Christ and are a blessing to mankind; the very opposite of the immoral qualities of those like Simon the sorcerer who had only himself as the object of his heart. Like his master Satan, his one goal was to get the praise of men and he was willing to use diabolical power to achieve that goal. The humble believer has one goal, to be a channel of blessing to others and to glorify God, and he has the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit at his disposal every minute of every day to achieve that goal.  (431.3)  (DO)