Christian Witchcraft, Lesson 2

Christian Witchcraft will always be a difficult subject for the conventional believer to comprehend; but it’s probably most notably difficult for fundamentalist and evangelical Christians. Especially when it comes to interpreting the anti-witch and magic passages found in English translations of the Bible.

Now; before you go burying me under a wall of hate comments, I want to make something very clear. I’m not here to bash on Christians. Before I’m anything else, I am a Christian; and as such, I have no interest in picking on my brothers and sisters in Christ…I'm merely trying to make a point. Most fundamentalist and evangelical Christians subscribe to the antiquated theory that God is anti-witch and anti-magick. And they will have plenty of English language scripture on hand to back this theory up.

Many English speaking Christians regard the “Authorized 1611 King James" translation of the bible; as the infallible, inerrant, Word of God. But is this really the case.., Or a well-guarded myth?

In 1604, King James the 1st of England commissioned 50 learned theologians and scholars to take on the most arduous task of re-translating Hebrew Masoretic, Kione Greek and Latin Vulgate scripture; (Latin Vulgate scriptural manuscripts were used by the Christian church in Brittan/England for well over a thousand years). Of the original 50 men comissioned, 47 saw the task through to completion.

These great men were undoubtedly meticulous in their work. They did everything within their power NOT to make mistakes; often translating words syllable by syllable after much debate. And no one can deny that the finished product is astounding. The KJV is easily the most beloved translation of the biblical texts in existence. I use the KJV. It’s the version of the Bible that I feel the deepest reverence for, and I’ve read it for most of my life.

That being said; its important to note that as fine a job as James' translators did, they were neither the first to translate the scriptures into the English language, nor could they have possibly been 100% inerrant in their work.

Yes, they were as ‘near perfect’ in their translation as possible. But a 100% inerrant translation of archaic Greek and Hebrew into Latin would have been impossible…Why? Because every dialect ever spoken or written by humankind, contains words and phrases which cannot be represented in any other dialect but the original.

The original Hebrew Masoretic and Koine Greek scriptures; the texts from which all later translations of the Bible were derived (including the Latin texts observed by the Christian church of both the early and latter medieval period) contained a percentage of archaic words and phrases which were specific to the Hebrew and Greek cultures of biblical times. These are words and phrases which had neither Latin, nor English language equivalents.

Secondly, the King James Bible translation that we read in church today was not derived solely from the Hebrew, Greek and Latin. It also includes SEVERAL passages of scripture which were borrowed from previously ‘authorized’ English language translations of the bible; all of which date back to a time before King James the 1st of England took the throne. Translations like the Coverdale Bible of 1535, the Geneva Bible of 1560, and the Bishops’ Bible of 1568; just to name a few.

Lastly, it’s a little known fact that older English publications of the bible; including the original publication of the 1611 King James Bible, contained the whole of the Apocrypha. That's 14 complete books of scripture; which, only a little more than a hundred years ago, mysteriously ‘vanished’ from virtually all English language bibles . Think on this for a moment if you will. The Authorized KJV that we read in church today, is missing 14 WHOLE BOOKS! 168 chapters of scripture. 5700 verses! And these verses are not only absent from the KJV, but also from virtually every other English translation in publication.

Tell me, Dear Ones…Is the light beginning to shine for you yet?

Peace, Love and Light,
Rainwalker