Creative versus destructive spirituality
This contrast between ‘spiritual intimacy’ and ‘witchcraft’ is expressly found in biblical law. Deuteronomy 18:9–19 makes a stark opposition between ‘witchcraft’ and ‘prophecy’, summarised in verses 14–15 (Moses speaking):
For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, give heed to soothsayers and to diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you so to do. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren – him you shall heed.
This verse is to be understood against the historical background of the Exodus from Egypt, which is, in part, a liberation from the spirit of witchcraft associated with Egypt (cf. Isaiah 19:3). The contrast is between the manipulation of the witch and the intimacy of the prophet, of whom God says: ‘I will put my words in his mouth’ (Deuteronomy 18:18). There is no middle ground. It is the soothsayer or the Lord. Likewise, the magician who performs false ‘signs and wonders’ is characterised as one who encourages Israel to ‘“… go after other gods”, which you have not known’ (Deuteronomy 13:2). This contrasts with the intimacy of ‘cleaving’ to God (verse 4, and using the same verb used of the newly-married husband who ‘cleaves’ to his wife, in Genesis 2:24).
This contrast plays out in the broader setting of Deuteronomy 18:9–19, which follows directly from the laws relating to the priesthood (Deuteronomy 18:1–8). This indicates that witchcraft is structurally opposed to the priesthood and the sacrificial rituals that would later be fulfilled in Christ. Witchcraft is the opposite of Israel’s priestly vocation to know God intimately (Exodus 19:6), to hear from him and to communicate with him (e.g. Amos 3:2). Yet witchcraft is parasitic upon true priesthood; aping its forms with counterfeit spirituality, rituals and practitioners.[30] The contrast is between what we could call ‘creative spirituality’ and ‘destructive spirituality’. ‘Creative spirituality’ is characterised by truth, intimacy, life and adventure, whilst ‘destructive spirituality’ is characterised by deception, control, death and fear.
This contrast reminds us that the Bible does not ‘shut down’ our spiritual nature – instead, it liberates it. God, who is Spirit (John 4:24), has made us in his image (Genesis 1:26) as spiritual beings. He wants us to enjoy and express our spiritual lives in ways that are creative and which enhance our humanity. The ‘prophet-like-Moses’ – who receives ultimate expression in Jesus – is raised up precisely because God wants to be known by his people. All the main categories of legitimate spiritual practitioners in biblical Israel (including the ‘prophet’, ‘the man of God’ and the ‘seer’) express their spirituality in the context of a relationship with God characterised by intimacy, trust and adventure. Our God is ‘not God of the dead, but of the living’ (Matthew 22:32). He gives us, not a spirituality of death, but a spirituality of life. So instead of closing down avenues of knowledge and spirituality, the Bible opens them up in ways that are safe, so that they can be explored fully. The danger is that, as we lose the protective covering of Christianity, so we lose the protection of what it means to practise ‘safe spirituality’ – and we will find ourselves vulnerable to destructive forms of spirituality.
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