Moses confronted the magicians of Pharaoh during successive occasions. The magicians were able to replicate some of the wonders performed by Moses, but in the end, the Prophet demonstrated that God the Almighty is stronger than Satan.
In the New Testament there are two magicians that also got defeated by men of God.
The first was Simon the Magician who wanted to purchase from St. Peter the power given by the Holy Ghost. Peter refused to give the sacrament to the magician, and eventually (it is not written in the Gospel) he caused his violent death. Simon the Magician was a man of renown who was regarded by many as a prophet. He was for example able to levitate up to about a thousand feet altitude. He did this in front of a crowd in a stadium, but St. Peter was present. St. Peter prayed, and Simon the Magician fell to his death.
The second magician talked about in the Acts of the Apostles was Bar-Jesu, a Jєω also known as Elymas who had great influence on the island of Paphos. Saint Paul confronted the magician and rendered him blind.
This subject of the magicians will become important during the tenure of the False-Prophet, and the reign of the Antichrist which will come soon. Our Lady of La Salette spoke prophetically of End Time for us now, back in 1846, and also of wonders being performed during our present time.
Has anyone something to report about "magicians"? I am not talking about entertainers, but of priests (or priestresses) of the devil. We, of the Roman Catholic orthodoxy are supposed to be at the front-line against Satan and his imps, so someone must know something that we don't.
This subject has become of interest to me Jack. I have two sources, the writings of Diana Vaughan who goes into the magic practiced by freemasons of the highest degrees (but dismissed by all when the Freemasons brilliantly convinced most they were fiction) and second, the writings of Paula Haigh. The latter however shows just how clever the Devil is, for whereas there are magicians operating on earth now, the real damage is being done through fantasy magic. Here is the foreword to
FAIRYLAND IS HELL MAGIC IS DEMON POWER
By Paula Haigh.
A Historical and Theological Critique of Fantasy and Fiction in Literature .ForewordIn 2003, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger denounced the hugely popular ‘Potter’ books of J.K. Rowling. In a letter to a Catholic German Potter critic and author, he condemned the ‘subtle seductions’ of the Potter books that threaten to ‘corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it could properly grow’. In 2005, in conjunction with the release of the latest Rowling Potter book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and in view of the fact that the cardinal was by then elected as Pope Benedict XVI, this condemnation made world headlines.
In the same fantasy literature vein however, are some stories of J.J. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, written many years before the Potter tales of Rowland. Of these, it would be hard to find an opinion poll in the world of popular books and literature that would not have Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings top of that list. Between them then, these authors fairly dominated the fiction market in the 20th century. Indeed, so successful were Lewis’s, Tolkien’s and Rowling’s stories that they were made into movies, breaking attendance records each time. What we can say then - as we enter the third millennium of the Christian era, a time when the Catholic faith is diminishing at an unprecedented pace - is that these fantasy tales have become part of modern culture for countless millions of Christian children and adults worldwide.
It is not a well known maxim that where religion regresses, superstition progresses. Ironically, whereas the Triune God of Catholicism is manifestly missing and the capabilities of Satan are consequently well hidden, the International Association of Exorcists reports an upsurge in demonic possession worldwide. Moreover, today we are also experiencing a proliferation of the occult, spiritualism, spiritual healing, witchcraft, fortune-telling etc., throughout the world. Crimes and behaviour, often violent, including horrific murders, are being committed in the name of Satan himself. The paradox is that although these dark forces are at work around us, there is also an inherent denial that any of it is real, merely the illusions of Christian ‘fundamentalists’.
How then did Lucifer-Satan and his operative demons become trivialised as real beings, as powerful spirits hell-bent on luring us all to damnation with them in hell? Without doubt, fantasy literature played and continues to play a part. ‘Once the truths of Faith cease to be real to the modern mind, other more exciting worlds are invented as a means of escape from the real that no longer appeals to the jaded minds of moderns’ says Miss Haigh.
And this is why the drug-crazy free-loving hippies of the 1960s recognised these fantasy tales for what they really are and took as their Bible Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and how such books and movies have become the most popular ‘intellectual and spiritual’ pastime for both children and adults in our time.
Given the nature of the subject matter in these books, stories of fantasy worlds, wizards, witches, magic etc., one can understand that they generated, and continue to generate, considerable debate, even in the Church, but especially among Christian parents whose children were/are reading them, some even showing up on the curriculum in their schools as compulsory reading. Instinctively they know there is something wrong with these fantasy stories, but they just cannot put their finger on it. Certainly there are one or two who made a stab at a critique, but all lacked real substance and especially authority. What was needed then, was a proper well-researched thesis on the subject.
At the same time, a virtual cataract of apologists, both Catholic and Protestant, traditional and neo-Modernist, writing in books, journals, websites and newspapers throughout the world, dismiss these concerns as unfounded. It seems that the temptation to defend the fantasy literature of the ‘devout Roman Catholic’ Tolkien, the ‘deeply Christian’ Lewis and the ‘Christian living’ Rowling is too great in a world now bereft of popular Christian writers in any sphere.
The point is though, if Tolkien’s, Lewis’s or Rowling’s fantasy tales are Christian, then they should be manifestly Christian, and if they are manifestly Christian then there would be no debate about it. Indeed, we might well ask what do these commentators mean by ‘Christian’? Lauding that the triumph of good over evil or claiming the love and friendship shown between characters in these books makes them ‘Christian’ is patently ridiculous. In the first place such are simply natural virtues and can be found in anyone, even atheists. Secondly, it cannot be denied that these fantasy tales deliberately exclude every precept of Christianity such as the Trinity as Creator, Christ as Saviour, His Church as universal, His Sacraments as necessary, etc., etc. Moreover, these ‘glimmers of Christianity’ offered, fade away into absurdity when compared with arguments against the orthodoxy and dangers of such fantasy literature based on doctrines derived from traditional theology and disciplines. Accordingly, on foot of this principle alone, to counteract the weakness in the apologists’ thinking, we decided to publish this critique written by veteran American author Paula Haigh, a scholar of theology, philosophy and the empirical sciences related to cosmology and evolution.
Before introducing Miss Haigh’s thesis it must be said that one reason we hesitated to publish until now lies in the fact that the doctrines and prohibitions involved would be viewed today as coming from the ‘Dark Ages’, containing no relevance to twenty-first century Christians. The idea that such harmless reading and adventure fun-giving movies as The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe could be classed as harmful in any way could only bring disbelief and incredulity from any quarter, and risks being classed as a relic of the past, like Trent or the thinking of the Inquisition, and be discarded as irrelevant. But now Pope Benedict XVI’s earlier condemnation has changed all that. Accordingly, we can no longer stand by as more and more such publications emerge defended by some with their superficial ideas that such fantasy tales offer ‘a Christian vision’. If we are believing-Christians, and are aware of the origin, purpose and end of our religion, then true and accurate doctrine must be available for those who still have a love for truth. Never mind that such theology and insights have been discarded, forgotten, obscured and scorned for many years - truth never changes. If, behind all the fun and adventure there truly lurk deadly serious heresies, the subtle undermining of Christian belief, then it is our Christian duty to inform and be informed.
Topic: THE MAGICIANS (Read 2301 times)