Wicca

[Jennie@ifish]

My son has a friend who is involved with Wicca. It's witchcraft. I believe it comes from the Harry Potter series.
I sat down on the computer yesterday, and Andrew was not finished IMing with his friend.
His friend popped up a message that said, something like:
"Tomorrow night, when all are asleep, I will begin casting the spells".
Why, as a Mother, am I worried?
This is what my son wants to know.
He tells me he is not into this witchcraft, but yet he bought a book on it. He says it is just interesting to me.
I am not educated enough to explain my feelings to him. I don't know much about Wiccan religions.
My son accuses me of being prejiduce. That I don't hate Jews, blacks, budhists, why am I so against witchcraft? He also insists that he is not a witch, and still believes in God. However, he has stopped going to bible study lately.
I must admit that I don't know much about it, and just the thought of witchcraft scares me because of my upbringing.
I don't want to be so adamant about not liking it that I push him, as a vulnerable teen towards it. I know that can happen.
How can I explain to him that I love him, and am worried about him? That I feel it is dangerous to fool around with?
Please pray for my son and I. I love him SO much and I don't know how to deal with teens! ARGH!
My son's friend and I got into an argument about it. He said that his Mother is a Christian and she is open enough to still love him and accept his beliefs. Well... SORRY! I am not as open minded, I guess.
He says witches are loving, spiritual people who love the earth, and wish well for all beings. He signed off with some weird saying, Merry be with you by day, and merry be with you by night... ???
Gave me the creeps.
Insight? I think I need to talk with a youth pastor.
Jen

[rhansme]

Jennie,

If you can tell all of Ifish how you feel, all you have to do is print your last post and give it to your son. Talk to him. He can take it, and so can you.

[happybrew]

Jennie- I've got some stuff on my computer at home about this. I'll send it to you tonight. Wicca is both contrary to the Bible and dangerous for the practictioner.

Doug

[Fish-n-Fever]

Jennie
I am adding a link to this reply that has a search engine for wiccan facts and questions
the page that loads has many links already loaded on one it has FAQ's
I hope this helps you find some answers and information

search engine (http://search.freefind.com/find.html?id=830342&pageid=r&mode=ALL&query=wicca+rules)

Ron

[FM2]

Jen, As a father of two teenagers I have learned not to take the high road with them. I try to give them understanding with issues I don't agree with as this gives them a sence of respect because I am not jamming my faith on them. They already know where I stand so I fall back on the foundation I know they have. Kids will go through stages (remember!) but a mistake I made a few years back with my oldest (22 yr old) was I carried guilt because he was really going opposite of where I am. The world was more appealing to him than God (can you imagine that). It was one day talking about this with my closest dear friend that he helped me open my eyes to the fact that kids will take their own paths at a point so I can't be responsible for this as they made the choices. Bingo! the guilt was gone as this really hit home knowing it wasn't because of anything I have done but the fact they are also people capable of making choices. This has also helped me to be more loving and empathetic towards my sons knowing they have a good foundation and someday with God's blessing they will come back.

Now my two daughters, that's a different story :wink:

[Jennie@ifish]

Fishnfever... I found that page last night, but how do you know who is writing about what?
Jen

[FM2]

You might find this helpful regarding Wicca, just scroll down, has some links also.

click here (http://www.watchman.org/cat95.htm#W)

[ 06-07-2002, 04:29 PM: Message edited by: FM2 ]

[DAB]

Jen
You have my prayers
DAB

[Jennie@ifish]

Try this one on:
I am a Christian, raised, born, fell away and back again, struggling.

As a Christian, my son asked if he could go to a Mormon boys family church camping trip. I said yes, he could go.

Would I do the same if he asked to go to a Wicca groups camp out?

Yikes! The answer scares me.

Yet, described this group sounds so pleasant. They worship nature. But what else?

I have to admit, my ideas are formed and maybe not as flexible anymore, but dang this is tough!

Jen

[happybrew]

Jen, you have to be careful. While I disagree with the Mormons, and what they teach goes against my religious beliefs, what they teach does NOT go against my moral beliefs, and we can know what they teach because they have a central authority, and books that they consider to be authoritative. So I wouldn't object to my kids doing things with Mormons. We could even pray together and be on safe ground. On the other hand, I disagree with both the religious and the moral beliefs of Wiccans. Furthermore, we cannot know what any particular set of Wiccans believes because there is no set belief system for Wicca. It varies from coven to coven. One group may be totally benign, and another may engage in ritual sex. One group may just want to frolic innocently in the woods, and another group may actively try to "cast spells" to control other people. You just never know. They have no prohibitions on lying, so they may be deceptive to you in what they are doing so that you will allow your son to go along. I have known some Wiccans, and worked with a few. They are not intrinsically evil people. The evil ones become Satanists. But they are seriously decieved. The practice of witchcraft is against the teachings of the Bible. Worship of anyone or anything other than God is against the Bible. Using spells to control another person makes that person into an object to be used, thus denying their essential humanity, and is a violation of the command to love one another. Using someone is not loving them. Engaging in ritual and group sex is clearly wrong for a Christian, and can be life-threatening. Many groups of Wiccans use psychedelic and other drugs to try to have a mind-altering experience. What starts out as something innocent and benign can spiral into something out of control as a person continually tests the boundaries. I'm not trying to suggest that all Wiccans do these things, because that's clearly not the case from Wiccans I have known. But they can, and some do, and if they are doing things that you would never, ever want your son to do, you will never know until it's too late.

We are praying for you, your son, and your son's friend.

happybrew

[FM2]

Happybrew make's alot of good points but I would not let that influence or sway my decision.

It's tough trying to stay involved in children's lives as they become older and more independant. I know because I have 4 ranging from 7 to 22. I have had tough experiences from my older ones which have groomed me to hopefully make good decisions for my younger children.

Jen, you can spend alot of time learning about Wicca or any other cult but the bottom line is the decision you are struggling with your son should be left in the hands of God. Pray, Pray, Pray, God loves so much when we put our Faith in Him instead of ourselves to make the tough decisions. I have learned this as I mature in Christ and even though sometimes circumstances will go counter to what I have thought, I realize my thought's were just that...mine.. and not Gods. Place this in His hands and you may be surprised of the results should this issue come up.

Have a Great Day!! :smile:

[happybrew]

Absolutely, FM2! Prayer works wonders! That is one of the mistakes that people make when they get involved in things like Wicca. They forget that they can just ask God for something, instead of trying to do "magic" to get what they want. We have a wonderful Creator who loves us and wants us to be happy. We can go to Him for all of our needs.

happybrew

[DAB]

Jen
Prayer is firing the winning shot.
DAB

[Wannabe]

Gosh...Prayers are going up. It's in his hands.
<)))><

[Johnny Mac]

I'd certainly take the advice of faith mentioned here and putting it in the hands of the Lord.....although to be completely honest, I'd have a tough time keeping myself out of it.. REALLY tough. Pray, and leave your heart open to what the holy spirit has you do.

That stuff is no joke. It is not....NOT innocent in any way shape or form. Worshipping nature? Sounds innocent and peaceful and cute. Its deception. It's taking glory away from the God that created "nature" in the first place. The Alpha, the Omega. Why skip that important fact when determining what to worship in life? These things (beliefs, wicca etc.)are made and created by the enemy to deter glory to God, and when there is tampering within these things, the enemy takes pleasure. The Lord is saddened. The kids Mom is a Christian and is open to these beliefs? Wow. Those paths don't lead down the narrow path that Jesus mentions.

Yikes! Preachy! :grin:

I don't mean to sound terribly obtuse with my opinions on this, but I'm pretty sure that "tolerance" and "acceptance" of things such as this are a certain weakness in the Christian church these days. If its "other than" the Lord, think of who it is that your dealing with..

I'll gladly say a prayer for this.

[M W Sheller]

Jennie, being a father of four, I know how convincing teens can be. Your son needs to know that wicca is an earth religion, and saitan rules this earth. Any spiritual door that he opens, that is not Godly, alows saitan a grip on his soul.
Your son is in my prayers tonight.
Michael Sheller.

[Merle]

Jennie,
I don't mean to be harsh, but as parents God put children into our care to protect and teach them during their early years.
Peer pressure is the strongest pull on them during these years.
Young people have no idea what the are getting themselves into when they dabble in the outer fringes of witchcraft and the occult.
While it may seem like innocent fun and something different. They don't realize they are being progressively drawn in and
then swallowed up. Eph. 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but..........................

[Screaminreelron]

WoW, Wicca is serious stuff. The Word says Satan is...a lier, destroyer, deceiver, killer of our soul graemlins/berry.gif . He wraps his lies in pretty, unthreatning wrappings. Jen, fight for you sons soul as a mother bear would fight for her cub. I suggest reading "I give you Authority" byCharles Kraft and for a broader exposer "The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare" by Dr.Ed Murphy. Ignorance and good intentions do not bring spiritual breakthrough but victumization. We wrestle not with flesh and blood (peoples) but against the spiritual forces of darkness (hell's army) that only seek to destroy us (and our families). God is going to teach you how to take His authority and be victorious! Great is He that is in us than he that is in the world! Feel free to IM me. I have some other helpful ideas. God bless

[Jennie@ifish]

Hmmm... Andrew is reading the bible this morning....
I think I'll just quetly go upstairs and take a shower... Leave him be.
:smile:

[KrystalFlash]

I will say only this about religion and nothing more:

Men will go to unbelievable lengths to prove their faith....some even kill or worse.... therefore I refrain from saying ANYTHING Derogatory about anyone's beliefs.. no matter what they are. I may not personally agree with their views, but I don't believe that I am an authority that is capable of judging another.. I will leave that to the MAN, for all must answer in the end....

I think that THE BEST THING that you can do Jen is:

Be supportive, and let him know what your concerns are, talk to him, NOT AT HIM. Even if you don't think he is listening, as long as you are not Preaching, demeaning, or talking down to him, he will hear you. Tell him about your beliefs, and WHY you feel the way you do. Be positive and informative....that is THE BEST THAT YOU CAN DO....... Believe it.

[Bryan]

Kids are going to be kids and do what they will! It sucks but it's a fact. The more that a parent holds on to their kid for dear life, the harder the kid fight to rebel.

So what can you do? Well, honest prayer is the first step. Talk with God the Father because after all it's His child too and I am sure that he cares about things like this. Secondly, get informed. If you have the information you can adequately perform the third step. Thirdly, ask questions of you son.

If you two can engage in an honest discussion by asking questions that will make the boy think instead of REACT, you'll have a lot easier time of it. As a parent, learn about this, and then ask questions about how this squares with Christianity. Here is a short blurb about what they believe...

Wicca: The practice of witchcraft, nature worship, worship of the Gods and Goddess, paganism and neopaganism, various groups with assorted names. In modern form, it is a revival of pagan religions (neo-paganism) and the worship of “pre-Christian” Gods and Goddesses.

Geez, there are a lot of questions to be asked from this little blurb. If your son believes in Christianity and God ask him this, If God and the Bible are correct by saying, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" In Gen. 1:1 and again states, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty" (Rev 1:8), how can this religion worship "pre-Christian" god and goddesses if there was nothing before or after the God of the Bible? Maybe there were no gods or goddesses before God and point out maybe this is just an intevtion or fantasy of men.

Another great question would be something like, "If God did create the world and the heavens than why should we worship something that He has created, instead of worshiping the Creator?

Poke holes in Wicca's belief system by squaring it with the Bible. There are no lies that can stand up to the truth of the Bible.

Learn about this Wicca crap and use it in your favor. Ask questions that will start your son thinking about what he believes vs the belief system of this cult. Give your son the chance to make up his own mind by the question you ask. If you can get him thinking by asking questions instead of arguing about it you're going to have a lot easier time.

As for the Mormon issue... This is a cult as well as Wicca. I would be as cautious of both equally. The link that FM2 gave in one of his posts, lists Mormons and Wicca on the cult list. I would go as far as to say that the Mormons are even more dangerous than Wicca. What's more appealing and deadly, a complete lie of a half truth? Mormonism has NOTHING to do with Christianity. It never has and never will! Mormons believe that when in the Garden of Eden the snake gave the forbidden fruit to Eve and told the lie Eve believed, that it was a GOOD THING! They call it a "Fall Up." Because of this they can become God just like the one we believe in. True Christians believe in ONE God and they believe that they can become god. I've done a lot of reading lately about this issue and believe that Mormonism is a lie. Mormonism, let me repeat, has NOTHING to do with Christianity. Heck they believe that Christ Jesus and the Devil are actual blood brothers and the Holly Spirit being in FLESH came to Mary and had physical (body on body) relations with her to beget Jesus! This is nothing more than heretical! They don't believe in the Trinity of the Father, Holly Spirit and Jesus as One they believe that they are seperate physical beings.
bryan