The other branch of the occult is sorcery. Another word for sorcery is magic; or spiritual power. So people get involved with sorcery, usually because they’re rejected and bitter, and they want power. It becomes extremely addictive, because once the person connects with evil spirits, they feel they want more and more power. Every culture you go to, you’ll find sorcerers; and the more primitive the culture, the more you’ll find it holds, literally, whole villages under its power.
For example, in the days of Marco Polo, Marco Polo visited a man by the name of Kublai Khan; and he witnessed to him. Kublai Khan, Mongolian, father of Genghis Khan. Kublai Khan said this to him: “I observe your Christianity would be good for my nation. I am willing to embrace Christianity.” Now that’s a key point in history. But he said: “However, if you look around me, you see I’m surrounded by sorcerers; and they have real power. They can make a cup lift off the ground and travel across the room and come down in front of me. They can change the weather; and I fear they have power to kill me. So go back to where you’ve come from, and return with a hundred men, who know how to move in the power of God, and can overcome these sorcerers; and I and my nation will turn to Christ.”
This is a strategic moment in history; but when Marco Polo went back, it was 25 years before anyone came; they sent 2 people, not a hundred, and one died on the way there. The nation did not turn to Christ; and subsequently, Genghis Khan literally invaded all of Asia. It would have been under the gospel centuries ago, except for the hold of sorcerers on this king’s life.
Now this is quite a growing problem again. I was in a Bible school, and I had a word of knowledge on a young man addicted to playing an online game called World of Warcraft. It’s one of many games very popular among young people; but in this game, they role-play. They act out, in their imagination, the part. This young man had taken on the role of a sorcerer; and so he would use powers to defeat his enemies and increase in power; but he could become addicted to playing the game. Now he was in the hold of a demonic spirit.
I said to him: “This is what Jesus’ words are. ‘If you look on a woman to lust after her, in your heart, you’ve already committed adultery.’” In other words, Jesus is saying: what is birthed in the heart becomes real in the spirit world. So a person can have adultery already living in their heart, but they’ve not actually committed the physical act. They’ve opened their life to a spirit of adultery. I said: “Your imagination is a doorway to the spirit world; and by giving yourself to this game, you have given yourself to this demonic spirit; and a spirit of sorcery has come into your life.”
So I got him to renounce the game, renounce the identity he was playing. The moment he did, the demon manifested on his face, and he fell on the ground, began to yell; and we got him delivered. So even though he hadn’t actually been involved in sorcery at a practical level, he had engaged on it through the internet, and become demonised.
We had an alter call and over 200 students came up and they got delivered of the same kind of thing. These are people who come to study in Bible school, to learn how to be a leader; but in their personal life, they’re engaging in sorcery. So we need to understand, sorcery is a significant problem to this next generation. The media is full of it; the movies are full of it; and young people are drawn to these things.