It's wonderful to see how God got him out of it. God got him out of it very simply. He just connected with him, touched him, broke the disconnection. Once the disconnection was broken, and he was strengthened, he was able to go up and he was reassigned - go back where God called you to be, and do what he called you to do. Now I just want to leave it on that realm just at that point.
I want to move on somewhere else. I want you to go and have a look in Galatians, Chapter 2. Maybe some other time I'll come back and teach a series on that whole area, but I just want to stick to this one area, witchcraft in relationships. I want to show you something in Galatians, Chapter 2. Here it is, Verse 11: Now when Peter - this is Paul is engaged here - when Peter had come to Antioch, I - that's Paul - withstood him or confronted him to his face, because he was to be blamed. There was a fault. There was something that was wrong, because before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; when they came he withdrew or shrunk back, isolated or separated himself, because he was afraid. There it is. It's an operation of witchcraft - so notice Peter is mixing with the Gentiles. He's mixing with the Gentile people here, and in Galatia, and in Galatians church - he eats with them, fellowships with them, there's no problem; and then these guys from Jerusalem come, James and some of the other guys, and as soon as they came, he came under pressure. Under pressure - notice this - he became afraid. This is Apostle Peter - he become afraid, and notice what - he withdrew and isolated, he changed his behaviour to accommodate his fear of rejection, and the feeling of the pressure of these Jerusalem Jews, who were a little bit legalistic.
They were trying to impose the Jewish law on these Gentile believers. They were trying to bring them under the law; do this, don't do this, have circumcision, have this, have this, have this, don't have that. They were trying to bring them all under the law. They actually were limited in their thinking. They were holding what God had said hundreds of years ago, and they hadn't got a hold of what God was saying now, so they were sticking to their former revelation, and they were trying to bring Peter under it. When Peter felt the pressure of it he caved in, and not just Peter caved in; also - notice here it says: Barnabas did as well. It said he withdrew, separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision, and the rest of the Jews played hypocrite with him. Look at that, hypocrite, acting out a part. They were not authentic or genuine, and even Barnabas was carried around with their hypocrisy.
When I saw they were not straight forward, straight up and down about the truth of the gospel, I confronted Peter in front of them all. Now this is an operation of witchcraft coming against Peter. Peter has become afraid. He's wanted to please them, he's wanted to be accepted by them. He's become afraid of them; and instead of holding to revelation what God had shown him, he caved in, or traded, to have peace with these people, security with these people, acceptance by these people. He caved in what he really believed, and when he caved in to what he really believed, he then was acting and living out something he didn't really believe. That's why he's called a hypocrite, and the others are called hypocrites. It's just someone acting a part, not authentic, not genuine. If you ask: what do you really believe Peter, he'd say: well I believe the Jews don't have to do this. Well Peter, how come you're now carrying on like the Gentiles do have to do this?
So Paul just confronts him, and he confronts him very seriously. Chapter 3 verse 1: You foolish Galatians! Who bewitched you? What spirit has come over you, that has caused you to move away from the revelation you received? Now you've got to understand this. The spirit of witchcraft will seek to move you away from the things God has revealed and showed you. It will come through people, and will push on you through people. It can come through culture, and the culture pressures you to conform, to agree; to be like what they want; to please people, so you'll be accepted.