I want to tell you how Satan uses deception to draw God's children away from Salvation before they are even aware of it. It is my prayer that your site visitors will take my words to heart and be more alert than I was to this particular form of evil.

I was a High Priestess in the religion known as Wicca. I cast spells, I taught others how to do magical works, and I even stood under the full moon and charged silver coins with moonlight to turn them into talismans. When I think back now to the things I did as a Wiccan I tremble at how very close I came to losing my soul and my place in eternity with Christ Jesus.

I did not start out with any thought of turning from God or Jesus. I thought I was secure in my place within the fold. I became a Christian when I was 16 and I knew, within my heart I knew, Who my God was and Who my Savior was. However, I had become too at ease, too secure. Moreover, in my blind security I fell victim to Satan's tricks and deceit. Since my early twenties, I have had an interest in healing herbs. I believed, and still do, that God gave us herbs as a gift, earthly gifts to heal mortal bodies. God created every living thing, right? So when I was in my mid 30's I bought my first computer and discovered the internet. How many people really give much thought to the idea that Satan knows how to use the internet too? I certainly had not! Shortly after hooking up my computer, I started doing research on herbs and their medicinal uses. I spent hours and hours searching and reading. Then, one day I stumbled upon a website that had a huge section on this very subject. I was thrilled! The site was so thorough and concise. So complete in their history of each herb and even told where they could be purchased at discount prices. What a boon for a hobbyist like me! I was so impressed that I wanted to know more about who had created this wonderful site! So, I began reading through the other sections of the site that had nothing to do with herbs. For the first time in my life, I read the word Wicca. Having no idea what it was about I kept reading. I learned the history of Wicca. An "Earth-based" religion that believes all things have God's energy. Trees, herbs, oceans, rocks etc. If God created it then it has residual energy from God. Wiccan's believe they can capture that energy, manipulate it and use it heal, control, and even bind another person from doing harm to themselves or others. The way they explained it, the way they worded it, it made sense! Doing God's work using God's energy! I immersed myself in it! I couldn't learn fast enough. When I learned all I could from this site, I searched for more on the topic. Eventually I discovered a teacher. A High Priest. For three years, I studied Wicca. This opened up a completely new world for me. A whole new aspect of what I thought was God's love and faithfulness. The problem was that it wasn't from God. But, I didn't know that then. I was so secure in my Christianity that I saw what I was learning and doing as an extension of that! When the Holy Spirit raised warnings and I would question my teacher about them they were always explained away. For example" Wiccans worship both God and a "Goddess" Well you can imagine that the Holy Spirit within me was pretty upset by that discovery! Warning bells were going off like crazy! So I went to the teacher and told him that I could not worship a Goddess. It was one of the Top Ten! Not opened to negotiation. He proceeded to tell me that in order for God to create females He had to have a "feminine side" How could he create something as complex as a woman without having the understanding and compassion, the complexities of a woman? He explained that when we worship the "Goddess" we are in fact worshipping that feminine part of God. Ok, what about all the little gods and goddesses that they recognize? Oh, well, they are simply multiple facets of God. When you require healing, you pray to the dimension of God that gives the gift of healing. When you are in fear, you pray to the facet of God that protects, and so on. Names are given to these facets to help you focus on your need and what you are asking of God. Hmmm, and spells? Magical workings, how does that fit in with Christianity and God's Word? Spells are just an interactive way to pray. You are asking God to assist you by using items that God created.

Ok, you get the idea. No matter what question I came up with, they had an answer that tied in with God. After three years of study (also known as brainwashing) I reached the level of a High Priestess. I was given a new name; Spell Spinner, Daughter of the Crone. I could teach Wicca, I could marry people (Wicca is a recognized religion in many states), I could cast spells for any purpose. I could manipulate energy. I could call down the energy of the moon and demand the protection of the Keepers of the Watchtowers of the four dimensions, East, West, North and South, as well as control the elements of Fire, Water, Earth and Air. For example, I could manipulate flame. Make it grow higher or shrink to nothing and then relight with but a thought. I could make a hail storm in the deserts of Arizona split and go around my garden, protecting it from damage.  I had learned a lot and was so proud of myself!  Long gone were the warnings. The alarms were silent. And I, still steeped in my belief that I was a child of God and therefore holding strong against evil, believed that God was proud of me too. Then one day I woke up to discover that while I had been learning these things I had been neglecting other areas of my life. My bible reading was non-existent; talks directly with God had been replaced with the talks to the “facets” of God. Going to my knees in prayers and worship had been replaced by standing under the full moon and lifting my hands to the skies. But, that wasn’t all. My son was living on the streets. My marriage was on the rocks and my husband had become abusive both physically and verbally. My whole world was upside down and I didn’t have a clue how it had happened! But, did any of this wake me up? Oh, no! I was so entrenched in Wicca by this time that I believed that Evil was tearing up my world to try to get me to stop doing God’s work! I truly believed that Satan was angry that I was healing people and using God’s energy to do it! I was so full of myself, my status and my knowledge that I did not even have a hint that everything that was going wrong was BECAUSE of WICCA! So, instead of falling on my knees and begging God’s forgiveness, I did even more spells to try to regain control of my life. Eight years later I had divorced, remarried, shut the door on my son, faced losing my new husband to death and had lost a $70,000.00 a year job to off-shoring. My life had gone from bad to worse. From despair to hopeless.

Then my son died in a car accident. At age 21 he had been a Christian for all of two months. I am told that sometimes God takes the body to save the soul. Little comfort at the time but I draw on it now like the air I breathe.  It was like his death was the last straw and a catalyst. Because when Sean died, I was forced to face facts. Sean was a Christian! God didn’t kill him because He was angry with me! God does not kill Christians. God calls them Home! When he died, it was as if the Holy Spirit struggled its way up from the bog I had buried it in. All the doubts I had experienced at the beginning of my studies came crashing back! Was what I was doing Godly? Would Christ approve of me manipulating the elements? What would Jesus say about me no longer praying to God in the "Christian Way"? What if God DID disapprove? Would I ever see my son again? That night, crying in the dark, missing my child, when those questions went rapid fire through my mind I came to a very frightening realization! I knew where my son was, in heaven with his Savior, but I no longer had the confidence that when I died I would join him. For the first time in several years, I opened my Bible and started searching. So many I can't tell you all of them here, but I will share a few of them.

Eze 13:18 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive?

Had I been so wrong? A magician had been baptized! Was I any different than he? As I read this why did I not feel the reassuring fullness God's words had always given me before ? So I bowed my head and started to pray. But, though the words were coming out of my mouth, I did not feel the responding closeness to God that had always come before when I was on my knees. I felt so very distant from Him.

I searched even more in God's Word...

The rest of the night I tried over and over to get my connection with God back. I asked for forgiveness, I pleaded, I cried, I sobbed to Jesus, but still it felt as if I were all alone in the universe. When dawn came and I was no closer to God than I had been at the beginning of the night before, I panicked. I contacted a Christian friend of mine. The same friend who for years had been telling me how wrong I was. I asked him how to get God to hear me, to forgive me for this terrible multitude of sins. He told me that God heard me, but that perhaps God wasn't sure if I wanted this forgiveness because I was truly repentant for my sins, or if I were more worried about not seeing my son again than I was about how I had hurt and betrayed my Savior. He said I would have to keep talking to God and when God saw in my heart what He wanted to see, then He would answer.

It took a long time. For weeks I read my Bible every chance I got. I prayed a constant prayer in my head. My Christian friend prayed with me often. I felt so alone I cannot even describe to you the fear inside that it would be permanent. I would think and think trying to remember when that closeness with God had vanished and to this day, I could not tell you. It was just gone. I had left Him and I hadn't even realized it until it was too late!  Then, one morning, almost before I was even aware of being awake, I thought, "I love you, Jesus! Please, come back to me!" No sooner than the thought had completed I felt this rush of warmth wash through me. A feeling of love and compassion, and forgiveness such as I had never felt in my life! Even my baptism had not brought such feelings! I lie very still, just experiencing my Saviors touch and the tears of gratitude and love flowed nonstop.

So, here I am. I wanted to tell you all of this because I don't want any of you to ever feel the emptiness and pain of being separated from God. I know what it is like. I know what all the unbelievers are going to feel when Judgment Day comes and God turns His back on them. I know the desperation they will feel when it is too late and God does not answer their pleas. Their tears will be for nothing. The ache in their hearts will never stop, as mine did. The emptiness will never again be filled. My heart bleeds for them now, because they have no idea how horrible it is going to be. I came so close. So very, very close to throwing my Salvation away!

Please, be wary. Be vigilant. Don't ever take your Salvation for granted.

Don't ever feel that because you are saved, Satan can't get at you. He is the Father of all Lies. He will try everything he can to separate you from God. He is not above using your interests, your hobbies, and your innocence to lure you off your path to Heaven. He can give you powers so fantastic that you would swear by all that’s Holy they could only come from God. No matter how innocently it begins though, there is a turning point, when you must make a choice or God will make it for you. When the Holy Spirit tries to guide you by putting doubts and questions into your mind, Listen! Don’t ignore the warnings! Don’t let anyone explain them away with anything but God’s Word! Those are the Only Words that count. If they can’t show it to you in the Bible, run the other way!

Satan almost claimed me! But, now, today, I can claim victory over Satan, in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior! Not by my own might or wisdom, but solely because of the Grace of God!