by Karen Davies | Oct 22, 2025 | Blog, History, Writing
“It is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”
— Martin Luther, Diet of Worms (1521)
The word occult comes from the Latin occultus – meaning hidden.
It speaks of what lies beyond sight: the unseen world, the life beyond this one, the forces beneath the surface of things.
Magic had always existed, as trickery, and as the belief that hidden forces could be summoned and directed.
Scripture taught that true power belonged only to God.
When Christ’s followers received the Holy Spirit, they performed wonders, but by submission, not command.
That was the line between faith and sorcery: Obedience versus control.
By the Middle Ages, that line had blurred.
The Church claimed authority to dispense grace through sacred rituals.
At the heart stood the Mass – the belief that bread and wine became the very body and blood of Christ.
To the Reformers, this was not faith but presumption.
They believed the Church had usurped divine power, claiming miracles that belonged only to God.
In their eyes, this fulfilled Christ’s warning: the False Prophet performing wonders in His name.
The Mass became the most contested ground of all.
If a priest could turn creation – bread and wine – into the Creator Himself, then humanity had seized the authority of God.
That, the Reformers said, was the greatest magic of all.
The moment when religion crossed into sorcery.
🕯️ The true battle was never between witch and priest, but over who held the power to command the divine.
by Karen Davies | Oct 22, 2025 | Blog, History, Writing
“The Law of God is eternal and cannot be changed, though heaven and earth pass away.”
— Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians (1535)
The oldest heresy was obedience.
When witch hunters spoke of the “witches’ sabbath,” they meant something specific.
They meant those who gathered at sundown on the seventh day.
Some historians now argue the witch trials were never about religion – just fear, famine, and feuds.
They note that executions were carried out by secular courts, not church courts.
But the Church condemned witchcraft as heresy, then handed the accused to the secular arm.
The judgment began in the church courts. It ended at the stake.
Modern scholars claim Christ never spoke of witches – that Scripture barely mentions magic.
The record says otherwise.
Christ warned of false prophets and lying wonders (Matthew 24:24), of unclean spirits that return (Luke 11:24–26), of those who cast out demons in His name but are unknown to Him (Matthew 7:22–23).
He didn’t say the word witch – but He confronted the power behind it.
And Scripture speaks plainly:
“There shall not be found among you one who uses divination or consults the dead.” — Deuteronomy 18:10–12
Saul, forsaken by God, sought the Witch of Endor.
The next day he fell upon his own sword.
Beneath these verses lies the deeper revelation – the Sabbath.
“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day, and sanctified it.” — Genesis 2:2–3
That seventh day, Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, was blessed before Moses, before Israel, before the Church.
In the fourth century, Emperor Constantine I moved the day of rest from the seventh day to the first.
From Sabbath to Sunday.
From commandment to resurrection.
Those who kept the original Sabbath were condemned as heretics.
And when fear met theology, they were whispered about as witches.
Those who gathered at sundown on the old day were accused of keeping the witches’ sabbath.
They were not conjuring spirits.
They were keeping faith.
🕯️ The truest haunting is forgetting who changed the day.
