Deception By Sorceries

"for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; 

for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived" 

(Rev. 18: 23b)

In the above passage the English word "sorceries" is from the Greek word "pharmakeia." The word primarily meant “dealing in poison” or “drug use” and was applied to divination and spell-casting because sorcerers often used drugs along with their incantations and amulets to conjure occult power. Many drug users acknowledge that it is by using such narcotics that they are able to get in contact with the spirit world. The KJV translates the Greek word twice as sorcery and once as witchcraft. 

Drug use does often put a user in an "ecstatic" state (there is even a drug called "ecstasy"), into an hallucinogenic or psychedelic state. Some call this state a "God-moment," or a time of spiritual awakening. Drug users often get into a trance or dream state where they seem to experience contact with the spirit world. From ancient times such drug use has often been a part of religious ritual. It certainly was in use by the women channelers at the famed Oracle of Dephi in Greece. Witches and Warlocks also used it in their rituals and incantations and has long been associated with witchcraft and casting of spells.

Peyote is considered sacred and sacramental in the Native American Church, also known as Peyotism. It's used in rituals in order to commune with spirits and God or the gods, and in order to receive spiritual guidance, healing, power, and to gain a deeper understanding of the spiritual world. It was also a way to gain magical powers. Many people have become possessed of the spirits of the dead, or demons, by the use of narcotics and psychedelics. 

In the bible we read of these instances about sorcery and its effects:

"But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries." (Acts 8: 9-11)

In this passage the Greek word for "bewitched" is "existēmi" and means "to put (stand) out of wits, i.e. astound, or (reflexively) become astounded, insane:—amaze, be (make) astonished, be beside self (selves), bewitch, wonder." (Strong) It is similar to the word "ecstasy" which itself is from the Greek word ekstasis, meaning “to stand outside of or transcend oneself.” In mysticism, it is to experience an inner vision of God or of one's relation to or union with the divine. Various methods have been used to achieve ecstasy, which is a primary goal in most forms of religious mysticism. The problem is, when you stand outside of yourself, or when your spirit leaves your body, you become vulnerable to having another spirit enter into you.

The word trance (ekstasis, from which the word "ecstasy" is derived) denotes the state of one who is "out of himself." Interesting is the fact that we read in the Bible of the trances of Peter and Paul, Acts 10:10; 11:5; 22:17, but in such cases the ecstasies were not drug related but were rather "a preternatural, absorbed state of mind preparing for the reception of the vision." (Compare 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 ). In Mark 5:42 and Luke 5:26 the Greek word is rendered "astonishment," "amazement" (Compare Mark 16:8 ; Acts 3:10 ). Christians experience ecstasy in worship when they are raptured in mind and spirit but it is of a different nature than that caused by drug use. 

In the old testament we read these texts on sorcery:

"the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments" (Isa. 47: 9).

"Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail." (vs. 12)

King Manasseh is condemned for his many evil practices, including sorcery: 

“And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.” (II Chron. 33: 6)

In these texts we learn more about what sorcery is by the company it keeps, by the things connected with it, i.e. enchantments, fortune telling, omens, augury, mediums and channelers, and necromancers. Such things will proliferate in the very last days. Such is the case in our day as anyone who keeps up with the news can testify. 

The text in the heading above, in Revelation 18: 23, shows that in the very last days of this age that Satan will be behind the spread of drug use and by this will increase his deception over the nations and will increase demon possession and oppression. 

"The drugs used by cults for their hallucinogenic effects were adopted for explicit and implicit religious functions and purposes. The drugs were and are reported to enhance religious experience." (Britannica - here) It is also by such ecstatic means that a person finds what he thinks is a "union with the divine or sacred." 

Said the same source:

"The loftiest aim of the cultic use of drugs is the pure delight in what is described as a direct experience of God, ultimate reality, the spirits that preside over one’s destiny, or whatever the worshipper may conceive as his object of worship. As a consequence of such worship experience there may ensue a feeling of self-transcendence, sometimes through a melting away of the ego boundaries (with consequent loss of sense of self) and even through the terror of death, resulting in a psychological rebirth that gives a feeling of power and freedom and releases creative energies. Drugs have been used ritually to enhance the puberty ordeal through which, among many peoples, a youth is ushered out of childhood and is certified an adult. The functions of the drugs as teachers, leading participants through experiences of spiritual growth, are attested by many members of contemporary drug cults."

No wonder that alcoholic beverages have been called "spirits"! 

The same source continues:

"As a means of appropriating such experiences, the rites surrounding the assimilation of the drugs become types of sacraments in which the qualities and the gifts of the gods are appropriated. The visions, self-knowledge, energy, power, and direction reported to be secured from the rite confirm the feeling of the worshipper that he has been in the presence of God or has assimilated some of God’s powers. Some pharmacological cults do not rise much above the level of witchcraft, with ceremonies expressing the participants’ insecurities, anxieties, and hostilities."

Further, there are what are called "psychological goals." The same source says: 

"The literal meaning of the term psychedelic (“mind-manifesting”) suggests the vast amount of material (feelings, images, etc.) released by these drugs from the unconscious. 

Because hallucinogenic drugs, both natural and synthetic, tend to evoke an experience spontaneously recognized by many as religious and therefore of supreme value to the user, small communities of seekers have grown up wherever the drugs are generally used..."

So, in conclusion we say that the proliferation of sorcery today is a sign that we are nearing the time of the end and the onset of the judgments of the Apocalypse.

"Neither repented they of their murders, 

nor of their sorceries, 

nor of their fornication, 

nor of their thefts." 

(Rev. 9: 21)

If you are involved in sorcery, seek God and his salvation. He is the only one who can deliver you from it and from the demon possession that often is associated with it. Ask God to give you repentance.