The population of self-identified witches has risen dramatically in the United States in recent decades, as interest in astrology and witchcraft practices have become increasingly mainstreamed.
All you need is an Instagram account in order to see how witchcraft has so throughly infiltrated American culture. Everywhere you look, people who don't even necessarily identify as a witch are praying to the 'spirit of the universe', using incantations, potions, spells, charms and other things that have long been
associated with witches and witchcraft. I have been in Christian churches where preachers were teaching their congregation how to 'manifest what they want' by tapping into the 'universal spirit'.
"There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer."Deuteronomy 18:10,11 (KJV)
The Wicca movement had less than ten thousand members in 1990, but by 2008 their rolls had swollen to over 340,000 practicing Wiccans. Their growth comes primarily by hiding behind things like promoting climate change awareness, generic prayer and meditation, and the current female self-empowerment movement which is very popular. Are you
a Boss Babe? You might be surprised to learn that
has its roots in witchcraft as well. The so-called
Wellness Industry is saturated with Wicca, witchcraft and pagan ideals.
There are very few Christian denominations in America that do any preaching or teaching of the Bible outside of their church walls. Groups like the Methodists, Presbyterians and others that were potent spiritual forces at the beginning of the 20th century have lapsed into pusillanimous social clubs that are watching their members leave in ever-growing numbers.
America desperately needs revival, but it does not need more church services. Revival can only come when the unfiltered gospel of the grace of God, preached from the pages of the King James Bible, begins to reverberate and thunder from every street corner like it did in the
18th and 19th centuries.
Witches Outnumber Presbyterians in the US; Wicca, Paganism Growing 'Astronomically'
THE CHRISTIAN POST: While data is sparse,
Quartz noted, the practice of witchcraft has grown significantly in recent decades; those who identify as witches has risen concurrently with the rise of the "witch aesthetic."
"While the U.S. government doesn't regularly collect detailed religious data, because of concerns that it may violate the separation of church and state, several organizations have tried to fill the data gap," Quartz reported.
"From 1990 to 2008, Trinity College in Connecticut ran three large, detailed religion surveys. Those have shown that Wicca grew tremendously over this period. From an estimated 8,000 Wiccans in 1990, they found there were about 340,000 practitioners in 2008. They also estimated there were around 340,000 Pagans in 2008."
Pew Research Center studied the issue in 2014, discovering that 0.4 percent of Americans, approximately 1 to 1.5 million people, identify as Wicca or Pagan, meaning their communities continue to experience significant growth.
The rapid rise is not a surprise to some given philosophical and spiritual trends in culture.
"It makes sense that witchcraft and the occult would rise as society becomes increasingly postmodern. The rejection of Christianity has left a void that people, as inherently spiritual beings, will seek to fill," said author Julie Roys, formerly of Moody Radio, in comments emailed to The Christian Post Tuesday.
"Plus, Wicca has effectively repackaged witchcraft for millennial consumption. No longer is witchcraft and paganism satanic and demonic," she said, "it's a 'pre-Christian tradition' that promotes 'free thought' and 'understanding of earth and nature.'"
Yet such repackaging is deceptive, Roys added, "but one that a generation with little or no biblical understanding is prone to accept."
"It's tragic, and a reminder of how badly we need spiritual revival in this country, and also that 'our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world,'" she said, referencing Ephesians 6, which explains spiritual warfare.
Similarly, radio host and author Carmen LaBerge noted on
Twitter that the figures are striking in that witches outnumber certain Christian denominations.
"As mainline Protestantism continues its devolution, the U.S. witch population is rising astronomically. There may now be more Americans who identify as practicing witches, 1.5 mil, than there are members of mainline Presbyterianism (PCUSA) 1.4 mil," she said Tuesday.
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