Deep Pit of Bewitchment

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About this message

In this message, Dr. D.K. Olukoya explains to us what is known as the Deep Pit of Bewitchment. This is a message that will help as many that will understand and key into it. Enjoy!

In Acts 8:9-24,

⁹But 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: ¹⁰To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. ¹¹And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. ¹²But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. ¹⁴Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: ¹⁵Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: ¹⁶(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ¹⁷Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. ¹⁸And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, ¹⁹Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. ²⁰But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. ²¹Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. ²²Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. ²³For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. ²⁴Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me

KJV, American Edition

There is something known as sorcery. It is a satanic weapon. With the weapon of sorcery in the hand of Simon, he bewitched a whole city. So, it is possible to bewitch a whole city and if a whole city could be bewitched, don't be surprised then that a family, land or career could be bewitched. Simon used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria.
To bewitch means to capture, control, hypnotize or put a person under a spell. So, bewitchment is not a good thing at all. This is why the bible says in Galatians 3:1,

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

KJV, American Edition

Many people are behaving like the people of Samaria that we've just read about. The people of Samaria were under so much suffering, but never realized it. They were working and operating under satanic blindness and illusions and they never knew. Demons and all kinds of powers had possess the people of Samaria, yet they were going about their lives happily. The people of Samaria were praising the very man who was destroying them. The people of Samaria did not know who Simon really was; he was sapping them dry, but they believed he was delivering them. He was destroying them thoroughly and properly and was blinding their eyes. They (the Samarians) were hailing their enemies. When a man is bewitched, your enemy looks like your friend and vice versa; you are under a spell - you are bewitched! Destruction had already settled over Samaria. Sadness was everywhere. Unclean spirits had possessed many people. Nevertheless, they went about well dressed and about their business. Successful businessmen in Samaria were blinded by the devil. There was sickness in the land, but it never bothered them. There was trouble in the land, but it never bothered them, yet, they felt strangely normal. They thought Simon was the answer to their problems whereas he was the question and the problem.

So slowly and ironically, the people of Samaria were dying, yet praising the very one who was drowning their boat. Why? They were bewitched.

The Holy Ghost located Simon and declared that Simon was an agent of darkness. So, we have a lot of people in the house of God who look very normal, decently dressed, santimonous, angelic and holy, but inside they are terribly bewitched. When a person is bewitched, it is like being under the influence of witchcraft. The devil has bewitching powers. The world in which we live in has bewitching powers. Sin has bewitching powers and it is good to pray that bewitchment be broken upon your life.

A man was sentenced to death for armed robbery and as they were about to execute him (because he had also killed in addition to his act of armed robbery), the normal practice before execution was to ask for the religion of the criminal to be executed, if you are a muslim, they bring in an imam to conduct the last prayers for you; if you are a christian, they bring a priest to say the last prayers for you. So, before executing this man, a priest was invited to pray for him. The priest then put his hand on his shoulder like a brother and said, "Brother, do you have any last wish? Confess your sin before the Lord." After the priest had finished praying for him, they executed him only for the priest to discover that his golden wrist watch had been stolen. The man he was praying with who was about to be killed for armed robbery, even at the executing arena, was still stealing someone else's wrist watch including that of the priest who came to pray for him. That is the bewitching power of si.n

There are some eyes that cannot cease to sin. There are some brothers who cannot cease to sin. It's like they are drugged, yet they continue.

Many years back in 1985, a woman came with her son to see me. The son was 17 years old; the woman was close to 50. When they got to my office, the mother looked at her son and said, "Son, talk." The son replied, "Mommy, talk." The mother reiterated, "Son, talk." The son replied again, "Mommy talk." I was just looking at them go back and forth. After wasting a bit of time, I said, "Please who wants to talk?" Eventually it turned out that what they wanted to tell me was that this 17 year old boy had impregnated his own mother. Now, both of them were before me asking me what to do. They wanted to know if it was scriptural or not to abort.
That is bewitchment of the highest order.

We had to go and minister in a prison in Europe. We were praying with the prisoners when we met a young man. Normally, we ask them what crime they committed and how they got into prison. This young man was 22 years old and I asked, "What are you here for?" He said his offence was rape. I then asked for how long he is being jailed. He said 25 years. I said, "So, you are not leaving here until you are 47?" He said yes. I asked, "For rape? Rape offences are normally seven years or ten years maximum. Sometimes less. Why did they jail you for 25 years?" He said, "the woman I raped was 81 years old." I said, "But, you are such a handsome young man, why did you rape an 81 year old woman?" He said, "Something was telling me do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! When I did it, the voice that was saying do it, do it, do it, disappeared." That is bewitchment.
Raise up your right hand and declare these loud and clear:

• I fire back every arrow of bewitchment by the power in the blood of Jesus
• My father, deliver me from the pit of bewitchment

Perhaps, you started with a stick of cigarette thinking you will be able to control it and now you find out that you can't control it, rather, it is the cigarette that is controlling you. You started with small drinks and you have gotten to a level where the bottle controls you. You now find yourself holding the bottle singing, "I believe I can fly", when you cannot even walk properly. Now, the bottle - an inanimate object - is controlling a huge man. It's bewitchment.
Bewitchment paints sin in very attractive colours. Bewitchment makes sin to sound very respectable. When bewitchment has taken control the following takes place:

• Pride is redefined as having class
• Drunkeness is redefined as being social
• Indiscipline is redefined as freedom
• Rebellion is called youthful exuberance
• Telling lies is redefined as diplomacy or being smart
• Homosexuality is redined as sexual preference
• Gossip is redefined as sharing
• Promiscuity is redefined as being sexually active
• Laziness is redefined as being motivationally dispossessed
• Drug addiction is redefined as substance abuse or being chemically inconvenienced
• Adultery is redefined as extramarital affair
• Prostitution too is being redefined: Prostitutes are now being called commercial sex partners

The truth is this: coating a poisonous tablet in gold does not remove the poison or covering a rotten bad egg with flour to make it scotch egg does not remove the spoilage. Cleaning up a pig and installing a pig in an aircondition room does not affect the nature of the pig.
Until we have sinned, satan is a parasite, but when you sin, satan becomes a master. This is what is called bewitchment. We have bewitched husbands, bewitched wives, bewitched land, bewitched lives. It is a terrible thing to hear the word of God, to know that something will damage you, but for some reason, like a zombie, you just keep doing the wrong thing until you run into trouble.