Roberta,
My interpretation of that verse is as you suggested. Rebellion is a sign of
witchcraft or the characteristics, or as you stated, as bad as. However, if
you deconstruct rebellion, the comparison to witchcraft is definitely
apparent. If, as the passage says, a person rejects the Word of the Lord,
that's rebellion. What other word would one be hearing, therefore, if they
were rejecting the Word of the Lord? We only get two choices. We either
are obeying God's word or the Enemy's. If we are listening to the word of
the Enemy, God defines that as witchcraft. This does not mean, of course, a
person is worshipping Satan as many do in witchcraft but God compares their
behavior to to the black arts. In other words, as you said, the sin is that
grave in God's eyes because it carries with it the very elements of
witchcraft itself. If the God a person worships isn't God the Father, the
God of the universe, who, or which, god is it then? The basics of
witchcraft is to control and to control others. If a person, in any way,
attempts to control someone else, or to control circumstances, they are,
without knowing it, practicing witchcraft because the craft of witches is to
control. This means the person is attempting to take the place of God and
that is rebellion and that is compared to the sin of witchcraft.
Phil.
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