Sorcery
Sorcery is the invoking of dark forces or evil spirits through ritual magic or occult practices for the purposes of gaining some power over the consciousness or subconsciousness of their fellow beings. This is achieved by casting spells and the use of higher forms of magic and symbols. Sorcerers summon up the powers of Satan and thus in essence serve Satan. Sorcery is Satan's counterfeit practice of the power of God. The art and practice of sorcery by wizards and witches has been perpetuated and preserved to this day by a long history of adepts going back to the days of ancient Egypt and Chaldea.
In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh was troubled by a dream and "called for all the magicians of Egypt" to interpret his dream (Gen. 41:8). When the prophet Moses was sent unto Pharaoh to deliver a message from God to him, Pharaoh challenged the authority of Moses by using "sorcerers" to imitate the power of God (Exodus 7:11-12). The sin of sorcery is so great that after God gave the commandments to Moses He also instructed Moses to "not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18). The Lord God of Israel commanded to the children of Israel through Moses to "regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 19:31). For the "soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among" the people of Israel (Lev. 20:6).
When the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob delivered the children of Israel from out of the hands of the Egyptians and delivered their fathers out of the hands of the Chaldeans, the God of Israel said, "thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 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. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee" (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).
The prophet Isaiah warned the children of Israel of their calamity and the Lord God of Israel forsaking them because they continued to turn to the philosophies of the East: "Thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines" (Isaiah 2:6). For the Lord God spoke to his prophet Isaiah and asked the question, "should not a people seek unto their God?" Instead they say unto each other, "seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter" (Isaiah 8:19).
In the day of calamity before the second coming of Christ when spiritual Babylon which is the world will be destroyed, those that practice sorcery and those that rely on these enchanters will be astonished at the destruction that over takes them. The Lord God of Israel had the prophet Isaiah prophesy, "Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. 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. Thou are wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it" (Isaiah 47:11-14).
In the New Testament period sorcery was continued to be practiced and encountered by the disciples of Christ as they went about teaching the gospel. In one incident Barnabas and Saul were called forth to deal with a man skilled in sorcery. For there was a "certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eye on him, and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" (Acts 13:6-10)
Even during the Book of Mormon period sorcery was practiced "for those who did not belong to their church did indulge themselves in sorceries, and in idolatry" (Alma 1:32). Mormon tells us that when the Nephite civilization collapsed "upon all the face of the land" there were "sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one" was rampant (Mormon 1:19). Christ tells us in 3 Nephi that sorcery will be practiced in America and that He "will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers" (3 Nephi 21:16).
Christ revealed to John that before His second coming by sorcery "all nations" would be "deceived" (Rev. 18:23). The result would be that plagues will be poured out upon the wicked and those that will survive "repented not...of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts" (Rev. 9:21).
Christ revealed to John that those that practice sorcery will "have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8). Christ reaffirms this declaration in this dispensation, "Wherefore, I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and the unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (D&C 63:17). Sorcerers are those who will "suffer the wrath of God upon the earth" and inherit a telestial glory in the resurrection (D&C 76:103-104).
In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh was troubled by a dream and "called for all the magicians of Egypt" to interpret his dream (Gen. 41:8). When the prophet Moses was sent unto Pharaoh to deliver a message from God to him, Pharaoh challenged the authority of Moses by using "sorcerers" to imitate the power of God (Exodus 7:11-12). The sin of sorcery is so great that after God gave the commandments to Moses He also instructed Moses to "not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18). The Lord God of Israel commanded to the children of Israel through Moses to "regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 19:31). For the "soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among" the people of Israel (Lev. 20:6).
When the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob delivered the children of Israel from out of the hands of the Egyptians and delivered their fathers out of the hands of the Chaldeans, the God of Israel said, "thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 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. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee" (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).
The prophet Isaiah warned the children of Israel of their calamity and the Lord God of Israel forsaking them because they continued to turn to the philosophies of the East: "Thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines" (Isaiah 2:6). For the Lord God spoke to his prophet Isaiah and asked the question, "should not a people seek unto their God?" Instead they say unto each other, "seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter" (Isaiah 8:19).
In the day of calamity before the second coming of Christ when spiritual Babylon which is the world will be destroyed, those that practice sorcery and those that rely on these enchanters will be astonished at the destruction that over takes them. The Lord God of Israel had the prophet Isaiah prophesy, "Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. 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. Thou are wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it" (Isaiah 47:11-14).
In the New Testament period sorcery was continued to be practiced and encountered by the disciples of Christ as they went about teaching the gospel. In one incident Barnabas and Saul were called forth to deal with a man skilled in sorcery. For there was a "certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eye on him, and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" (Acts 13:6-10)
Even during the Book of Mormon period sorcery was practiced "for those who did not belong to their church did indulge themselves in sorceries, and in idolatry" (Alma 1:32). Mormon tells us that when the Nephite civilization collapsed "upon all the face of the land" there were "sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one" was rampant (Mormon 1:19). Christ tells us in 3 Nephi that sorcery will be practiced in America and that He "will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers" (3 Nephi 21:16).
Christ revealed to John that before His second coming by sorcery "all nations" would be "deceived" (Rev. 18:23). The result would be that plagues will be poured out upon the wicked and those that will survive "repented not...of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts" (Rev. 9:21).
Christ revealed to John that those that practice sorcery will "have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8). Christ reaffirms this declaration in this dispensation, "Wherefore, I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and the unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (D&C 63:17). Sorcerers are those who will "suffer the wrath of God upon the earth" and inherit a telestial glory in the resurrection (D&C 76:103-104).