The Sorcery Bonfire & New Age Deception

By Doreen Virtue, author of Removing New Age from Your Home, available at https://a.co/d/h76nULF

Sorcery is used casually these days by women practicing witchcraft spells and using vision boards to conjure their hearts’ desires. Anytime we try to conjure, manifest, or spiritually attract our desires apart from God’s will or power, that’s sorcery. And throughout the Bible, God condemns sorcery and those who practice it.

Some people argue that sorcery was only condemned in the Old Testament. Yet, we see sorcery denounced throughout the book of Acts. Galatians 5:20 lists sorcery as a work of the flesh, in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit. We also read that sorcerers will be sent to the lake of fire for eternal torment in Revelation 21:8, 22:15.

The sorcery bonfire of Acts 19 is also a clear renunciation of sorcery in the New Testament, since God’s Word records that “many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the value of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver” and then “the word of the Lord continued to grow and to prevail” in that region where occultists once held sway through fear and deception (Acts 19:19-20).

People in Ephesus had been deeply involved in occult practices for years. They used spells, incantations, and written charms that they believed gave them spiritual power (of course we know that this was a counterfeit power from demons).

When God sent the Apostle Paul to preach the Gospel in Ephesus, God confirmed His Word with His power. God healed the sick and delivered the oppressed through Paul in ways that no magician or sorcerer could imitate. Everyone in Ephesus noticed.

Then a group of Jewish exorcists called the Sons of Sceva tried to copy what God was doing and attempted to cast out a demon in Jesus’ name as if it were a magical formula. The demon overpowered them and word spread quickly. Fear of the Lord fell upon the entire city and the name of Lord Jesus was honored (Act 19:17).

As the Gospel advanced, people realized that their magical practices were rebellion against God. Many who believed the Gospel openly confessed their sins. They brought their scrolls of magical spells and other sorcery items to a public gathering. These items were expensive, yet they were convicted to turn away from these sins and turn to Christ instead. So, they obediently burned the sorcery materials. Scripture says that God’s Word grew in power and spread mightily from that moment (Acts 19:20).

Their items of magical arts were destroyed in the public bonfire. The term “magic arts” reflected the world of spells, incantations, amulets, recipes, and ritual “know-how” that promised power over unseen realities. Yet the bonfire made it clear to observers in Ephesus that Jesus is Lord.

Scripture consistently conveys God’s condemnation of any attempt to harness hidden powers, consult spirits, or manipulate reality through forbidden knowledge. Deuteronomy 18:12 say that anyone who practices the occult is an abomination, since such practices sought guidance and strength apart from the living God who speaks by His Word.

God denounces the detestable practices of the pagans, listing divination, fortune-telling, interpreting omens, sorcery, casting spells, mediumship, necromancy, and all attempts to communicate with the dead.

God also said, “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them” since seeking such guidance defiles those who claim His name and breaks fellowship with Him who is their God (Leviticus 19:31). He warned that the one who turns to mediums and necromancers becomes cut off (Leviticus 20:6).

History bore out these warnings, since when Judah’s King Manasseh multiplied sorcery, divination, and spiritism, he filled Jerusalem with bloodshed and provoked divine wrath. God’s Word shows how occult practices walk hand in hand with idolatry, injustice, and covenant corruption, and how the lure of esoteric knowledge hardens people against the Word of God (2 Kings 21:3-6).

In the New Testament, God warned the churches with the same clarity, placing sorcery among the works of the flesh that exclude the unrepentant from the kingdom, since those works reveal a heart that won’t bow to Christ’s rule (Galatians 5:19-21).

God also warned that in the judgments poured out on hardened humanity, people still “did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts,” which revealed how gripping these sins are and how necessary the regenerating grace of God is if anyone is to forsake them and live (Revelation 9:21).

God concluded the Biblical canon with the sober reminder that “outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood,” making it plain that an unrepentant commitment to occult power is incompatible with citizenship in the New Heaven where the Lamb reigns and where the nations walk by His light (Revelation 22:15).

In the midst of God’s condemnations of sorcerers, the Ephesian bonfire modeled refreshing and encouraging repentance and showed the power of the Gospel for salvation! This is especially true when we consider that their sorcery materials were worth fifty thousand pieces of silver or drachmas which was roughly a day’s wage for an average worker. In other words, the bonfire destroyed the equivalent of 137 years of wages for one person.

In today’s economy, the burned sorcery materials would be worth between 7.5 and 10 million U.S. dollars.

This shows that the people of Ephesus weren’t casually giving up a hobby. They were surrendered to God’s will and committed to repenting and turning to Christ.

When I was saved in 2017, I lived in upcountry Hawaii where bonfires were a fire hazard because of the dry brush. So instead I rented a large dumpster and filled it with my pagan materials including expensive New Age jewelry, artwork, and statues (which I destroyed before throwing them in the dumpster so they couldn’t deceive anyone else). My Acts 19:19 moment also included destroying and throwing away hundreds of New Age books and oracle cards. It was a relief to let them go!

Like the people of Ephesus, it’s important to destroy any New Age or occultic items you may have in your home, in your car, or in your office. These items, and those who use them, are condemned in God’s Word. So part of the process is to repent as you destroy the pagan items.

If a bonfire isn’t practical or safe in your area, you can use hammers to smash New Age items, or soak New Age books and cards in water or other liquids so they’re unreadable. I’ve written more on this topic in my book, Removing New Age from Your Home.

The Acts 19 story of the bonfire helps modern disciples in a world that markets the occult in gentle packaging, since horoscopes sit beside weather forecasts, tarot readings stream live for entertainment, energy healing masquerades as clinical wellness, and “white magic” promises protection and empowerment without the stigma of the darker arts. The Ephesus bonfire teaches believers to treat occult techniques as a false refuge that must be forsaken as followers of Christ.

God’s counsel for those entangled in the occult is clear: confess sins to Him and to wise believers, renounce the practices openly, destroy the objects that facilitated them, refuse future counsel from occult sources, fill the now-empty spaces with Scripture, prayer, and the fellowship of the church, and submit to the ordinary means of grace where Jesus nourishes His people and strengthens them against the schemes of the devil, since spiritual warfare is fought with truth, righteousness, the Gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the sword of the Word, not with charms, sigils, or secret codes (1 John 1:9; Acts 19:18-20; Acts 2:42; Ephesians 6:10-18).

God promises that those who once practiced these things can be forgiven, washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit, since the Gospel saves former idolaters and former sorcerers and gives them a new heart and a new life as adopted children of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Ephesians 5:8-10).

The bonfire was pivotal in the advancement of the church’s mission as His Word continued to increase and prevail, which means the decisive forsaking of occult allegiances is a demonstration of the Gospel’s authority and freedom. After all, the Gospel is the power of God for those who believe (Romans 1:16).

For more from Doreen please visit her page at Servants of Grace or at our YouTube.