Who bewitched you?

     The premise of our being bewitched is dependent upon what we are taught and believe.  There is divisiveness ingrained into the question depending on which front you are coming from.  Conservatives versus liberals, Christian versus atheists, majority versus minority, and many more polar opposites set the stage for accusations and blame.  But, the real question is who bewitched you into believing what you do believe?  Secondarily, who swayed you to another way of thinking in such a way that you actually abandoned what you believed?  When this event happens in peoples lives there is a quandary as to what to believe and how to apply this belief to the world we live in.  To say this is problematic is to understate the situation.  People pitted against people for selfish motivation.  James says we ask for and do not receive because we ask with wrong motivation.  Asking the person or agency that is trying to sway you away from what you believe what their motivation is will garner a lot of answers.  Most of them bewitching.
      Why is this an issue for the Christian?  Bewitching has been around since the beginning of man.  That doesn't mean that the power behind the bewitching or the application should be accepted by Christians.  However, in this world and particularly in the United States, there has been so much bewitching behavior to draw the Christian off the solid rock of Jesus and into the sinking quicksand.  When people fall for something, they cannot stand for anything.  What speaks volumes about the conviction of our beliefs is how easily we will abandon them.   I would like to go on the record saying I have been guilty of both being bewitched and bewitching.  I've asked God for forgiveness and pray that if I have sinned against you that you would forgive me also.  "The Bible says..." versus what men, women and society says sets the stage for someone or many someone's to bewitched and to surrender what they believe. 
     Stating "I believe..." is okay as long as we don't finish the statement.  "I believe the Bible to be the perfect word of God."  "I believe that Jesus Christ came to earth, died for our sins and was raised from the dead for our new life."  "I believe that there is a very real heaven and hell.  You decide if you go to one or the other."  This list could go on.  What is important is that I believed this on October 1, 1972 when I surrendered my life to Christ.  I have not been bewitched regarding these beliefs.  Many have tried and even society has urged me to abandon the faith I know in order to develop tolerance for that which is not in my belief system.  Just because mankind has come to the conclusion (with Satan's help) that tolerance of sin is okay; doesn't mean I have to.  While there are negative consequences for sin, there are positive consequences for obedience.  Again, you choose.  The Bible is clear on what we choose to believe.  No one has the right to take that away by any means.  I don't ask others to "tolerate" my Christian beliefs.  I ask others to respect my choice to be a Christian. 
     Generally, all people have a problem with the truth in one area of their lives or another.  We have raised a generation where little instruction and less backbone is passed onto our children and the children of our community.  For many life is not about standing for something.  Rather, life is about tolerating others so that they can tolerate you.  That's not Biblical.  The Bible tells us to not be bewitched into thinking we can wink at God and everything will be without consequence.  From rewriting the Bible to encompass what we believe to changing the beliefs in order to "not offend" anyone we are digging our own grave.  Don't be bewitched and don't bewitched.  Stand firm on the solid Rock.