In rare cases, I’ve come across Christians today that believe the illusions that Brock Gill, David Copperfield, Penn and Teller, and others performs on stage are sinful. By rare, I mean that in ten years, I remember maybe three instances where someone has criticized our ministry’s use of illusionists to present the gospel. However, yesterday, it was stated for a fourth time in ten years that “I’m sorry, we can’t use Brock. Some of our members had spiritual concerns. They said that deception as entertainment is not of God.”
Let’s apply this idea to other things. This small group of Christians must also believe that movies with special effects are not of God. Did that car really explode or was that some form of demonic power? Cirque du Soleil is not of God because those people can’t be using hidden wires to float through the air. Kaleidoscopes are not of God. Video games are absolutely demonic. Those crazy Powerpoint slides for worship where the background moves is not of God. Mystery novels are not of God. Comedians who use satire (lies) to present jokes are not of God. And the list goes on.
It reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live skit from the 1990’s where Phil Hartman played a Caveman who was unfrozen and became a powerful attorney. While he was able to argue his cases well and he lived “the good life”, he still had a dramatic misunderstanding of things in the modern world. In one scene, he states “When I see a solar eclipse, like the one I went to last year in Hawaii, I think ‘Oh no! Is the moon eating the sun?’ I don’t know. Because I’m a caveman — that’s the way I think.”
Likewise, I think the point that people miss with a modern day illusionist like Brock is that like a special effect in a movie, Brock is entertaining an audience with things that are simply tricks just like dunking a basketball. With a few years of practice, you and I could perform the same things on stage. There are no supernatural powers at work in a David Copperfield show any more than there are in a Steven Spielberg movie. It is a special effect used to entertain.
It is not a wonder why skeptics of Christianity find Christians to be so irrelevant. They say that we use religion as a crutch. That we’re not well thought through, we avoid clear examination of the scientific facts, and that we grab on to beliefs based on a warm fuzzy feeling and with very little investigation of our own. This is not true of 95% of Christians that I know. But it is this five percent that say blanket statements like “all magic is sinful” that damages the sensibility and truth of the Bible. It’s like someone spreading a dumb rumor that they read in a tabloid. You politely nod your head as they share what they’ve “learned” but on the way home, you and your spouse laugh about that foolish thing they said that night. It’s embarrassing. It is foolish. And it discredits everything else they say.
But I don’t want to gloss over this subject as if the word “magic” is not used at all in Scripture. There is a reason, though incorrectly deduced, that a small percentage of Christians believe that all magic shows are evil. It is roughly the same uneducated reason why some Christians believe that no women should speak in church and they should wear a veil at all times… but it is still a reason.
This erroneous belief comes from the misinterpretation of various passages in the Bible of the word “magic” or “magician”. “Magic” appears six times and the word “magician” 15 times in the Bible. The people described as performing magic in the Bible were called “wise men” or “sorcerers” and thought to be religious figures in the pantheistic beliefs of those days. The Bible rebukes these people for good reason: they were using their talents, whether real or pretend, to trick people and to bring credibility to their false gods. They did not do it to entertain. Their audiences did not know and understand that they were simply watching tricks. This was the very definition of a magician during this time period.
In all cases in scripture, the word magician or magic refers to someone that uses demonic forces or the art of deception to deceive leaders and people for the sake of their power or fortune. Their craft was based on lies and deception with the purpose of tricking people… not to entertain as a movie might, but in order to gain power or fortune. But their tricks lacked true supernatural power. They wanted people to believe they had powers, but they did not. This becomes obvious when these so-called magicians were unable to interpret Pharaoh’s dream or use the power of the gods to light a rock on fire.
Today, magicians are not the same. They may have acquired the same title but they do not share the same reasons for their performances. Technology has given this group of people the ability to do some amazing things on stage that wow millions of people each year. A good magician today can produce people out of thin air, survive chained up under water for hours, and present the exact card you chose from a deck of 52 cards. While the word “magician” has been labeled to these entertainers, they are not doing the same rebukable acts that we read about in Scripture.
However, the applications of these passages of scripture when applied appropriately are still important. The question we have to ask is whether these people are using these talents to ultimately swindle people out of fortune or to gain power. A thorough investigation of Scripture reveals that this is the true evil. Not magicians, but the politicians who lie, cheat and steal their way to power. Or the business man who tricks people out of their life savings. Or the preacher, who says one thing from the pulpit while leading a hidden life behind the scenes. These are the magicians that exist today. They are today’s deceivers and manipulators.
