Some brethren here in Africa are very superstitious if you deny supernatuaral stories you they will say you dont believe in withcraft, so how does the bible difine witchcraft did they perform miracles? Joshua Mukusha
From time to time historically up to about the end of the first century A.D., supernatural or miraculous events sometimes occurred. There were two possible, general origins of various supernatural or miraculous incidents—divine origin (i.e., God or his angels) or satanic origin (i.e., Satan or his angels). Miracles involving revelation from God, healing, raising the dead and punishments or judgments by God were divine in origin. Witchcraft, sorcery, demon possession, etc. were satanic in origin.
Creation was the result of the miraculous determination of God to bring the universe and mankind into existence (Genesis 1). The transmittal of revelation from God to mankind through prophets and preachers was miraculous (2 Peter 1:21) and accompanied by additional miracles to validate the new revelation and distinguish it from manmade, counterfeit revelation (Mark 16:17-20). Jesus Christ healed all manner of sickness and cast out demons during his earthly ministry (Matthew 4:24) to prove that he was who he said that he was—the Messiah or the Son of God. Our Lord as well as the apostle Peter raised people from the dead (John 11:43-44; Acts 9:36-42). God and his servants miraculously executed divine judgment or punishment upon wicked persons (Genesis 19:24-25; Acts 13:8-11).
Through his prophets, God severely condemned witchcraft and sorcery (Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 21:8), whether faked (Acts 8:9-11) or real (1 Samuel 28:7-15). Demon possession was an evil miraculous manifestation (Mark 9:17-27) in the first century A.D., probably for the purpose of demonstrating the complete power of God, Jesus and the apostles even over the spirit world (Mark 1:27).
A wide variety of miracles appear within the pages of the Bible in both testaments. However, miracles were not intended to last forever. Miracles were prophesied to end when the completed revelation from God was available and preserved (1 Corinthians 13:8-13; Ephesians 4:11-14). Miracles were never an end in themselves, but they were provisional (they provided validation of new revelation and for the messengers bringing new revelation). Once the last of new revelation (the New Testament or Gospel) was received (Jude 3), miracles were no longer necessary. Miracles and miracle workers died out together at about the close of the first century A.D. and the dawning of the second century A.D. when the last of the New Testament epistles had been written.
Today, neither God nor Satan performs miracles. Today, there is neither miracle (divine in origin) nor real witchcraft or sorcery (satanic in origin). There are claims for both ongoing miracles and miraculous satanic demonstrations, and there are incidents that we may not be able to explain, but the Bible believer knows that whatever they are, they are not true miracles since the New Testament teaches that miracles ended with the completion of the New Testament. Finally, what passes for miracles today are either actually ordinary events (e.g., the so-called miracle of birth) or not comparable to Bible miracles (e.g., not instantaneous and complete, raising the dead, walking on water, multiplying bread and fish, etc.).
