Witch of York or ministering spirit?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 26, 2022

Doing research for the 4th book in the Ministers Of The Mystery series, I began to wonder why it is so hard for some people to understand that the witchcraft trials all around the world had more to do with hatred and lying about others than it had anything to do with what some consider to be real witches. After all, if they really had the powers they were accused of having, they would have seen it coming and escaped before anyone came looking for them.

Maybe God gave them the gifts they used? Considering while some passages are condemning "witches" other passages have no problem with them. It all comes down to what they used their gifts for. Some were using them for evil, hateful reasons. Others used them to help other people. God must have given them their gifts but they decided of their own free will to turn against the purposes the gifts were intended for.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what some call a Christian Witch and what a ministering spirit is. Is the word "witch" just a label some people use to cover anyone with supernatural abilities because it makes sense to them? Or, is it more a matter of blending different beliefs together?

Some Christians slam others saying they are both Christians and witches. They say that there are biblical passages saying witchcraft is a sin, yet other scriptures point to those with supernatural abilities as being treasured.

Prophecy is a gift--

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21You can find more on Christianity Today.

Why would anyone think that God stopped doing that? Why would anyone think that God stopped using people to deliver miracles? Why would anyone think He stopped putting gifts of the spirit into our souls?

Mother Shipton Witch of York 1488 – 1561

"In reference to her existence, in 1537 Yorkshire, while Catholic people were rebelling against the dissolution of Catholic monasteries, Henry VIII wrote a letter to the Duke of Norfolk where he refers to a "witch of York". It is believed that this letter is the earliest reference to the real Mother Shipton who would have been prophesying about Henry VIII at this time. In 1666 Samuel Pepys recorded in his diaries that, whilst surveying the damage to London caused by the 1666 Great Fire in the company of the Royal family, he heard them discuss Mother Shipton's prophecy of the event."

Yet in Britain, this was also happening,
Witches in Britain

"Witchcraft was not made a capital offence in Britain until 1563 although it was deemed heresy and was denounced as such by Pope Innocent VIII in 1484. From 1484 until around 1750 some 200,000 witches were tortured, burnt, or hanged in Western Europe.

Most supposed witches were usually old women, and invariably poor. Any who were unfortunate enough to be ‘crone-like’, snaggle-toothed, sunken cheeked and having a hairy lip were assumed to possess the ‘Evil Eye’! If they also had a cat this was taken a proof, as witches always had a ‘familiar’, the cat being the most common."

How many times has someone shown up when you needed them, and then vanished? If you survived most of the causes of #PTSD, that stranger was a Godsend. They come when you least expect to need them. Sometimes they make the difference between you dying or surviving.

I know I keep the memory of the people that came to help me during most of the things I survived and those that helped me heal afterward. I didn't know a thing about any of them other than they put me and what I needed ahead of themselves, even if it was just for a few minutes.

I didn't know how they voted, or if they were Christian or witch, and I didn't care.  They were doing something good to help a stranger.

A lot of the accused innocents were also helping other people. Many of them used folk remedies, handed down from generation to generation. They brewed potions to cure. People wanted what they did for them in their time of need, but soon they turned against them because they were told the accused were evil, even though they were doing good things.

In the end, we should judge others not by what is said about them but by what they do with the gifts they have. If they do "good" then I consider them ministering spirits and the world is a better place because they are in it.

The Scribe Of Salem has managed to be added to Harvard books. Shocker!