Breaking Enchantments and Divination Over The Nation
It has been such a burdening experience, with the problems and turmoil in our State and country. People are ranting all over the internet and in real life; the general public is suffering because of the decisions of a significant number of people in the population. When we hear that enchantments and divination are guiding the rulers of the State rather than righteousness and conscience, it is so disheartening. Then the Word of the Lord came to me, which is in Numbers 23:23.
23 Surely there is no enchantment with or against Jacob, neither is there any divination with or against Israel. [In due season and even] now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God wrought!
I started meditating on this subject, enchantments and divination, and how to break their influence on our lives and on our nation.
The context of this verse in Numbers 23:23:
The Narrative: King Balak of Moab hires a corrupt prophet named Balaam to place a supernatural curse on the Israelites to destroy them.
First, we must know what is Divination and Enchantment.
Divination is the act of seeking hidden knowledge, future events, or guidance through supernatural or psychic means.
Enchantment, on the other hand, refers to the use of spells, incantations, or charms to influence, control, or alter the behavior of people, objects, or the environment.
In short, Divination is about seeing the unknown, while enchantment is about shaping reality.
1. Divination: Seeking Knowledge
- Purpose: To uncover secrets, predict the future, or find lost items and answers.
- How it works: Practitioners tap into spiritual or cosmic energies to reveal what is hidden.
- Common Practices: Tarot cards, astrology, reading tea leaves, scrying, and rune casting.
- Scrying is an ancient divination practice that involves gazing into a reflective or illuminated surface—like a crystal ball, a pool of water, or a black mirror—to receive intuitive visions, access hidden knowledge, or predict future events.
- Rune casting is an ancient divination practice used to gain spiritual guidance and insight. It involves drawing or tossing inscribed stones, crystals, or wooden tiles—known as runes—onto a casting cloth. Practitioners interpret the symbols that land face-up to reflect on present situations and potential future outcomes.
2. Enchantment: Manipulating Reality
- Purpose: To influence or alter the natural state, feelings, or actions of a target.
- How it works: The user actively infuses magic or energy to cause a direct, physical, or mental change.
- Common Practices: Casting love spells, enchanting protective amulets, casting illusions, or "charming" someone to do your bidding. Of late, through Social Media Influencing and Mainstream media influencing.
How to break the influence of the Evil Power Over Us:
I) Your Position: Your position under the Blood of Jesus.
Come under the fold or the shelter of the Almighty God. Jacob and Israel are God’s Chosen ones as per the Bible. According to the New Testament, those who are washed by the blood of Jesus and who have accepted Christ Jesus as their saviour, they become God’s own spiritual Jacob and Spiritual Israel. Being under the Blood of Jesus gives you the much-needed immunity against the occult.
We are seeing God’s Direct Intervention to thwart the efforts of Balaam and Balak to curse the Israelites.
Step 1: Overriding the Pagan Sacrifices (The First Altar Setup)
· The Attempt: King Balak takes Balaam to a high vantage point (Bamoth Baal) to look over the camp of Israel. Balaam instructs the king Balak (King of Moab) to build seven altars and sacrifice seven bulls and seven rams, hoping to bribe or leverage God’s favor to curse Israel.
· God’s Intervention: Balaam leaves Balak by the altars and goes to look for standard occult omens. Instead of allowing dark spirits to speak, God directly meets Balaam. The text in Numbers 23:5 states that the Lord "put a word in Balaam’s mouth".
· The Result: Instead of a curse, Balaam's mouth is forced to speak a beautiful poem declaring that Israel is a distinct, uniquely blessed nation that cannot be numbered or doomed.
Step 2: Crushing the "Location Loophole" (The Second Altar Setup)
· The Attempt: A furious King Balak assumes that the curse failed because Balaam saw the entirety of the massive Israeli army and got intimidated. He takes Balaam to a second location (the field of Zophim at the top of Pisgah) where only the outskirts of the camp are visible, hoping a limited view will allow a curse. They repeat the exact same ritual of building seven altars and sacrificing 14 animals.
· God’s Intervention: Balaam goes to look for signs a second time. God intersects him again and firmly locks down his speech.
· The Result: God delivers His famous decree via Balaam’s second oracle: "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind" Numbers 23:19. God clarifies that He has seen no systemic sin in Israel, that He brought them out of Egypt, and that "there is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel" (Numbers 23:23). Balak's entire plan backfires as Israel is described as a ferocious lion.
Step 3: Enforcing Silence on the Desperate Enemy
· The Attempt: Desperate and panicked, King Balak tries to compromise. He tells Balaam, "Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!" (Numbers 23:25). He tries to force total silence, hoping to at least halt the positive energy and protection flowing to Israel.
· God’s Intervention: God’s sovereign control over Balaam is so total that Balaam cannot even choose silence. God binds Balaam’s will entirely.
· The Result: Balaam is forced to admit to the king that he is entirely trapped by God's authority: "Did I not tell you, ‘Whatever the Lord says, that I must do’?" (Numbers 23:26).
Step 4: Forcing an Unsolicited Holy Spirit Takeover (The Third Altar Setup)
· The Attempt: Refusing to accept defeat, Balak takes Balaam to a third location, the top of Peor, making a final, frantic attempt to invoke a curse. They construct seven more altars and offer another round of 14 sacrifices.
· God’s Intervention: Recognizing that Balak will not stop scheming, God changes His method of intervention. Realizing God's unwavering stance, Balaam stops looking for bad omens entirely. Instead, the Spirit of God visibly falls upon Balaam.
· The Result: Moving into the start of Chapter 24, Balaam completely loses personal control and enters a divine trance. He ends up prophesying Israel's total military victory over Moab itself, cementing God’s ultimate dominion over the situation.
Theological Meaning of God's Words (Chapter 23)
When God placed words into Balaam’s mouth, He did not just stop a curse; He established core theological truths that define biblical faith to this day:
- The Unchangeable Nature of God: In Numbers 23:19, God states, "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind." This teaches that God’s promises are absolute. Unlike human pagan deities, who were viewed as moody and bribable by sacrifices, Israel's God is bound by His own righteous character.
- The Powerlessness of the Occult: In Numbers 23:23, God declares, "There is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel." This was a massive paradigm shift. It proved that witchcraft, curses, and dark spiritual manipulation have zero power over those whom God has chosen to protect.
- Imputed Righteousness: In Numbers 23:21, Balaam is forced to say, "He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel." Historically, Israel complained and sinned constantly in the wilderness. Yet, because of His covenant, God viewed them through the lens of grace, refusing to let an outsider condemn them.
- The Final Showdown (Chapter 24)
Realising that God would only bless Israel, Balaam stops looking for sorcery omens altogether. As he looks out over the camp, the Spirit of God comes upon him, driving the final nails into King Balak's plans:
- The Ultimate Blessing (The Third Oracle): Balaam falls into a divine trance and praises the beauty and order of Israel's tents. He proclaims that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed—directly echoing God’s original covenant promise to Abraham.
- Balak’s Fury: King Balak is so enraged that he literally claps his hands in disgust and screams at Balaam to flee for his life without pay, yelling, "I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times!"
- The Final Shocking Prophecy (The Fourth Oracle): Before Balaam leaves, God uses him one last time to deliver a final, unprompted prophecy. Balaam foretells the future destruction of Moab itself: "A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab."
Ultimately, King Balak's expensive, elaborate plan to destroy Israel ended up doing the exact opposite. It produced a permanent, divinely inspired scriptural guarantee of Israel's protection and future victory.
II) Your partnership with the Divine Principle and Righteousness.
Partner and participate in the principles of God. Your ways and walk must be in line with the precepts of righteousness which God has outlined in the Bible.
How Israel Sabotaged Itself from Within:
After God blocked Balaam from cursing Israel verbally, Balaam realized he couldn't collect his payout from King Balak. To bypass God's blockade, Balaam gave Balak a sinister piece of advice: If you can't curse them from the outside, make them curse themselves from the inside.
He instructed Balak to send Moabite women into the Israelite camp to seduce the men into sexual immorality and pagan idolatry (Numbers 25). Because God is holy, He had to judge Israel Himself. "The Doctrine of Balaam" is deliberate spiritual sabotage—teaching people that moral compromise with the world is "no big deal".
The Summary of Events
- The Sin of Baal-Peor: While camped at Shittim, the Israelite men begin committing sexual immorality with Moabite women. These women invite the Israelites to sacrifice to their gods, leading Israel to worship Baal of Peor.
- God's Anger and Judgment: God commands Moses to execute the leaders of this rebellion. A plague breaks out among the people, ultimately killing 24,000 Israelites.
- The Defiance of Zimri: In the middle of the weeping community, an Israelite prince named Zimri openly brings a Midianite princess, Cozbi, into his tent.
- The Zeal of Phinehas: Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the high priest, follows them into the tent and drives a spear through both of them. This act of zeal turns away God's wrath and stops the plague.
- The Covenant of Priesthood: Because of his actions, God rewards Phinehas with a permanent covenant of peace and a perpetual priesthood for his descendants.
- The Command to Attack Midian: The chapter ends with God commanding Israel to view the Midianites as enemies and attack them for using deception to lead Israel into idolatry.
The Theological Meaning of Phinehas’s Actions
To modern readers, Phinehas driving a spear through Zimri and Cozbi seems shockingly violent. However, within ancient Israelite theology, his action is framed as a profound act of prophetic intervention and sacrificial atonement.
· The Concept of Divine "Jealousy": God states that Phinehas was "zealous with my jealousy" (Numbers 25:11). In Biblical Hebrew, divine jealousy (qin'ah) is not a petty emotion; it is the fierce, protective love of a husband safeguarding a marriage covenant. Zimri’s public defiance threatened to break that covenant completely. Phinehas felt what God felt and acted to protect the relationship.
· Atonement Without an Altar: Normally, atonement for Israel's sins required an animal sacrifice at the Tabernacle altar. Because Zimri's sin was an open, rebellious contagion threatening the whole nation, Phinehas executed judgment directly on the offenders. The Bible explicitly says this act "made atonement for the Israelites" (Numbers 25:13), immediately halting the deadly plague.
· The Reward of Permanent Peace: Rather than condemning Phinehas for violence, God rewards him with a "covenant of a perpetual priesthood". His decisive stance restored order, making him a model of the ideal priest who stands in the gap between a holy God and a failing people.
How the New Testament View of the Event:
The New Testament references the disaster at Baal-Peor several times, transforming it into a major warning symbol for early Christians regarding spiritual compromise.
· 1 Corinthians 10:8 (The Warning Against Lust): Apostle Paul uses the wilderness generation as a warning for the church in Corinth. He explicitly points to Numbers 25, writing: "We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died." (Note: Paul highlights those who died on a single day, whereas Numbers records 24,000 total plague victims).
· Revelation 2:14 (The "Teaching of Balaam"): In Jesus' letter to the compromising church in Pergamum, he warns against leaders who hold to the "teaching of Balaam". Jesus explains exactly what this means: enticing people to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and committing sexual immorality, and to compromise their spiritual walk with God by contaminating their souls by following worldly passions and desires — the exact blueprint Balaam used to trigger the crisis in Numbers 25.
· Hebrews 2:17 (The Greater High Priest): While the New Testament does not promote Phinehas's physical weapon, early Christian theologians drew parallel concepts. Phinehas was a priest whose ultimate act of alignment turned away wrath and brought a covenant of peace. The book of Hebrews argues that Jesus functions as the ultimate High Priest, who did not take another's life, but gave his own life to make a permanent atonement for the sins of the people.
The Geographical Location Where This Happened
The events of Numbers 25 took place in a region known as Shittim (fully named Abel-Shittim, meaning "Meadow of the Acacias").
The Final Encampment: Shittim was the absolute final resting stop for the Israelites after their 40-year wilderness wanderings.
Spatial Relationship: It was located in the low-lying Plains of Moab, situated just east of the Jordan River. If you stood at Shittim and looked directly westward across the river, you would see the fortified city of Jericho, their very first military target in the Promised Land.
Modern Location: Today, this geographic area sits in the modern country of Jordan. Archaeologists widely correlate ancient Shittim with the modern site of Tall el-Hammam, located slightly northeast of where the Jordan River empties into the Dead Sea.
The tragic irony of the geography is profound: Israel was sitting on the very doorstep of their long-awaited inheritance, yet their moral compromise almost disqualified them at the finish line.
III) Your Practice and Promotion of Righteousness and Truth:
Breaking a "spell" over a nation usually refers to shifting a collective spiritual climate, challenging systemic oppression, or combating societal division.
Chronicles 7:14
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
The 4 Conditions:
1. Humble themselves: Letting go of pride and acknowledging a need for God.
2. Pray: Actively communicating and bringing requests to God.
3. Seek My face: Pursuing a relationship with God rather than just asking for His help.
4. Turn from their wicked ways: Repenting or actively changing sinful habits.
The 3 Promises:
1. Hear from heaven: God will pay attention to their prayers.
2. Forgive their sin: God will extend mercy and pardon.
3. Heal their land: God will bring restoration and blessing to their community or nation.
Practicing and Promoting Righteousness and Truth:
Striving for a society based on ethical governance and truth is believed by many religious leaders to be the ultimate way to lift oppression.
Spiritual warfare, civic activism, or cultural healing—this involves different approaches:
1. The Spiritual Approach: Intercession & Impartation
Breaking national strongholds involves organized prayer, fasting, and spiritual declarations.
· National Repentance and Humbling Oneself Before God:
Focus on confessing collective or generational injustices and evil practices and sin in personal life and society (e.g., historical trauma, systemic corruption) to shift the spiritual climate.
· Corporate Prayer: Gathering groups of Christian Believers for unified prayer - such as the Day of Prayer for the Nation - is often used to seek peace, healing, and ethical leadership.
· Intercession and Prayer: Engaging in group worship and intercessory prayer, or collective affirmations based on the Word of God, to be used to replace evil and negativity with peace and prosperity.
· Scriptural Decrees: Believers must utilize specific Biblical scriptures to declare peace, truth, and justice over a territory.
2. The Civic Approach: Active Engagement
To undo oppressive political or societal "spells" (like corruption, misinformation, or fear), active participation in civil society is highly effective.
· Advocacy and Education: Supporting organizations like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch must be used to dismantle systemic injustice and protect civil liberties.
· Public Education: Countering misinformation and societal delusion relies heavily on truth and open dialogue.
· Media & Information Literacy: Encouraging digital literacy helps communities identify and dismantle systemic manipulation or fear-based messaging.
· Grassroots Movements: Joining or starting community-led initiatives allows you to directly address local issues, provide resources, and empower the marginalized.
· Voting and Policy: Engaging in the democratic process by voting in local and national elections helps elect leaders who champion the common good and systemic reform.
· Community Building: Fostering unity, empathy, and active participation in local governance helps break down societal divisions and the curse of stagnation.
3. The Cultural Approach: Compassion & Unity
Spells of hatred, division, and apathy are often combated through cultural healing.
· Promoting Truth: Countering misinformation with fact-checking and educational outreach fosters a more informed public.
· Community Building: Organizing local cultural, interfaith, or charity events brings divided groups together to build mutual trust.
· Acts of Service: Volunteering at community centers, shelters, or food banks tangibly improves the material reality of the nation's most vulnerable populations.
Summary:
