The Salem Witch Hunt

The Salem Witch Hunt

On March 1, in1692, the infamous Salem Witch Hunt began.

It was in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony where Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, an Indian slave from Barbados, were charged with the illegal practice of witchcraft. Later that day, Tituba, possibly under coercion, confessed to the crime, encouraging the authorities to seek out more Salem witches.

Trouble in the small Puritan community began the month before, when nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece, respectively, of the Reverend Samuel Parris, began experiencing fits and other mysterious maladies.

A doctor concluded that the children were suffering from the effects of witchcraft, and the young girls corroborated the doctor’s diagnosis.

With encouragement from a number of adults in the community, the girls, who were soon joined by other “afflicted” Salem residents, accused a widening circle of local residents of witchcraft, mostly middle-aged women but also several men and even one four-year-old child.

During the next few months, the afflicted area residents incriminated more than 150 women and men from Salem Village and the surrounding areas of engaging in Satanic practices.

In June 1692, the special Court of Oyer, “to hear,” and Terminer, “to decide,” convened in Salem under Chief Justice William Stoughton to judge the accused.

The first to be tried was Bridget Bishop of Salem, who was found guilty and executed by hanging on June 10. Thirteen more women and four men from all stations of life followed her to the gallows, and one man, Giles Corey, was executed by crushing.

Most of those tried were condemned on the basis of the witnesses’ behavior during the actual proceedings, characterized by fits and hallucinations that were argued to be caused by the defendants on trial.

In October 1692, Governor William Phipps of Massachusetts ordered the Court of Oyer and Terminer dissolved and replaced with the Superior Court of Judicature, which forbade the type of sensational testimony allowed in the earlier trials. Executions ceased, and the Superior Court eventually released all those awaiting trial and pardoned those sentenced to death. The Salem witch trials, which resulted in the executions of 19 women and men, had effectively ended.

This story, centuries old, is still interesting today because even in the 21st Century, there are activities going on that are eerily similar to those for which the Salem ‘witches’ were executed.

Although people of faith in Christ are generally unaware of the activities of witches, most do know that many among us identify as witches and participate in their sorcery, although such activity is forbidden by the BIBLE.

What makes it even more compelling that we understand this dabbling in the dark arts is the fact that some of today’s witches are directing their mischief against President Trump.

We know he has the Secret Service to protect him at all times, but we also know that ‘other-worldly’ schemes and plots cannot come under the scrutiny of the Secret Service or any armed protectors of the president.

To counter this insidious and diabolical spiritual effort to undermine Mr. Trump, people of faith must resort to their own spiritual resources.

We must be mindful that “the same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us,” Romans 8:11, and we must use that power to overcome whatever scheme the enemy of all that is holy would employ against the man GOD has allowed to be in this high office at this juncture in time.

May we bind together in faith, believing that our prayers are greater than any device of GOD’S ancient foe—including that of witchcraft.