Maybe they really were witches

Dear Readers,

You know how in high school, in history class or in English class, when you learned about the pilgrims and the Puritans, you always learned about the Salem Witch Trials?  And remember you learned about how those crazy ultra-Christian Puritans were always looking for witches?  And remember how you learned that the "witches" were really just misunderstood girls who didn't quite fit in?  And that today in our enlightened age, we understand that witches are the stuff of fiction, like Bigfoot and elves and fairies?

Well... you were lied to.  Your teachers lied to you and your textbooks lied to you.  Or rather, at least, the facts were exaggerated.  The witch trials are given more prominence in history than they are due.  The witch trials are not put in their proper context. 

And not that many witches were executed, really.  Seven people died in Chicago this weekend.  And what did they die for?  Drug stuff and gang stuff, probably. The number of people killed in Chicago in the last decade is greater than the number of people killed for witchcraft in the entire history of colonial America.  I'd argue that it's better to die as part of an attempt to cast Satan out of your society than it is to be killed in gang-related violence, where unchristian tough guys are fighting over money and status and territory.

Why is it that when our American youth learn about colonial America, they always get a picture of the Puritans that is superstitious and bigoted?  And why is it that if they only read one Puritan sermon, they read the one that gives the worst impression of Christianity, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?"  Why can't our nation's youth get an idea of the Puritans that is closer to what is actually the case? 

And what is actually the case?  I'll tell you.  The Puritans were a godly people who took Christianity seriously, and we owe our current freedom and prosperity to the cultural heritage they left us. Did they burn (and hang and press) a few witches?  Sure.  But what else did they do?  They worked really hard.  They went to church.  They built universities.  They built homes.  They cared for their children and their poor and their widowed.  They had high rates of literacy, relatively speaking.  By and large, they were upright, moral people.  They built a legal system which administered justice probably more fairly than most other countries at the time.  Yes, they executed a few people convicted of witchcraft.  But you can't build a God-fearing nation without burning a few witches.  

And, this is one of the most important points of all- maybe they really were witches!  Maybe some of those killed for witchcraft really were in cahoots with Satan!  Maybe they really were practicing the dark arts and casting spells on people, in which case, they ought to have been punished!  Who knows?  Maybe instead of poo-pooing the pilgrims, we should be patting them on the back!  They went after Satan!  They were following a scriptural injunction (Exodus 22:18) and ridding their society of people who wouldn't give up their witchcraft and their strange gods. 

Now, I think the Puritans could have been a little nicer about exterminating witchcraft from their towns. For example, if someone was convicted of being a witch, they could have put her or him in jail for a while.  (Although they could probably still cast spells in jail, so that might not work.) Or they could have put the witches on a boat bound for Australia, or maybe sentenced them to a few years of Bible study.  I don't know.

But public execution does the trick, too.  It certainly scares other people away from getting close to anything resembling the dark arts, and that's a good thing.

The main point here is that Satan is real, and demons are real, and unless we team up with God and angels (who are also real) to fight them, the darkness of the Spirit World will overtake us! 

Sincerely,
Telemoonfa

P.S.  Happy Father's Day!