Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. Acts 19:19
I am aware that not everybody thinks the same as I do, but I find that books are one of the hardest things to get rid of. I have always enjoyed books, and get great pleasure from rummaging through a stock of old books, especially those that are written about topics that are of interest to me. And many of the books on my own shelves are like old friends from whom I am very reluctant to part company. So I can imagine how difficult it was for the folks in Ephesus who had large numbers of books to give up those volumes. In those days, books would be much more valuable than those of today, and an accumulation of them would be a great treasure. So what would motivate those people to take their libraries and dump them into a bonfire? These were books that were written about witchcraft and magic, the ‘curious arts’ that were satanic in origin. Once these people had come under the sound of the Gospel and had experienced the power of God unto salvation, the ‘curious arts’ had no more appeal. In fact, they could see the harm and evil in them. They are still dangerous today.
No Christian would have books on witchcraft in their possession, or books dealing with satanic matters, or ouija boards. These things are clearly dangerous, and with these things, the devil is deceiving and entrapping many. We who have experienced the grace of God in saving us can appreciate the danger. We find it disturbing to see children attracted to the Harry Potter books with their emphasis on witchcraft, for example. These stories prepare the minds of young people to accept the occult as positive, but we can understand that it can lead to nothing but destruction. At their core, these things are idolatry, the practice of according glory to beings or things that ought not to be worshipped, rather than giving honour to God. We need to be careful that we don’t fall into any of those traps.
We see many places these days that sell little silver or gold angel figurines that people use as good luck charms. Angels are good, aren’t they? We have guardian angels, don’t we? True, but those angels are in the service of God and are not at our bidding. Nor are they to be worshipped; Scripture is very clear on that point. So beware of worshipping or praying to angels. Also beware of things such as horoscopes, which appear innocent but which are based on occultic practices.
If we keep a watch out for the ‘curious arts’ around us, we will be amazed at the little things we will notice, from seemingly innocent superstitions (knock on wood) to potentially dangerous entanglements. These are books that we need to burn. -Jim MacIntosh