Scripture
Exodus 22:18
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Deuteronomy 18:9-14
When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.
For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
1 Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
2 Chronicles 33:6
And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
Micah 5:12
I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers.
Galations 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
3 Nephi 21:16
And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers;
Mormon 1:19
And it came to pass that there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was wrought upon all the face of the land, even unto the fulfilling of all the words of Abinadi, and also Samuel the Lamanite.
Mormon 2:10
And it came to pass that the Nephites began to repent of their iniquity, and began to cry even as had been prophesied by Samuel the prophet; for behold no man could keep that which was his own, for the thieves, and the robbers, and the murderers, and the magic art, and the witchcraft which was in the land.
Supporting Statements
Bruce R. McConkie
One of the most evil and wicked sects supported by Satan is that which practices witchcraft, such craft involving as it does actual intercourse with evil spirits. A witch is one who engages in this craft, who practices the black art of magic, who has entered into a compact with Satan, who is a sorcerer or sorceress. Modernly the term witch has been limited in application to women.
There are no witches, of course, in the sense of old hags flying on broomsticks through October skies; such mythology is a modernistic spoofing of a little understood practice that prevailed in all the apostate kingdoms of the past and which even now is found among many peoples. (Deut. 18:9-14; 2 Kings 9:22; 21:6; 2 Chron. 33:6; Isa. 19:3; Gal. 5:20; Morm. 1:19; 2:10.)
“When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,” the God of Israel said to his people, “thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and untodiviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.” (Deut. 18:9-14.)
Lest his people Israel be led to hell by practicing all these abominations – and all of them are part and portion of the craft of witches – the Lord decreed: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (Ex. 22:18.) First excommunication and then death by stoning was the penalty. (Lev. 20:6, 27.) It should be noted that the trying, convicting, and executing of so-called witches during the middle ages and in early American history was a wholly apostate and unwarranted practice. It is probable that none, or almost none, of those unhappily dealt with as supposed witches were persons in actual communion with evil spirits. Their deaths illustrate the deadly extremes to which the principles of true religion can be put when administered by uninspired persons.
Witchcraft is one of the “works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19-20), and in that day when the glory of Israel is fully restored the Lord has promised to cut off witchcrafts and to destroy soothsayers out of the land. (3 Ne. 21:16; Mic. 5:12.) 1
