“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:1-3

In the biblical passage above, there is a rare word in Scripture – so rare that it appears only a few times. The apostle Paul uses it to talk to Christians:

“Who bewitched you?”

He explains that they had received the Holy Spirit by the preaching of faith, but were now leaning towards the works of the law, as if they had started with the Spirit and wanted to end in the flesh.

What does “bewitched” mean?

The word bwitched, in its root, is linked to the idea of fascination – something that hypnotises, enchants, traps, and dominates the thought and the heart without the person noticing. It is the power to attract to the point of putting someone under an invisible domain.

That’s exactly what was happening with the Galatians. Influenced by the Jewish religion, they were being led to mix the Christian faith with practices of the law of Moses – something they had never experienced before converting. Paul then reacts firmly because he saw in that behaviour a spiritual danger:

It was as if someone had “bewitched” them.

When fascination overcomes understanding

Even though they had received the Holy Spirit, the Galatians were getting carried away by doctrines contrary to what they had created at the beginning. This reveals a serious point: when there is a lack of clear understanding of the Scriptures, fascination finds space.

Many are fascinated by idols: singers, actors, athletes and celebrities. They stay days in queues, scream, cry and faint. As if they were hypnotised.

Others are fascinated by the riches: houses, cars, travel and the luxurious life displayed on social media. There are also those fascinated by numbers: likes, followers, popularity. People who do everything to go viral – losing reputation, family, money, and, often, their own faith.

This is fascination: something dominates the person to the point that they close their ears to any alert. Whoever touches your “idol” becomes an enemy.

An alert

That’s why the Scriptures call us to keep thoughts captive to God. Only He can fascinate us without enslaving us.

If you really are God’s, you don’t let yourself be dominated by the practices of the world, by trends, by the attractions of social media, celebrities or riches. You don’t let yourself be dominated by fame, by followers, by nothing, or by anyone, only by the Holy Spirit.

And that’s why you’re truly free. Because whoever is fascinated by something or someone is dominated by that something or someone.

The fascinated person is capable of anything, even giving their life for what fascinated them. So, be very careful, because the fascination of the world is out there, and it is taking many souls where they would not like to go. But when they wake up, it will be too late, unfortunately.

https://www.universal.org/renato-cardoso/post/fascinado-por-isso/