There are a great many self professing "Christians" that use methodologies, and techniques borrowed from occult practices, but they now have Christianized names. Is this practice truly Christian, or occultic?
In some Christian circles, it is nearly impossible to have a simple conversation without first learning certain terms and phrases. Several of these terms will be addressed here.

Here is a sample to work on.

I claim power in this situation, and bind Satan and his demons, and place a hedge around us that Satan can not penetrate. I confess victory over the enemy, and command any evil presence to leave in the name of Jesus. I lift up my family and friends in prayer, and will continue to pray in my prayer language, that the Lord will prosper us in every way, and I rebuke the spirit of poverty, and the spirit of debt, all negativity, and claim the inheritance intended for us, the children of God, yada, yada, yada.
 
 

There are currently, thousands of pastors, and millions of Christians, attending hundreds of thousands of Churches around the country that would find it impossible to find any theological errors in the above sample. There are also currently, hundreds of thousands of Christians attending thousands of other Churches around the country, that would only find a couple of theological errors in the above sample.

Are you one?

How did this happen?

Little by little the occult has infiltrated into the Christian Church. This is mostly because The Church rarely teaches doctrine anymore.

The above sample, was created by combining bits and pieces of conversations I have had with Christians over the years. Below is an example taken from an article on the Internet. I have added links to key words in this example to aid in the study of this sample.
 
 

Quite a mouthful here, and it's a lot to break down for study. Clearly, this is a Christian "spell" intended to displace an evil spell, or the work of evil powers. Clearly this reeks of arrogance and scriptural ignorance. Notice these phrases, I "bind Satan", "I command", "go to the feet of Jesus", "I call forth and loose", "come and cleanse every place", "to fill each cleansed area". Let's take them one at a time.

I "bind Satan", - does the believer have the power to bind Satan?

"I command", - does the believer have the power to command?

Does the believer have the power to command demons to "go to the feet of Jesus"? God himself commanded these demons to do certain things but they rebelled. But a believer saying a certain combination of words can make the demons do what they will not do for God? God has already told us that these demons will be judged by Him for their rebellion. How then, can these same demons be controlled by a person repeating a written prayer written in a book? Clearly they can not. Think I'm kidding?
 
 

Does this also mean that since God created us in His likeness, we too have the ability to create something out of nothing? Why not, God did it and we are created in "his likeness"? Just because we are created in the likeness of God, that does not mean that we are God! Because God can speak words and the universe is altered by His words, is a reflection of who God is. God is the creator of the universe and man, man is not the creator, but the creation! Saying that because the Creator created something in his likeness, therefore we have the same power of the Creator, is a lot like saying if you paint a picture of yourself, the picture can do the same things that you do. Give it a shot sometime! Take a few minutes and draw a sketch and then put it behind the wheel of your car and let it drive to the gas station and fill up your tank with gas. Sounds stupid doesn't it? Saying that because God's words created the universe, and we are made in God's image, therefore we have the ability to say words, and the universe must obey our commands is totally ridiculous. Did you notice that "God" is missing from the explanation of how the power of speech works? The explanation says "...we too have the ability to release power through speech", but what power? Any power we have is derived as followers of God. We are exercising the will of God when we do certain things. We are exhibiting the power of God, by following His commands, which will fulfill His plan. We are not free agents that can imitate the power of God by copying what He does for our own desires! "Therefore, we use the Sword of the Spirit by speaking or
singing scriptures that apply to the situation we are facing. " So, are we then using the "sword of the Spirit" to "loose" the Spirit, and to "call forth" the Spirit? What if The Holy Spirit is already engaged in an activity already? Does this mean that we, as Christians, can interrupt The Holy Spirit to do our bidding, simply by "releasing God's power" by speaking certain words? Only in witchcraft! This web site - http://www.snazzdragon.co.uk/coursew.html is an online Wicca school, and lesson #9 is entitled "The power of words. Creating and Using Spells and Chants. Astral Travel."  The book "Write Your Own Magic" uses this description to get you to buy the book -
 
 
 

According to A Pagan Glossary of Terms 4.1 or Useful Words and Phrases for the Interdimensional Traveler
Copyright © 1971, 2001 c.e., Isaac Bonewits, there is a term for this practice.
 

"I call forth and loose", - does the believer have the power, ability, or authority to "call forth" God? How will the believer "loose" The Holy Spirit? If The Holy Spirit was indeed bound by some power, we must assume that it was against His will. Who has this power, and how can the believer achieve such power that even The Holy Spirit does not possess?

This concept betrays the absolute arrogance that many word-faith adherents portray. They actually believe that THEY are in charge, and that THEY can demand that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit do things because they commanded them to by the magic power of THEIR words. But Jesus told us that we can't even change the color of one hair on our head.

If The Holy Spirit was bound, where has this occurred? Who has the power to bind God? Does this writer actually think they have power that even The Holy Spirit does not? This particular passage is so offensive to me, and so reeks of complete arrogance, that I can hardly even respond to it. The idea that a person even thinks they could match, forget exceed, the power of God is so contrary to the entire Bible that I am amazed to read the phrase! The phrase to "call forth" and "loose" "The Holy Spirit of God, and  "the holy angles" sums up the beliefs of this writer.

To "come and cleanse every place", - this is easily an attempt to displace an evil spell with a Christian one. Cleanse every place? Apparently this article teaches that the Christian can have "clean" places under the control of God, and unclean places under the control of Satan. This is contradicted by numerous Bible verses.
The Bible tells us that when we become Christians that we become new creations. This writer teaches that we are the same old creature, and that God has cleaned up and saved parts of us, but parts of us remain unclean, and unsaved.

And finally "to fill each cleansed area" - this shows the mindset of replacing unclean areas with Jesus as a power rather than the acknowledgment that Jesus is God, and as such, a person.
 

How are these "words" or Christian spells to be utilized by Christians? They are to be spoken or sung -
 

How are these "words" to be used by those practicing the occult?
 

Some of these false, occult teachings are obvious, and some are very subtle and tricky. Being subtle is a great tool of Satan. Simply Christianizing occult practices, does not make them Christian. Any power we may experience through our prayers, is through the grace, love, power, and authority of God. Not because of any power the actual words have. We can ask God for things, and if those things contribute to the kingdom of God, then God grants our REQUESTS. We do not DEMAND things from God, we do not LOOSE God, and we do not CALL FORTH our SEND OUT God. God is in charge, not us.

Rhema -
The word rhema {hray'-mah} translated to mean - "word" (NOT sword) is derived from the word rheo {hreh'-o} (speak, say, command) which means - that which is or has been uttered by the living voice.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/strongs/1036960100-7853.html
 

Sword -
The word translated as "sword" is machaira {makh'-ahee-rah} which means a 1) a large knife, used for killing animals and cutting up flesh 2) a small sword, as distinguished from a large sword 2a) curved sword, for a cutting stroke 2b) a straight sword, for thrusting.

Having the appearance of doing good, or actually doing good for the wrong purpose is not the same as doing good. Does it really matter if Christians use witchcraft as long as they accomplish good? Clearly we are called in the Bible to not imitate unbelievers, not copy them. But according to some practicing Christian witches this is just what they are calling Christians to do.
 
 

So, if occultists and Christians alike, can use this "power" to accomplish their goals, and they have opposing goals, who is to win? The one with the most believers? Perhaps the one with the strongest believers? You know what this is all starting to sound very familiar to me. Powers? Ummmm, where was it I read about this? Oh yeah, I remember, it was in the Bible! When power comes against power in the final contest, the anti-Christ will use his power to oppose God's power. Guess who wins?
 
 

Jesus said "“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
Jesus has all the authority in heaven and earth. If you prefer the KJV then
 

So according to the Bible, regardless of what some mistaken ministers would have you believe, ALL power and ALL authority comes from God ONLY. Nothing happens without His direct will and permission. These verses do not say that words have power, but that Jesus has ALL the power in the heavens and in the earth.

All the witchcraft in the world will do you no good. Not even Christian witchcraft.
 

Binding spirits, powers, Satan, influences, etc.. For an excellent article on this topic, check out this web page
http://www.letusreason.org/Pent13.htm
 

Claiming things, power, etc.. "Name it and claim it" is a practice of several modern false teachers. For an in depth study check out this web site on this heresy.
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/copeland/general.htm
or this one
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/posit.htm
This is also a good site -
http://www.lmcneeseministries.org/Name%20It%20and%20Claim%20It.htm
Got a lot of time to research this topic? This web page has numerous articles on the "word-faith" movement -
http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/w00.html#wordf
 

Power, etc..
 
 

Hedges, places of confinement, etc..
There is only one mention of a "hedge" in the New Testament
 http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Mar/Mar012.html#1
and this is litterally a hedge, you know, a bunch of bushes planted in a row. None of the apostles planted hedges, Jesus planted no hedges, and planting a hedge is a really dumb way to protect against Satan!
Job 1:6-10 does mention God putting a hedge around Job, but there are not further scriptures talking about putting a hedge around someone.
 

Confessing things other than your faith in Jesus, etc..
 

Personal victory, of victory in Christ, etc..
 

Commands, spells, etc..
 

Jesus, God, etc..
 

Satan, demons, evil, evil presence, etc..
 

Spells, communications, formula etc..
 

Prosperity doctrine, Jabez, etc..