Occult.. it's true power source?Does witchcraft mean pharmakeia?Does Galatians 5:20 Condemn the Use of All Drugs?
The term could signify a drug.
Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, tells of a man named Arcesilaus, who “fell sick,” and while “under the influence of a drug [pharmakon] which he had taken, was strangled” by one of his own brothers (IV.160).
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The Greek New Testament and Septuagint on Witchcraft
Witchcraft occurs only once in the King James New Testament and sorcery twice--Galatians 5:20, Revelation 9:21 and 18:23. The word in the Greek New Testament in all three cases is pharmakeia, derived from the word pharmakon ("drug"), the source of the English word pharmacy and its cognates. The standard koiné Greek-English Lexicon translates the word as "sorcery" or "magic," but its cognate "sorcerer" (pharmakous) used in Revelation 21:8 and 22:15 is translated "mixer of poisons" as well as "magician." The root of both words, pharmakon, literally means "poison" or "drug."1
A few key Old Testament passages about witches which are often associated with the puritans such as Exodus 22:18 ("Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live"--KJV) use pharmakous in the Septuagint--the word translated sorcerer in Revelation 21:8 and 22:15.2 The Greek New Testament and the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures use different words such as mageia ("magic") when other types of occult practices like calling on spirits or using curses are meant. In English such words are usually translated "wizard," "necromancer," or some other appropriate word or phrase.2 Because of the Greek word chosen in each case, it appears that the New Testament authors and Septuagint translators understood the idea of witchcraft in terms of the use of drugs or poisons.
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