I have heard about the “Salem witch trials,” but I have not known the details. Now I do—after reading Killing the Witches, by Bill O’Reily. It’s quite a story. Dreadful!
Before reading this book I read the book, Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick. So I was well informed of the Mayflower pilgrims and their strict ways. In some respects, they were admirable people, studiers of the Scriptures and wanting to do right. But, the way I see it, they were also very legalistic and hypocritical. They did not allow the celebrating of Christmas and Easter; they were not to sing hymns or express joy in song; displays of affection, even for married couples was not allowed and was punished; there was a strict dress code; toys for children were not allowed. Anyway, you get the picture.
The power structure of the Pilgrams ultimately came down from the Kings and Queens of England, but there were also powerful enforcers that came over from the Mayflower, like William Bradford and Captain Myles Standish. They were there to keep the people pure and “sinless.” And the punishment of sins were quite brutal, in some cases deadly.
The anti-witch movement began in England, but soon came to New England by the English Kings, esp. King James, who had an irrational fear of witches. But the English Kings were not worried because the new land had installed excellent witch hunters, namely the preacher and scholar Increase Matther and his son Cotton Mather. Cotton was especially dedicated to witch hunting; and he made it his goal and life achievement to rid the new land of witches. And he had a group of young witch hunters, mostly teenage girls who made a game of finding and accusing anyone they didn’t like of being witches. As far as I could see from the reading, these girls were liars and probably themselves demon possessed. They would bring accusations to anyone they had a grudge against—like their teachers, and the elderly, and even godly ministers.
These young, mischievous girls made a game of pretending that these people whom they accused were afflicting them with spells; and in the court room, whenever the accused would look at them, they pretended that they were being afflicted by witchcraft. Hence, the judges used this acting out by the girls as proof that the accused was a witch. Over and over again, false accusations were made. And in my opinion, all who were accused were innocent. In fact, it was the witch hunters and the accusers who were the guilty ones—even witches and demon possessed.
Shockingly, the law in those days offered no protection for anyone who was accused of a crime. They were declared guilty until proven innocent. And they were not allowed to make their own case or to have anyone speak for them. It was all one sided. And the unfortunate result in Salem, Massachusetts was that many hundreds were accused of witchcraft, and of those many were brutally tortured and were hung by their necks until dead.
Now, as Bill O’Reilly pointed out in his book, no one these days is executed, but many are wrongly accused of crimes, and their lives are ruined.
And who would you say are the innocent victims? and who are the witch hunters? It is clear to me that Donald Trump has been wrongly accused ever since he became President in 2016. True, he isn’t perfect—no one is; but he has been the victim of incredible lies. We can also add Christians as a whole, and Jews, to that list of victims.
And who would you say are the witch hunters? The obvious one is Hilary Clinton; also Barak Obama; and most of the media; and of course the Democratic party. They are all tied together in the big witch hunt. The big fake witch hunt.
And isn’t it interesting that the witch hunters, the ones that are accusing people of crimes, are the witches! It was true in 1692 in Salem, and it is still true today in 2023 in America.
Stephen Nielsen 