violated this statute when he set up “high places” and “appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat and calf idols he had made” (2 Chron 11:15). In both of these instances demonic involvement in pagan cults is reaffirmed. Occultic practices were common among the neighbors of Israel, and they proved to be a great temptation to God’s people.6 Consequently we find numerous commands and admonitions throughout the Old Testament, warning Israel to stay