ARE CHRISTIANS TO BLAME FOR THE CRUSADES AND THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS? [3 of 3] The New Testament has another example of the New Covenant as it is applied to witchcraft. Acts 8 talks about how Simon the Sorcerer was not stoned by Peter, but only rebuked. If we're still supposed to kill witches, as the Old Testament prescribes under the Old Covenant, then why didn't Paul, or Petter, do that? It's because the death penalty was Old Testament civil law. God's moral law with the Ten Commandments is in force for all time with its prescriptions for a certain moral character. But the civil, priestly, and dietary laws are for the Jewish nation; not the Christian Church. So, those people meting out the sentences at the witch trails were wrong to do what they did. They misapplied Old Testament passages to say those punishments are still applicable in this Church Age. And that's a whole other can of worms with many religions today still attempting to enforce that outdated Old Testament covenant, which does not apply to Christians. They try to bring those laws into today with all their legalism and they cite the Bible as their proof text. But, again, they are talking about the Old Covenant that is not for us Christians today.