Wrong!

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Wrong!

Forum: Messageboard
Re:

Could someone shed some light on... (simpleman)
Re:

It is all in the mind. (Interested )
Date: 2001, Dec 03
From: prophet prophet

Christianity is not a psycho philosophy. It is a faith where science has trouble explaining. Dont know much about teletubbies. What do they represent?
BUT, with Harry Potter, BEWARE OF THE CONSEQUENCES!
A commentary.....
By Steve Shultz, Publisher THE ELIJAH LIST November 17, 2001 steve@elijahlist.com
"WHY DO SOME CHRISTIANS GET SO UPSET ABOUT HARRY POTTER," YOU ASK?
A few months ago I released an article about Harry Potter. Many applauded. Some were furious. The odd thing is, some Christians, even ones I know personally were irritated that I would suggest that Harry Potter was anything more than fun entertainment for kids. Christian OR non-Christian kids. "It's just a great and entertaining story," some protested. I have to be honest. I was stymied. I'm still perplexed. Have I read the books? No. Have I seen the movie? No to that question too. Then, perhaps I should be seen as uninformed, unwilling to look at the facts... Just ready to make a judgment without doing my own investigating. ================================================= I TAKE A DIFFERENT APPROACH-- A SIMPLE ONE ================================================= When the Harry Potter books came out, I didn't buy them or encourage my kids to buy them--right from the start. The thing was, it was clear from the beginning that this was about "wizardry." There's another word for wizardry. It's called witchcraft. Now, before you tune me out, read on . . . it gets interesting. I think it does anyway. I'm a Christian parent and so I take my "job" seriously that if I am to train up my children to serve the Lord, I ought to warn them about those things that are dangerous--IF they are dangerous. And so I have. And so ought you. ======================= THE FIRST MOVIE TRAILER ======================= Perhaps more than a summer ago, I saw the first trailers at the theatre for this upcoming movie about Harry Potter. My "different" approach was to watch the "ad" and simply see what it was about. “Oh, I see," I said to myself. "This is about a kid. A very cute little boy. He goes to Witchcraft school to learn how to do witchcraft better." The trailer makes it pretty clear. "There seems to be good people and bad people," I noted. "So, Harry Potter goes to witchcraft school. He's good. But there are those who are bad. So, if he's a witch and he's good, then the message is clear without reading the book or seeing the movie.... That is . . . "If you have the GIFT, you can be a good witch. And . . You can get better at it IF you go to witchcraft school. And you can fight evil better if you go to witchcraft school--using your witchcraft. Because witchcraft can be used to fight evil."
It's all quite apparent in the movie trailers. As the expression goes, "My momma didn't raise no fool." This movie is about a boy learning to do witchcraft better. Thus, my amazement that so many Christians ask, "What's all the fuss about?" I can tell some other things by watching the ads that have come on TV since: a) This boy is very appealing. What a neat kid! b) This film appears astounding. If you like special affects, you would love this movie, I'm sure. c) The colors, lighting, animation, sounds, and acting are brilliant. You can see it all from the ad. d) Then there's the story line! It sure looks interesting--even to me!! You'd have to be "dead" to not think that the story- teller is going to amaze kids and adults alike. You like good stories? Come on! This is going to be interesting!
However... ***************************** ================================= A MINOR BUT SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM ================================= The problem is, according to "The Good Book," --- there are no good witches! In fact, just the opposite. The Creator of the World, God Himself said so when HE brought "His Chosen People" Israel--- into the PROMISED LAND. In the church we speak of this often as being symbolic of the Lord bringing US into OUR Promises that He's made to us. ================================= SO, HERE'S AN IMPORTANT QUESTION ================================= Are you waiting for God to fulfill a few yet-unfulfilled promises in YOUR life? To bring you into your own "Promised Land?" I am. Most of us are. Then you might find the following Scripture fascinating, because it's talking about YOU-- and the promises God wants to bring you into. Oh, and you've got to remember one thing. . . when He brings you INTO your promised land . . . it's because He's also-- at the same time--- KICKING SOMEONE ELSE OUT! He wants to do that--- For you! That's kind of how God works. Who does HE kick out? He dispossessed the bad guys. And He brings IN the good guys. ---Keep reading! Who were the bad guys?
God tells HIS KIDS (ISRAEL) how it will go--and how it will go well with them. The Lord is pretty specific here. . .
"When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to IMITATE the DETESTABLE things of those nations. "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses DIVINATION, one who PRACTICES WITCHCRAFT, or one who INTERPRETS OMENS, or a SORCERER, or one who CASTS A SPELL, or a MEDIUM, or a SPIRITIST, or one who calls up the dead. "For WHOEVER DOES THESE THINGS is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will DRIVE THEM OUT before you. "You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God HAS NOT ALLOWED YOU TO DO SO." Deut 18:9-14 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now, I'm pretty simple. But it seems to me that if God kicked out nations for practicing witchcraft, divination, interpreting omens, casting spells, etc etc.--- then (and perhaps it's just me) He wouldn't think it Godly or Holy to glorify kids who do just that? Or is it Godly to reward Hollywood for glorifying --for actually IMITATING witchcraft? Is it then "ok" for you as a Christian to entertain yourself by watching kids and adults casting spells--using witchcraft? Am I missing something? Or should this seem rather straight forward to the average follower of Christ?
CHILDREN WOULDN'T TAKE THIS STUFF SERIOUSLY, WOULD THEY? ============================================================= I recently visited a family who does not claim to follow the Lord. I found it interesting that they read all the Harry Potter books to their daughter. They showed me the little playhouse they made out back for their daughter. They showed me where she mixes all her spells and potions. She had many multicolored substances from which she did this. It was all over her playhouse. The mother just chuckled at the creativity of her daughter. It may be just a coincidence, but this daughter has tremendous, overwhelming fears in her life. There are many things that children do, in daily life that scare her to death. In fact, she is controlled by many of these fears. Can I say theses two are related? No. I have no way to prove they're related. But what are the chances that there is SOME relationship? ============================================================== "CAN'T I JUST READ THESE BOOKS AND SEE THE HARRY POTTER MOVIES AND EXPLAIN TO MY CHILDREN THAT THIS IS JUST ENTERTAINMENT?" you ask. ============================================================== Believe it or not, the main response from Christians who protest to me is that this is just good fantasy story-telling and that no harm can come from it. You would be AMAZED at how many followers of Christ hold this view. If you are one of them, let me ask you this question: "Would you sit down with your children and watch videos of adult activity (you know what I'm talking about) and then explain to your children, "We don't actually believe in DOING this. This is just entertainment! For our enjoyment. But please never do this!" Of course not. You understand that Satan himself wants you to watch just such movies. Yet it is not fully understood by the church that participating in the "entertainment" of movies about witchcraft has the same effect.
I believe this will literally come as a shock to some that what/who is behind witchcraft is none other than fallen angels, demons of hell, Satan's minions. What this means is that for those who entertain themselves by Harry Potter, whether they intend it or not (and 100% don't intend it), they simply give themselves and their children to be entertained by the activities and the creative ideas of Satan himself.
It's like this (to be simplistic), You are just as good as saying, "Let's go watch Harry Potter. He's this great kid that has no interest in God, his creator or the Lord Jesus Christ. What's happened in his life is that without any proper training (in the story), he's given himself so fully to demons from hell, that he's going to witchcraft school, to learn how to serve Satan better, by doing better witchcraft--but he'll use it for good!" ============================ SLAVES AND LED BUT BY WHOM? ============================ Scripture says, one way or another we are slaves or are led: "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" Rom 6:16 and:". . .You know that when you were pagans, YOU WERE LED ASTRAY TO THE DUMB IDOLS, HOWEVER YOU WERE LED. Therefore I make known to you, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 12:2-3 ======================================== KIDS ARE AMAZINGLY SMART AND CONSISTENT ======================================== Have you noticed? If you tell a child that something is wrong, and then you LIVE by those words...you turn off the TV when that stuff comes on...they will TEND to believe you. However, if you teach them that something is harmless or somewhat harmless, and you compromise a bit, they will tend to believe you also . . that it's ok to compromise for them too, when no one is looking.
======================= OUIJA BOARD'S AND SUCH ======================= I was startled a few years back. I was at "Toys R Us" shopping for my kids. I wasn't prepared for what was about to happen. A boy, about 9-12 years old said, "Mr., can I ask you a question? He said, with concern on his face? "Is it wrong to play with a Ouija board?" he asked. Then I realized he was pondering buying one that was right in front of him. I knew it was a divine appointment. (that means God set it up--the time and the place for me to intersect with this boy's life). "Well, yes, I do believe it is wrong. I think it's playing with something that is very dangerous. I believe that you are opening yourself up to demons and Satan to work in your life." (Best I can remember, this is about what I said. "Thank you, he said," as he turned, "That's kinda what I thought." and hr walked out WITHOUT THE OUIJA BOARD. I was dumbfounded. This was the furthest thing from my mind. In a moment, I saved a kid for welcoming the work of demons into his life. Go figure the way God works! The same thing with Harry Potter, a cute kid sold out to the work of Satan. It's just packaged so nicely, that kids love it and so do many adults. But demons are part of it, no matter how you slice it.' ============================ THE REALLY "HARD" QUESTIONS ============================ What has been thrown up at me when I sent out the last article by John Paul Jackson about Harry Potter was this, "What's the difference between this and things like some fantasy Christian fiction, or even the Wizard of Oz, or some things that Disney does?"
Let's just keep things simple, can we? No matter what answer you or anyone comes up for those things, it in no way undoes what we've already discussed. That's like the diversion when people are asked if they want to accept Jesus Christ, and they say, "No, because their are so many hypocrites who are Christians." That there are hypocrites is true. That it has anything to do with the question is UNTRUE.
Want to know what the dictionary defines "witchcraft" as? Here it is: "Witchcraft: The art of sorcery" So how does the same dictionary define sorcery? Here it is: "The belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world."
I don't know if it was Noah Webster or simply written by a definition specialist, but whoever came up with the definitions understood that this thing-- witchcraft/sorcery had to do with evil spirits.
THE GOOGLE TEST ========================== Some may know that the single largest search engine on the Internet is "www.google.com" I did a search tonight, typing in the words "harry potter." Here's what I got. It's the same thing your kids will find if THEY use the search engine: On only the FIFTH listing under that search, I found the following. The title was "KIDSPEAK." They want kids to speak out on free speech related to Harry Potter. Here is what one person wrote on that page. I can't tell who wrote it but this is what it said, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . . .. To the Christian people out there, who says that your religion is correct? If someone said that to you in an e-mail or on the street, what would you do? The Wiccan religion is mainly for nature. They use herbs for healing, and use other natural material for GOOD uses. Keyword: GOOD. I am not saying that I believe in Wiccan religion, and I am not saying I believe in Christianity, but I am just stating the fact that I keep an open mind on ALL religious beliefs. And you obviously don't!!! Do not judge others on their religion. Do not go off saying that the Wiccan religion is wrong. Religion is one the main reasons we had war in the past, and we still have that problem in Ireland today. The bible says (I got this from a friend...a CHRISTIAN friend) to get rid of the evil within you before you get rid of the evil around you. Clearly you are so worried about others, it causes you to become a hypocrite on everything against YOUR religion. Have you ever thought of other people's religion, and how they feel when you are criticizing them? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As your own children research Harry Potter, this site will come up quickly in their search. By the way, the 11th ranked search under Harry Potter found a contest (also under kidsreads.com) to see who could come up with the best spell? Here is one of the top "spell entries. . . " 11th engine finding. . . "The Never Sick Always Healthy Spell Wake up and turn in three circles. Jump up and down once then blink three times. Say "I'm never sick always healthy today" three times! When Harry does this, he is guaranteed to be happy and healthy all day long!"
Please make a note . . . since Harry did it, it is ok to do it--from a kid's perspective! Rather than calling upon the Lord for healing, a spell is said, (which is calling upon demons) to bring healing and happiness all day long.
Oh, by the way, the 8th-ranked listing under google.com is this: "The Unofficial Harry Potter Fan Club" This site is innocent enough--- that is, if you don't mind your children being introduced on this site to TAROT CARDS--just two clicks from the search engine listing. We must not make the assumption that many forms of the occult won't be introduced to children when they research Harry Potter on the Internet. You children will learn a great deal about the occult by researching Harry Potter. ========================== WHAT DO THE PROPHETS SAY? ========================== Isaiah, a major prophet said this: ". . . Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight! Isa 5:20-21
If there ever was a time when some Believers are saying, "What some think is evil is really good" --this may be that time. We cannot find ourselves joining with the scornful who say that what is evil...is after all, really good...that Harry Potter is really good, and not an evil story.
Jesus warned that in the last days . . . "And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." Matt 24:12
Remember the OStrich burying its head in the sand? Think that there is no danger and there IS NO DANGER???
Another, would you hand a viper to your six year old?
In Christ Jesus
prophet