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Breaking the Spell of Harry Potter While America wages war in a "just cause" in Afghanistan, audiences are flocking to two current movies dealing with witchcraft and sorcery. How does God view this scene? Can a nation call for God's blessing while it exports witchcraft? by Darris McNeely
A boy named Harry The Harry Potter phenomenon has grown out of four novels written
since 1994 by the British author, J.K. Rowling. In the first book and the movie Harry
Potter is an orphaned 11-year-old boy who lives with his uncle and aunt in London.
Harry is treated poorly by his family and lives in a small cramped space in a closet
under the stairs of their home. When letters start arriving addressed to Harry, the
secret of his past and the promise of his future come to light. Harry's parents were
witches who were killed by an evil wizard, Valdemoort. The letters are summoning
Harry to "Hogwarts," a school for witches. Harry's entrance into this school
sets the stage for his adventures in witchcraft and sorcery in the first of the books,
titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The books contain a great deal about the black arts. Author
Rowling did her homework in researching the subject to fill the books with authenticity
while coating the subject with a veneer of enchantment and fun. This makes the stories
wildly interesting for young readers. Harry and his friends, Roy and Hermione, are
typical kids dealing with the usual matters of peers, homework and overbearing adults.
Readers have no difficulty relating. Values like friendship, loyalty and courage
are wrapped around the symbols and imagery of the occult. This makes the books popular
with children and with adults who are thrilled to see a child reading rather than
playing a video game. There is no question the books have introduced thousands of
children to the pleasures of reading. But at what cost? As children process the stories
of witches, magic and sorcery, what will the long-term impact be upon their perception
of good and evil? More importantly, what place will remain in their minds for the
source of all spiritual truth, the Bible? There is already enough deception in today's
world. When black magic is used to convey positive spiritual values, how will the
mind be able to discern truth from error? One movie to bring them all What would God do? Witchcraft and sorcery were specifically condemned in ancient
Israel, a people chosen to be a model of a godly nation. God laid out laws which
addressed how to deal with this problem. God's laws stated that no sorceress was
to live among the people and no one was to consult or listen to those who practiced
the black arts (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:31). Dabbling in magic cut one off from
God and invited termination from the community. "And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits,
to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him
off from his people.... A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits,
shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall
be upon them" (Leviticus 20:6,27). Divination with the spirit world was a common
feature of the nations around them and something God knew would be a snare for His
people. During the reign of Saul, Israel's first king, the land was
purged of witchcraft. Yet Saul is found consulting a witch during a time of crisis
when God had departed from him and was no longer working with him as king (1Samuel 28:7). In the depth of depression, Saul asks the medium to summon the spirit of the
dead Samuel to advise him what to do in a time of crisis. The story shows the deceptive
nature of the spirit world, as a demon appears in the form of the prophet of God
and communicates with Saul, a man who once had the spiritual stature to be chosen
the leader of Israel. Poor Saul had drifted far from God and this encounter with
the black arts symbolizes the distance between truth and deception. God wanted none
of it where the work of His Kingdom was being done. In Saul's rebellion and God's rejection of him as king, we
see the connection between witchcraft and idolatry, the breaking of the First Commandment.
Samuel had told Saul "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatryÖ" (1Samuel 15:23). Sorcery and witchcraft are toxic
elements that poison this vital first connection between the Creator and the creation. Israel historically was seduced by the mixture of false prophets
and diviners whose work destroyed the nation's covenant relationship with God. Those
teachers and sorcerers who claimed a higher or purer spiritual knowledge continually
worked against the nation and were a prime part of why Israel and Judah went into
captivity. Ezekiel shows the murky mixture of false prophets and divination.
"'Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say
to those who prophesy out of their own heart, "Hear the word of the LORD!"'
Thus says the Lord GOD: 'Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit
and have seen nothing!... They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying,
"Thus says the LORD!" But the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope that
the word may be confirmed. Have you not seen a futile vision, and have you not spoken
false divination? You say, "The LORD says," but I have not spoken.' Therefore
thus says the Lord GOD: 'Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore
I am indeed against you,' says the Lord GOD. 'My hand will be against the prophets
who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My
people, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter
into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord GOD'" (Ezekiel 13:2-9). When Judah faced imminent destruction at the hand of Babylon,
Jeremiah included sorcerers in his denunciation of the spiritual deception which
hindered the people and their leaders from listening to the warning from God. "Therefore
do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or
your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon'"
(Jeremiah 27:9). "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not
let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen
to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in
My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD" (Jeremiah 29:8-9). Opposing the work of the gospel The book of Acts lists four separate encounters with sorcerers
and those who practiced divining as the Church of God spread the gospel through the
Roman world of the first century (Acts 8:9-11; 13:8; 16:16; 19:13-15). In Ephesus, where Paul saw significant success, the impact
of the Church caused many who practiced black magic to reject sorcery by burning
their books in a public display. "Also, many of those who had practiced magic
brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted
up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver" (Acts 19:19). Satan has deceived the whole world, hiding the plan of God
from human comprehension (Revelation 12:9). He has cleverly counterfeited the details
of God's purpose through the ages. Whether it is false religion, science fiction,
fantasy creations or outright witchcraft, the objective of each is to hide the true
purpose of human life and the means that will bring His spiritual creation to completion.
When we read human works such as the Lord of the Rings or view the hugely popular Star Wars series, we see the significant themes that God first set down in Scripture. When we read of the cosmic struggle between forces of good and evil, light and dark and the movement toward a final titanic struggle where good triumphs over evil, we are reading, or viewing, as the case may be, human recreations and retelling of the biblical epic. The Bible shows the true source of both good and evil. It reveals how and why physical suffering and loss on the human level came about. It also shows that God in His divine wisdom provided a Redeemer, Jesus Christ, long before the foundation of this present age (1Peter 1:20). The Bible contains the original and true story lines of all time. Everything else is second-rate literature. We need to understand this when we see these movies or read
this literature. The danger lies in misunderstanding that the source of spiritual
deception is Satan. The devil uses many tools to cloak his presence and influence.
The apostle Paul wrote, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because
of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do
not be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in
the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,
righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them" (Ephesians 5:6-11). Can God bless America? Today America, with its chief ally Great Britain, wages war
against terrorism. The wake-up call of Sept. 11 has galvanized the nation to defend
its freedom and way of life. Young men and women bravely march off to war in a valiant
effort to prolong and extend our way of life. The plea that God will "bless
America" has resounded from millions who are both outraged and troubled at what
happened on that dark and fearful day.
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