Interesting Thought-Provoking Article About Satanic Influence and Watching Harry Potter & Narnia By James Spurgeon (http://howlingcoyote.blogspot.com)
Are We This Shallow?
This may be a bit of a rambling post. I'm thinking out loud here. . . .
I scratch my head and wonder, sometimes, at what evangelicals do. I wonder what the world thinks of us. We are, by and large, a very shallow people, in my opinion.
That's why we fall for poor theology in the guise of great, new teaching ministries. That's why we chase every new fad thinking this is what God is doing today or this is what will usher in the great revival we've always dreamed of. That's also why we are such a superstitious lot.
Let me start with that last part. We are a very superstitious people. When I was growing up, for example, I was taught that Satan was everywhere and in everything and he was just waiting to exert supernatural demonic influence over my life if I just messed up by giving him a point of access. Thanks to great men of the faith like Jack Chick and Bill Gothard, I found out these points of access could be anything from a statue of Buddha, to a rock music album, to a cabbage patch doll.
If something bad was happening in my life, or if I was struggling with some particular sin like lust, it wasn't because I was in puberty and my hormones were jumping out of my skin, it was because I had demonic influences being channeled into my life via dungeons & dragons dice or Tolkien novels.
As I got older, this superstitious thinking got reinforced by the teaching of rock & roll evangelists like David Benoit who could find Satanic influences in boxes of corn flakes if he wanted to. Here's a snippet to show you what I'm talking about:
"In the past several years, David has used his vast knowledge of the occult and the New Age movement to show how Satan is subtly gaining entrance into our families and our churches through seemingly harmless children’s toys, movies and cartoons. He has authored four books on this subject."
Add to that the writings of popular evangelical novelists like Frank Peretti and you'll see that this superstition does not limit itself to the extremes of right-wing fundamentalism. It is thoroughly a part of our American evangelical culture.
That's why we are scared to death of Harry Potter. It has witchcraft. It is wildly popular. And it is geared towards our children. It must be evil.
If you think Harry Potter is going to steal your children's souls, then you don't have much faith in God.
Seriously.
I once overheard a conversation between a concerned parent and a youth pastor that went something like this:
Parent: I'm concerned about this popular game some of the kids are playing called Dungeons & Dragons. Heard of it?
Youth pastor: Oh yes.
Parent: Well, what can you tell me about it?
Youth pastor: I can tell you it has sorcerers and demons in it.
Parent: Oooh. That bad, huh?
Youth pastor: Yeah, that bad.
Parent: Well, that settles it. That's all I needed to hear. It's going in the garbage. Thanks for helping out.
I don't think it occurred to either one of them that those exact same observations could be made about the Bible. In fact . . .
What if I told you I had a very popular book - an ancient text, describing an ancient religion - and it included stories involving witches, pagan deities, human sacrifices, magic incantations, sorcerers, so on and so forth? Add to that full chapters of graphic sexual material and stories with plot lines revolving around incest, homosexuality, and prostitution. Would you allow your children access to such insidious material?
I trow not. Not if you care for your children, you wouldn't. . . .
Of course, you realize I'm talking about the Bible, but I hope you see my point.
God has condescended to reveal himself to man. He has chosen to do so through the faculties of reason. Sadly, evangelicals seem to have thrown reason to the wind, of late, and have latched onto blind superstition - a poor substitute.
So while we worry whether or not Satan is secretly influencing our home through an innocent-looking angel figurine, and while we worry that our children's souls may be stolen by Harry Potter, our children grow up without ever having been exposed to something of real value - biblical wisdom and discernment.
At the same time . . .
We chase fads like a bunch of google-eyed kids thinking that every latest thing is what is going to turn the tide for us and usher in the new age of revival.
We superstitiously repeat the mantra of Jabez every day knowing that this is going to bring us (and the Church) into the golden age of Christendom. God has been waiting all these years to unleash this secret upon us through mass marketing and (aren't you excited?) the world is about to change because of it.
When that doesn't pan out and Jabez has gone into that desk drawer next to last year's WWJD bracelet, we seemingly don't notice, because, like children, we have been captivated by the next fad. Mel Gibson comes along and, through film, is going to accomplish what the God-ordained means of gospel preaching through the Church hasn't accomplished in 1900 years. The world is going to be brought to Christ because of his film - a truth attested to by the signs and miracles God did on set during the filming.
Then, after sincere, but gospel-denying Mel walks away with one of the biggest cash takes in film history, evangelicals have quickly forgotten about that promised revival and are now buying up tickets and renting out theaters to show the world the gospel of Narnia. This will surely do it. Yes, sir. This is it.
Oh really?
Yeah. I'm convinced.
I've come to the conclusion now that it is okay to show my kids the Harry Potter films - as long as I follow them up with the Narnia ones. After Rowling gets them initiated into witchcraft, Aslan will save them and everything will be alright.
By the way, are we still supposed to be boycotting Disney? I guess not.
This may be a bit of a rambling post. I'm thinking out loud here. . . .
I scratch my head and wonder, sometimes, at what evangelicals do. I wonder what the world thinks of us. We are, by and large, a very shallow people, in my opinion.
That's why we fall for poor theology in the guise of great, new teaching ministries. That's why we chase every new fad thinking this is what God is doing today or this is what will usher in the great revival we've always dreamed of. That's also why we are such a superstitious lot.
Let me start with that last part. We are a very superstitious people. When I was growing up, for example, I was taught that Satan was everywhere and in everything and he was just waiting to exert supernatural demonic influence over my life if I just messed up by giving him a point of access. Thanks to great men of the faith like Jack Chick and Bill Gothard, I found out these points of access could be anything from a statue of Buddha, to a rock music album, to a cabbage patch doll.
If something bad was happening in my life, or if I was struggling with some particular sin like lust, it wasn't because I was in puberty and my hormones were jumping out of my skin, it was because I had demonic influences being channeled into my life via dungeons & dragons dice or Tolkien novels.
As I got older, this superstitious thinking got reinforced by the teaching of rock & roll evangelists like David Benoit who could find Satanic influences in boxes of corn flakes if he wanted to. Here's a snippet to show you what I'm talking about:
"In the past several years, David has used his vast knowledge of the occult and the New Age movement to show how Satan is subtly gaining entrance into our families and our churches through seemingly harmless children’s toys, movies and cartoons. He has authored four books on this subject."
Add to that the writings of popular evangelical novelists like Frank Peretti and you'll see that this superstition does not limit itself to the extremes of right-wing fundamentalism. It is thoroughly a part of our American evangelical culture.
That's why we are scared to death of Harry Potter. It has witchcraft. It is wildly popular. And it is geared towards our children. It must be evil.
If you think Harry Potter is going to steal your children's souls, then you don't have much faith in God.
Seriously.
I once overheard a conversation between a concerned parent and a youth pastor that went something like this:
Parent: I'm concerned about this popular game some of the kids are playing called Dungeons & Dragons. Heard of it?
Youth pastor: Oh yes.
Parent: Well, what can you tell me about it?
Youth pastor: I can tell you it has sorcerers and demons in it.
Parent: Oooh. That bad, huh?
Youth pastor: Yeah, that bad.
Parent: Well, that settles it. That's all I needed to hear. It's going in the garbage. Thanks for helping out.
I don't think it occurred to either one of them that those exact same observations could be made about the Bible. In fact . . .
What if I told you I had a very popular book - an ancient text, describing an ancient religion - and it included stories involving witches, pagan deities, human sacrifices, magic incantations, sorcerers, so on and so forth? Add to that full chapters of graphic sexual material and stories with plot lines revolving around incest, homosexuality, and prostitution. Would you allow your children access to such insidious material?
I trow not. Not if you care for your children, you wouldn't. . . .
Of course, you realize I'm talking about the Bible, but I hope you see my point.
God has condescended to reveal himself to man. He has chosen to do so through the faculties of reason. Sadly, evangelicals seem to have thrown reason to the wind, of late, and have latched onto blind superstition - a poor substitute.
So while we worry whether or not Satan is secretly influencing our home through an innocent-looking angel figurine, and while we worry that our children's souls may be stolen by Harry Potter, our children grow up without ever having been exposed to something of real value - biblical wisdom and discernment.
At the same time . . .
We chase fads like a bunch of google-eyed kids thinking that every latest thing is what is going to turn the tide for us and usher in the new age of revival.
We superstitiously repeat the mantra of Jabez every day knowing that this is going to bring us (and the Church) into the golden age of Christendom. God has been waiting all these years to unleash this secret upon us through mass marketing and (aren't you excited?) the world is about to change because of it.
When that doesn't pan out and Jabez has gone into that desk drawer next to last year's WWJD bracelet, we seemingly don't notice, because, like children, we have been captivated by the next fad. Mel Gibson comes along and, through film, is going to accomplish what the God-ordained means of gospel preaching through the Church hasn't accomplished in 1900 years. The world is going to be brought to Christ because of his film - a truth attested to by the signs and miracles God did on set during the filming.
Then, after sincere, but gospel-denying Mel walks away with one of the biggest cash takes in film history, evangelicals have quickly forgotten about that promised revival and are now buying up tickets and renting out theaters to show the world the gospel of Narnia. This will surely do it. Yes, sir. This is it.
Oh really?
Yeah. I'm convinced.
I've come to the conclusion now that it is okay to show my kids the Harry Potter films - as long as I follow them up with the Narnia ones. After Rowling gets them initiated into witchcraft, Aslan will save them and everything will be alright.
By the way, are we still supposed to be boycotting Disney? I guess not.
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