HALLOWEEN
"Is evil attractive? Yes, I think that's very true." [2] Joanne K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books
"Teenage girls are showing unprecedented interest in witchcraft, with about 100 every month wanting to join covens to learn about casting spells...." Teenage Witches: Girls just want to learn witchcraft
1. Back when we were children growing up in America, most of us dressed in our favorite costumes and went trick-and-treating for Halloween. Few seemed concerned about the witches, potions, spells and magic that made October 31st so exciting. Why should we be concerned today? What has changed?
What used to be fantasy has become a cultural reality. Popular books and entertainment have immersed our children in occult myths, images and suggestions that make the occult world both familiar and normal. The evil is no longer shocking. In fact, children and adults, including Rowling, have admitted that evil is fun and attractive. It sells movies, computer games and books. And anyone who questions these trends will be called old-fashioned or intolerant. After all, occult symbols and images represents some people's faith. They must be tolerated -- even respected and appreciated.
So when Halloween brings the familiar parade of witches, wizards and occult game and television heroes, God's children join in a celebration to an accult realm that God tells us to shun. This year, one of the most popular characters is Yu-Gi-Oh, the hero of a televised anime -- Japanese animation -- and a card game as darkly occult as dungeons and dragons and magic: the gathering. It has been feeding young minds with all kinds of Halloween themes for many months.
2. You said that Yu-Gi-Oh feeds the Halloween themes right into a child's mind and understanding of reality. Some parents may never have heard of this new, popular anime (that has replaced Pokemon). Could you give some examples?
Yugi (short for Yu-Gi-Oh) has fast gained worldwide fame. Since the daily television show serves as a continual ad for his magical dueling cards, the occult images have suddenly become coveted treasures to young collectors around the world. The cards in the "starter deck" (pictured above) bear titles such as "Soul Exchange," "Ultimate Offering," "Summoned Skull" and "Sorcerer of the Doomed." The latter card offers this sinister warning: "A slave of the dark arts, this sorcerer is a master of life-extinguishing spells."
Does that sound like a child's game to you?
Yugi and his team of friends supposedly model courage, loyalty, faith and team-work -- all the politically correct character qualities that are needed for global solidarity, according to contempoary educators. Naturally, Yugi fans believe that their hero teaches good, not evil, beliefs and values. Are they right?
In the October 10th episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime, Yugi collapses and his powerful alter-ego continues the game in his place. Yugi2 draws a card from the deck titled the "Mystic Box" which frees his "magician," who mystically appears with his wand. Next, he draws "Brain Control" and casts a powerful spell. "How does it feel, Pegasus," he taunts his foe, "to have the tables turned and then to have the magical powers of mind control used against you?"
His last card "is a ritual card.... Dark magic ritual and to invoke its great powers I must make a double offering." He sacrifices two of Pegasus' powerful monsters and shouts triumphantly, "The offering has been accepted. A new power is brought forth.... The magician of Black chaos.... I will avenge my fallen friend."
"[At Samhain], one of the most important and sinister calendar festivals of the Celtic year... the world of the gods was believed to be made visible to mankind, and the gods played many tricks on their mortal worshipers; it was a time fraught with danger, charged with fear, and full of supernatural episodes. Sacrifices and propitiations of every kind were thought to be vital, for without them the Celts believed they could not prevail over the perils of the season or counteract the activities of the deities."[3] Encyclopedia Britannica
3. The next Harry Potter movie ("Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets") is scheduled for a mid-November release. Those who have read the book behind the movie know that, by this time in the ongoing story, Harry and his buddies are familiar with all kinds of the timeless formula's for wizardly spells and magic. How might the symbols of Halloween desensitize our children to the next wave of pressure to participate in the Harry Potter craze?
Halloween helps children laugh at evil and delight in the dark symbols of the occult. Harry Potter brings the children right into an excitng virtual (or imaginary) expereience of that occult world.
The school of witchcraft and wizardry feels both normal and good. Works both ways
Don't think the cultural revolution stirred by Harry Potter has sidestepped Halloween. The ghosts, skeletons, black cats and peaked hats may still look the same, but to millions of children, these mythical images have a new familiarity. By guiding their imagination into the hidden secrets of the occult, J. K. Rowling has linked the old Halloween symbols to a a popular form of paganism that now thrives in their collective memory.
In the real world, Halloween symbols represent a terrifying spiritual domain that has oppressed pagan cultures through the ages. Both Harry and Halloween tend to blind children to that truth, trivialize the spiritual dangers and mock God's way to safety. But Harry goes a step further. Immersing young minds in a forbidden virtual reality, he explains its powers from a pagan perspective which turns God's values upside down.
In the wake of Harry's success, occult children's books and games are flooding the bookstores. They reinforce the politically correct message and add more reasons to celebrate the old Druid festival honoring the god of the dead. Few readers would disagree with their favorite author.
"Halloween, you'd not be surprised to know, is my favorite holiday," said J.K. Rowling last year in a Time magazine interview. She knew well that evil attracts children. That’s one reason why she created a fantasy world for Harry Potter that highlights the gruesome but seductive reality of occult evil.
She has reasons to celebrate. The spirits behind the ancient Celtic feast are as active as ever. Neo-pagans find them more responsive to their spells and divination on Halloween than on any other night. And with help from "friends" such as Harry Potter and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, witchcraft, vampires and haunting spirits are taking center stage in popular entertainment. Meanwhile, Christian parents who share their concerns risk sounding "intolerant" by the world's new standards.
Free to explore the practices God calls evil, children and teens are flocking to pagan groups and websites for practical lessons in spells and self-empowerment. Some start Wiccan covens in their high schools. God’s wise warnings are all but forgotten:
"Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good." (Romans 12:9)
That's the main lesson of multicultural education. Familiarize children with other religions and their rituals to various deities -- but do it, not from a Biblical perspective, but in the context of solidarity and pluralism (all religions are part of the same ultimate reality and must be considered equally good and valid), not from the perspective of God's Word.
What He calls evil, our children have learned to love. The annual Halloween masquerade brings it all together in one big feast.
4. As this postmodern age blurs the line between good and evil, how can we help our children love God's standards and follow His safe pathways through a world that delights in paganism?
Consider Ephesians 6:10-18. Here God tells us to -
"...be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."
1. Pray. For Jesus said, "without Me you can do nothing." John 15:5
2. Understand the The nature and tactics of Satan.
3. Know the protective truths of The Armor of God and "put them on" each day.
4. Memorize some of God's important promises. See Scriptures for our times.
5. Read this Halloween message (It is slow to open).
6. Discuss chart showing the shift from a Christian world view to a Global/Pagan paradigm.
7. Read The Invisible War and help your children understand spiritual warfare as well as God's armor.
8. Read Establishing a Global Spirituality to understand the strategies used to conform our children's beliefs to the new global spirituality.
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith...." 1 Peter 5:8