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Caryl Matrisciana
Guest speaker on Viewpoint
Topic: Harry Potter, Witchcraft Repackaged
7-7-03
Chuck:
Caryl it is so good to have you back aboard with us here.
Caryl:
Chuck, thank you so much for inviting me to be your guest again. It
is just wonderful to be with you and thank you for the very, very powerful
opening. My goodness it is a phenomenon.
Chuck:
Well it certainly is. In fact, the front cover of the June 23rd issue
of Time Magazine asked the question, or actually it makes the statement
- "Why Harry Potter rules among men, Harry Potter rules among kids,
and it seems that the mania has swept even through evangelical churches
across the land."
Caryl:
Yes, that is what I find the most disturbing, talking to so many Christians
that just love the book. They say that they read it to their children,
that they are besotted by it. I am just amazed that they don't understand
God's viewpoint on witchcraft, which you read out very, very clearly
at the beginning of the program. My question to them always is, "Why
do you do it when God's viewpoint is so opposed to witchcraft?"
And their answer is, "Well, it's just fantasy." So I say,
"Well, if it's fantasy why was God so appalled with fantasy? Why
did God even bother to give us a warning about fantasy?"
Chuck:
Well let's look at it realistically Caryl, if we were to fantasize about
committing adultery, fantasize about committing fornication, would God
hold us accountable? I mean, remember the words of Jesus, he said, "Anyone
who has even thought about or looked upon a woman to lust after her
has committed adultery already in his heart." Doesn't that same
standard hold true with witchcraft?
Caryl:
Yes it does. I think another very interesting thing to bring up is that
only in fantasizing have we created the lust in our hearts, but let's
look at the imagination. When the arguments are told to me that it is
just imagination and it's good for children to exercise their imagination,
there is never in the Bible a positive statement made about imagination.
God said, "Look at them, whatever they imagine in their hearts
they will be able to do."
Chuck:
In fact, God brought destruction by flood upon the world in Noah's day
because he said that the imaginations of the thoughts of their hearts
are evil only continually.
Caryl:
Yes he did, and look what He did in Shinar, in the planes of Shinar
when the men imagined that they could get to the Holy of Holies through
building the big complex in Babylon. The Lord had to acknowledge the
fact that their imaginations would get them into trouble, and he brought
a language that confounded them, the babble of confusion.
Chuck:
And indeed we have confusion because now that which God so clearly warned
the children of Israel about, as His chosen people through Moses, now
has become used as an evangelical or evangelistic tool in some of the
so-called Bible believing churches of the land. One prominent Christian
writer even has written a book indicating how Harry Potter is such a
wonderful evangelistic tool for our time. Talk about confusion.
Caryl:
Yes, in fact, I don't know if you are thinking of the same author, but
there are two books out asking what parents are to do with Harry Potter,
and using scriptures to justify the reading of Harry, to say that Harry
is a Christ-like figure. Here we have a witch. What a heresy, what an
abomination. A little 11-year-old self-proclaimed witch, a generational
witch, because both his parents were witches as well, being said that
he is a Christ-like figure because he has magical blood that has power
in it. Well, it is absolutely, I can't conceive of how the scripture
twisting is going on in churches. When I am confronted with this argument
I question people and say, "Look, let's look at the Bhagavad Gita,
the Hindu scriptures, or the Koran, the scriptures of Islam, and can
we use those as evangelistic tools to bring people to Christ through
reading the Koran or the Bhagavad Gita. Would we ever dare to do such
things?"
Chuck:
And yet it seems that our thinking has become so perverted in these
modern times that we are capable of just about anything. We'll talk
more about this with Caryl Matrisciana concerning her video Harry Potter,
Witchcraft Repackaged, and also in DVD form. We'll make this available
to you. I think you are not going to want to miss this powerful presentation.
Again, you're listening to Viewpoint. Viewpoint does determine destiny.
We'll be right back with you after this break.
Chuck:
Welcome back to Viewpoint I am Chuck Crismier, and today we're looking
at the amazing Potter mania that is sweeping the world. On June 21st
another issue of the Harry Potter series hit the bookstores, and before
it hit they were virtually all sold out. It was 8 ½ million copies
of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The largest first printing
ever at close to 900 pages. The largest Children's book there is. It
already has the top advanced sales in history. It was Amazon.com's best
seller two hours after it became available for pre-ordering. Its contents
were so secret that a forklift driver was sentenced for stealing pages
from a printing plant in Britain and trying to sell them for $41,000
to The Sun newspaper. The American Library Association ranks the Harry
Potter books as the most challenged in the country. More parents have
requested that Harry be banished from book shelves than they have of
Huck Finn or more than Catcher in the Rye. Christian parents argued
that the books promote witchcraft and Satanism. That ruckus seems to
have calmed down somewhat, come to a stand for much larger conversation
about what should shake the moral life of children. Now, amazingly,
the Harry Potter series is being argued as the new moral authority for
children in America because we have abandoned the Bible. Utterly amazing,
you can read about it in the feature article of Time Magazine, June
23, 2003. Joining us on the program today is Caryl Matrisciana, an expert
in Potter mania. She has put together a video called Harry Potter, Witchcraft
Repackaged, Making Evil Look Innocent. It is also in DVD form. Your
gift of $20 or more to Save America Ministries will put the video in
your hands, or if you'd prefer the DVD, your gift of $25 or more to
Save America Ministries. Now the DVD has some additional material in
it that the video does not have, is that true Caryl?
Caryl:
Yes it is. It has got an hour of additional material, and also some
TV appearances and radio appearances. There are call-ins with questions
probably most asked by listeners that I try and answer. This thing has
just caused such confusion and you're absolutely right to be called
the moral yardstick of our young people is amazing, because Harry himself
lies, cheats, and steals. Do we really want our children to be involved
in this relativism where Harry's morality goes above and beyond accepted?
He is permitted to do what he feels is the appropriate thing to do,
so the end justifies the means.
Chuck:
So it's a whole new moral authority, whatever works. That seems to be
the running philosophy of the day. We no longer believe in principles,
we believe in pragmatism, whatever works, even if it's witchcraft.
Caryl:
Absolutely. I think this is what is amazing about Harry is that he does,
even within the school system, you see Harry goes to a school, a thousand-year-old
school that teaches witchcraft and wizardry. All his teachers are well
established occultists, so the teaching that Harry gets in his boarding
school at age 11, 12, 13, 14, and now in book #5 he is 15 years old,
so the teaching he gets each year from his occultists in a school environment.
This is what thousands, hundreds, millions of children around the world
are vicariously being taught the same morality and principles of witchcraft
that Harry is learning. As he gets stronger and stronger year by year,
so do the readers get more involved in the power that Harry is developing.
His psychic abilities get stronger. His reasoning gets stronger. In
fact, in this book I noticed Harry was a much angrier person than in
the previous books, where in his book #1 he was innocent and very wide-eyed
and more submissive to authority. In this book he actually becomes possessed
by the serpent that he is supposedly fighting, and he can't differentiate
now between the thing that can take over in him, and he has the same
mind as the serpent. So, this book is much more dangerous in the sense
of accepting demon possession or the possession of the demonic in children.
Of course they both have the same power, the serpent is his arch enemy
and has the same power that Harry has, but of course Harry's is called
white witchcraft, whereas the serpent's is seen as much more dangerous.
Now Harry can't even, his power cannot stop the serpent from being able
to use his body and function through Harry.
Chuck:
So if we call witchcraft white it suddenly makes it holy and we can
all indulge in it. It seems that, as you said, it is affecting not just
a few, not just thousands, but literally millions if not hundreds of
millions of children now worldwide. It is the most popular children's
series ever written. According to Time Magazine it is hard not to believe
in magic when you consider what R.K. Rowling has done through her books.
She speaks to kids in Milan, Italy, Morocco, and Minnesota, and those
conversations now seeming somewhat private, even though they are conducted
in 200 countries, in 55 languages, in Braille in 200 million volumes.
Friends, do you realize that the entire world, the children's world,
the next generation in our world, not just in America now, but in our
world are being trained, enculturated in witchcraft by this seemingly
innocent publication. It is unbelievable. If you have any concern for
your children, for your grandchildren, for the future of America and
our world as we look at preparing the way of the Lord for history's
final hour, you have got to get a copy of this video Harry Potter, Witchcraft
Repackaged. Your gift of $20 or more to Save America Ministries. Give
us a call at 1-800-SaveUSA, that's 1-800-SaveUSA. Now if you want the
DVD form instead of the video, that is your gift of $25 or more to Save
America Ministries. Give us a call at 1-800-SaveUSA or write to us at
Save America Ministries, P.O. Box 70879, Richmond, VA 23255. If you
are writing a check add $3 for postage and handling. You might want
to get a copy of each of these for your church library. You might want
to get a copy for your Christian school library. You might want to get
a copy for your school, your public school. Friends this is important.
You might want to get a copy to show to your neighbors and friends.
Have a block party, bring people over, and, yeah, you might have to
stand up for your faith a little bit. But isn't it about time some of
us take a stand? Again, Harry Potter, Witchcraft Repackaged, the video
your gift of $20 or more to Save America Ministries or the DVD form
$25 or more. Give us a call 1-800-SaveUSA or write to us at Save America
Ministries, P.O. Box 70879, Richmond, VA 23255. Again, if you are writing
a check add $3 for postage and handling. Caryl, this is utterly astounding.
Confusion is reigning. In fact, confusion is being resolved in favor
of witchcraft now, isn't it?
Caryl:
Yes. Of course what people don't understand is that witchcraft is a
religion. They say this is just fantasy, but know that the Supreme Court
has given witchcraft religious status. The IRS has given it a tax exemption
status. There are Wiccan chaplains in the military today. Hundred of
thousands of witches believe in this power that they are tapping into.
This is the fastest growing religion among teenagers, who can through
the Harry Potter curriculum, in their schools, go into the internet
for more additional information on the mythology of Harry Potter. Of
course J.K. Rowling herself majored at Exeter University in classical
mythology, Greek, Roman religions, in Celtic, the religion of the Celts,
in folklore. She has plagiarized all these concepts and put them within
her classroom setting of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,
then children today can, through the internet, connect into Pagan websites.
When I went into the Pagan websites there were more than 199,000 sites
about witches. The children can go into this and actually speak to legitimate
witches to get their information from Wiccan sites. They can graduate
into witchcraft and wizardry, the can learn more about it from witches
that proselytize them, and of course witches say they don't, but they
give their opinion and their worldview. Witches say that they are absolutely
thrilled that Harry Potter has given them credibility. In fact on June
21st, which is the Summer Solstice, there were hundreds and thousands
of Pagans in England's Stonehenge, and there one of the leading Wiccans,
the high priest of the British, of course he calls it the White Witches
Association, but he said that Harry Potter in recent years had continued
the trend of growing paganism and helping create what he called the
fastest growing belief system in the world.
Chuck:
Paganism.
Caryl:
Then he warned that children must, he warned teenagers against joining
witch covens too young, and yet we have these schools of Harry Potter
being taught to our 6 year olds, 7 year olds, if they can't read they
can get these tapes on cassettes, and it is being read aloud in the
schools across America.
Chuck:
And in Christian homes.
Caryl:
And in Christian homes.
Chuck:
And by pastors and Sunday school teachers.
Caryl:
Yes.
Chuck:
It is utterly astounding. Here we have United States Supreme Court that
has finally desecrated the Constitution of the United States, violated
their oath of office, normalized homosexual behavior in the land of
the free, the home of the brave. Now we have witchcraft being normalized
not just nationwide, but worldwide. We have got to believe that Jesus
is coming soon.
Caryl:
It's incredible, and what I find so amazing is that here where the Bible
and prayer and the commandments has been thrown out of schools across
America on the grant that they are religious, Harry Potter and basic
101 witchcraft is being read aloud in the classroom by teenagers. The
American publishers of Harry Potter are Scholastic Inc., who have provided
curriculum into public schools for 80 years, and they are the publishers
of these books and feeding them into the school system where they reach
34 million children a year with their curriculum-based materials.
Chuck
Well the Archbishop of Denver, Charles Chaput, says, "I think the
Potter argument is really about bigger and deeper battles going on all
over the culture about our national character." Unbelievable! Friends,
our very national character being reflected in our purchasing millions
and millions of copies of these Harry Potter books for our children,
even in God's house. When He in His own words says that it is an abomination.
"He that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter,
or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a
wizard, or a necromancer, all that do these things are an abomination."
So it's not just the thing itself, it's those who do them. Parents,
grandparents, as you are purchasing these books, reading them and providing
them to your children, my reading of God's Word says you have become
an abomination. Now it doesn't get any clearer. Now, you may have a
different viewpoint than God does, but remember Viewpoint determines
destiny. We'll be back with you and Caryl Matrisciana after this break,
you dare not leave us, were talking about not just a culture-war matter,
we're talking about spiritual destiny. We'll be right back.
Chuck:
Welcome back to Viewpoint, I'm Chuck Crismier. We're dealing with the
subject of Potter mania today on this program, why Harry Potter rules.
It is the label, the heading on the front cover of Time Magazine June
23, 2003. Because on June 21st the latest issue, the latest volume of
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix went on sale. At one minute
past midnight 8 ½ million copies, the largest first printing
ever, at close to 900 pages, the longest children's book. What is the
fascination? Is it witchcraft? Is it that our minds and our hearts,
our flesh so craves this idea of witchcraft and controlling our environment,
controlling things, that this has now permeated the entire culture?
Even our churches now are using witchcraft for evangelism, and if so,
to what are we evangelizing people. That's what we are talking about
today with Caryl Matrisciana right here on Viewpoint. Caryl, you were
indicating to me that you actually, you yourself, have a background
in the occult. Tell us a little bit about that because that gives you
a unique perspective on what's taking place here.
Caryl:
Yes, I was actually born and raised in India. The land of Eastern mysticism,
Hinduism, yoga, reincarnation and surrounded by people who believed
in 9 million gods. Even as I'd walk to school I would see trees being
worshipped, nature being worshipped, animals being worshipped. The cows
would be garlanded with marigolds. I even saw somebody catch a cow's
urine believing that if they drank it they would be spiritually imbued
with powers. So that was my background of growing up in a land where
every single day was devoted to various spirits. It was believed that
even people could be divine, and that there was the potential of God
inside each of us that could be activated through the disciplines of
yoga and concentration and visualization. Well of course this very concept
has been repackaged in Harry Potter.
Chuck:
And that is why you are calling this witchcraft repackaged.
Caryl:
Yes, absolutely. To me it is amazing that in the 60's yoga was blatantly
seen as sort of pretzel-shaped Hindus or godmen of India, and promoted
through the Beatles and the drug culture and the flower power people.
Now, four generations later we see the same practice of self-hypnosis
and concentration and visualization, now in child-friendly Eastern mysticism
through Harry Potter. It's not called yoga, not called meditation, but
now called concentration. Told that you have to visualize what you want
in your mind Harry, and you can have it. So kids all over the world,
as you quite rightly said, want power to control their lives that are
permeated with chaos and confusion. Children that we interviewed for
our video Harry Potter, Witchcraft Repackaged, said that they wanted
to be able to learn how to do spells on their teachers so that they
could have good test results, and of course on their girlfriends or
boyfriends so that they could manipulate them into loving them. So,
this is what it is all about, being able to manipulate people to have
what an individual wants.
Chuck:
Is that the nature of witchcraft then? Manipulation?
Caryl:
Yes. It is to be able to manipulate what are called "natural forces."
People who are not involved in it do not understand that they are communicating
with demons or wicked spirits, they will just say that it is the forces
of nature. If you go to a Biblical concept we are told that we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but powers and principalities of wickedness
in heavenly places and in these world forces. So, when they proclaim
themselves as just "natural forces" or the white side of the
same Star Wars force, if you will, we understand from the Bible that
our God is a personal God. He is involved in relationship, he is not
a force that can be manipulated. Eastern mysticism says that there is
a force out there that brought the world into creation through evolution,
and if we tap into those natural forces like Harry does, that we can
through certain rituals and emphasis on various syllables of wand waving
and magic, that you can through words and rituals be able to advance
or tap into these natural forces so that you can discover the potential,
your inner potential, and have God-like qualities.
Chuck:
You know there is an element of this that has woven its way through
certain aspects of the evangelical Christian community. Not in the form
of Harry Potter, but in the form of manipulating our environment, manipulating
things around us. We have actually found a way to take what God's Word
says and turn it into our own magic wand. I think this whole spirit
is permeating our world. I think, Caryl, that it is laying the groundwork
for the massive deception that Jesus warned about before the second
coming of Christ.
Caryl:
I think you are absolutely right Chuck, and that is what it is. It is
manipulating or defining the word, and of course within witchcraft that
is a very basic of witchcraft that you can define or change the word,
the spoken word, you seem to have authority. Of course we know that
because when God spoke into being from His Word the world was created.
That is a counterfeit that Satan himself tries to get children now in
child-like witchcraft, no longer is this a religion of adults. And remember,
witchcraft itself used to be an adult religion because it involves sexual
ceremonies, and because it is a feminist-based cult with worship of
the goddess worship in it, that this is now being brought down into
child-friendly components so that children can get, in a sense, brainwashed,
indoctrinated with something. Speaking the word, many times Harry says
that he needs to speak in his words so that it will become more powerful,
or that he didn't speak in something so that he could have more white
power over the black forces power, so he didn't speak some of this negative
thoughts into being. So, the concept of speaking the word, we can see
in a lot of branches of Christianity where you speak forth the word
and it will come, supposedly, come into being. Well God is not a power
to be manipulated by our words. He is not a force, a puppet to be conjured
at our whim and beckon and calling and bidding.
Chuck:
But what He does want us to do, in all honesty, He does want us to agree
with Him. He does want us to speak what He says, but He does not want
us to adopt that mentality as if somehow this is a magic wand to create
our own world, so to speak, and turn it into a self-serving purpose.
That is exactly what has happened, it is the melding of the New Age
Movement. Gurus like Tony Robbins and so on, melding all that together
with Biblical Christianity and turning it into a massive New Age force
of the occult and witchcraft and so on. What an amazing device if Satan
could conjure up such a seemingly innocent device to affect untold millions,
in fact an entire generation of young people, not just in this country
but worldwide. He certainly has done it and he has deceived even the
elect, so to speak in this regard, even those who profess the name of
Christ. It is utterly amazing. We will look more into that aspect when
we get back. Friends, you need to get a copy of this amazing video Harry
Potter, Witchcraft Repackaged, Making Evil Look Innocent. Your gift
of $20 or more to Save America Ministries will put the video in your
hands. If you would prefer to have a DVD format, your gift of $25 or
more to Save America Ministries will put it in your hands. Now remember
that the DVD has substantially more material in it than the video does.
So for the extra $5 it's not just a different format, but a vast additional
amount of material. It doesn't mean the video is not meritorious, it
is, it's just that the DVD has far more material in it. You make your
choice, your gift of $20 for the VHS (the video), the DVD $25. Send
your gift to Save America Ministries, P.O. Box 70879, Richmond, VA 23255.
If you are writing a check include $3 for postage and handling or give
us a call at 1-800-SaveUSA. I want to direct you to our website saveus.org.
That is www.saveus.org. This will be made available also on the website
along with literally dozens and dozens, in fact I think by this time
over 100 items on our web store all categorized to enable you to be
able to become strong in the Lord and the power of His might and to
protect your families and to prepare the way of the Lord for history's
final hour. We'll be right back.
Chuck:
In the last days the scriptures talk about men and women receiving a
mark called the mark of the beast. Is there any relationship between
the mark that the followers of Harry Potter are urged to take in their
foreheads and the mark of the beast? Well that's an interesting question,
along with literally dozens of other questions that are posited with
regard to the phenomenal growth of the Harry Potter message, yes indeed
it is a message. It is not just an innocent fairy tale, there is a message
in its madness. People are willing to pay $30 for one children's book
of about 900 pages to infect the minds of their children just because
everybody else is doing it. Well, if everybody else is getting the mark
of the beast, are you going to have your children do it? Are you going
to do it? Do you see what a profound power the "everybody's doing
it" message has? Even on God's people. Yeah, we are talking with
God's people. We are talking with people who profess the name of Christ,
pastors, Sunday school teachers. We'll look at that in this last segment
of the program here today. Joining us on Viewpoint is Caryl Matrisciana
with her amazing video Harry Potter, Witchcraft Repackaged, Making Evil
Look Innocent. Caryl, when you think about it, tell us a little about
that image that Harry Potter emblazons on the forehead.
Caryl:
Well in the very first book Harry Potter is murdered, well he and his
parents are attempted, well his parents are actually killed in the murdering,
but Harry survives. The evil Lord Voldemort comes into murder Harry's
mom, dad, and Harry, who is a newborn baby, but his mother gives her
life for Harry, and in so doing changes Harry's blood with a magical
power and the death curse of the evil Lord Voldemort comes onto Harry's
forehead and scars him in the formation of a lightening bolt. Now this
lightening bolt, the symbology within occult terms, the Lord God Thor,
the symbol of lightening, the symbol of power, is the same symbol that
Hitler put on the uniform of his Nazi SS officers.
Chuck:
The Swastika,
Caryl:
Well the lightening bolt itself was on the collar of the uniform, and
then from an occult term the two lightening bolts put together and criss-crossed
forms the Swastika.
Chuck
Amazing.
Caryl:
That power of the evil Lord Voldemort, the death curse that he put on
Harry in the form of this lightening bolt, is what hundreds and thousands
of children worldwide put on their own foreheads to show their allegiance
to Harry, with his spectacles and that lightening bolt, which are little
components that are given in many of the books, in book signings and
as a free gift that is given away. These are the symbols that are given
and kids do that. Here we have the global child, as you mentioned earlier.
Harry Potter has been translated in over 50 languages in 200 nations
and the global child is given the opportunity of wearing the mark on
their own foreheads that Harry wears in allegiance to their hero who
is a young witch, who has the death curse. This mark is the death curse
given to him by his arch enemy the evil Lord Voldemort, who appears
in all the books as a serpent. Harry is able to talk to the serpent,
he is able to have the same language that only he and the serpent have.
Of course we know who else in the Bible was able to communicate with
the serpent, and that brought the downfall of mankind.
Chuck:
Well, the serpent obviously is the symbol of Satan in the scriptures.
What concerns me, even if one would argue that the lightening bolt on
the forehead is not the mark of the beast, but what it does is normalize
this concept of being marked on your forehead as something good, as
something honorable, as something evidencing one's allegiance to that
which is good.
Caryl:
And of course we know how Satan counterfeits that, because actually
in Old Testament scriptures that were a mark that God put on his own
people to protect them from evilness. Now we know that in the New Testament
there will be a mark of the antichrist in a negative aspect. So, everything
that God used as a symbol for good, paganism, Eastern mysticism, occultism
uses for their own symbology. More and more it is being passed on through
the Harry Potter books where you have to really be able to deal with
the layers, because the books come in revelatory layers just as the
Bible does, for the reader that can go back again and again and get
deeply inspired through the Holy Spirit. The same happens in the Harry
Potter books in a negative way, where they get indoctrinated with pagan
messages. In fact in book #5 the message that is more articulated, even
though it has been running through all the five books, is the message
of reincarnation, that surely you will not die.
Chuck:
Well that's the whole idea of the Phoenix bird rising again and it is
an occult symbol going all the way back to ancient Egyptian mystery
religion. It is used by Free Masons. This is the symbol of the age that
we are in leading to the second coming of Christ, isn't it?
Caryl:
Yes it is. The symbology is absolutely incredible. In Harry's world
he is surrounded by spirits who appear as ghosts who haven't died, as
students who were in the same school as Harry a long time ago that are
appearing as guests, as ghosts. The ghosts come out in pictures, there
is communication with spirits departed. Harry's parents come back to
him and help through his adventures as living spirits. So the whole
concept of there being no death is continually furthered, and of course
that is the message that Satan the serpent gave to Eve in the garden,
that surely you won't die. Even in this book five Harry says at the
end when his godfather is killed that surely he will come back, surely
he will be able to communicate with me again.
Chuck:
Isn't this the kind of thing that the first King of Israel dealt with?
Here God had him anointed King, then he became stubborn, he became rebellious,
he refused to agree with God, he wanted to do what he wanted to do.
The prophet Samuel was sent to him
and said, "Why is it that you have refused to do what God tells
you to do?" And, you know, the King of Israel, Saul, argued with
Samuel and said, "But I did, I did." Finally Samuel says to
Saul, he says, "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." Now
it seems that rebellion now is rampant, not just in the world, not just
among pagans, but rebellion is rampant even in God's own house Caryl.
Caryl:
Yes it is because people will argue that reading Harry Potter is not
reading witchcraft, and what a clever, clever deception. How better
for Satan to get into churches and create division and argument in Christian
homes than to give the story of a little witch in the school of witchcraft
and wizardry learning about occult procedures that are based in actual
factual ceremonies and rituals that are being practiced by millions
of witches worldwide. Witches today warn that this Harry Potter is giving
more credibility and growth to paganism worldwide. What does it take
for Christians to see that this is not the way to affect their families?
Chuck:
Well Caryl let's take a look at what happens when the Word of God holds
very little authority among His own people in our generation right here
in this country, even among pastors and Sunday school teachers. Time
Magazine says that those who disagree with what you and I are conveying
here do more than defend the books as good, clean fun, they praise them
as powerful moral tools. The Catholic News Service run by American Bishops
puts the Potter books on its recommended list for children. Ministers
preach sermons likening Harry's running through the wall of platform
9 ¾ to a leap of faith. "We are missing something if we
can't tell stories, for the Bible is as compelling as Harry Potter."
Says John Fleming, minister of First United Methodist in Henrietta,
Texas. "They are deeply religious," argues Baylor University
Philosophy Professor, Scott Moore, who started by reading the books
to his kids and ended up staying up late to finish them himself. "It
works as pure Christian allegory," He said. Then perhaps the most
surprising appropriation of Rowling's world took place at the Conservative
Vanguard Church in Suburban Colorado Springs, Colorado. Housed in an
old movie theater the six-year-old church has 11,000 members, including
lots of young families. Get this, using Harry Potter to teach Sunday
school was the brainchild of the petite young wife of the senior pastor.
She said, "Southern Baptists, we're very pragmatic." So the
teachers dressed as wizards and the church was entirely decorated with
darkened rooms and glow in the dark props and hot dogs renamed goblin
fingers. When the kids put on the sorting hat that determines the fate
of the young wizards in the book, they were all put in slithering, the
home of the evil Voldemort. The way out, they were taught, could only
come from following what God teaches. This Sunday school teacher says,
"I have never seen children so excited about a church event, just
absolutely mesmerized." Well of course, they weren't receiving
a slither of God's Word, just an entire meal of Harry Potter's wizardry.
Caryl what do you make of this?
Caryl:
Absolutely incredible, and it's all part of what the Lord says, that
in the last days there will be an apostasy. That means a falling away,
you can't have apostates unless they were at one time true believers.
What we are seeing are people falling away using what God hates and
absolutely despises to bring people to the Lord. You can almost liken
it to prostitutes going out and being involved in prostitution and bringing
people to the Lord through prostitution.
Chuck:
Well it's spiritual prostitution, no question about it. A 25-year-old
English teacher in Detroit Michigan says, "Our kids are having
to make choices now, but they no longer have the fixed moral absolutes
of the Bible in their families. Before those choices might have been
dictated by church, by family, by community, now you have to face them
alone. The choice lies within yourself." So he says, "This
is a generation that really needs Harry Potter." Can you believe
it my friends? We no longer need Jesus Christ. We no longer need the
reviving, restoring, forgiving, regenerating power of the Word of God
and His Holy Spirit, we just need Harry Potter from the church house
to the White House, in the school house, and God calls it an abomination.
What do you call it? What do you call it? Are you in agreement with
God or with our culture? Thanks for joining us. A big thank you to Caryl
Matrisciana for joining us. You need to get a copy of this amazing video
by Caryl Matrisciana, Harry Potter, Witchcraft Repackaged, Making Evil
Look Innocent.
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Harry
Potter Witchcraft Repackaged: Viewpoint