British witchcraft, also known as Wicca, or Druidism in ancient times, presents a strong supernatural challenge to Christians. This has been sufficiently answered by St. Patrick, St. Columba, John Knox and the “Scots Worthies,” George Fox, John Wesley, and Smith Wigglesworth; add to that Augustin Poulain’s The Graces of Interior Prayer, Herbert Thurston’s The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism, and Donald Gee’s Concerning Spiritual Gifts. With reservation to a stronger view of sanctification, I would recommend any books about or by John Wimber and the Vineyard churches.
The popularity of the Harry Potter books and movies should present a real spiritual threat to Bible-believing parents, because these stories introduce witchcraft ideas and practices to children! A popular excuse for these stories is that “they are just fantasy, not reality”; but upon close examination, you will find that these stories are basically introducing the cult of Wicca to kids: a real life cult of witchcraft that has existed for ages.
In the Christian exposé film Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged, Making Evil Look Innocent (2001), we learn that Wiccan concepts are found in the stories, such as when Harry’s mother dies for him as a love sacrifice (goddess concept); or Harry’s use of wands and brooms and other “wizard” tools, that real life witches use in the cult of Wicca; or the use of spells, curses, and magic incantations:–all of which can be found in Wicca; or when Harry’s girlfriend becomes demon-possessed on Halloween (a Wiccan holiday) and murders someone; or Harry’s communication with ghosts (as in Spiritualism); or his use of psychic powers (common to Wicca and all New Age cults); or his dabbling with black magic–which has its parallel with Satanism and other varieties of cult activity; all of these occultic ideas and practices, and more, are taught to young Harry and his friends at Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Moral relativism is also implied as acceptable, as Harry is rewarded for lying to and disobeying his teachers:–a parallel with Wicca again–a worldview in which there are no clearly defined rules of right and wrong. A word to the wise: wicca, the Old English word for witch, is the root word for WICKED.
How can Christians, Christian parents, and even Christian pastors (I’ve met two), endorse the Harry Potter stories? The Word of God clearly condemns witchcraft as a real life sin:
Deuteronomy 18:10-12: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.”
1 Samuel 15:23: “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.”
God’s prohibition of witchcraft carries over into the New Testament as well:
Galatians 5:19-21 lists witchcraft as a damnable sin that leads to Hell: “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Revelation 21:8 says that those who practice the magic arts (such as Wiccans), will burn in the lake of fire forever: “The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”
It is no surprise to me that this exposé film provides evidence that there are other books written in favor of Harry Potter for kids to get at the bookstore, or the school library, which provide links to real life Wiccan websites! The video concludes with several e-mails from middle school age kids about how they too would like to become wizards and witches, and wish they could go to Hogwart’s wizard school too. Now, I understand there are always going to be Christians who say Harry Potter is “just fantasy, not reality”:–but WICCA IS REALITY; its a real life pagan cult that is gaining popularity, because these wicked Harry Potter stories have stimulated interest among young people to dabble in the occult and become demon-possessed, anti-Christian, and mentally ill. As disgusting as the religion of Wicca is, its sickening to think these books are being pushed in our public schools; in a way its no different than the Goosebumps or Scary Stories books were for me, when I was in elementary school (which I now regret reading):–but in a way it is: in those books, scary demonic concepts were present, but in these Harry Potter books, witchcraft and Wicca-like concepts are glorified over and over and over! They are designed to seduce children into the occult, no doubt. These books are inspired by the devil. They are evil books and movies; and should be utterly rejected, destroyed, preached against, and entirely hated by Christians without reservation. But sadly, that’s not the case for the most part. Destiny Image Publishers, the popular charismatic publisher, has only one book that even mentions it (thankfully critically): Steve Wohlberg’s Exposing Harry Potter and Witchcraft (2005); Tyndale House Publishers, long held to be conservative evangelical, has a supportive book: John Granger’s Looking for God in Harry Potter (2004)–unbelievable!; but then you have the extremely supportive book by the liberal Christian publisher Westminster John Knox Press: Connie Neal’s The Gospel According to Harry Potter (2008)–blasphemous! Granger’s book is the most popular.
Nothing but the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of justification by faith in the cross, and sanctification by obedience to the Word of God, can set these kids free the devil’s grasp! Add to that a real encounter with the presence of the Holy Spirit in worship! O God! Show your power in this, my generation! J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books is surprisingly not a Wiccan, so it seems; she claims to be a member of the Scottish branch of the Church of England; but since the Anglican Communion now supports gay priests, this is no evidence of Biblical Christianity; being a member of a heretical church, Rowling has to be thrown into the category of a heretic at the least, and at the worst, to be called a witch in spirit. REPENT J. K.! It may be that God will even have mercy on you for this great sin! Matthew 18:6: “If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in Me–to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Jesus said that.
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John
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