While in my own novels, I deal with pagan
gods, both Norse and Greek, the protagonist who is of course flawed, is moving
from the pagan world and in the end to the Christian one–and so are many other
principal characters who had been pagans and sinners.
Award–winning journalist Richard Abanes
clears away the confusion many readers experience over fantasy books and films.
He delves into the differences between various forms of fantasy and digs out
answers needed by every parent, youth worker, teacher, and student.
The stories of Tolkien, Lewis, and
Rowling—and films based on them—have touched millions of lives. How are these
authors similar…and different? Where do they fit into today’s ever–growing
desire for the mystery and magic fantasy provides? Abanes—himself a fantasy and
science–fiction fan—helps shed light on this form of entertainment and its
effects on today’s youth.
Readers will come away
thoroughly equipped to differentiate between stories and films that are
harmless, even inspiring—and those containing spiritual dangers. See this.
Abanes,
in an interview with Tim Challies, tells why he is worried about the Harry
Potter series:
My concern about the Harry
Potter books is two-fold: 1) by J.K. Rowling’s own admission, the books contain
references to real-world occult symbolism, lore, subjects, practices, and
beliefs that she has gleaned from her hobby-like study of things like occultism,
witchcraft, and magick (this is verified and documented); 2) the ethics and
morality in the series exalt relativism—i.e., there seems to be no objective
standard of right and wrong. If the good characters in the book feel like
something is just fine (or fun), then they simply do it, even though it may be
bad/wrong (e.g., the good characters habitually lie, steal, cheat, use foul
language, break laws, deceive each other, behave hypocritically, and have no
problem pursuing revenge). The books do not strive to show kids a better way,
they instead, appeal to their most basic/naturalistic instincts: e.g.,
crass/gross humor, the desire for revenge, the want for power over adults.
Some people say, “So what?”
But my worry is that children—who we all know tend to copy what they think is
cool, or fun, or exciting—will begin emulating some of the poor ethical/moral
behaviors exalted in Harry Potter as well as some of the occult aspects of the
books. This is not a far-fetched concern. Kids are already copying various
aspects of the series: e.g., registrations for boarding schools in England have
sky-rocketed; a surge in buying owls for pets has taken place; and one group of
kids had to be rushed to the hospital after mixing a poisonous “potion” and
drinking—all in direct response to Harry Potter. We also have a 2002 Barna
survey that found 12% of kids who saw the Harry Potter movies were more
interested in witchcraft. And, most alarming, is how REAL
wiccans/occultists/neopagans are writing their own pro-occult and pro-witchcraft
books (both fiction and non-fiction) and using the popularity of Harry Potter
books to lure young readers to their materials. Clearly, concerns about Harry
Potter are not misplaced.
My
book also debunks the absurd view of Harry Potter offered by the likes of John
Granger, Connie Neal, and Francis Bridger, and John Killinger—i.e., the claim
that Harry Potter is actually a Christian series in the tradition of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. In a nutshell, their assertions are plagued
by a myriad of flaws that can be distilled down to two main issues: 1. The
plainest reading of Harry Potter reveals that it is not a depiction of anything
Christian, but instead, is a depiction of the magick worldview. (This has been
confirmed by Witches, occultists, and neopagans.) 2. Rowling herself has
explained both her work and her faith in ways that clearly contradict the
assertions being made by the “Harry-Potter-is-really-Christian” group of
supporters.
Should
Christian children and/or adults read them? Well, what adults do is between
them and God. I could no more tell an adult Christian to not read the books
than tell them to not go see an R-rated movie, or not have a glass of wine with
spaghetti. Reading Harry Potter as an adult, I think, would fall into the
category of a freedom not explicitly discussed in scripture. Children, on the
other hand, need guidance. But guiding someone else’s child is not my job. My
job is to get good, solid, documented information about Harry Potter to parents,
then, it is their decision. Personally, however, I do think it is a very poor
idea to have some kids, particularly younger ones (e.g., ages 6-10), reading
the books—especially the latter volumes (4, 5, 6, 7), which become
progressively darker and more violent.
In addition, in Albanes’s book Harry Potter, Narnia, and The Lord
of the Rings: What You Need to Know About Fantasy Books and Movies,
he observes that in numerous book stores, books on witchcraft are right on
the shelf next to Harry Potter books, enticing the young into the occult.
In fact, the Occult is having ever greater influence; in a “Post
Christian” America, bizarre beliefs are taking its place. As Tara Isabella
Burton states in her piece The Rise of Progressive Occultism:
More
importantly, however, AOC’s gambit taps into the way in which progressive
millennials have appropriated the rhetoric, imagery, and rituals of what was
once called the “New Age”—from astrology to witchcraft—as both a political and
spiritual statement of identity.
For
an increasing number of left-leaning millennials—more and more of whom do not
belong to any organized religion—occult spirituality isn’t just a form of
personal practice, self-care with more sage. Rather, it’s a metaphysical canvas
for the American culture wars in the post-Trump era: pitting the
self-identified Davids of seemingly secular progressivism against the Goliath
of nationalist evangelical Christianity.
There’s
the coven of Brooklyn witches who publicly hexed then-Supreme Court
candidate Brett Kavanaugh to the acclamation of the thousands-strong “Magic
Resistance”—anti-Trump witches (among them: pop singer Lana del Rey) who used
at-home folk magic to “bind” the president in the months following his
inauguration. There are organizations like The Satanic Temple —newly featured
in Penny Lane’s 2019 documentary Hail Satan—a “nontheistic religion” and
activist group that uses its religious status to demand for its black-robe-clad
members the same protections afforded to Christians in the hopes of
highlighting the ridiculousness of faith-based exceptions (Satanic prayer in
schools, say). There are dozens of Trump-era how-to spellbooks that blend folk
magic with activist practice: the 2018 anthology The New Arcadia: A Witch’s
Handbook to Magical Resistance; Michael Hughes’s 2018 Magic for the
Resistance: Rituals and Spells for Change; David Salisbury’s
2019 Witchcraft Activism: A Toolkit for Magical Resistance (Includes
Spells for Social Justice, Civil Rights, the Environment, and More); and Sarah
Lyons’s forthcoming Revolutionary Witchcraft: A Guide to Magical
Activism. There are hundreds of thousands of users of witch-popular
blogging platforms like Tumblr and Instagram, which at the moment boasts 8.5
million photographs hashtagged “#witch.”
People’s
lack of traditional faith as demonstrated in the examples cited tend to support
that lacking a belief in God leaves one open to believing in monstrosity.
Excerpt:
Tourists that visit the Colosseum in Rome
these days are getting quite a shock. A gigantic statue of a pagan
Canaanite deity known as “Molech” has been erected right at the entrance.
In ancient times, those that served Molech would literally sacrifice their
children to him, and apparently this involved burning them to death. And
now a massive statue of this pagan idol is the centerpiece of a new
“archaeological exhibition” at the world famous Roman Colosseum. Yes, the
exact same Colosseum where countless numbers of Christians were martyred for
their faith is now the home for one of the most monstrous pagan deities that
the world has ever seen.
I know that this sounds
almost too strange to be true, but this is actually happening. The
following comes from the
official press release for this “exhibition”…
A
reconstruction of the terrible deity Moloch, linked to Phoenician and
Carthaginian religions and featured in the 1914
film Cabiria (directed by Giovanni Pastore and written by Gabriele D’Annunzio)
will be stationed at the entrance to the Colosseum to welcome visitors to the
exhibition.
They are referring to this
enormous statue as “Moloch”, but according to Wikipedia this ancient pagan god was
also known as “Molech, Milcom, or Malcam”…
Moloch[a] is the biblical name
of a Canaanite
god associated with child sacrifice, through fire or war. The
name of this deity is also sometimes spelled Molech, Milcom, or Malcam.
For
purposes of this article, I will use the name “Molech”, because that is the
name that will be most familiar to the majority of my readers.
The
organizers of this “exhibition” could have chosen to put Molech in a dark
corner where nobody would have really noticed him, but instead they purposely
decided to feature him in a place where 100 percent of the visitors to the
Colosseum would immediately see him.
One woman that recently
visited the Colosseum told
LifeSiteNews what she witnessed…
“We were so excited the day
we decided to go to the Colosseum,” Alexandra Clark told LifeSiteNews via
email. She and her sister Tiffany were looking forward to visiting the site of
Christian martyrdom.
“But
the moment we got there the sight that greeted us was horrifying! Standing
guard over the entrance was the colossal pagan statue of Moloch. It was placed
in that prime spot so that everyone that entered into the Colosseum had to pass
it,” she continued.
How in the world could something like this
possibly be allowed?
And what makes this even more shocking is that the Colosseum is actually
controlled by the Vatican. The following comes from Breaking
Israel News…
A
source close to the matter told Breaking Israel News that: “There is
no way that such a thing could be done without direct permission from the
highest levels of the Vatican. The Colloseum of Rome is owned by the Vatican,
and specifically the Diocese of Rome, also called the Holy See. If anyone wants
to do anything there, they must get permissions from the office of the Diocese
of Rome. This exhibition, called “Cathargo: the immortal myth” could not be
held there at all unless permissions were granted at high levels.”
Yvonne
Lorenzo [send her mail] makes her home in New England
in a house full to bursting with books, including works on classical Greece and
Russian history and literature, and has contributed to LewRockwell.com, Unz.com
and to TheSaker.is. Her interests include gardening, mythology, ancient
history, The Electric Universe, and classical music, especially the
compositions of Handel, Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler,
Wagner and the Bel Canto repertoire. She is the author of The Spear of Odin
Trilogy: Son of
Thunder, The
Cloak of Freya and the recently published conclusion, The
Well of Mimir.
