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The Trouble With Harry Potter - 5

CONNIE: The Bible warns us all that there is a dark Lord out there, and his name is not Voldermont. His name is Lucifer, and the phantom lord in Harry Potter’s books is fiction. Is it dangerous to read about the pretend dark power, when there may be a real one waiting in the wings?

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery, and welcome to our program today. All week we have been talking to Pastor Steve Wholberg, and we are now down to the last day. If you would like a copy of Steve’s book, The Hidden Danger in Harry Potter, just give us a call, or you can write us here at the Voice of Prophecy. Please stop by and check us out online as well. Now, let’s listen in as Lonnie concludes this week’s topic, the Dangers of Harry Potter, with Pastor Steve Wholberg.

LONNIE: Why are kids searching probing, learning so much about this phenomenal series…the stories of Harry Potter? It’s the worlds’ most popular books ever. What does that say about the character of our kids?

STEVE: I think that in the heart of every human being unless they are just totally hardened, is a void for the creator. People want God’s love and strive for him to fill that void. I think that the Christian world is viewed as really cerebral and overly doctrinal, and it doesn’t have really enough of the warmth, the love and the power if the Holy Spirit that can really satisfy people’s hearts. So kids grow up, whether their in church, or whether their in homes that know nothing about God. Their searching for something and The Potter books offer a world of excitement and adventure, and a spiritual drama between good and evil. We’re in a real battle between good and evil, and I hope kids would understand that and realize that this is the time for young people to stand up for the cross of Jesus Christ.

LONNIE: Steve, we went back to the last book of the Pentateuch, where Moses book of Deuteronomy was a major benchmark for understanding. And one of the things that we just mentioned in the reference here in Deuteronomy 18, how does this affect this whole concept of communicating with the dead.

STEVE: Wicca witchcraft is a real religion, and it’s based on the idea that people can access spiritual or supernatural powers, either from themselves or from nature. They also can communicate with spirits, and this is a real part of real Wicca Witchcraft. It’s contact with spirits, whether the spirits have nature, or spirits of those who have died. As we mentioned in Deuteronomy, this is one of the key texts that I have discovered, and I incorporate this into my book, Hidden Dangers in Harry Potter. Deuteronomy 18:4-14, talk about the different elements of witchcraft and sorcery. It talks about sorcery, witchcraft, omens, spells, people who are mediums, spirits, or one who calls up the dead. It says that all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord. So the Bible says don’t in any way try to make contact with the dead, and that practice is defiantly woven into the Harry Potter books.

LONNIE: Do you see the last part of that verse 14, applies to Harry Potter?

STEVE: I do, I think God is speaking to us. He speaks to us from the bible and he says to us, don’t be involved in these things. Especially association with familiar spirits, which that the spirits look familiar, they may talk familiarly but they are really Satanic impersonations, their evil spirits who look like the dead. I have a book right in front of me called Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and this is the fourth book that came out, and the climax of this book is a blood curdling dual to the death showdown, between Harry Potter and Voldermort, the dark evil wizard of the series. They are involved in a death dual and they both raise their wands at each other and their wands and they both shoot streams of light until the light meets and they become locked in this embrace, and they are both trying to use their supernatural powers to conquer the other one, when at all of a sudden, the smoky shadow of a women comes out of Voldermorts wand and it looks at Harry, and he discovers that he is looking into the ghostly face of his mother who had been killed years earlier by Voldermort. Then she says your father is coming and she says hold on for your father, it will be all right. Then he came, first. His head and then his body. The smoky shadow form of James Potter blossomed from the end of Voldermorts wand and through this manifestation of this spirit of Harry’s dead father and mother, this how he lives to fight another day. So he for the time being defeats Voldermort at the end of the fourth book, and nobody can tell me that is not spiritualism. So, kids who have never read the Bible, and read these books, they may think, I’m in trouble, and if I’ve got some problems and I can’t get out, maybe the ghost or spirit of my dead parent can come back and help me. And this is the very thing that the Bible says don’t in any way be involved with. The reason for this is, we might think that we are contacting the dead, but really you’re contacting evil. It may look like someone you know, but it’s really the devil using one of his many disguises.

LONNIE: And we’re not just here to warn, and yet your book is indeed, Hidden Dangers in Harry Potter. But we want to offer some alternatives, what would a parent do? Let’s get practical for a moment here. You’re a dad with an 11-year-old, do you let you’re kid go to the local movies, or do you take their books and burn them?

STEVE: First of all, parents have to realize that there is a real danger. I have a friend who has a cousin in Brazil and this cousin was a church goers and she started reading Harry Potter, and she lost all interest in the church, started dressing in black, and really left her relationship with God. Then she was confronted and loved by her relatives, her eyes were opened and she realized what was happening, she got rid of Potter books and returned to God.

LONNIE: Now, this is not fiction. You know this person.

STEVE: First of all parents have to realize that there is a real danger out there. Second, is that I think parents should in a loving way put their arms around their children, bring them to their fireside and sit down on the couch and open the Bible, and read to them Deuteronomy 18:9-14. Read to them Revelation 23, about sorcery and the devil. Read to them the verses that the Bible talks about, where it says to stay away from witchcraft and its entire kin. Most importantly tell them that God does this not to restrain us but out of love for us. He wants t do what is best for us. He is not just a big Muggle in the sky wanting to take all the joy out of life. He is warning us about things that are trying to hurt us. So, parents should share tenderly, and loving the Bible, and show kids what the love of Jesus can do for their hearts. We need to give them, His love, His care, His strength, and His power.

LONNIE: His power, I was waiting for you to say that. He has power as well, but kids have sort of been steered into the wrong source of power. Paul talks about the power of love, the power of Jesus, the Power of the Holy Spirit. Talk to us a little bit about that as well.

STEVE: Romans 15: 13, talks about love and joy, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

LONNIE: Do you see any of that coming through in Harry Potter?

STEVE: No, I don’t.

LONNIE: Does it ever mention God?

STEVE: No, it doesn’t mention God. It talks about love. But the potter books, if you look at Harry’s character, he lies; he breaks rules, who overcome all things with cult powers, and witchcraft. But it never says anything about God. God warns us of all these things, because he wants us to live forever. He loves us and wants to see all of his children in heaven.

LONNIE: Steve thanks for being with us this week.

STEVE: Thanks. Please visit my website at www.truthleftbehind.com, and I have a new book called End Time Delusions.

CONNIE: Well, we have had a great series with Steve and we will miss him. If you would like to get a free copy of his book featured here this week, Hidden Dangers in Harry Potter, just give us a call, or write us here at the Voice of Prophecy. Or stop and visit us at vop.com