Tonight during our family time we read in Exodus about Moses and Aaron turning the Nile river into blood. The scriptures say that Pharaoh was unimpressed because his magicians were able to do the same thing. If the Nile had already been turned to blood, perhaps they turned smaller bodies of water into blood, but unlike in the movie, The Prince of Egypt, the magic the magicians did wasn't merely a trick. The Bible says in Exodus 7, "But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard;..."We talked about the fact that with Satan's power, some miracles could be imitated, and that there really are evil spirits around, and that although there is a lot of fiction about witches, there really is such a thing as a real witch. Then someone asked whether there was such a thing as a good witch. We turned to the Bible and I read the following passages to them: Ex 22:18, Dt 18:10, 2 Chron. 33:1-13. God is very clear in His Word about how He feels about witchcraft, and there is no such thing as a "good witch".
I could tell that even though they believed the Bible to be the only source of truth, they were surprised by what it said about witches. It's no surprise because of the kinds of books they are being influenced by. Now they are reading "The Wizard of Oz", which has both good and bad witches. But the book series that has taken America (and the world) by storm these days is the Harry Potter series. Nearly everyone is talking about Harry Potter books. As one child put it, "We are encouraged to read a million words this school year, and most kids are using Harry Potter books to reach that goal that has been set for them."
To further prove my point, I took them to the website, ModernWiccan.com, where we read a brief Q&A about the basics of witchcraft. Simply put, any person can become a witch, and the one basic requirement is that he worship nature and created things, rather than the Creator, although that's not exactly the wording they use on the website.
So what's the harm in reading fiction about witches, you say. I think you have to let God's Word and your conscience help you decide how much is enough reading about this topic. After our discussion tonight, none of the kids were interested in reading Harry Potter anymore. For further reading, here are a couple of thought-provoking articles I found. I can't say I agree totally with everything they say, but these articles raise your awareness of the potential for evil with these books.
Harry Potter and Witchcraft
Harry Potter Lures Kids to Witchcraft
I find your blog slightly offensive to the wiccan religion. Wiccans have nothing to do with satan. Or Harry Potter. And they do honor the "creator". Just not your perception of creation. You believe that there is one male entity that made everything and rules over everything. And the Wiccans believe in something else? So what! If someone has a different lifestyle, it's their life anyway. It's pathetic when someone has nothing better to do than to victimize and dehumanize someone else. And for what? Because they're different. That's really sad and ignorant. All that I can do is hope that your kids will be able to see truth for themselves, instead of eating it out of your hand.
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