Witchcraft, fantasy and REAL demons.

The huge successes of the Harry Potter and Twilight movies, as well as TV shows featuring witches, vampires and werewolves have captured the interest of younger generations. Proponents say, “Fantasy is harmless.”  But is it really?

In a recent interview, a Catholic priest with years of experience performing exorcisms warned “parents who allow their children to be desensitized to ‘the dark world’ by books and films… Harry Potter and these Twilight vampires glamorize the power of evil and this has lead to many, many cases of possession among young people… It may begin with a child or teenager simply ‘playing around’ with the occult, but that seemingly harmless act is ‘opening a window’ to possession” (www.insidecatholic.com, July 20, 2010).

Not surprisingly, the Bible contains many strong warnings about this dark side of the spirit world (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deuteronomy 18:10-12). The Scriptures state that Satan and his demons are real (Luke 10:17) and they exert a deceptively powerful influence in this world (2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:1-3). 

However, Christians DO NOT need to fear demons who can only influence IF given the opportunity to do so.  The apostle James advised that we must learn to recognize and resist the devil “and he will flee from you” (1 Peter 5:8-9; James 4:7).

Books, movies and TV shows that “sanitize” satanic practices only desensitize people to the very real power of these evil practices. This is why Christians should avoid satanic and demonic practices in a world that is moving away from God.