Chaos reigned in my home town July 16 at midnight. Little kids roamed the streets in ecstasy as they had just purchased the new Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Most were dressed like witches and wizards. They are addicted, but not to righteousness. And they just want to be like Harry and, if possible, attend Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft. When told it doesn't really exist, they are heartbroken.
Okay, so J.K. Rowlings is the second richest woman in England only preceded by the Queen because she can spin a good fantasy tale. There are "Christian Potter advocates" out there who will tell you that you can find God in Harry Potter. Entire denominations have endorsed him and respected Christian magazines as well. I have only a few paragraphs to persuade you differently so here goes.
Harry Potter is a wizard. Excuse me, but how many times does the Bible warn of us wizards, witches, witchcraft, sorcery, spells, incantations, and more? Aren't Christians to have no fellowship with darkness? (II Cor. 6:14-17) Rowlings says each book is getting darker and darker and she is right. He and his pals actually engage in between 75 and 100 practices forbidden in the Bible. Some are pretty gross, in fact. It's pretty tough to think about anything, "true, honorable, lovely, of good report, etc." as it says in Philippians 4:8 when one is focused on Potter gimmicks. He's almost always involved in occultic-type things including drinking blood and talking to the dead (necromancy). Oh, and Harry's "shed blood" has magical powers. Shouldn't that be a huge red flag?
You may be saying, "But this is a struggle of good vs. evil, so what do you expect?" You're right. It's "good" wizards and sorcerers battling "bad" wizards and sorcerers and in the end who wins--wizards and sorcerers! Christian Potter advocates need to grasp that this is not the way the Kingdom of God works. We want righteousness and Godliness to win, and in the end, it does! Read the last chapter of the Bible. And do you think that J.K. Rowlings, who doesn't understand the Bible any more than I understand the engine of my car or the guts of my computer, actually intended this to have true spiritual overtones?
So the Potter plot may be fantasy/fiction, but the setting and characters promote an occult-based worldview that kids accept as truth in normal life. What's cool in Harry's life is cool in their world, but Harry's world is surrounded and characterized by evil. Standards of behavior are distorted. Good and evil are just how you perceive it (situation ethics). There are no absolutes which is just what our post-modern culture needs. Harry is often rewarded for doing evil such as when he lies and cheats. Aren't there about a dozen red flags by now?
The Potter books and movies cleverly mask the evil concepts by presenting evil in a fantastic and alluring child's world. The biblically illiterate are fooled, and how sad when biblically literate parents are fooled and are just happy that finally their kids are reading.
Since organizations like the Pagan Federation of England state that they are recruiting hundreds of inquiring kids thanks to Potter, shouldn't that be a storm warning? In that hundreds of witchcraft Web sites are linked to Potter Web sites, does that sound an alarm?
Mysticism and love of the supernatural are thriving today even in some churches. Thus, the wonderfully mystical and emotionally awesome experience of Harry Potter fit right in. Today a lot of people crave the supernatural as well as "experiences" and even "signs and wonders." We're just far enough into the last days' apostasy so that it's actually spun out of control. J.K. Rowlings timed things well.
According to Gallup, at least one third of kids under age 18 have read a Harry Potter book or seen a movie. No, it won't lead every kid down the primrose path of witchcraft and Satanism but why should we give the devil an inch when he will want a yard or even a mile? This is a hugely serious matter. In the Bible, witchcraft was so forbidden that those who practiced it were frequently executed.
I have had some so-called "Christian Potter advocates" on my radio program. One told me that Jesus would use Potter as parables for children if He were around today, or would have in His day. I'm sorry, but Harry Potter is a different gospel. Deception and delusion abound here. He is a product of evil being called good (Isaiah 5:20). If Potter products are tools for the Kingdom, I have to ask, which Kingdom? Since author J.K. Rowlings promised to make each episode darker (and has done so), I hardly think she had in mind the Kingdom of God.
(Jan Markell is founder and president of Olive Tree Ministries, Inc. She has authored eight Christian books with the major Christian publishing houses. She has a talk radio program out of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN heard in other parts of the country as well. For more information, her e-alert sign-up, or free, print newsletter, visit her Web site, www.olivetreeviews.org.)