Harry Potter: An Innocuous Spooky Tale or A Disguised Occultic Scare?
By Rev Jack Sin

THIS LETTER is written because of the concern that many Christians are among the hordes going to the cinema to watch the Harry Potter movie. A number of good Christian articles have been written on this topic giving references from the Bible to warn us of the dangers of following this trend of the masses. Among them are Rev Jack Sin’s "Harry Potter: An Innocuous Spooky Tale of A Disguised Occultic Snare?" (article reproduced below) and Sis Charlene Lim’s "The Christian View on Pokemon and Harry Potter" (Burning Bush, Volume 7 Number 2, July 2001) To those thinking of going to watch the movie, please read these articles and consider the following:

1. It is a fact that wizardry and witchcraft are exalted in the movie. While the Bible warns against dabbling in the occult, the devil has put it in a very appealing form known as "entertainment". Why do people take drugs although the end result of addiction and its terrible consequences are known? - because of the "high" that it gives to the user! Why do people still indulge in a lot of unhealthy foods in spite of health warnings given? - because they taste so good! The consequences seem so remote, so unimportant. Has sin ever been presented by its terrible consequences as much as by its pleasure? Seeking the ‘fun’ of "Harry Potter" will displease God, not to mention make us vulnerable to the devil’s attacks.

2. Do the hawkers who sell the "sinful" foods consider what is good for your health? Do the author, movie makers and businessmen consider what is good for you and your family in coming out with the books, movie and paraphernalia? All these products are meant to appeal to the masses with the aim of bringing in profit. But the consumer is responsible for his own actions. Have you considered that "Harry Potter" is not for Christians?

3. "It gives fun (pleasure)". "I know when to get out of it if it is really bad". "Is it really true that it is bad?" Do these sound familiar? "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Genesis 3:4-6. Are we falling into the same sin as Eve, succumbing to the lust of the eyes/flesh and doubting God’s Word?

4. Many say "I want to see it so that I can warn others of the danger". So they watch the movie believing that they have a good reason to do so. As a result, through this great deception, Christians end up doing that which they should not be doing.

5. Then we want more. "It is harmless; see, I’m still attending church. It doesn’t make me believe any less in God". Subconsciously, more and more of what we have seen lurk at the back of our minds, and influence our thinking without our realising it. Worse, the very young children who see all these will want more because it is so fun, and they begin to practise what they see - witchcraft/wizardry, disobedience to parents, taking of drugs, trickery, deception, etc. Would this be only a passing phase in their lives? We certainly hope it would be, but at the time that we think they will give up these things, they become youths. Contrary to what we hope, there is great likelihood that they will continue, because what is depicted as witchcraft in the stories have been shown to be authentic and not just child’s play.

6. Are our wills subjected to God or are we more concerned to be with the in-crowd? Do we really care about what God says, whether He is pleased with us? You may say "I’m not sure if what the Bible says is applicable in this case". Then wouldn’t it be better to err on the side of caution then to take the risk?

7. Finally, brethren, is there profit for us in going for the movie and reading the books? What is our real reason for going for "Harry Potter"?

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:1,2)

May the Lord help us!

Grossing more than S$160 million over 10 days, the launch of Harry Potter’s first movie has shown that the entertainment of fantasy and horror can be lucrative enterprises. This is an age of spiritual inquisitiveness and many are easily enamoured and enthralled by the seductive devices of the evil one. Critical thinking and discerning evaluation are almost absent for some or reduced to a barest minimum for many. The occult has successfully masqueraded itself as innocuous games, movies or toys, books and computer games today. Unsuspecting impressionable teenagers and adults are flocking in drones to the latest diabolical entertainment in JK Rowling’s sinister creation of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone now marketed with malevolent zeal as a latest blockbuster that hit the movie screens in the UK, US, Malaysia, Singapore etc in November this year. A new computer game on Harry Potter has also been developed and is available in the marketplace now. The Straits Times reviewed that a 13-year old boy enjoyed Harry meeting his long dead parents in the magical mirror of Erised (ie occultic practice of calling up the dead) and other favourable comments on the occultic activities shown in the movie on 27 November 2001. Daniel Radcliffe (the one who starred as Harry Potter) himself confessed that the "set was so realistic that fiction became fact even in his subconscious and he dreamt about it that he fell off the broom and thought that he was dead."

It is planned that every year there will be a new release of the series of the bestseller, Harry Potter. Potter Mania is a new obsessional phenomenon with thinly disguised occultism that accentuates on diabolical characters that were closely connected to nearly every dimension of the occultic world; from alchemy, astrology, spell-casting, clairvoyance, crystal ball gazing, reincarnation, wizardry and mediumship.

Harry Potter’s books are so influential that many young teenagers have written to Rowling to enrol in the imaginary Hogwarts School of Wizards. It is crucial that as redeemed and justified man, we need to be discerning to critically and objectively appraise the phenomena from the lens of holy scriptures. Below is an analytical perspective of the content of Harry Potter and the recommended responses of the redeemed community.

The literary world has been mesmerised by a series of the four bestsellers, namely Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkarban and Harry Potter & the Globet of Fire. USA Today quipped that since the film release of Harry Potter; a bespectacled, orphaned son of a murdered witch and wizard has been the soul mate of many children and adults around the world (USA Today Nov 7, 2000).

Some (including believers) are celebrating these new series and claimed that it has stimulated reading in children, which is considered laudable. This superficial jubilation may be shortlived when we discover and learn the sinister content of what the children are reading.

During an interview in 1999, Rowling admitted that she had studied mythology and witchcraft in order to write the books more accurately. Rowling went on to say that about 1/3 of the sorcery material appearing in her books are things that some people genuinely (used to) believe in Britain. In other words, a lot of the material in Harry Potter is actual historical sources that still play a significant role in modern paganism, witchcraft and contemporary occultism. To her credit, Rowling has been commended by modern witches for her extremely well-developed and sophisticated knowledge of the occult world; its legend, history and nuances. The world could not have got a better promoter of witchcraft than one who has dabbled with it before and popularised it to the world with about 100 million books sold and translated into 46 languages.

For example, the Standard Book of Spells mentioned in Rowling’s book has a real equivalent in the Book of Spells (1997) by Arthur Edward Wask and Magical Draft and Potions has reference to Magick Potions, "How to Prepare & Use Homemade Oils; Aphrodisiac, Brews and Much More" (1998) by Gurine Dunwich. There are actual occultic books still being used today as pointed out by Richard Abanes in his book on Harry Potter & The Bible. Even the school supplies that Harry Potter used in Hogwarts are used by contemporary witches [ie wanes, black roses, cauldrons, owls (a favourite pet in the UK today) and other diabolical instruments].

Rowling’s books have been touted as the best selling fantasy literature since the CS Lewis & the Tolkien era. It has also been remarked by some that Harry Potter is on the same plane as those books written by CS Lewis’ & Tolkien (1892-1973) like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbits or The Lord of the Rings. Let it be stated for a fact that Potter’s books are of an entirely different nature from Lewis & Tolkien’s books for the latter although it has some fantasy figures in its story line, it does not encourage or glamourise witchcraft, wizardry, clairvoyance, reincarnation, consulting the dead and dabbling with black magic and practical spell casting. John Murray in the Citizen magazine aptly described this current strategy of the evil one (cited in Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, 67).

"In the 1941 preface of his book, Lewis revealed two of the greatest mistakes in humanity’s beliefs about demons…..One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased with both errors and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight. An even greater error, and the one most valued by Lewis’ demonic characters, is the fusion of the two errors. As Screwtape writes to Wormwood: "If once we can produce our perfect work - the Materialist Magician, the man, not using but veritably worshipping, what he vaguely calls ‘Forces’ while denying the existence of ‘spirits’ - then the end of the war will be in sight."

Christians are not against the use of sanctified creative imagination and the use of imagery, allegory (ie Pilgrim‘s Progress and Holy War by John Bunyan), mythopoetic literature and some fantasy figures in story telling or writing but when it crosses the line in dabbling with the real world of spiritual darkness and encourages actual entanglement of current occultic beliefs and practices, we have gone too far, out of the will of God. The Lord would not allow this to go unchallenged for long. It should be noted that in Harry Potter, a direct link is established to paganism (ie astrology and divination) and witchcraft via the presentation of contemporary occultic beliefs and practices. Furthermore, Potter series promote a concept of right and wrong that is radically different from that of Lewis and Tolkien (ie there are vital issues of morality and uprightness in the latter). Lewis’ good characters do not overcome witchcraft by learning more witchcraft unlike Rowling’s Harry who dabbled deeper into the occult to overcome evil (Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, 242).

There are diabolical practices that are subtly and clearly taught and practised in Potter’s books and movies.

Fortune-Telling plays a prominent role in Prisoner of Azkarban (Book III). During one of the classics / Hogwarts divination teacher, taught the children palmistry (reading of our hands to tell the past or the future), reading of tea leaves, crystal ball gazing (also called scrying). Scrying is a very ancient form of divination whereby a person gazes at a shining or polished surface to induce a trance state in which scenes, people, word or image appear as part of a psychic communication (Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, 89).

Magical potion made from various herbs and fungi, played an important role in the education of Harry and his friends. In the Rebirth of Witchcraft, modern day witch

Doreen Valente explains that medieval witches did indeed have an extremely specialised knowledge of herbs, plants and trees for spells (Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, 91). Rowling has taken great pains to ensure that the occult material in her book accurately reflects modern day occultic practices by witch covens.

In Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry looked up Dittany, In 1000 Magical Herbs & Fungi, this herb is the vital herb used by witches in Salem/ Halloween. It also aids witches in astral projection on occult practice, which allegedly entails the separation of one’s conscious self from the body to another dimension of reality [Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, (92)]. Palmistry, reading tea leaves, charms, fire omens (pyromancy) were also taught in Harry Potter’s book and movie. These are not trivial or harmless matters but actual diabolical practices that are still prevalent and practised by witches and some New Agers as well today.

Rowling has gone one step further to introduce violence in her latest book, The Goblet of Fire. It has harsher images and taught clairvoyance (ie communication with the dead) and the use of the horoscope (to predict the future), in a class called planetary divination. According to Ian Potter, a childhood friend of Rowling, the latter likes to dress up as a witch all the time (Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, 124). She would often send her off to get herbs for magic portions for her. This gives us a clue into the secret past life of Rowling who has turned from rags to riches from the magical spell of Harry Potter’s book and movie to the second richest woman in the UK. Harry’s behaviour is far from exemplary. He has broken school rules, lied and disobeyed his elders and this was presented favourably as acceptable demeanour before a young audience and impressionable readers.

Children (and adults) are especially susceptible to powerful images or the screen or vividly deployed on books and often longed to be part of the story where they have immersed themselves in. Rowling herself admitted that she received letters addressed to Prof DumbleDore desperately seeking to be enrolled in Hogwarts School. (Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, 125). This is how gullible and credulous children can be, in discerning fact from fantasy.

A cyber world extension of this fantasy move is greeted with glee by many Potter fans worldwide. It is a trend to have fans creating Potter’s portals and hence showing their obsession with this latest movie and novel.

Children are easily fascinated and obsessed with the occult world of power, magic and entertainment. Rowling’s books have successfully desensitised children and adults to the peril of occultism and create in them a keen interest and sympathy for the malevolent set of beliefs when these children grew up. Potter’s books alone will not be able to satisfy them for long and may spark a fervent addictive desire for the actual world of occultism, wizardry, witchcraft and Satan worship. It is a slippery slope that we are witnessing today as the reader’s inordinate craze for more. Paul said in 1 Cor 6:12 "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

Interestingly, the name of JK Rowling has been ‘honourably’ included in "A Compendium of the Para Normal Occult, Unusual and Supernatural, and the Unexpected Phenomenon". She is listed along with ESP (extra-sensory powers), Ghosts, Magic, Spells, Oujia Board, Tarot Cards, Wiccan, Witchcraft, Zodiac and more (Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, 128).

Harry Potter can hardly be used as a bed-time story book. It has images of monsters, death and violence that haunt the young reader. One five-year old had a troubled Saturday night after hearing the first 100 pages from his parents on Voldermort (a character in Harry Potter) who have the children checking under their bed for monsters, a hardly comforting thought for parents. Godly prudence dictates that even thinly disguised occultic stories are not suitable for any one before bed-time (and all the time).

Harry Potter extends beyond the occult and violence. Richard Abanes perceptively noted the immoral elements added by Rowling in the latest, Harry Potter book on the Goblet of Fire (and watch out for the future series to Harry Potter (Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible, 141-142).

"A word must be said at this point about the hints of sexuality that Rowling’s fourth book incorporates into the series. She has stated that her young characters will be "discovering their hormones" as they grow up, and Goblet of Fire seems to include their first steps in that direction. Indications of this theme first appear in Book IV during the Quidditch World Cup. As it turns out, the Bulgarian mascots are about 100 Veelas - ie extremely sensual, highly erotic and indescribably attractive pseudo-human females. They are "the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen".

Both Harry and Ron are utterly captivated by these females, who made their presence known to the crowd by running out on the playing field (somewhat like a cheerleading squad) for apregame dance-show. Their intensely erotic movements cause "wild, half-formed thoughts" to race through Harry’s "dazed mind." He is so affected that he almost leaps onto the field from the stands. Ron is similarly overwhelmed. Later in the book, Ron meets half-Veela and instantly falls into puppy-lust. A final dip into the well of sexuality occurs on the night of the Yule Ball, when numerous teen couples are caught necking in the shrubbery and are subsequently shooed back indoors by Professor Snape. How far might Rowling take this particular subject in future volumes?"

Powerful and seductive verbal images of sex, violence and occult are slowly and subtly introduced by Rowling and many youths and adults are easy prey to this addiction to spiritual slavery and immoral bondage. Harry Potter has the potential of leading unsuspecting children and teenagers into greater obsession and deeper occultic and unhealthy mental and physical involvement.

Rowling has successfully removed all caution and disarmed readers to the dangers of a diabolical world of wizardry in presenting a handsome and ingenious teenage wizard who apparently fights for the good against the evil. The undiscerning unbelieving world is more and more sympathetic and supportive of the world of darkness than ever before. Sadly and oddly, could some Christians have lost their discriminating sense between light and darkness, spiritual truth and falsehood when they speak in favour of Harry Potter?

Rowling’s creation of Harry Potter is no harmless fantasy book or movie but a deadly and effective occultic tool to ensnare others into deeper involvement in the forbidden world of witchcraft and the wizardry. The Word of God makes it clear what we should do with regard to such books. In Acts 19:19 "Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver."

We are to discard and destroy all such occultic materials. We have already been warned in the Word of God. The prophets of old inspired of God in the OT take a serious view of occultic involvement in God’s people. Deut 18:10-13 says, "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God"

And the Lord warns in Lev 19:26-28, "Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD."

Jer 27:9 says, "Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:" Isa 47:13-15 "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee." Micah 5:12 "And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:’’

Saul consulted a witch at Endor and was severely punished by the Lord demonstrating the divine disapproval of such occultic practices (1 Sam 28:8-20). Harry effectively and subtly beckons us back to partake of this forbidden fruit again with great entertaining prowess.

Who are those that are outside the kingdom of God according to holy scripture? The NT too has much to say about sorcery and witchcraft. The Apostle John concluded the whole canon with this crucial warning in Rev 21:8 which says, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." As sanctified men, we have a different perspective from the world. Remember Paul’s exhortation in Phil 1:10 "That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ." And Paul adds the list of the works of the flesh in Gal 5:20, "Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies."

One of Britain’s biggest teaching unions has issued a stern warning to parents that the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone could lead children into the sinister world of the occult. From The Straits Times: 5, 6 and 8 November 2001, we note the following insightful comments:-

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers said the movie had visually realistic images of witchcraft and wizardry, which could cause many children to take an unhealthy interest in the supernatural world.

Whereas children were limited by their own imagination in reading JK Rowling’s books about the schoolboy wizard, the movie’s stark, realistic and memorable images could spell danger to youngsters by whetting their appetite for more information about the mystic world, it said. The association also fears that the graphic representations of characters from the book - including a three-headed dog - could give impressionable youngsters nightmares. Mr Peter Smith, national secretary of the teachers’ union, said: "Children must be protected from the more extreme influences of the occult and be taught in a responsible and positive way the risks of journeying into the unknown." "The premiere of Harry Potter the movie could lead to a whole new generation of youngsters discovering witchcraft and wizardry. The risks are clear."

American children’s literature expert Theresa Fagan, in an earlier write-up titled "Why Harry Potter is not on my list", says: "Probably very few critics will agree with me, but I’d be cautious about Harry Potter. The books are entertaining, and I enjoyed them a lot. But all through these books, vice is exemplified much more than virtue."

We live in an increasing spiritualised world of New Age concepts, witchcraft, sorcery and wizardry. Many are still ignorant or oblivious to the grave peril of dabbling with such work of darkness until it is too late. Just like September 11’s incident forever changed the way the world views air travel, security and terrorism, Harry Potter’s books and movie will forever changed the way the world looks at witchcraft, sorcery and the occult from henceforth.

End-time believers are to be wary and vigilant and to take an uncompromising stand not to assist in the propagation of evil, abetting and falling into the wiles of the adversary. Harry Potter is not a simple, harmless fantasy tale or movie but it has the full potential to fulfill the devil’s sinister intent of trapping and incarcerating many into actual sorcery and witchcraft which has grave and eternal consequences. True believers should have nothing to do with this malevolent strategy of leading others into greater spiritual darkness and eternal damnation.

Do not be seduced or be enslaved into the forbidden and glamorised world of darkness and allow the devil to have a foothold in your life. Toying with fire has its serious consequences one day. Keep your young children and teenagers away (and adults too) from such unedifying diabolical influences as well. Rather nurture them in the knowledge of the truth of salvation in the word of God and in the fear and admonition of the Lord (2 Pet 3:18) that they may grow thereby. The Lord is coming again soon to judge the world of sin and that includes those who peddle and dabble with sorcery, wizardry, witchcraft and the occult. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.

(NB: For a more comprehensive study of this subject and the occult, read Richard Abanes, Harry Potter & the Bible, Camp Hill. Horizon Books, 2001) and Examining & Exposing Cultic & Occult Movements, available from MBPC office, FEBC and Tabernacle Bookroom.