Responses to the Anti-Potterites
TheOnion.com-Influenced People
Here we have a letter about the occult claims about Harry Potter. This one was sent through many parents before it reached one who had actually read the books, who showed it to her daughter, who had also read them, who sent it along to me. The first part is a letter tacked on by a concerned parent (which may scare me the most of all... Fundamentalist obsessives are one thing; it's when normal parents start to be convinced without any actual knowledge or basis in fact that the problems start...) the rest is the forwarded letter. The yellow italics are by me, and I've put the letter in white.
All of the quotes of children, high preists of satanism, and J. K. Rowling, as well as all statistics, originated from an article published at TheOnion.com and can be viewed at http://theonion.com/onion3625/harry_potter.html Here's the thing. As you will see if you click on the copyright information at the bottom of the article's page, The Onion is a satirical online newspaper which writes joke articles. Thus all of the quotes they are citing are fictional, and were invented to satirize just those people who are using them in earnest. This is all explained, and some other misconceptions besides, at http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/p03.html#hoax If you get an e-mail citing anything that you see cited below, direct them to these sites. Hopefully they are not being knowingly misleading and once they've been shown that they're quoting falsehoods they'll try to let everyone they sent these quotes to know where they came from. Once again, if you have any input, or have heard any other claims by these people, please e-mail me at dragonfyre52@hotmail.com. Read on for the letter...
Dear friends, I haven't actually read any of this best-seller children's books, so I don't really know if this is true or not.
Here is the very first problem with almost all of these anti-Harry Potter letters. Almost all of it, including quotes and even information of what's in the books, is entirely hearsay. It's very silly. Actually, it's scary, is what it is. That people are willing to blindly believe in whatever people send around the internet just because, I don't know, some words have quotation marks around them or something, and don't feel the need to investigate or think for themselves... It's not a good direction for society to be going.
If valid, I'm very concerned about our children's exposure to such books, and thought of passing this information to friends...
Why not just at least check it out for yourself FIRST to make sure it's valid before passing false hysteria to all your friends to pass to their friends...
--Stephen
Thought you might want to know...
This is the most evil thing I have laid my eyes on in 10 years and no one seems to understand its threat.
Turn on the news any day of the week and I gaurantee you'll see eviler things then you'll ever find hidden in Harry Potter.
The Harry Potter books are THE NUMBER ONE selling children's books in the nation today. Just look at any Barnes & Noble or Waldenbooks storefront. Go to Amazon.com and read the reviews. Hear the touting by educators and even Christian teachers about how "It's great to see the youth so eagerly embracing the reading experience!"
Harry Potter is the creation of a former UK English teacher who promotes witchcraft and Satanism.
When? The only time I have ever heard any quotes by her in which she does so are in messages like these.
Harry is a 13 year old 'wizard.' Her creation openly blasphemes Jesus and God and promotes sorcery,
Where? I can't believe I entirely missed all the blasphemy against God.
seeking revenge upon anyone who upsets them by giving you examples (even the sources with authors and titles)
The sources, authors, and titles, are books she made up by authors with funny sounding names like "Unfogging the Future" by Cassandra Vablatsky, not actual reference books to help people interested in the dark arts find the spells and things to do. Honestly!
of spells, rituals, and demonic powers. I think the problem is that parents have not reviewed the material.
That is EXACTLY the problem!
The name seems harmless enough... Harry Potter. But that is where it all ends.
Let me give you a few quotes from some of the influenced readers themselves: "The Harry Potter books are cool, 'cause they teach you all about magic and how you can use it to control people and get revenge on your enemies," said Hartland.
Now, keep in mind that this isn't actually a quote. It was made up by the writers of the Onion article. But ignoring that, still the books do NOT teach you about magic or how you can use it to control people and get revenge. First of all, most spells are done in the context of classwork, not vicious revenge. But more importantly, they are not real spells with detailed explanations of how to work them. They are fictional spells in a fictional story to help along the fictional plot in the fictional world she's created.
WI, 10-year-old Craig Nowell, a recent convert to the New Satanic Order Of The lack Circle. "I want to learn the Cruciatus Curse, to make my muggle science teacher suffer for giving me a D." [A 'muggle' is an unbeliever of magic.]
Again, invented quote, but as much as this fictional student may want to learn how to make his teacher suffer, he's not going to learn it, because the spell is made up. It doesn't really work. J. K. Rowling never claims, in any of her books, that magic actually works in our world. It only works in the fictional world she's created. If we say that her propaganda is that magic is actually present in our world, then we'd have to say that any author writing about any fictional world with the slightest ties to reality also believed that their fictional world really existed.
Or how about the REALLY young and impressionable mind of a 6 year old when asked about her favorite character: "Hermione is my favorite, because she's smart and has a kitty," said 6-year-old Jessica Lehman of Easley, SC. "Jesus died because He was weak and stupid."
The Harry Potter books never mention anything about Jesus dying because He was weak and stupid. They never suggest it in any way. If the girl has such ideas, it is probably because her parents failed to teach her that Jesus died to save the world from sin and rose from the dead in three days. I wonder how her liking Hermione because she has a kitty has anything to do with it. And once more, this quote is false.
And here is dear Ashley, a 9 year old, the typical average age reader of Harry Potter: "I used to believe in what they taught us at Sunday School," said Ashley, conjuring up an ancient spell to summon Cerebus, the three-headed hound of hell.
The Harry Potter books never mention such a spell.
"But the Harry Potter books showed me that magic is real, something I can learn and use right now, and that the Bible is nothing but Boring lies."
The Harry Potter books never claim that magic is real; they are obviously marketed as fiction. It is "dear Ashley"'s parents' job to teach her that fiction is all just made up and to involve themselves in her education as a Christian enough to make it interesting to her. Many parents simply drop their kids off in sunday school and expect the kids to learn it all there, never bothering to discuss any of the family beliefs. Parenting requires a very high level of involvement to teach kids right from wrong. But most parents are too busy to spend the necessary time following up discussions at church and teaching their kids moral responsibility. They are too busy even to bother to read such apparently highly dangerous and threatening books to see if they're something their children should be protected from.
DOES THIS GET YOUR ATTENTION!! If not, how about a quote from a High Priest of Satanism: "Harry is an absolute godsend to our cause," said High Priest Egan of the First Church Of Satan in Salem, MA. "An organization like ours thrives on new blood - no pun intended - and we've had more applicants than we can handle lately. And, of course, practically all of them are virgins, which is gravy."
Take a wild guess as to whether this quote is real or fake. And Harry Potter never suggests that kids should worship satan. Satan is never mentioned in the Harry Potter books. The kids are making some sort of leap here, and they apparently have never been taught that worshiping Satan is wrong.
Since 1995, open applicants to Satan worship has increased from around 100,000 to now... 14 million children and young adults.
Somehow I managed to read the books without ever once feeling the urge or the need to join a satan worshipping society. I wonder how I missed all this evil suggestion?
It makes me physically ill, people!
Something makes me physically ill, too. Part of it is that there are such societies in the world at all, but there will always be sin in the world, and more effective than trying to sheild people from all evil, which is impossible, we should take great pains to prepare them with a moral compass with which to approach all evil they come across. I'm not saying we should throw kids into temptation, or that we shouldn't try to protect them from what we can. I'm just saying we should make some attempts to teach our children right from wrong, how to tell truth from blatant lies (hint), to know that God is good and satan evil.
But, I think I can offer you an explanation of why this is happening. Children have been bombarded with action, adventure, thrills and scares to the point Hollywood can produce nothing new to give them the next 'high.'
Parents have neglected to see what their children are reading and doing,
VERY true!
and simply seem satisfied that' Little Johnny is interested in reading.' AND... educators and the NEA are PUSHING this with NO WARNING as to the effects or the contents.
I think we should have parents read all books before they give them to their kids. Not only would this ensure that no truly bad books got into the system, it would also broaden the horizons of the parents and ensure that perfectly harmless books weren't censored by blind mass hysteria.
Still not convinced? I will leave you with something to let you make up your own mind.
And finally, a quote from the author herself, J. K.Rowling, describing the objections of Christian reviewers to her writings: "I think it's absolute rubbish to protest children's books on the grounds that they are luring children to Satan," Rowling told a London Times reporter in a July 17 interview. "People should be praising them for that! These books guide children to an understanding that the weak, idiotic Son of God is a living hoax who will be humiliated when the rain of fire comes, ... while we, his faithful servants, laugh and cavort in victory."
I can't believe anyone actually took this seriously. If some author did want to secretly promote satanism in her books, why would she let it all slip in this quote, ruining her entire image as an innocent, non-satan-worshipping single mom?
My hope is that you will see fit to become involved in getting the word out about this garbage. Please FWD to every pastor, teacher, and parent you know. This author has now published FOUR BOOKS in less than 2 years of this 'encyclopedia of Satanism'
First of all, this is not true. She started writing the books at least five years ago. Not to even go into the fact that they can in no way be called encyclopedias of satanism!
and is surely going to write more.
I also ask all Christians to please pray for this lost woman's soul.
We should really probably pray for the souls of parents too busy to make sure that their kids are getting proper spiritual guidance
Pray also for the Holy Spirit to work in the young minds of those who are reading this garbage that they may be delivered from its harm.
Well, I do pray for the kids, that they would learn from somewhere what they aren't getting from home, and that any who do read it will be able to see it as fiction and simply a good story about a brave little boy who actually, as none of these letters mention, spends his entire life fighting against the evil force in the books, Lord Voldemort, who is not portrayed as a glorified character at all. I plead with anyone who believes this article: READ THE BOOKS!
Lastly, pray for all parents to grow closer to their children, and that a bond of sharing thoughts and spiritual intimacy will grow between them.
Yes!
In service to the Lord Jesus,
Jiji Mendoza
Bentall Corporation
jmendoza@bentall.com
T-(604)661-5685 F-(604)661-5652
My Replies to:
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All information on this page in italics is copyright 2001 by October. If you use it without permission, I'll put a hex on you, just like Harry Potter! JUST KIDDING. You must have my permission to use anything from this site. Thanks!
TheOnion.com-Influenced Anti-HarryPotter People
Harry Potter's Bad Because The Kids Misbehave People
Reasonable, Curious People
