Don't Even Go There

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord". (Dueteronomy 18: 10-13)

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The last Harry Potter book has finally arrived, prefaced by weeks of speculation as to the fate of the young wizard, with last minute shots of anxious young kids and adults dressed as characters from the series, waiting at midnight at Barnes and Nobles, to satisfy this particular fantasy addiction. Part of the devoted newsprint was an article by a local minister, who applauds the positive messages of friendship, devotion and sacrifice, enabling good to triumph over evil. She freely admits to mining this potter's field for sermon illustrations. It seems somewhat ironic to me that in doing so she ignores the warnings that the Holy Spirit gives us through holy scripture about being deceived by anything connected with the occult.

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God hates those things, and the reason He hates them is because association with them always leads people away from God and toward bondage, fear, sickness, and sometimes even death. They are connected to the world of the evil one and are accompanied by evil spirits, yet are never advertised as such. There is a spiritual war going on that involves and impacts every living person. The main weapon for the enemy in this war is deception. He has established strongholds and maintains certain territorial rights. When we venture without protection into his strongholds or territory, it gives him what I like to call a legal right to oppress us. I am a mature Christian, and put on the armor of Ephesians 6:12 daily, yet the Holy Spirit tells me to advoid those strongholds and territories. And if they are dangereous for me, why would I want my children or grandchildren exposed to them?

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After becoming a believing Christian and being filled with the Holy Spirit, I began to gradually grow in spiritual maturity as led by the Spirit. Along the way God would show me things, and I would have to make decisions as to how I would respond to those revelations. One day the Spirit put it in my mind to examine the music I listened to. So I decided it would be a good idea to toss out everything that sang about sex, drugs, eastern religion or the occult, thinking that a few albums might have to go. As I began to look over the song titles it occured to me that maybe the only thing to remain of my collection would be the Christmas albums. Ninety percent of the rest did end up in the trash. My bohemiam brother-in-law Larry almost cried. "You could have given them to me!" Of course, that wasn't the idea. Now much of that music is coming back, considered by today's standards, classic, but tame. Still, none will end up on my iPod (if I had and iPod).

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Another time the Spirit had me examine my past, and I prayed that He would bring to mind anytime that I had participated in things where the evil one could have gained a foothold in my life. Some were obvious, such as playing with a ouija board, or a time when I was a child and a neighbor invited me over for a seance where they did some table lifting, or the time I went to see the movie, Rosemary's Baby. But I recalled other involvements as well where God wanted me to seek forgiveness and cleansing. My cousins and I would get together almost every Sunday afternoon from the time we were little until we started college. We made up a make believe world which we called "the ghost club". Although I cannot recall much about what we did in our ghost club, we were smart and creative kids, and I'm sure we invented some great characters who had amazing adventures. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with kids using their imaginations, or with fictional stories, or with having fun by being silly. What I am saying is that there seems to have been a certain spiritual dimension involved in part of what we did. And that those areas should be advoided because they may have consequences that become lifelong afflictions. As parents we need to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we will be able to teach our children principles that will protect them from the attractive deceptions of the evil one.

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We tried to teach our children the principles of the spiritual war that we are involved in, so as they grew they would know not just the what not, but also the why for. However, we did put a fence of protection around them as well. That fence included our prayers, our examples, and our guidance. It also involved decisions on what they could read, or watch, or listen to, and where they could go, and with whom. I know this will seem silly to most, but our kids were not allowed to see the movie, The Wizard of Oz, or watch the cartoon show, the Smurfs, because Papa Smurf was a wizard. We would not let them go to slasher movies, because those types of experiences can also be entry points for demonic spirits. We did not withdraw from the world, but we always had to work to discern what was in the will of God, and what was not. And acceptance by the culture was not a guage we used.

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It is very difficult to raise children in our secular world, and not have them be involved in certain cultural things that most of their friends are. We can lay down a law as a fence to protect them, but we must also lead them to the helmet of salvation, and show them how to put on the coverings of truth and righteousness, and teach them how to use the shield of faith. And as they grow in being guided by the Spirit they will be less inclined to sneak over that fence. Instead, they will learn to wield the sword of the Spirit. That sword will be for protection, but it will also be used by those young boys and girls, chosen by the Lord God Almighty in this special day and age, to tear down the strongholds and destroy the territory of the enemy. Truth is more exciting than fiction, and the stories of the adventures that God has for our young will fill much more than seven volumes.

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"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever our obedience is complete". (2 Corinthians 10: 3-6)