The Truth About Catholicism

The Truth About Catholicism

The Truth About Roman Catholicism.

By M. H. Reynolds
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THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH is by far the largest and wealthiest of all the so-called "Christian Denominations." It has consistently claimed to be the only true Church--the Church which was founded by Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. In addition, especially in this generation, it has embellished its image and attracted and held members by the claim that it is the one Church which has never changed, All of these claims are false. How-ever, in recent years, the Roman Catholic Church has done a complete about-face, actually boasting of the many changes it has instituted to meet the changing needs of Catholics and non-Catholics alike in this modern age.

Is the Roman Catholic Church the one true Church? Are its past and present teachings and practices Scriptural? How has the Roman Catholic Church changed through the centuries? How much has it changed in our lifetime? Have these changes been basic or superficial? Where is the Roman Catholic Church headed?

The purpose of this article is to turn the spotlight of truth upon Roman Catholicism both as to its past history and present teachings. Our sincere desire is to be of help to Catholics, many of whom are well aware that, in recent years, their church has been Instituting many changes, most of which have left them confused, uncertain, and deeply troubled. For the first time in their lives, many Catholics are raising serious questions about t their Church, its leaders, its teachings and its practices. They now realize that their church is not united but divided over issues such as birth control, abortion, divorce, celibacy for priests, women clergy, gay clergy, Papal infallibility, prayer, worship, music, purgatory, confession and even the meaning of the Mass. The moral degeneracy and financial scandals which have rocked the Charismatic movement have also been exposed in the Roman Catholic Church, all the way from the Vatican to the local parish. Confusion reigns supreme and Catholics who take their religion seriously don't know which way to turn.

A source of further confusion for many is the fact that for centuries Roman Catholics were taught that all those outside its membership were heretics to be shunned, persecuted or even killed. It was not until the middle of this century that the Roman Catholic Church modified and softened its stand by first calling non-Catholics, "separated brethren." More recently, even that negative connotation has been eliminated so that today, Catholics are to consider "all Christians" to be "brothers and sisters in Christ."

However, these changed outward attitudes on the part of Roman Catholics toward non-Catholics, and their increasing usage of evangelical terminology, has unfortunately resulted in many evangelicals mistakenly believing that the basic false doctrines and heresies of Romanism have changed, something that simply is not true. Thus, both Catholics and non-Catholics alike should take a fresh look at Biblical, historical and current look-at this largest supposedly Christian denomination in the world. If it is the one true Church as it claims to be, then every believer in Christ should become a part of it. But, if it is and always has been a false church, then all who truly believe the Bible and trust Jesus Christ as Saviour will separate from it, warn about it, and urge others to do likewise.

Through our extensive radio and literature ministries, it has been a great blessing to hear from many former Roman Catholics who have been delivered from the bondage of the false doctrines of Romanism; who have experienced the new birth by faith in Jesus Christ alone; and who are doing their best to reach their Catholic loved ones and friends with the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the same time, it has been a real heartache to realize that so many non Roman Catholics who profess to know Christ as Saviour, have been deceived by the new attitudes and vocabulary of Catholicism so that the Roman Catholic Church is now being accepted by many evangelicals as a sister church with only minor differences rather than the false church which it actually is.

The Truth About the Roman Catholic Church is that it always has been and continues to be a false church. Those Biblical doctrines it professes to believe and teach are vitiated by Roman Catholic dogma based upon tradition which contradicts God's holy, infallible Word, the Bible. Error is never more deceptive than when it is presented with a veneer of truth. Throughout its entire history, Roman Catholic leaders fit the description of the false teachers who God warned in advance would come on the scene in the last days, deceiving many by their "feigned' (pretended or hypocritical) words-their "great swelling words of vanity, " as described in 1 Peter 2:1.-3, 18, 19,

Before examining and refuting some of the well known false teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, it is essential to understand that two basic false teachings of Roman Catholicism (even apart from its many other errors), clearly classify it as a religious cult rather than a true church. These two basic errors are:

First- Roman Catholicism, although teaching that the Bible is the Word of God, adds the spurious apocryphal books to the Scriptures, and also elevates church tradition and the edicts of popes and councils (the words of men), to the same or an even greater level of authority than the Word of God. This amounts to adding to the Word of God, thereby placing Roman Catholicism under God's curse. Deut. 4:2; Rev. 22:18, 19.

Second- Roman Catholicism, although teaching that faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation, actually denies the truth of the Gospel by adding sacraments, good works, and purgatory as additional requirements for forgiveness of sin and eternal life. This amounts to the preaching of a false Gospel which places the Roman Catholic Church under God's curse. Gal. 1:6-10.

Thus, by Scriptural standards, the Roman Catholic Church is a false church which can only expect God's judgment, not a true church which can claim God's blessing. No amount of outward change should be permitted to obscure this fact.

As for the claims of the Roman Catholic Church that its history can be traced back to Jesus Christ, Peter, or the other apostles, such claims lack both historical and Scriptural support. The true Church of Jesus Christ was not founded upon Peter, but upon Peter's confession of Christ's deity as recorded in Matthew 16:16: ".. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. " Peter was not the first pope nor is there any Scriptural justification whatever for such an office. Peter's own inspired testimony as to his position and ministry is given in I Peter 5:1-4. He further identifies himself in 2 Peter 1:1 as "a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ....' History confirms the fact that there were no popes in the early church nor even in the Roman Catholic Church during the first centuries of its existence.

Furthermore, the long-held claim that the Roman Catholic Church was the only church which never changed is not supported by church history not even Roman Catholic history. How sad to realize that this false claim influenced so many to join or to stay in this false church which actually is the product of centuries of changes. Most of these changes came as a result of yielding to heathen customs and practices which were subsequently incorporated into Roman Catholic teachings and worship. The following is a partial list of heathen, unscriptural practices which became a part of Roman Catholic dogma over a period of seventeen centuries. Some of the dates given are approximate. In many cases, these heresies were even debated for years before being given the status of required beliefs:

1 . Prayers for the dead . …………-------------------……300 A.D.
2. Making the sign of the cross ………………………… …300 A.D.
3. Veneration of angels & dead saints …………---------…….375 A.D.
4. Use of images in worship………………………………… . 375 A.D.
5. The Mass as a daily celebration……………………………… 394 A.D.
6 Beginning of the exaltation of Mary; the term, "Mother of God" applied a Council of Ephesus……………. .----------------------------------------- 431 A.D.
7 Extreme Unction (Last Rites)……………………………… ..526 A.D.
8. Doctrine of Purgatory-Gregory 1…………………………… .593 A.D..
9. Prayers to Mary & dead saints ……………………………… .600 A.D.
10. Worship of cross, images & relics ……………………… … 786 A.D.
11 Canonization of dead saints ………………………………… ..995 A.D.
12. Celibacy of priesthood …………………………………… …1079 A.D.
13. The Rosary ……………………………………………… … 1090 A.D.
14. Indulgences ……………………………………………… …..1190 A.D.
15. Transubstantiation-Innocent III …………………………… 1215 A.D.
16. Auricular Confession of sins to a priest …………………… 1215 A.D.
17. Adoration of the wafer (Host)…………………………… .. 1220 A.D.
18. Cup forbidden to the people at communion …………………..1414 A.D.
19. Purgatory proclaimed as a dogma……………………………..1439 A.D.
20. The doctrine of the Seven Sacraments confirmed …………….1439 A.D.
21 Tradition declared of equal authority with Bible by Council of Trent…………………………………………----------------… 1545 A.D.
22. Apocryphal books added to Bible ………------------……….1546 A.D.
23. Immaculate Conception of Mary……………………………….1854 A.D.
24, Infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals, proclaimed by the Vatican Council ……………… 1870 A.D.
25. Assumption of the Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into heaven shortly after her death) ……………………………-----------------------------------……1950 A.D.
26. Mary proclaimed Mother of the Church……………………… 1965 A.D.

Although some of the preceding Roman Catholic heresies are now being questioned by many, both inside and outside the church, none have been officially repudiated and all continue to be practiced by millions of Catholics around the world. The urgent need today is for Roman Catholics; yes, and all who claim to be Christians, to examine their own beliefs and the teachings of their churches by the only sure standard-the Bible. Whatever contradicts, adds to or subtracts from the sixty-six books of the Old and the New Testaments, is error no matter how many may cling to it.

Roman Catholics who read the Bible will soon discover that many Catholic teachings and practices are specifically forbidden by Jesus Christ Himself. Note carefully the following warnings given by the Lord Jesus Christ to the religious leaders of His day concerning vain worship, vain tradition and vain repetitions. All of these are particularly applicable to Roman Catholicism today.

Vain Worship-In Matthew 15:8-9, Jesus said, 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the command men of men." All worship is indeed vain when it is based upon the commandments of men rather than the Word of God.

Vain Tradition-In Matthew 15:6b, Jesus said, 'Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. "

(Note): Valid tradition is based upon Scripture and confirms it. Vain tradition is based upon man's teachings and violates it. In Roman Catholicism, tradition is consistently elevated above the Scripture which results in vain worship (no matter how sincere) and makes the commandment of God of no effect-a very serious matter.

Vain Repetitions-In Matthew 6:7, Jesus said, "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." A basic part of Roman Catholic worship is the frequent repetition of The Rosary whose origin is clearly tied to heathen religions such as Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. Roman Catholics should listen to the words of Christ forbidding vain repetitions, rather than using the vain repetitions of Catholicism.

During the past forty years, at least three important trends in the Roman Catholic Church are clearly observable. These are: (1) A greater emphasis upon the place of Mary. (2) A major emphasis upon ecumenical activities with a view to seeking the full visible unity of all religions. (3) The acceptance of the so-called Charismatic renewal within the Church with new emphasis upon the claimed "ministry of the Holy Spirit." There is every reason to believe that all of these major trends will continue and increase; and, all of them are very deceptive, very dangerous, very unscriptural.

The place accorded Mary in the Roman Catholic Church is not Scriptural nor is it new, but it cannot be denied that, during the last one hundred years, veneration of Mary has dramatically increased, Note in the historical chart given earlier in this article that the exaltation of Mary and the term, Mother of God, became official Catholic dogma in 431 A.D.). with prayers to her proclaimed in 600 A.D. But, note also that the "Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mat)@" was not proclaimed until 1854; her "Assumption" not until 1950; and her title "Mother of the Church" not until as recently as 1965.

Some Roman Catholic observers believe it may not be much longer until Mary is officially proclaimed "Co-redemptrix with Christ." In fact, the premier issue of a new Roman Catholic publication, Catholic Heritage (Vol. 1, No. 1, Sept.-Oct. 1991) has the front page title: "Mary, Mother of the Church," and, in a Question and Answer column, the question is asked, "At the foot of the cross, Mary shared in the mystery of the passion. True or False? Answer: True. Mary united her sorrows to those of hey Son. The sorrowful and immaculate heart of Mary bled with her Son for all of mankind. For this reason, we invoke her under the title of Co-- redemptrix."

All of the popes during the past thirty years have done their part to increase the influence of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church based completely on tradition rather than upon the Bible. In the August 28, 1975 issue of the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Paul VI, speaking of the ceremony celebrated the day before in St. Peter's in honor of the Madonna at the Feast of the Assumption of Mary said, "Her venerated image, known as Salus Populi Romani' was carried in procession from St. Mary Major's as part of the Holy Year ceremonies, so that the overflow crowd of pilgrims, coming from all parts of the world, could see it and thus increase their devotion to her. In this way we should all be reminded of the meaning and practice of the cult of Mary, inseparable from the unique and central cult of Christ …Let us pray to her with humble, trusting and childlike faith."

Did you know that the present pope, John Paul II, has dedicated himself completely to Mary? In 1985, during his visit to Vancouver, B.C., the special souvenir edition of B. C. Catholic carried a full I page color photo of the pope under the caption, Totus Tuus which, in Latin, means" all yours ."The following explanation was given, "When Karol Wojtyla was consecrated bishop of Cracow by Pius XII in 1958 he took, 'Totus Tuus' (all yours) as his motto, thus presenting himself to Mary. In his first Urbi et Orbi message immediately after being elected pope he said, "At this difficult hour, full of fear, we must turn our thoughts with filial devotion to the Virgin Mary who always lives in the midst of Christ and exists as his mother. We must repeat the words, Totus Tuus which 20 years ago were inscribed into our heart and soul."'

Pope John Paul II has visited many of the major Shrines to Mary. He attributed his escape from death at the hands of a would-be assassin and the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe to the intervention of Mary. Millions of Catholics are making pilgrimages to the various Marian shrines, seeking and often claiming miracles of healing and answers to their prayers to Mary. New apparitions of Mary and special messages from her are being claimed in various parts of the world. Yet, there is absolutely no Scriptural foundation for any of these beliefs or practices. Mary was indeed a virgin (pure sexually) so that she could fulfill the Old Testament prophecy that Christ would be born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14). She was a godly woman, but not sinless. As with all true believers in Christ, when Mary died, her soul and spirit went to heaven, but her body awaits the resurrection; she did not bodily ascend to heaven as did Jesus Christ. Nothing in Scripture indicates that prayers were ever offered to Mary nor that she was worshipped by anyone. Most of Roman Catholic teaching concerning Mary is based entirely on human tradition and contradicts the Bible, the Word of God.

The present ecumenical emphasis and activities of the Roman Catholic Church are also of recent origin. When Vatican Council I was held in 18691870, the invitation of the pope to the Orthodox Churches to participate was refused; and, his public appeal to "Protestants and all non-Catholics" to return to the only true fold" received resentful refusals. However, in the intervening years it became increasingly obvious to the Roman Catholic hierarchy that their church needed some serious updating, particularly with regard to relationships with other churches. In 1960, Pope John XXIII established the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity; and, in 1962, he convoked Vatican Council II which he called "An ecumenical council for the universal church."

Less than a year later, Pope John XXIII died, but his successor, Pope Paul VI, who had attended four sessions of Vatican 11 before becoming pope, did everything possible to continue and expand the ecumenical emphasis. His expressed position was that the Roman Catholic Church could best demonstrate the validity of its teaching, not by condemnation or severity, but with the "medicine of mercy." His emphasis was upon "working for the full visible unity in truth among all Christians" and that this unity should extend also to non-Christians. This new approach of Vatican 11 was successful in gaining the co-operation of the major Orthodox Church bodies as well as 38 delegated observers from almost all the major Protestant denominations. Of course, Pope John Paul 11 has expanded the ecumenical emphasis in the Roman Catholic Church to unprecedented heights. While this has received high praise from religious leaders and denominations, the kind of unity sought by the Roman Catholic Church is contrary to the Bible. All unity purchased at the expense of doctrinal purity is satanic and deceptive. 2 Cor. 6:14-18, Eph. 5:11, 2 Tim. 3:1-17; 4:1-8. All who join hands in ecumenical fellowship with those who preach a false Gospel are under God's curse. Gal. 1:6-10.

The Roman Catholic Church was infiltrated by the false teachings and unscriptural practices of the Charismatic Movement in the early 1960's. Its influence within Roman Catholicism is growing rapidly. As always, the devil has a very clever way of compounding error while giving the results a more respectable appearance. Space limitations prevent a more comprehensive consideration of its past and present approaches but we have prepared other articles providing important details to all who might be interested in knowing why the Charismatic Movement and its teachings are so deceptive and dangerous. Once this movement became entrenched in the Roman Catholic Church, RCC leaders were quick to see that it would be to their advantage to encourage these teachings rather than to oppose them. They discovered that they could use the Charismatic doctrines and practices to help build the Roman Catholic Church by considering it a logical and needed "renewal movement within the church." An added factor was that those who had supposedly experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit felt a greater love and respect than ever for the Roman Catholic Church, including the Mass, the other sacraments, the veneration of Mary and all the other false teachings of Roman Catholicism. Many people are attracted to the displays of hearings, miracles, and other supposed demonstrations of Holy Spirit presence and power, not realizing that if this were a true ministry of the Holy Spirit it would lead them to a recognition and repudiation of the false teachings of Roman Catholicism. The Charismatic Movement, both within and outside of the Roman Catholic Church is not a movement of the Holy Spirit, but of a false spirit. John 16: 7-14; 2 Cor. 11:13-15.

Adding to the religious confusion of our day is the inconsistent, compromising position taken by the world's two outstanding evangelical leaders, Dr. Billy Graham and Dr. Bill Bright. Both of these men now praise and work with ecumenical apostates, charismatic deceivers and Roman Catholics which represents a complete reversal of their original, Biblical positions. Both are widely respected and have charming personalities, but their present willingness to work with anybody who "calls Jesus, Lord" completely ignores the warning Christ gave in Matthew 7:21-23. Billy Graham now sends Catholics who make "decisions" in his crusades back to the Roman Catholic Church with no warning of the false Gospel it preaches. Bill Bright even has Roman Catholics on his Campus Crusade staff. Both men thus disobey the Bible.

What about the Mass which lies at the very heart of Roman Catholic theology and worship? Is its observance based upon Scripture or Catholic tradition? What does Roman Catholicism teach as to its meaning and importance?

The Baltimore Catechism says: "It is a mortal sin not to hear Mass on a Sunday or a holy day of obligation, unless we are excused for a serious reason. They also commit mortal sin who, having others under their charge, hinder them from hearing Mass without a sufficient reason."

The Creed of pope Pius IV, an official creed of the Roman Catholic Church says, "I profess that in the Mass is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice (that is, a sacrifice which satisfies the justice of God and so offsets the penalty for sin) for the living and for the dead; and that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, which the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation."

The Council of Trent declared: "The sacrifice (in the Mass) is identical with the sacrifice of the Cross, inasmuch as Jesus Christ is a priest and victim both. The only difference lies in the manner of the offering, which is bloody upon the cross and bloodless on our altars"; and, in Canon I stated: "Whosoever shall deny that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there are truly, really, and substantially contained the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with his soul and divinity, and consequently Christ entire, but shall affirm that he is present therein only in a sign and figure, or by his power, let him be accursed.,,

But what does the Bible say concerning the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross? Hebrews 10:10-14, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man [Jesus Christ], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God,- From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. "

What a difference there is between what the Bible teaches and what Roman Catholicism believes and teaches regarding the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross! The supposed continual offering up of Christ by the priests negates His finished work on the Cross. The Bible says, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." I Peter 3:18.

Roman Catholicism makes salvation a long, complicated process with no assurance of eternal life and forgiveness of all sin; to faith in Jesus Christ is added Baptism, the Mass, Confession, prayers to Mary and the Saints, good works, and purgatory. By contrast the Bible teaches salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone, not by sacraments, prayers or works. Eph. 2:8, 9; Titus 2:13. Bible salvation is God's free gift to any sinner who believes with the heart that Christ died for his sins and rose again for his justification. I Coy. 15:1-4; Rom. 10:9-13. Bible salvation gives immediate assurance of eternal life. I John 5:10-13. Carefully read and believe John 1: 12; 3:1618; 3:36; 5:24; 14:1-6; 20:30, 31. No church ever saved anyone, but Christ can and will save everyone who will come and trust Him as their Saviour. Acts 4:12; John 6:37; 10:27-30. Trust Christ today and be saved for all eternity!

[By M.H. Reynolds, reprinted from
Foundation Magazine, Vol. XIII, Issue 1]
Fundamental Evangelistic Association
Box 6278 - Los Osos - CA 93412 - USA

Beware of your friends

Witchcraft among Children and Teens in America

Teen Witchcraft in America

Linda P. Harvey

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Linda P. Harvey is editor and publisher of Mission: America, a quarterly Christian newsletter and Internet web site at www.missionamerica.com. Mrs. Harvey founded the organization in 1995 to address tough cultural issues within a Christian context. With over twenty years' experience in advertising and public relations, Mrs. Harvey is the recipient of over fifty communication awards and has started ten publications. She is graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and has held executive positions in the fields of health care and insurance. She is a frequent guest on TV and radio shows, and has been especially active in addressing the issues of homosexuality and radical feminism.

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Editor's Note: This is the original version of a newly updated article. The updated version can be found here: Heresy in the Hood II: Witchcraft among Children and Teens in America.

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The fifteen-year old girl next door, her mom tells you, has cleaned up her once-rebellious act. Suddenly, Brittany is getting up early, reading more books, going to church more, even keeping her room clean. Drugs and alcohol are not cool, she tells her parents. And she has a much more positive attitude, your neighbor has noticed. Seemingly, a young life has turned around for the better. Well, hold that applause. For young Brittany's new standards are outlined by Teen Witch author Silver Ravenwolf as the model for every young wiccan.{1} Yes, in today's crazy America, Brittany could have found new identity and meaning in witchcraft.
Did you ever think you'd live to see actual witchcraft-undisguised, with spells and all-being pitched to our young women as the solution to life's problems? Yet here it is, out of the closet, with or without warts. As an alternate lifestyle or a source of empowerment, the imagery, symbols and ritual of sorcery are everywhere in the lives of young Americans, female and male.

Style and Identity

"Witchcraft is the fastest-growing religion in America today," said a proponent recently on the teen-popular "E"-cable channel, and interest is high among adolescent girls, since wiccans are "strong, self-directed women."{2} The fascination with witchcraft among the young is a new twist. As recently as 1993, Cynthia Eller noted in her admiring book on feminist spirituality (witchcraft), "...how few women [in feminist spirituality] there are below thirty....There are women in their teens and twenties, but not many."{3}
That has changed. One big push has come from the Hollywood entertainment machine that, with seemingly no limit on depravity, is mining the curiosity of youth for all it's worth. A burst of movies and TV shows featuring witchcraft have targeted young viewers, among them this past summer's hit Blair Witch Project. In 1996, The Craft featured teen practitioners; last year's Practical Magic showed witchcraft's usefulness in romance. ABC's Sabrina: the Teenage Witch, and now The WB's Charmed with popular star Shannon Doherty, have made wicca seem like just another hobby. The 1996 movie The Crucible featured teen idol Winona Ryder, and glorified for yet another generation the victims of the Salem witch trials. All this high visibility depicts witchcraft as alluring, accessible and apparently as innocuous as tennis lessons.
And then there's the influence of popular music. A recent "Disney" channel show featured a new Irish singing group called B*Witched, who seem to appeal to pre-teens and middle schoolers. Although the practice of the "craft" isn't evident with this group, the casual adoption of the name is worth noting. Associating with a label of witchcraft must be a positive image-builder these days.
One of the most popular events with American youth has been the Lilith Fair, which has played to packed audiences of students throughout the US and Canada for three summers. Why did musician Sarah McLachlan choose the name "Lilith" for the all-woman concert tour she founded? According to radical feminism, Lilith was the first wife of Adam before Eve. Lilith left the Garden in a huff when she couldn't share dominion with Adam. The myth goes even further. "Modern feminism identifies Lilith with the Serpent of Genesis, " writes Peter Jones in Spirit Wars: Pagan Revival in Christian America (p. 155).
There is only one reference in the Bible to the term "lilith," in Isaiah 34:14, which says, "Also, the night creature (lilith) shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest." The reference is to the wasteland of the world once God has inflicted His judgment. The publication of a shady medieval work called The Alphabet of Ben-Sira described Lilith as a lustful witch-like figure who supposedly roamed at night looking for children to kill. Mothers in the Middle Ages began to keep amulets to protect their babies from Lilith. According to the web site of one wiccan priest (http:\\www.lilitu.com\lilith\khephmod.html), feminist neo-pagans have adopted the Lilith legend because "...the main focus is upon Lilith's choice to fly from paradise, and even suffer the death of hundreds of her children, rather than live under submission to Adam." While there is not a shred of biblical evidence for the Lilith story, apparently for feminists the Lilith legend's appeal lies in rebellion against God the Father. While we don't know about Sarah McLachlan and overt witchcraft, we do know about her rabid hostility to God as expressed in song (see below for the lyrics of "Dear God.") The choice of this name for the popular tour seems a deliberate show of antagonism toward Christianity, as well as exalting a depraved example of womanhood. How does this ideology influence our kids when promoted by their most beloved performers?
At the Lilith Fair, one discovers the kind of company a witch might keep. The tour has featured a female-only line-up of performers like McLachlan, Sheryl Crow and the Indigo Girls (who are openly lesbian). Along with man-wary lyrics and the usual feminist cynicism, the tour sponsors booths pitching left-wing causes. The Columbus, OH concert featured the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), Planned Parenthood (giving out free condoms, of course) and the Columbus AIDS Task Force. Graphic brochures on sexual practices, hetero and homo, were being picked up by what looked like middle school students. A pro-life group, Feminists for Life, had requested to be part of the national tour and were turned down. Pro-life views just don't fit the pagan ethic, apparently.

In Your Neighborhood, In Your Face

We've been prepped for this for years, of course. Even back in our school days in studying colonial American history, we were drilled in the pagan-friendly line about Salem: that it was an example to America about the dangers of religious fanaticism. The whole story was seldom told, and witchcraft was dismissed as a mythical label goofy fundamentalists give to independent, enlightened non-conformists. A "witch hunt" has become one of the left's favorite epithets to intimidate the devout.
But who has to hunt anymore? Children are being lovingly primed to embrace paganism by movies, games, TV and countless sorcery-friendly books. On library shelves everywhere are stories like The Christmas Witch, The War of the Wizards (which features a pentagram on the cover), In the Land of Winter ( where a single mother wiccan and her child have to fend off the bad Christians), So You Want to be a Wizard, Wizard's Hall, and many more.{4}
The Sabrina TV show has spun off a popular array of quick-read novels-today's Nancy Drew, evidently. Then there are the top-selling Harry Potter books by J.K Rowling, which adults as well as kids are gobbling up. This hit series highlights the fantasy life of a boy who has been adopted by unloving relatives. He sleeps under the stairs, until he gets a mysterious invitation to a school for witchcraft and wizardry-and steps into a magical adventure starring him. It's just the right solution to a miserable home life and low self-esteem. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is not simply a children's book, but number 2 in sales at amazon.com.
And teen fiction today is an ungodly witches' brew of street values, sorcery and sexuality. For example, the "Weetzie Bat" book series ( HarpersCollins Publishers) has been praised by secular critics as being "fresh," "unique," provocative," "California hip." The novels are, in fact, a nightmare of children raising themselves in a Christ-less world devoid of standards and devoted to partying. Written by Francesca Lia Block, this series features a teen girl who in the first book shares her home with two homosexual guys and her live-in lover. She deliberately gets impregnated by one of the two homosexuals in a group sex encounter, and when her lover leaves in jealousy, he has a quick liaison with a witch-like woman, who in turn becomes pregnant. Failing to get an abortion like he wanted her to, this woman leaves her baby girl on the doorstep of the now reunited Weetzie Bat and boyfriend. The "witch -baby" is then raised along with Weetzie's little girl Cherokee( who is always dressed in feathers and fringed leather) in a California cottage, where they finance this high maintenance, costumed fantasy by-of course-producing and starring in their own movies! In and around the drinking, strange sexual liaisons, and blended "family," the mostly unsupervised Witch-Baby has dark fantasies and flirts with dangerous powers. And so, of course, do the teen readers of these yarns.
So, teens come to the throne of adolescent self-indulgence and rebellion ready to pick up the sorcerer's wand to satisfy morbid curiosity and possibly wave away their troubles. Author Silver Ravenwolf, a mother raising four young witches, capitalized on current occult interest by publishing Teen Witch: Wicca for a New Generation (Llewellyn Publications, 1999). If there ever was a "how-to" book with teen-friendly language, this is it.

Training Manual for Teens

Ravenwolf told a Columbus (OH) Christian radio station in August that the book was written for girls 11 and up, and that it is currently used in some psychiatric institutions to help troubled girls.{5} One of the most chilling aspects of the book is its casual presentation of wicca as an alternative practice that is powerful yet positive, and compatible with most religious beliefs. She writes, "WitchCraft is a nature-based, life-affirming religion that follows a moral code and seeks to build harmony among people, and empower the self and others. If you think about it, we could use that statement for almost any positive religion, couldn't we?" (p. 4) The unfortunate answer is that, yes-some "Christian" churches teach such a diluted version of the Gospel that outright human sacrifice could almost be acceptable in the name of tolerance.
And in referring frequently to "positive religion," Ravenwolf attempts to demonize biblical Christianity. "Our only animosity toward Christianity, or toward any other religion, is...that these institutions have claimed to be 'the one true right and only way.'...Witches are sick and tired of people in other religions passing judgment and spreading lies about our belief system just because they are either insecure in their own faith or don't realize that many paths to God exist in our universe." (pp.7-8) The teen who has been exposed to countless lessons espousing the virtues of tolerance and the dangers of "bigotry" will be ready to embrace Ravenwolf's message.
Teen Witch reinforces the ample doses of nature worship girls are already receiving throughout the culture, including at school, while justifying ignorance about and hostility toward Christianity. And it is all set within a framework that claims to be upbeat, moral and ethical.
For instance, Teen Witch outlines the code and worldview of witches, at least as Ravenwolf depicts them. Witches, she claims, don't do drugs or alcohol( p. 126), gossip or tell lies ( p. 16). They avoid negative thinking ( p.70); do not do spells to harm others (p. 130); they keep their areas/rooms clean (p.49); and practice daily devotions /prayer to "God." (p.103). The undiscerning parent or friend might conclude from appearances that this is a teen with her/his act together.
Along such "positive" lines, Ravenwolf outlines a whole array of rituals (spells) teens can do at their own altars, with instructions for the materials they'll need (incense, candles, etc.). There are spells for peace, self-confidence, love, a happy home, friendships, more money and homework. Ravenwolf also encourages her readers to meditate (pp. 108-110); invoke the goddess or "Spirit" (p 106 and elsewhere); use drumming, chanting, and trances ( p. 42, 67); and call on a spirit guide or "guardian angel" ( p. 72, 103, 176 and elsewhere).

Abortion & Homosexuality: Sacred Sex

Parents should be concerned about teens under the influence of the occult for spiritual reasons certainly. But a very practical reason for concern for your child is the danger that comes with the whole pagan package, including acceptance of abortion and sexual license.
The horrifying philosophy wrapped around witchcraft was featured in a 1992 book called The Sacrament of Abortion by Ginette Paris. This pagan author lauds the example of the goddess Artemis for giving us justification for sometimes taking human life. Abortion is a necessary yet sacred sacrifice to the "goddess," she believes. Her chilling viewpoint is that until women have power over both life and death, they don't really have power.{6} While not all people who are involved in witchcraft may agree with this approach, it is one that certainly has its followers as the push for empowerment of women grows-and as the pro-abortion lobby strains for justification.
Then there's the connection of witchcraft to homosexuality. Throughout her book Living in the Lap of the Goddess, Cynthia Eller relates anecdotes of how women were originally drawn to feminist spirituality, and it becomes obvious how frequently lesbian or bisexual practices are involved.{7} She quotes well-known feminists Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor, writing in The Great Cosmic Mother: "The original witch was undoubtedly black, bisexual, a warrior..."{8} And not only does witchcraft encourage alternate sexual practices, it also works the other way---homosexuals promote paganism. Peter Jones says in Spirit Wars: " While not all homosexuals are overtly anti-Christian-indeed some claim to be Christian-one may not underestimate the role of homosexual theory in the normalization of paganism in the Christian West."{9}

A Poisonous Apple

Those who dabble in witchcraft can open themselves up to dangerous supernatural influences. The lengths parents may have to go to correct the course is poignantly recounted in a new book, She Said Yes:The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall (Plough Publishing), written by the mother of the student slain at Columbine High School. Her parents had to forcibly remove her from the influence of friends who were deeply into occult practices. Cassie had left witchcraft behind for an inspiring walk with Christ when she paid the ultimate price.
Our culture seems obsesses with "empowering" young women and dwells on the need to raise girls' self-esteem. In this climate, both the uninformed and the rebellious can be attracted to witchcraft. A caller on Dr. Laura Schlessinger's May 3, 1999 program was concerned about her 17-year old daughter. Several years ago, the girl became immersed in the "goth" sub-culture and started practicing witchcraft. The mother, a Catholic, wondered why her daughter had drifted into this. Dr. Laura responded, " It's because in your faith, God has power, but when she practices witchcraft, she has power."
A limited knowledge of Christianity plays right into the hands of practitioners like Silver Ravenwolf. When lukewarm denominations dissect the Gospel, one of the first precepts to go is the concept of power and authority outside oneself. Christ was just a nice teacher, God is an invention of man, and then, of course, Satan is just human psychology dressed as the boogie- man. (I clearly recall my twenty years of holding these beliefs). But there is nothing left of Christianity when one strips it down and rejects the Bible's message; so it becomes hypocritical to even talk about "Christ," since it's just a name at that point. The first and second commandments have no meaning: "I am the Lord thy God...you shall have no other gods before Me." (Exodus 20:2-3) Before who, exactly? These pseudo-Christians do not know-nor care. It's all just window-dressing to be able to pray to something, without interference in the really important stuff of life.
But when one takes the time to study the Bible, to ponder the whole truth being laid before us, the overwhelming nature of God can become known-as well as the power behind it. A quick overview of the twentieth century should convince any objective onlooker that incomprehensible evil exists. The absence of faith in the true God is one very plausible explanation. Yet if a supernatural God exists as revealed through Scripture, why not also the demonic supernatural realm? There becomes no logical reason to reject Satan as a possibility, once one has understood that the God of the Bible is really present. Then, how could violation of the first and second commandments remain untroubling?
While the complete ignorance of the unchurched nonbeliever is sad, the pseudo-Gospel of those who are so close to the truth and then weasel away from it, is insidious and dangerous. The consequences are described by Peter: "For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning." (2 Peter 2:20 NKJV)

The Serpent Within

Liberal churches are setting up many young people for experimentation in a realm they won't understand until it's too late. And sadly, it is within Christian churches that many people are learning witchcraft.
The Reclaiming Community in Minneapolis, host of the infamous goddess-worshipping Reclaiming conferences of church women since 1993, has initiated "faith labs" for girls. One targets girls ages 10-13 for "dollmaking" where girls can "create our own traditions from out of the stuff of our feminist dreaming."{10} Recall that this network of Presbyterian, United Methodist, Lutheran, United Church of Christ and Catholic women held a mock communion ceremony with milk and honey, said prayers to a goddess "Sophia" as a new part of the Trinity, celebrated lesbian love, and mocked the Crucifixion at their conferences.
The principle earmarks of the Reclaiming movement among women are the elements of feminist spirituality as delineated by Cynthia Eller. They include ritual to invoke the supernatural (i.e., magic), and reverence for the "goddess" as personifying the sacred in nature.{11} These essentials are identified by Ravenwolf and others as the core beliefs of witchcraft.{12} By re-naming it "feminist spirituality," perhaps these Christian churches hoped to avoid the anticipated uproar. But it seems that relatively few are noticing.
One wonders what it will take to prompt Christians to stand up en masse to the culture's corrosion-and to the destructive forces within our own walls. Will Christians finally become alarmed now that witchcraft has left the parlor, and is creeping toward the nursery?
Linda P. Harvey is editor of Mission:America, a quarterly Christian newsletter. See the web site at www.missionamerica.com.

Sources:

{1}Silver Ravenwolf, Teen Witch: Wicca for a New Generation (Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul Minnesota, 1999).
{2}"E" Channel, "Hollywood Spirituality," July 25, 1999, 10-11 pm.
{3}Cynthia Eller, "Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in America (Beacon Press, Boston, 1993), p. 18.
{4}"Witches and Wizards Go Mainstream," Christian Research Journal, Fall 1996, p.44.
{5}Radio U, Columbus (Ohio) interview on Bash morning show, August 12, 1999.
{6}See "Abortion and Pagan Spirituality," at www.forerunner.com/champion/X0004_Paris.Sacrament.html
{7}Eller, throughout book.
{8}Eller, p.73.
{9}Peter Jones, Spirit Wars:Pagan Revival in Christian America(Main Entry Editions, PO Box 952, Siloam Springs AR, 1997), p. 193.
{10}"Where Radical Feminism Goes Astray," Janice Shaw Crouse, Faith & Freedom, Winter 1997-98, p. 8-9.
{11}Eller, p. 6.
{12}Ravenwolf, p. 35 and elsewhere. Spells are throughout book.

Pro-pagan, anti-God.......

Sarah McLachlan Shakes Her Fist

Here's what our young people are listening to at the witch-friendly Lilith Fair, on the radio, in their rooms...

"Dear God" by Sarah McLachlan

Dear God,
Don't know if you noticed, but....
Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book
Us crazy humans wrote it,
You should take a look
And all the people that are made in your image
Still believing that junk is true
Well I know it ain't and so do you.....
If there's one thing I don't believe in
It's you
Dear God

Original lyrics by XTC, Copyright 1986

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light."
2 Corinthians 11: 13-14 NKJV
"..And fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.... Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all."
Acts 19: 17,19 NKJV

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© Copyright 1999, Linda P. Harvey. All rights reserved.

Witchcraft among Children and Teens

by Linda P. Harvey

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Linda P. Harvey is editor and publisher of Mission: America, a quarterly Christian newsletter and Internet web site at www.missionamerica.com. Mrs. Harvey founded the organization in 1995 to address tough cultural issues within a Christian context. With over twenty years' experience in advertising and public relations, Mrs. Harvey is the recipient of over fifty communication awards and has started ten publications. She is graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and has held executive positions in the fields of health care and insurance. She is a frequent guest on TV and radio shows, and has been especially active in addressing the issues of homosexuality and radical feminism.

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Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect more up–to–date information. The original article can be found here: Heresy in the Hood: Teen Witchcraft in America.
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It’s a different America today from the relative innocence of 1999, when I first wrote about witchcraft among American youth.
That was the year Harry Potter burst upon the American scene. The year before, Teen Witch: Wicca for a New Generation by Silver Ravenwolf was published, offering how–to instructions specifically to curious adolescents about the beliefs and practice of sorcery. The book has sold over 150,000 copies, according to its author.{1}
Harry Potter was just an imaginative story, advocates claimed, and few kids were seriously drawn to witchcraft. Any alarms were pure hysteria.
Well, here we are three years later, and a review of current TV shows, children’s games, the latest titles from mighty Scholastic Books, a visit to any local Borders or Barnes and Noble bookstore, or a review of popular youth Web sites, should more than confirm our initial warnings. Sorcery and witchcraft have become the hottest themes in youth culture and education for the first time in modern Western civilization.
It’s past time for alarms; if we care about the spiritual integrity of our children, the hour may have come for panic.

When the Cat’s Away

Is witchcraft still the fastest–growing religion in America today, as I quoted a proponent who appeared on the teen–popular "E" cable channel back in 1999? If pop culture and my own e–mail traffic is any reflection of the trends, then the answer would have to be a resounding ‘yes.’
Since "Heresy in the Hood: Teen Witchcraft in America" was published in 1999, the number of young self–professed witches and pagans who send e–mails has grown steadily. By far most of them strongly disagree with my views and the article, which took a conservative Christian view of witchcraft and outlined the growing pop media fascination with this subject.
Just a few excerpts from these e–mails is revealing. (I’ve left the original wording and spelling intact.):

"Wouldn’t this be a better world if you and people like you could stop being so bigotted and open your hearts to those that are different than you. I am a pagan I don’t believe in heaven or hell, god or the devil."
"First of all, we DONNOT WORSHIP SATAN! And we DONNOT feed on christian children…. You tell people how to catch and kill wiccans but you probably have never met a true wiccan." [Note: There is nothing in the article about feeding on children or catching and killing Wiccans, or anyone.]
"I am reminded of a saying from Deuteromotry…Judge not lest ye be judged. And also, a verse from the New Testament (sorry I forgot the chapter and verse number)…where Jesus of Nazareth speaks, saying, ‘Know that in my Father’s house there are many mansions, and many paths to the One Truth.’ Something to bear in mind, eh?"

And my personal favorite e–mail: "Have a bad day."
Most of the e–mails are insulting in tone and question the very existence of an article like "Teen Witchcraft." Borrowing from the "gay rights" playbook, these young people are somewhere learning that serious debate about the issue of witchcraft is a form of hate. A similar veil of indoctrination has also blinded most adults who would be gatekeepers to screen sorcery out of the gardens where our young play. Without protectors, the profit–driven media is both responding to interest in witchcraft and creating it in a rapid feedback loop.

Sorcery Chic

With Hollywood churning out occult–themed programs and movies at a frenetic pace, the interest of youth has been kept high. A burst of movies and TV shows featuring witchcraft has targeted young viewers, among them Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, which has developed an almost cult–like following; WB’s Charmed; and the sappy Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Young fans are feeding their occult appetites further by snapping up these shows’ companion paperbacks. Followers of Sabrina can purchase one of the 45 paperbacks now available, and Charmed buffs can choose from fourteen.
Buffy fans can purchase not just novels featuring the show characters, but DVD’s of three seasons of programs, scripts, and other novelties like calendars and school planners. Never mind that Buffy plots have included her attempted rape by her love interest, Spike, or her death and then "resurrection" as she climbed back out of the grave.{2} Many parents nonetheless let their offspring immerse themselves in such irreverent nonsense. Buffy has a campy, tongue–in–cheek style that invites dismissal of objections, sneaking past all but the most discerning parental concerns.
Cartoon characters and games are replete with sorcery, from the much–publicized Pokemon to Yu–Gi–Oh! and other anime, a world where conjuring, demon battles and spell–casting are the order of every player’s move and collector’s wish. Even Scooby–Doo has taken its once light–hearted approach to the scary and spooky to a serious level in its feature–length movie released in 2002. The bad guy in the plot plans a voodoo ritual, but the movie also manages to cast Wiccans in a positive light as "healers." One Web site mourns the lost innocence of Scooby–Doo: "It’s cheap and desperate. There’s no place for demonic possession and Busta Rhymes in a Hanna–Barbera production."{3}
Soap operas popular with teens have incorporated more and more occult story lines. On NBC’s Passions, recent plot elements included spells, potions, zombies, animated human–like dolls, and bringing the dead back to life, all pivoting around a witch character played by actress Juliet Mills.
Youth interest has been stoked steadily by one–sided movies over the past decade. The Craft in 1996 featured teen sorcerers. That same year, The Crucible created an almost laughable Hollywood version of 1692 Salem, where Winona Ryder smears blood on herself in the opening scene depicting a voodoo ritual inspired by the Jamaican servant, Tituba. Would Puritan girls, even those who actually dabbled in the occult, ever have done such a thing? Practical Magic featured Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman fulfilling every girl’s fondest wish—obtaining Mr. Right—by using spells and enchantment. An array of recent movies dealing with occult themes along with the two Harry Potter movies are persuading most youngsters (and many parents) to see sorcery as simply the product of a creative mind or a tool for personal empowerment.

Ripe for Spiritual Deception

Why the explosion of interest, and why now? Ever since playwright Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in the 1950’s to parallel the McCarthy hearings, a "witch hunt" has become one of the left’s favorite epithets to intimidate the devout, who are, of course, merely unenlightened dullards.
The truth is that witchcraft is real, and so is the unchanging Christian prohibition against it. Any power other than God is forbidden, starting with the First Commandment, and attempting to do "magick" exposes one to contact with demonic power, whether or not one names it as such. There is no difference between white or black witchcraft; neither involve the biblically revealed Creator or Christ as Savior, so both are elements of rebellion used for selfish, not Christ–centered purposes. Humans do have access to divine power, but it is through prayer to God and Him alone, not other named or imagined spirits. And, God’s will determines the final outcome; rituals or other works of humans do not.
Ironically, God is in charge even if the fictional Harry Potter or his friend Hermoine cast "spells." Yet Potter fans will never hear about God’s real, omnipotent power by reading the Christ–less Rowling books or seeing the Potter movies. One of the biggest and most artificial aspects of these stories is this pretense. In this sense, they truly are fantasies.
It may be part of the tactics of Satan to intentionally reveal the blueprint for the enchantment of our youth for all who have eyes to see. Satan and his army of demonic spirits are genuine and referenced frequently in the Bible. His main goal is to separate humans forever from fellowship and eternal life with God through Christ. So he uses whatever works: deception, distraction, or destruction. One aspect of the deceit is hiding in plain sight. " Ha, ha! Satan? Just a figment of overworked fundamentalists’ imaginations! They’re just frustrated because they’re too repressed and fearful to get into something really creative—like witchcraft!" So goes the ironic snare of spiritual deception.
For those watching, the growing obsession of our culture with something so "non–existent" can become a potent testimony to the truth of the gospel, where Christ dealt with spiritual darkness as a daily reality, casting out demons more than thirty times in Scripture.
Unfortunately, without enough courageous Christians vigilantly protecting children from witchcraft, the framework for bondage is in place. Now, sadly, it seems we are heading into the final construction phase of their spiritual prison.

In Plain Sight

No one has to hunt for witches anymore; they may own the house next door. Children are being lovingly primed to embrace paganism by movies, games, TV, the Internet and countless sorcery–friendly books. There is certainly no parallel in current pop culture to the Harry Potter books. Not only the books themselves but a plethora of offshoots abound, from The Sorcerer’s Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter by Allan Zola Kronzek and Elizabeth Kronzek, to The Everything Kids’ Witches and Wizards Book by L.T. Samuels.
The obsession with the Potter books seems odd, however. Again, why now? It’s not as if they are something totally original. Jane Yolen’s Wizard’s Hall, published in 1993, features a boy named Henry, age 11, who goes to a school for wizardry, and has a smart girl and a redheaded boy as his best friends. It’s the kind of place where they give you a new name, where the pictures wink at you and there are star maps in the dark on the ceilings of your bedroom. This whimsy will sound familiar to Potter readers, for in addition to the plot similarities, such elements recall the style of J.K. Rowling, the author of the Potter books.
It is difficult to fathom why Rowling’s yarns became such hits when the Yolen books, while successful, have managed to stay out of the superstar realm. Did superior publisher promotion account for the difference? Is the length of the Potter books appealing to a wider audience including adults? Or, could the reason lie with a culture that has developed a taste for "magick" and is now ready to pluck the whole fruit, no matter the cost?
The top–selling Potter books, in spite of denials by its author and other advocates, do inspire follow–up interest in sorcery and the occult among children. Consider this passage said to be written by a 13–year–old on the popular Internet site, The Witches’ Voice (www.witchvox.com):

"You’re 12 years old, and have stumbled upon the book ‘Teen Witch’ by Silver Ravenwolf at this very odd and interesting section of Borders called ‘Magickal Studies.’ Next to Teen Witch is the book, ‘Wicca, a Guide for the Solitary Practitioner’ by Scott Cunningham. You have never heard this term before—‘Wicca’—but naturally you’re a huge fan of ‘Charmed’ and ‘Harry Potter’, so you immediately open to the middle of this interesting book, Teen Witch. What’s the first thing you see? Spells! Tons of them! ‘Oh cool! Now I can be a real witch’ you say, as you take this fascinating book to the checkout line…."{4}

Yet, most parents don’t see any danger in this, because many are buying the secular spin on the occult, that it’s an aspect of one’s imagination and therefore a dimension of human nature. So, when ten–year–old Madison starts casting spells from her room, we should see it as just a harmless alternative to playing with her Barbies.
The Potter series also uses real names of sorcerers and mythological monsters, according to some experts. Medieval alchemist Nicholas Flamel is a figure in the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. He actually did exist, born in 1330. Fluffy the three–headed dog is like Cerberus, a Greek monster who guarded the entry to Hades, and like Cerberus, Fluffy is calmed by soft music.{5} Who says children immersed in the Potter books aren’t being tutored in neopaganism?
Harry is the perfect hero for a self–obsessed culture: a miserable home life and low self–esteem can be overcome with the wave of a wand and the "discovery" that one has secret powers. Why not make every kid feel "special," no matter the method?

The Kiddy Lit Occult Gold Mine

The profit incentive for children’s publishers can’t be discounted as a major driver behind the sorcery explosion. Parents in times past would never have dreamed of drenching their innocents in spell–casting and fortune–telling. The Christian roots in our culture were too deep for people to let kids wander into such hazardous territory. But current biblically illiterate generations of parents often see nothing wrong with ritual and magick, and some are in fact dabbling in such activities themselves.
Following the Potter books, publishers of young teen fiction have introduced a wide array of witch–themed paperbacks, so that young Potter fans can grow into more "age–appropriate" sorcery. We chose three to read from among the many now available (far more than in 1999). There is the "Witches Chillers" series by Silver Ravenwolf (Llewellyn Publications, 2000); the "Circle of Three" books by Isobel Bird (Avon Books, 2001); and the "Daughters of the Moon" series by Lynne Ewing (Hyperion Books for Children, 2000). Whatever happened to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys? Even the silly Babysitters Club books would be a welcome change.
In these standby novels, girls fret over friends, popularity, sports, parents, boyfriends, jobs and homework—or a neighborhood "mystery." But in this new darker world, girls don’t simply ask a friend’s advice, hang out at the soda shop or give the team their best effort. That would be too boring and too passive. Today’s girl takes charge, even in the heavenlies—these young priestesses cast spells. The paperbacks are laced with actual spells and rituals suited to many teen occasions. They are also packed with sexual innuendo and activity; alternative dress and lifestyles; and questionable role models in parents. They also continue the dissemination of pro–witch and anti–Christian propaganda.
Ravenwolf says she concocted the idea for the "Witches Chillers" from imagining the teens on the cover of Teen Witch to be real adolescents. She named them and came up with the idea for the series. Her involvement goes further than books. Besides creating the eighteen titles and the Teen Witch Kit, complete with spells, talismans and other ritual equipment, Ravenwolf says she has thirty covens in eleven states.{6} More offerings by major bookstores for boys and girls include a series from Pocket Pulse based on the TV show "Angel" about a guy who fights vampires, demons and such through his Angel Detective Agency. Author R.L. Stine has contributed the controversial Goosebumps series for grade school kids, and more recently, the Fear Street series for adolescents, lacing the teen world of cheerleading and sports with supernatural evil.
There is often little else on the shelves to choose from. There’s Witch Child and Sorceress by Celia Rees (Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts).The Book of Shadows, the first in the "Sweep" series of fourteen books by Cate Tiernan (Puffin Books), offers this preview on its back cover: "I never chose to learn witchcraft. But I’m starting to wonder if witchcraft is choosing me." This notion of being "chosen" is a troubling recurring theme in story lines, including Harry Potter . It’s a seductive method of manipulating human envy by ensnaring naïve youth: if you’re a misfit, it’s not because you are lacking something; it’s because you are "above" the rest in a unique way.
One of the biggest names in children’s literature is giant Scholastic Books. Teachers distribute sales flyers for Scholastic publications in classes to schoolchildren, a system set up through the company’s ongoing close relationships with the American educational establishment. Now Scholastic, being the U.S. distributor of the Potter books, plays a particularly formidable role in the promotion of sorcery to children. It has expanded its offerings beyond the Rowling books and the Goosebumps series to T*Witches, about the twin daughters of two very powerful witches, and Midnight Magic, which uses Tarot cards, a fortune–telling device popular with Wiccans.
As adolescents peak in self–absorption, our panacea is to hand our offspring the sorcerer’s wand to wave away all troubles. They can use it to raise that already inflated self–esteem. Not only can they pick up how–to books like Teen Witch, or Wild Girls: The Path of the Young Goddess by Patricia Monaghan (Llewellyn, 2001), now they can obtain instruction from a number of Web sites friendly to teens on this subject.

Bypassing the Parent Filter: The Internet’s Role

Not only has the Internet provided a way for "pagans" to network and share ideas, beliefs and spells, it’s a neat and clean way for curious youth to avoid the scrutiny of parents while exploring once–forbidden subjects. Any Web–savvy child can be indoctrinated into a pagan worldview and start casting spells before a parent catches on to this new interest.
A 15–year–old on the Web site, Witches’ Voice, writes:

"A friend told me about a religion that worships both a male and a female deity. I was interested and she gave me Silver Ravenwolf’s book, Teen Witch. I started reading and never put it down. I got on the internet and learned more and more. I finally did a devotion ceremony and I considered myself to be Wiccan. Then I remembered, ‘What am I going to do about my parents?!’ I then decided to keep it a secret until I could tell them in a proper time and place. Bad idea…."{7}

She then goes on to describe how she refused to go to church with her Catholic parents one Sunday morning, blurting out the news about her altered "faith." After the uproar subsided, her parents eventually became resigned to her beliefs because (she says) they observed a lowered stress level in her behavior. Such is the advice given to curious youth by more experienced teens, with anecdotes to give any novice "courage" to delve into the Craft. "After all, she seems to have it together. Maybe it’s fine for me, too."
The Internet resources on witchcraft are vast and growing daily. Some are tailored specifically to teens and younger aged–children. Teen Witch (www.teenwitch.com) has expanded greatly since I first learned about it several years ago. There are now spells for every occasion. Witches’ Voice (www.witchvox.com) has a special teen section. Silver Ravenwolf has her own Web site with material tailored to teens. There are other tutorial sites (www.witchschool.com); there are pagan book sites (www.isisbooks.com); there are sites for supplies (www.realmagicwands.com). Too numerous to mention are sites specific to role–playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and toys, CDs, DVDs and video games with occult themes. Potter–spawned discussions and books have generated a whole Internet culture, as well. Is there any avenue of modern information where children are not subject to spiritual seduction?
One Web site has taken a strong stand against this promotion of witchcraft to teens. Kathi Sharpe has a site called Ex–Witch at www.exwitch.org . She recommends boycotting Scholastic Books because of its promotion of witchcraft and sorcery to kids. "Nearly every school district in the U.S. has a Scholastic Book Fair several times yearly," she writes. "Today we are urging parents and educators to prayerfully consider a general boycott of Scholastic materials in homes and schools country–wide." Kathi, a former witch who is now a Christian, has strong opinions about the Potter books. "Anyone who allows their children to read these books and participate in related activities is allowing their children access to the occult." She stresses that the activities Harry and his friends so casually engage in are all forbidden in the Bible "…and with good reason: they are dangerous, and serve to draw people away from Him. Furthermore, the power behind spells and divination is demonic."
Witchcraft hides among the rushes on other teen sites. On the questionable sexuality dimension, Planned Parenthood’s Teen Wire at www.teenwire.com goes beyond its teen sex territory to explore aspects of "spirituality." One article on the site is entitled, "Life as a Witch." A teenager named Torprme writes, "I am a sophomore in high school and I am a witch." Another article describes witchcraft in general terms after deceptively luring teens to the page with the title, "Buffy’s Tale." The author, Patricia Telesco, has written several other articles on the PP site, one about horoscopes and another called "Winter Festivals." It describes winter solstices, native American winter ceremonies and Yule traditions of Christmas. This article was all that surfaced after a search of this site using the keyword "Christian," dispelling any thoughts of genuine inclusivity.
Teen Wire, of course, promotes the general Planned Parenthood philosophy that abortion is an ethical, safe and viable option. Sex–heterosexual or homosexual—is perfectly appropriate whenever one is "ready," no matter the age. Any risks involved are only a matter of proper management through contraception and "choice." The heartbreak of early pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, now at epidemic levels in our country, are as usual ignored in this adult–generated site aimed at exploiting the young for commercial purposes.

The "Empowered" Young Feminist

As an adjunct to the spiritual deception taking place among adult women as a part of radical feminism in America, witchcraft is increasingly being adopted as a practice in ostensibly Christian churches. This trend is filtering down to teen girls. Ravenwolf in Teen Witch attempts to paint "Wicca" as an alternative practice that is powerful yet positive, and compatible with most religious beliefs. She writes, "WitchCraft is a nature–based, life–affirming religion that follows a moral code and seeks to build harmony among people, and empower the self and others. If you think about it, we could use that statement for almost any positive religion, couldn’t we?" (p. 4).
Like my e–mail correspondents, Ravenwolf seems to single out biblical Christianity. "Our only animosity toward Christianity, or toward any other religion…is...that these institutions have claimed to be ‘the one true right and only way.’ …Witches are sick and tired of people in other religions passing judgment and spreading lies about our belief system just because they are either insecure in their own faith or don’t realize that many paths to God exist in our universe" (pp.7–8). After numerous classroom and cultural messages about ‘tolerance,’ frequently with orthodox Christians set up as the bad guys, many teens will naturally embrace Ravenwolf’s ideology as a positive, progressive alternative.
Thus, Teen Witch reinforces the ample doses of nature worship girls are already receiving throughout the culture, including at school, while justifying ignorance about and hostility toward Christianity. And it is all set within a framework that appears to be an extension of tolerance and compassion, and in fact, even a part of "civil rights."
Taking a chapter from the feminist and homosexual playbook, "pagan pride " is set to burst upon the American scene with its accusations and demands. Groups are springing up like the Witches Anti–Defamation League, Witches Against Religious Discrimination and the Alternative Religions Education Network, taking refuge under the constitutional protections on religious freedom. With the "witch hunt" chapter already written, sorcerers playing victim to ‘evil’ Christians is a believable role in the eyes of many Americans.
So the activist organizations and legal defense are falling into place. The ACLU defended a girl in a Detroit high school several years back who was asked to stop wearing a necklace with a pentacle (a witchcraft symbol). A settlement was made in the teen’s favor which required the school to change its policies on witchcraft symbols and attire. The ACLU defended a local teen in a case Oklahoma as well, and other witch defense groups threatened to sue a middle school in Colorado Springs in 1999 after a vice principal questioned a group of twelve–year–olds who were rumored to be casting spells. The school backed off after the "rights" groups organized a publicity and letter–writing campaign.{8}
And if your teen isn’t an activist or practitioner in middle school or high school, college is a fertile field for the growth of witch sympathies. Your daughter or son who takes a religion or women’s studies class at a non–Christian college can expect to be exposed to the benefits of alternative religions, mostly occultic, in overcoming the "oppression" of the entrenched Christian mainstream. This is maintained all the while any hope of an authentic study of Christianity should probably be abandoned.
My daughter, a senior at a small liberal arts college in Ohio, tells numerous tales of occult bias in her classes. Her class on "Women in American Religion" required reading the Cynthia Eller book, Living in the Lap of the Goddess, which dwells extensively and positively on witchcraft as a liberating faith for women. In the class, pairs of students were assigned to develop their own "rituals" and lead the class in carrying them out. In other words, they were assigned the task of casting spells for college credit.

Why Witchcraft is Wrong

When one does not know the genuine, the counterfeit is easy to accept. So a limited knowledge of Christianity plays right into the hands of promoters of witchcraft in America. There is no power and authority outside oneself, witchcraft maintains. The "goddess" and her male consort honored in many witchcraft beliefs may be conceptualized by a Wiccan practitioner as nature–based deities, but most operate as if the power they are invoking is just an extension of the "higher" self. This lie from Satan is as old as Genesis. "You shall be as gods," the serpent told Eve. If you are "as gods," you can make your own rules. Forget parents! Forget teachers! We’ll just live for the moment, the latest sensation and party on down. So witchcraft is a perfect fit for a paganized, pleasure–centered, shallow America.
Christ was just a nice teacher, so the thinking goes. A dumbed–down, uninformed view of a saviour–less "Christ" becomes a tool to clobber traditional Christians. Didn’t Jesus say "Judge not?" But it wasn’t to discourage people from realization of sin and the need for Him as Savior. It was to keep us honest about our own failings while we are keeping each other accountable as Christians. Christ was always and still is, not just a nice guy, but our Savior from sin. That’s what He said, over and over.
And sin is always defined by God, not man, who would change the definitions endlessly to fit the occasion. Yes, there are many aspects of Christianity that fit the "nice guy" image of Christ—compassion for the unfortunate, food for the hungry, healing for the sick—but witches tend to forget about those other Christian principles that are part of the whole fabric. These include belief in one God, repentance of sin, Christ as Savior. That’s what the New Testament is all about. That is the hope of the gospel.
Another important revealed truth is the reality of Satan. Christ cast out demons because He has authority over Satan, who is only allowed access to humans as we allow it either deliberately or through casual spiritual dabbling. If a good supernatural divine power exists as revealed through Scripture, why not also supernatural evil? There is no logical reason to reject Satan as a possibility except wishful thinking. What do we imagine those voodoo spirits in Haiti are, in reality?
Once one has really understood that the God of the Bible exists, the revelation of Scripture makes so much sense. He is truly all–powerful, perfectly just, as well as merciful through Christ. Then, how can so–called Christians be thoughtlessly disloyal to Him, violating the first and second commandments, by casually exploring witchcraft or letting their children anywhere near it?
Many who are seduced into the pseudo–spirituality of witchcraft and neopaganism buy into the lie that the Bible’s claims are questionable. And from that belief, any spiritual cohesiveness disintegrates. Ironically, one of the major claims of Wiccans is that the "goddess" and earth–centered religions existed before Christianity. Yet, Christians maintain that God created everything and Christ has been eternally part of the Godhead, present from the beginning.
But if we are debating claims of antiquity, nothing is more ancient than the prohibitions against witchcraft and sorcery, and this is just one more way the Bible (if one takes the trouble to read it) reveals timeless knowledge. There is nothing "progressive" about these practices, and nothing in them to surprise God. He’s known about them since the Creation. There are numerous descriptions of pagan practices in Old and New Testament writings. Spell–casting, witchcraft, astrology, goddess–worship, fortune–telling, worshipping the moon, sun or stars—all are there in the ancient Near East. And all reflected in Old Testament times, just as they do today, an attempt to override the one true God and "discover" different truths, those that just happen to support our own self–interest, when God has our highest self–interest in mind all along.
When we deliberately or neglectfully allow witchcraft to have access to our precious children, we show God how little we truly value the little ones He has placed in our care. Those who truly respect and honor God’s Creation and the stewardship entrusted to us, will not willingly hand their children over to seducing spirits.
When God gave us the First Commandment, it should come as no surprise to anyone that He meant it.

Spiritual Deception

Why are there so many Christian churches and sects in the world who deviate doctrinally in a lesser or greater degree from the Bible, while in some cases completely denying the truth? It emanates from ignorance and deception, and this phenomenon is further increasing in extent. In view of these problems we need more than ever to expand our knowledge of the Word of God, to deepen our spiritual understanding, to raise the level of our dedication to the Lord Jesus, and to sharpen our vigilance against the deception of Satan and his false prophets. Falsifications of the Christian faith are proliferating in the end-time in preparation of the coming of the false Christ and the false prophet, who will deceive the world with their lies (Matt. 24:4-5; 2 Thess. 2:6-10; Rev. 13:11-14).

Although spiritual deception started in the Garden of Eden and continued unabated throughout the centuries, it is now taking on the greatest proportions in the entire history of mankind. It is of the greatest importance that every person ensures that he or she has not been deceived because there are many false prophets in the world (1 John 4:1).

Since the start of the Christian era, many churches have shown a fatal inability to distinguish between the truth of God’s inspired Word and misrepresentations of it (Gal. 1:6-8; 2 Cor. 11:2-4). From the last-mentioned Scripture it is evident that there are three main ways in which the truth of Scripture can be distorted by Satan to deceive Christians and lead them astray. These perversions involve crucial issues which lie at the very core of our faith and are intended to deceive people into accepting another Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel.

Another Jesus

The following are the seven most common ways in which the Person, work and image of the Lord Jesus are distorted so as to present a counterfeit Jesus who is powerless to save lost sinners from the righteous judgements of a holy God:

Jesus the human teacher. In sects such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and in other religions such as Islam, the deity of Jesus is denied. They portray Him merely as a human prophet or a gifted teacher, while explicitly denying that He is the Son of God (1 John. 2:22-23). In various theological seminaries the deity and virgin birth of the Lord Jesus are also denied.

Jesus the example. Preaching in many of the formal and spiritually dead churches often presents the life of Jesus merely as an ideal example we should follow. In such moralistic sermons, no reference is made to His atoning death and shed blood which alone can cleanse from sin. Instead of the need for new birth, Christian virtues are taught, without the risen Christ who alone can enable us to “walk in the newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). People are not saved under moralising preaching of this nature – they are only intellectually and emotionally motivated.

Jesus the giver of gifts. Many people are attracted to Jesus because they feel they can derive various benefits from Him. He should heal them, bless them, prosper them and provide for all their material needs. They want to rule as kings in His kingdom now.

Jesus the political liberator. A Jesus who is a freedom fighter and who champions the oppressed is often proclaimed in the Third World. He came to set political captives free and to uplift them on the socio-economic level of existence. This Jesus is only concerned with their secular affairs. He did not come to liberate them from sin, but from governments which impede political, social and economic progress. He blesses them in the struggle against their oppressors without denouncing their amoral behaviour or stressing the need to engage in a spiritual struggle against the real oppressor of their souls, Satan.

A Jesus who died in hell. Another serious distortion of the redemptive work of Jesus that enjoys much popular appeal is proclaimed by Word of Faith preachers. According to them, the physical death of Jesus on the cross is not important as He, according to them, died spiritually in hell for the sins of the world. They allege that the cross is a symbol of weakness and a place of failure.

Jesus the sinner. The Jesus depicted in many Hollywood films is a fallen sinner like other human beings who are controlled by their fleshly passions. This blasphemous depiction of Jesus is the theme of films such as Jesus Christ Superstar, The last temptation of Christ, and Jesus of Montreal. In the last-mentioned film the counterfeit ‘Jesus’ is outrageously depicted as staying with other young people in a Montreal flat, where they live licentiously and overindulge in liquor.

The cosmic Jesus. The intensified campaign to misrepresent the Person, character, work and Name of Jesus is aimed at preparing the world for Satan’s great end-time counterfeit Christ, the Antichrist. Jesus Himself warned that the world will be deceived by this impostor and others who would impersonate Him (Matt. 24:4-5). The New Age Movement presents a Jesus who is the personification of the messianic expectations of all the religions of the world. He is, therefore, the cosmic Christ, or universal Christ, of all faiths who will head up a spiritual hierarchy that unites, synthesises and thus supersedes all the religions on earth.

Another spirit

The motivating force behind the widespread presentation of another Jesus is another spirit, which comes directly from the devil so as to bring people under the power of delusion. Because of this very real danger, we are warned not to naïvely believe every spirit that works through false preachers and so-called prophets, but to test the spirits (1 John. 4:1,6). The spirit of error is intent on deceiving people with sensational signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:9-12), thereby preparing the world for the coming of the cosmic Christ with his miracle-working powers (Rev. 13:12-14).

As we approach this time of great deception, many false prophets are appearing on the scene to deceive people with their occult, supernatural powers (Matt. 24:11,24). This will lead to a great falling-away from the true Christian faith by yielding to deceiving spirits (1 Tim. 4:1). The New Age Movement and its associated false religions is at present focusing attention on the discovery and use of the miracle-working psychic powers of healing, self-healing and the promotion of supernatural manifestations. Even at many Christian meetings strange phenomena are now common, e.g. ‘falling in the spirit’. Various other phenomena, such as laughing in the spirit, prophesying in the spirit and dancing in the spirit, which result from this experience, are also attributed to the Holy Spirit. Many blindly accept these phenomena without testing the spirits, despite the danger of spurious satanic imitation in such manifestations.

Another gospel

The presentation of another Jesus under the motivation of another spirit can only be achieved within the theological framework of another gospel (2 Cor. 11:4). Wolves in sheep’s skins (2 Cor. 11:13-15; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Acts 20:29-30) are proclaiming false gospels such as the following:

Dead formalism. A gospel shorn of the full significance of the cross of Christ, His shed blood as the only means of cleansing from sin, the need for new birth and the indwelling Holy Spirit, is not a gospel at all and can only lead to dead formalism (2 Tim. 3:5; Mark. 7:6-13). Dead churches are often motivated by various social, ethical or political issues to ‘positively’ transform society.

Kingdom gospel. Advocates of the kingdom gospel are unwilling to wait for Christ to reign on earth as King of kings, but insist that we should reign as kings in the kingdom of God here and now. Reclaiming our lost dominion over creation, we must wield the Holy Spirit’s power to subdue Satan and his demons, make disciples and despise the weak faith that is overcome by afflictions such as poverty and disease. Prosperity, signs and wonders are characteristics of the kingdom gospel, as well as the ecumenical uniting of all churches in order to demonstrate their strength to the world. However, in the process of unification, many Christian principles are abandoned.

The interfaith gospel. One of the false gospels that is rapidly expanding in today’s world is the interfaith gospel of the synthesising of all religions. It is based on the concept of universalism, i.e. that all religions worship the same God and can therefore join hands in unity. The Ecumenical and Interfaith Movements are based on this idea and they are actively pursuing the objective of establishing global religious organisations to unify humanity at the spiritual level. 

They maintain that the achievement of a mystical brotherhood of members of all faiths holds the key to global reconciliation and peace. As the religions of the world move ever closer to each other, it is obvious that ecumenical Christianity has to make self-destructive compromises with other religions to achieve unity. Many theologians have adulterated the Christian faith to such an extent that biblical truths have been distorted beyond recognition. In emerging African theology, Christian practices are freely mixed with ancestor worship and witchcraft. Globally, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam have been accommodated within this false brotherhood. 

The Bible calls the end-time union of the false religions “Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth” (Rev. 17:5). She is recognised and carried by the Antichrist because of her usefulness to him. It is very obvious that the Interfaith Movement of false religions is preparing the world for the coming false Christ, the Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3,9). Many false teachers will deny Christ as Lord (2 Pet. 2:1-2) and assist in uniting Christianity with other religions.

Personal commitment

I trust that the Holy Spirit will guide me into all truth, and give me the knowledge and discernment to distinguish between the truth and all forms of deception. If I know the Bible, which is the truth, and Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life, I will be protected against the subtle deceptions of the enemy. I take to heart the words of Jesus, when He said: “Take heed that no one deceives you… for false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:4,24). With the psalmist I pray: “Direct my steps by Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me” (Ps. 119:133).