Blue Laws and the Dark Ages

Posted by Rod Folk on 12/13 at 08:43 PM

This post addresses the question “What would it take to bring our town out of the dark ages?” commented by therealist on 11/14 at 12:02 PM in http://www.hvtd.com/index.php/site/articles/a_few_things_the_city_of_hartsville_andor_darlington_county_should_consider/P0/


First, since there are several descriptions of the “Dark Ages”, lets be clear about what the “Dark Ages” means. The Dark Ages has been called “600 years of degenerate, godless, inhuman behavior”. It refers to a period of cultural decline, societal collapse, limited economic activity and a lack of cultural achievements.


The Dark Ages was a period of religious struggle. Protestants and Catholics viewed the era from opposing perspectives…. The Dark Ages were also the years of vast Muslim conquests. Along with other nomads and horse and camel warriors, the Muslims rode through the fallen empire, wreaking havoc and seeding intellectual and social heresy in their wake. Muslim conquests prevailed until the time of the Crusades. This age-old conflict between Christianity and Islam remains until this day.


The irony of this is that our 21st Century world is no less dark. It is an individual darkness, which multiplies and grows as those who reject God walk together and dominate politics, education, and society. Our age is characterized by every intellectual and technological advance but our morals have turned backwards. “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). These are the characteristics of true darkness. (http://www.allabouthistory.org/the-dark-ages.htm)

The Dark Ages is also a metaphor for the ageless conflict between Dark and Light, Evil and Good, Satan and Jesus.

America’s relationship with the Dark Ages is directly related to how its people and leaders honored and respected God.  Here are three examples:

1) Every group that came to American showed homage to God in the form of Thanksgiving events.
“ . . . the first community act of religion and thanksgiving in the first permanent [European] settlement in the land” was celebrated in St. Augustine, Florida on September 8, 1565 by the Spanish settlers. (The Cross in the Sand, 1965, University Press of Florida, MICHAEL GANNON)  The Spanish colonists were rewarded with a land of vast riches and blessed with all of the resources they needed to multiply and prosper.

The first permanent English day of thanksgiving occurred when Captain John Woodlief led the newly-arrived English colonists to a grassy slope along the James River [at what is now Berkely Plantation, Virginia] and instructed them to drop to their knees and pray in thanks for a safe arrival to the New World. It was December 4, 1619, and 38 men from Berkeley Parish in England vowed:: “Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrivall at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.” (http://www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?featureID=50)
The English colonists were rewarded with a land of vast riches and blessed with all of the resources they needed to multiply and prosper.

In 1789, following a proclamation issued by President George Washington, America celebrated its first Day of Thanksgiving to God under its new constitution. http://www.christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-g007.html
As the pioneers traveled west, and the country expanded they were rewarded with a land of vast riches and blessed with all of the resources they needed to multiply and prosper.

2) Use of the Bible
No other book has had more influence on the founding and shaping of this country than the Holy Bible. A study by historian Donald Lutz published in the American Political Science Review in 1984 on the documents printed for the public to read during the Founding era, which was 1760-1805, found that 10% of the documents printed were sermons and that 25% of the non-sermons had Biblical citations. (http://uncommonliberty.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-much-did-founders-quote-bible.html) 

While President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was elected the first president of the Washington, D.C. public school board, which used the Bible as a reading text in the classroom. The Bible continued to be used in schools for decades. Children continued to learn about God in the school systems for 200 years. The country continued to grow and prosper.

3) Our Money
Nowhere is our faith in God more demonstrated than on our currencies:

During the Civil War, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize the Deity on United States coins. On November 20, 1861 he instructed the Director of the Mint at Philadelphia to prepare a motto in a letter saying:
“Dear Sir: No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins. “

By an Act of Congress on April 22, 1864 “IN GOD WE TRUST” first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin.
(Source: http://www.treas.gov/education/fact-sheets/currency/in-god-we-trust.shtml )

The peak of this country’s demonstrated respect and honor to God came in 1956. On July 30, 1956, the President approved a Joint Resolution of the 84th Congress, declaring “IN GOD WE TRUST” the national motto of the United States. The Greatest Generation believed in “In God We Trust”. God’s people in the United States multiplied and prospered. God responded by helping them build a country of superlatives: The most powerful nation on Earth; the best education system in the world; the best health care; the strongest economy; the highest standard of living. During the 20th century, the average lifespan in the United States increased by more than 30 years. This is the generation raised in the ways of the world.  1 John 2:15-16


The start America’s slide into the Dark Ages came in 1962 with the Supreme Court’s decision to end mandatory school prayer. It was not just the Supreme Court’s decision as it was the misinformation given by the people on the new communications medium called “television”. The TV newscasters mistakenly told the public that their children could not pray in school. Parents, teachers, school principals and others believed it. Even today, people say that we have taken prayer out of the schools.  (The reality is that students and teachers CAN pray in school. (http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/religionandschools/prayer_guidance.html) (http://www.gtbe.org) Students can also study the Bible as a book of literature, history and art (http://www.bibleinschools.net/)  and as a foundation document of society. They can also be released from school for devotional study of the Bible (See how at http://www.rtce.org/ or http://www.schoolministries.org  ) )

While many believers protested and defended their faith, most people were lukewarm or apathetic as students were unconstitutionally prevented from praying, bringing Bibles to schools, or referencing anything to do with God in their homework, art or musical performances. At the same time, they failed to obey God’s wishes in training their children (“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6.4)

The Baby Boomer Generation was raised not going to church like their fathers did. Church attendance peaked in 1991 at 49 percent and dropped to 47 percent in 1992, 45 percent in 1993 and 42 percent in 1994 and 1995, according to the Barna poll numbers of 9/11/1996. 37 percent of Americans now report going to church on a given Sunday. 
The result was that the Boomer Generation failed to learn the same Biblical values as their parents. If parents do not have these values, how can their children ever learn them?

The lack of understanding what God wanted them to do and not being willing to defend their faith caused a continual erosion of faith values and morality. The people developed a general apathy when others tried to to interfer with their faith. They let people get away with things they should not have without a fight. An example are the hundreds of blue laws that were repealed over the next 40 years. They were all repealed on the basis of improving economic conditions. Most Christians and other believers in God did nothing to protest the repeals. (Hartsville is not an exception: of the 26 comments in Hartsville Today regarding the Blue Laws being suspended for November & December, only 1 is in favor of keeping the law in place. The fact that 96% want the law to be repealed supports the premise some have said that Hartsville is a spiritually dead community.) Another example of how Christians have become lukewarm are the Christians’ willingness to replace “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” and the “Christmas Season” or the “Advent Season”  with the “Holiday Season”. It is so ironic that advertising agencies and stores are afraid of offending non-Christians with the use of the word “Christ” even though the majority of the people claim to be Christian. The stores learned some time ago that Christians have gone into the closet and no longer have the will to defend their rights.

Consider these changes in religious behavior in the following 50 years:

The percentage of Americans who identify with some form of a Christian religion has been dropping in recent decades, and now stands at 77%, according to an aggregate of Gallup Polls conducted in 2008. (http://www.gallup.com/poll/117409/easter-smaller-percentage-americans-christian.aspx) In 1948, when Gallup began tracking religious identification, the percentage who were Christian was 91%.

In 1948 only 2% of Americans reported no religious affiliation while in 2008, 12% of Americans claimed no religious affiliation.  (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1734108/the_decline_of_church_attendance_in_pg2_pg2.html?cat=47 )

The percentage of American adults who identify themselves as Christians dropped from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001. This is an unprecedented drop of almost 1 percentage point per year.

From 1992 to 2003, average attendance at a typical church service has dropped by 13% whereas the population of America has increased by 9%!

At the present rate of change, most Americans would identify themselves as non-religious or non-Christian by the year 2035.


At the present rates of change, Islam will become the dominant religion in the world before 2050. This is the legacy you are leaving your grandchildren: they will not be raised in a Christian USA but in an Islamic United States of America. (http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_tren.htm)


With the decline in religion in the USA, so has come the slow slide into the new Dark Ages. The Boomer Generation’s standard of living is becoming measurably worse.  Consider these facts:

1) In 2009, in math, our 15-year-olds’ scores now lag behind those of 31countries. In science, our eighth graders’ scores now lag behind their peers in eight countries. In reading, five countries surpass our 4th graders. (http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/08/08182009.html)
2) USA life expectancy is 36th out of 226 countries in 2008 (CIA World Factbook)
3) USA GDP is 10th out of 229 in 2008 (CIA World Factbook)

The Boomer Generation also heard new words and phrases come into the vernacular: “smog”, “gasoline shortages”, “gay marriage”, “acid rain”, “AIDS”, “global warming”…

Is it coincidence or correlation that the decline in church attendance occurs at the same time as the decline in the country’s superiority? After all, why would God continue to bless this country when its people no longer believe in Him or obey His wishes? (Revelation 3:15-16) Yes we are on the edge of slipping into the Dark Ages again.

The good news is that you don’t have to go back into the Dark Ages. The solution is really very simple: The way to prevent going into the Dark Ages is to start showing your respect for what God wants you to do and to obey His commands. The only way you will learn what God wants you to do is to attend church and Bible study regularly with your children. You cannot be shopping and attending church at the same time. The choice is up to you.

Your comments:

therealist says:

“The start America’s slide into the Dark Ages came in 1962 with the Supreme Court’s decision to end mandatory school prayer. (snip) Even today, people say that we have taken prayer out of the schools.  (The reality is that students and teachers CAN pray in school.”

I would say that today we absolutely do NOT want prayer in school. Because prayer in school doesnt necessarily mean praying to Jesus. Do you really want all those muslims you mentioned bowing to mecca in the lunchroom? There are also a certain percentage of kids who would get a real kick out of praying to satan, just to tick off the Jesus kids. Then there are Jews, Wiccans, Buddhists, and a host of other religions kids may bring from home, or simply be experimenting with. Do we want scientologists taking everyone’s lunch money for e-meter readings during study hall?

Lets not open that door. School is for education. Religion is for home.

On: 12/14  at  08:59 AM

Jana E. Longfellow says:

“Moment of Silence”

I remember doing that when we were in Jr. High.  One could do whatever they liked, whether it was pray, meditate, or try to study for a test… it was a time of quiet in the middle of the day to contemplate, and many kids did use that time for prayer.  When there was some kind of national or global emergency, the principal would remind us of it, and then ask that we think of them during our “moment of silence”.  It was very effective, and we all could interpret it in our way- and didn’t make anyone feel excluded.

On: 12/14  at  10:00 AM

Caroline Privette says:

I appreciate the thought and effort that went into this post but I disagree.  I am a Christian and I agree that it often seems that modern, secular culture is a cesspool, but I don’t think mandatory school prayer is the answer.  During a daily “moment of silence” my child is free to pray in the name of Jesus.  I wouldn’t want to give anyone the authority to tell him *how* to pray or *who* to pray to.

On: 12/14  at  12:46 PM

rob odom says:

I speak from experience, as long as there are math tests, there will be prayer in school!

On: 12/16  at  10:51 PM

JimmyBallard says:

The 1962 Supreme Court decision on school prayers is one of the most misunderstood in history. At issue was a prayer written by the New York State Board of Regents and mandated to be recited by students in school. The decision banned government-sponsored prayer, not voluntary prayer.
Below is a link to a web site that explains the decision, including quotes from former S.C. Govenor Dick Riley:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ps_prag.htm

and another web link about the second decision in 1963:

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=11563

When these decisions were made, a majority of the editors of state Baptist newspapers in the SBC supported and explained the decisions in depth in their editorials.
I would not call that the beginning of a ‘Dark Age.’ It was a victory for supporters of religious liberty in America. I certainly would not have wanted the state of S.C. or Darlington County School Board to compose a prayer and require me to say in in a classroom.

On: 12/17  at  12:31 AM

JimmyBallard says:

This article has a good summary of court rulings from 1962 to 2000 on religious observances and prayer in schools and at public events:

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa070100a.htm

On: 12/17  at  12:40 AM

Rod Folk says:

Nowhere in my post do I mean to imply that we should have mandatory government-led prayer in school.. If you interpreted it that way then I apologize.

The point that I am trying to make is that the implementation of the Court’s 1962 decision was so misunderstood that schools became “religion free zones”: they were not able to have anything to do with religion. Examples: Teachers told students they could not do book reports from books in the Bible (even if it was their favorite book); teachers told students they could not draw pictures of churches with crosses; they could not pray privately; they could not express their faith in their homework or class work or at school events or graduation ceremonies. What do these have to do with mandatory prayers? Absolutely nothing – but they are real examples of the results the 1962 decision. [Disclaimer: None of these examples came from our school district. But they are documented events from around the country.] Even when teachers learned about the limits of what they could teach 40 years later, many were told not to teach anything about religion because it was too controversial.  The result is that for 2 generations students have not had the opportunity to objectively learn about religions of the world in the school system

These students lost the desire to attend church regularly and became ignorant about religion. Now that they are parents, instead of taking their children to church on Sunday mornings they are at the golf course, at soccer practice, home entertaining themselves or at Walmart shopping for things that cannot wait until 1:30. If you are not taking your children to church to learn about religion and they are not learning about it in school then are you making the time later in the week to do it at home? NO you are not – because you never learned the facts you have nothing to pass on and you’ve shown you did not have the time on Sunday when they were out of school and you were out of work.

Without the basic knowledge of religious morals and right vs wrong is it any wonder that our schools have armed police patrolling the halls; that schools have to practice “lockdown” drills; that we have to have “boot camps” for students that never learned how to behave; that the biggest problem teachers and student have is the disrespect for authority and discipline problems.

“School is for education. Religion is for home.”
I agree with each statement independently. But if you are trying to say that religious education has no place in school then I disagree. I will take the stand the Supreme Court stated in Abington School Distrct v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963):
“In addition, it might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.”

In some places teachers are expected to teach their students about Christianity as part of their lessons on history and culture. Students are to study the Apostle Paul’s teaching of salvation (Califormia Social Standard for Grade 6); Students are encouraged to discuss how the teachings of Jesus impact people’s lives. (Massachusetts High School History Curriculum Framework IX); Students are to know the significant ideas and texts of Christianity (Florida State Standards for Grade 9-12) (Source: “Is Your School a Religion Free Zone? Gateways to Better Education)

President Clinton said “I believe that one of the best ways we can help ... schools ... is by supporting students’ rights to voluntarily practice their religious beliefs, including prayer in school.” Groups from the American Civil Liberties Union to the National Council of Teachers of English supported [the right] to teach the Bible in a nonreligious fashion.
A provision in NCLB mandates that if a school has any policy in place that curtails a student’s right to “religious expression” as spelled out in recent government guidelines, it could lose its federal funding. (http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0520/p11s01-lepr.html)


Part 2 follows:

On: 12/17  at  11:30 PM

Rod Folk says:

part 2 (Continued)

Since your daughter is not getting an education on religion at school and you are not taking her to church, what do you expect her to do when she is invited by a group of her friends to join in a circle with someone holding a book of shadows and reciting something from a Harry Potter book before a big math test. Will she realize she is breaking the First Commandment? Will she tell you she participated in a Wiccan ritual?

What do you expect your son to do when he is invited by some of the other athletes to join them, face East and say some funny phrases before a ball game? These are the kids who are the best athletes and he wants to be like them. Does he realize he just converted to Islam? Will he tell you what he did? Will you be able to recognize it?

The 1962 ruling caused 40 years of negative side effects. I know of no other event in the past 50 years that has had such an unintended negative affect on generations of our children. It is the red herring that causes us to focus on what we can’t do and not on what we can do. (Even in this post “mandatory prayer” is ironically the one subject undisputed but most talked about.) I think it is the watershed event that historians will be able to peg as the root cause of our slide into the dark ages if we are not careful. As our knowledge of religion diminishes we get closer to the definitions of the “dark ages”. If we don’t begin exercising the rights that we do have, our children will have lost them.

On: 12/17  at  11:35 PM

therealist says:

“Since your daughter is not getting an education on religion at school and you are not taking her to church, what do you expect her to do when she is invited by a group of her friends to join in a circle with someone holding a book of shadows and reciting something from a Harry Potter book before a big math test. Will she realize she is breaking the First Commandment? Will she tell you she participated in a Wiccan ritual?”

First of all, what in Harry Potter has anything to do with Wicca? Sure, its a story about Witches, but I haven’t seen any “Wiccan” teachings in it. Harry Potter and his friends celebrate Christmas! Its more classic haloween magic than wiccan…people riding brooms, turning into cats. My seven year old LOVES harry potter. We’ve read all the books together and own all the movies. Its a good story.

Furthermore, the religion my kid choses is her choice. She is exposed to Christianity and if she choses it, great, but I’ve also known some Wiccans. They aren’t Satan worshippers like backwards-thinking ignorant people believe. The older ones are very peaceful, nature-loving people. Teenagers, of course are a bit different, but the adults are just like anyone else. They just have an extra God(ess), and believe that man should live in harmony with the natural world, not dominate and destroy it to make money.

So if my daughter comes to me as a teenager and says she wants to be Wiccan, while it would cause Grandma some strain, its her choice, and I would just give her Christmas presents to her, three days earlier. Happy Solstice!

On: 12/18  at  08:57 AM

therealist says:

For all of those ignorant souls that think wicca=satan worship, or just the curious, here is a good source of information on Wiccan beliefs.

http://tinyurl.com/yae3ns3

Read, before you decide to vilify me.

On: 12/18  at  10:08 AM

Caroline Privette says:

I apologize if I misread the original post.  What I have trouble with about what you’re saying is that “back in the day” there were so many people who relied heavily on the school to teach their children about faith.  That kind of teaching should be at home.  I’m uncomfortable if there are parents today who rely on one hour’s worth of Sunday School a week for their children to learn about God and His Word. Sunday School, preaching, AWANA, and Bible Drill are only meant to supplement what children should be learning at home from their parents. 

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds….Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  Deuteronomy 11:18-19

Maybe the problem might lie in the fact that yesterday’s parents grew lackadaisical or apathetic, saying to themselves, “Well, little Johnny prays and reads a Bible verse at school every day so we can skip doing that at home and it’s OK if we don’t make it to church this week.”

I do understand your message that many, many people misinterpreted the Supreme Court’s 1962 ruling about religion in schools.  That is very unfortunate.  Many of today’s problems with young people is that there are no moral absolutes, as in *Who* says something is right or wrong and *Why* it is so.

On: 12/18  at  12:36 PM

rob odom says:

Don’t know if this is the right place to post this or not.  Everyone can’t be right.  Either Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Wicca, or whatever, only one can be the truth.
My personal belief is Christianity,  I believe that Jesus was born, died a real and actual painful death on the cross, and rose from the dead three days later.  I believe that the ONLY way to escape hell and live forever in the presence of God is to believe this.  I believe that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one!
I believe that all other religions and beliefs are Satan’s way of keeping people from believing the one and only truth.
The “Dark Ages” didn’t start when school prayer was stopped.  The Dark Ages began when that first sin in the Garden of Eden took place.  We have just perfected ways of making them darker!

On: 12/18  at  02:33 PM

Caroline Privette says:

Well said, Rob!  Might I sign my name to your declaration of faith?

On: 12/18  at  04:19 PM

therealist says:

A buddhist once said religions are like ropes across a river, pick any of them, they all lead the same place. I like that idea. Why does any one religion have to be the only one? My beef with Christianity is the teaching that “if you’re not worshipping Jesus you’re automatically worshipping Satan”. That is narrowminded in the extreme. Why not Isis or Odin or Vishnu? Could these not just be other names for the god of the Jews, whom you call God, or Yahweh, or Allah? The same being?
Some religions don’t even believe in a hell or a Satan, so they obviously can’t be tools of your devil…
I respect you convictions, IF you respect the rights of others to chose their own. The idea that “we have the only way to heaven, and everyone not with us is a sinner” has spawned some of the worst atrocities in history, including the Spanish inquisition, the crusades, and 9/11. Christians aren’t the only ones to claim they have the “only way”, after all.

Which reminds me of part of a joke.
There are several religions that claim if you don’t belong to them, you go to hell. Since most people only belong to one religion, all people must therefore go to hell.

On: 12/18  at  09:33 PM

rob odom says:

In response, there can only be one way. Right or wrong.  As humans we want there to be gray areas that fit in to the image we want our god to be.  Why would I worship a god that can’t decide who he is? 
God is God.  When ask his name by Moses, his reply says it all.  “I am”
It is not my decision that the only way to be saved is to follow Jesus, but God who said it. Narrowminded? No just a narrow path.

On: 12/19  at  02:18 AM

Rod Folk says:

Part 2 Continued:
——-
A second grader is not wise enough to separate the fantasy from the reality and to understand the dangers of some of Potter’s actions. In 4 years she will go to the Middle School, find the book on witchcraft at the library (next to the other books on religion and the Bibles) and start learning how to do what it instructs. It will be an easy transition to the next level of witchcraft since she has had years of approval of similar activities from her parents.

Since she has not gone to church in years because her parents were shopping on Sunday mornings instead of taking her to church and Bible study, she does not have a Biblical foundation to rely on when the doors open for experimenting with more harmful forms of paganism and witchcraft.

Mom and Dad can’t teach her either if they stopped going to church and don’t know enough about the Bible to either teach her or discern for themselves what the Lord said about spells, paganism or worshipping deities associated with the sun, moon or stars.

She is headed to a new dark age of Godless behavior. Repealing the Blue Laws only speeds the process.

On: 12/21  at  12:12 PM

Rod Folk says:

What in Harry Potter has anything to do with Wicca?

Potter promotes an interest in magick and the occult. They contain “a great deal of symbolism, language, and activities honoring witchcraft”. (“Beware of Bewitching Books”, Eagle Forum, Dec 1999) Whether a person wants to call the Harry Potter books/movies “wiccan” is not as important as the dangers of the HP themes. Too much to detail here. If you want to know more, get the book “Harry Potter and the BIBLE” by Richard Abanes. Just of few of the objections to Harry Potter:
1. J.K. Rowling expained that she did not write the books for children. She penned them as novels that she, an adult, would enjoy reading. (USAWekend.com November 14, 1999)
2. The vast amount of occult material Rowlings borrowed from historical sources still play a significant role in modern paganism and witchcraft. Her writings merge nicely with contemporary occultism. This could easily present a spiritual danger to children and teens who are leaning toward occultism or who may be vulnerable to its attractions.
3. “The Bible is clear about issues such as witchcraft, demons, devils and the occult. It says clearly and consistently from Genesis to Revelation that they are real, powerful and dangerous. Throughout it insists that God’s people should have nothing to do with them” (Harry Potter and the BIBLE, page 5.)
4. The book “The Sorcerer’s Stone,” is the final stage in the occult drive to achieve eternal life.  In this volume, the ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer’s Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.  It’s also very interesting that Rowling has made the creator of the Sorcerer’s Stone 666 years old.  As we have seen many times in this study, 666 is synonymous with antichrist and his Mark.  [Revelation 13:18] And since Rowling ties this number to the Elixir of Life, Harry Potter is clearly teaching children that the way to achieve eternal life is to obey the antichrist and take his Mark. http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False Religions/Wicca & Witchcraft/harry_potter_is_of_the_devil.htm

——-
Parents, whether Christian or not, must take an active role in what their children are being exposed to and determine what is appropriate. Christians especially should be guided by God’s Word, the Bible.

The Bible says, “Our fight in this world is not against flesh and blood, (human beings) but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual powers in heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

With the emphasis in these books being on learning how to actually do and perform these different types of occult activities - I believe these books will be planting the seeds of desire in some to want to try and take the next step - and that is to start seeking out the wealth of information that is already out there on witchcraft and the occult.  And once they find some of this direct knowledge on the occult - some will then take the last and final step - and that will be to actually try and engage in witchcraft or any of the other dark occult arts. (http://www.bible-knowledge.com/Harry-Potter-and-witchcraft.html)

——-
“There shall not be found among you anyone who make his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord ....” (Deuteronomy 18:10)

The Bible warns against the false predictions of astrology (Jeremiah 10:2; 27:9-10; Daniel 2:1-4; 4:7; 5:7-9) and repeatedly condemns the associated practice of worshipping the sun, moon and stars (or “deities or demons associated with them”) (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:2-5; 2 Kings 21:3, 5; Zephaniah 1:5; Job 31:26-28; Jeremiah 8:1-2).

Those who follow the path of the magick arts are on the wrong path - a road that leads away from God, not toward Him. In one way or another, the end will be disaster. Over and over, God denounces those who “conjure spells” (NKJV) and those who practice witchcraft and sorcery. The Bible says that anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord (Deuteronomy 18:10-12; 2 Kings 21:6; Micah 5:12; Isaiah 47:12; Ezekiel 13:18, 20; Acts 8:11-24; Leviticus 20:27; Exodus 7:11; Revelation 9:21; 22:15).

God warns of the ultimate punishment. Revelation 21:8 says of “…those who practice magic arts …their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur… the second death” (NIV). Those who practice witchcraft (sorcery) will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:20-21). These practices are anti-God and are in rebellion against Him.

Part 2 follows:

On: 12/21  at  12:14 PM

therealist says:

I give up. Arguing with a fanatic is like teaching a pig to sing. I am wasting my time and annoying the pig.
I hope my daughter chooses anything but Rod’s version of Christianity. I would rather her be a Wiccan than someone scared to read a good book, or someone that says “pick our way or burn in hell.” such thought is designed to oppress, control and exploit the belivers.
Those of you on this board convinced there is only one way… I admire your convictions, even if I believe differently. Enjoy the ride.
boy we have come a long way since blue laws…
I’m going to watch Harry potter, and before I go, happy solstice to all of you!

On: 12/21  at  09:40 PM

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