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June 20, 2003 Greetings! The new Harry Potter book will be released at midnight tonight. The 896 page Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is already high on the best sellers lists and will become the number one book worldwide in a matter of hours. Its first printing of 13 million copies is astounding the publishing world and reports are calling its release the "event of the year." CNN today deemed the book the "publishing event of all time" eclipsing the release of book four in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, three years ago. Goblet of Fire was previously the fastest selling book in history. If you are a new subscriber to this newsletter you may not be aware that I have uploaded many helpful and biblically based articles on the Potter phenomenon, including the entire chapter on Harry Potter from my book, Entertaining Spirits Unaware: the End-Time Occult Invasion, co-authored with David Benoit. You will find all this and much more in the Information Center at ericbarger.com Probably no other issue we have ever tackled has brought so much positive and supportive mail - along with an equal amount of negative and usually unprintable mail as well. To speak out in opposition to J. K. Rowling's creation of a wizard hero steeped in moral relativism has not been popular in many circles - including with some "Christians". At least 1/2 of the negative email I receive concerning my views of Potter are from Catholics or those in liberal denominations and its no wonder. Many behind pulpits praise Rowling's work and endorse Potter to their congregations! This is further evidenced in statements issued by a Vatican source who embraced the Potter series. (See http://www.cathnews.com/news/302/10.php) It would appear that for at least some clergy witchcraft and sorcery have been scratched from God's list of "abominations" found again and again in Scripture. Through all the controversy abounding from allegedly "Christian" circles, we've just remained vigilant in standing on the Bible concerning witchcraft and how to judge what is actual moral and what is slyly counterfeit. Rather than simply yell "its of the devil" I've tried to give reasoned responses to both the Potter series, the ensuing movies and other similar icons in popular culture. Doing this however has been tough considering the media bias in favor of Harry. Nearly two years ago a producer from ABC's "20-20" program called me looking for a candidate to debate host John Stossel for six minutes on Halloween night concerning Potter. I was told that Stossel is a fan of Potter and proceeded to have a 20 minute conversation with the ABC producer. As I hung up the phone, I turned to my wife and commented that they were "never going to have me on the program." She immediately commented "why not?" and said that I had given good answers to the producer's probes. I told Melanie that I had been far too biblical, using Scripture a number of times as the producer grilled me on my position concerning Harry. I said: "They want someone to come on '20-20' to merely say that Potter is 'of the devil' but never give any real substantive reasons as to why." Three days later I received the call that I "was not exactly what they were looking for pertaining to the Stossel debate." Big surprise. More so, my prediction of just what ABC wanted were correct. Sure enough, the person they enlisted to debate Stossel actually used the term "of the devil" more than once during the short debate. Worse though, no hard facts were presented by Stossel's opponent and once again the world was brought to believe that we Christians are just wild eyed fanatics, running on emotion with no logic or documentation to back up our claims. As the world runs after Harry Potter, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and other demonic entertainment to pleasure their with children, I encourage you to search the Scriptures before you buy into what the media and others are selling. Above all, be ready to give the world the biblically based answers they so desperately need - even if they don't like it when you do.
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Materials to Help You Take A Stand
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Entertaining Spirits Unaware: The End-Time Occult Invasion by Eric Barger and David Benoit Table of Contents Part One: Nine Forbidden Practices 1. Nine Forbidden Practices Part Two: Doorways to the Devil 11. Enemy Infiltration
"Entertaining Spirits Unaware will provide
readers with the tools needed to effectively combat the encroachment of the occult and New
Age into our lives and homes." "If ever there was a need for a clear expose’
on the subtle deceptions of the Evil One it is now! This book will provide you with just
such a tool. It will not gather dust in the possession of those who care." Read more book reviews here... $15 |
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The Occult Invasion of America
This challenging presentation is perfect for evangelism, home groups, Sunday School presentations or personal research! Complete with over 70 slides of Scripture and documentation this 85 minute presentation factually details issues such as Harry Potter, Pokemon, Cartoons, UFO's and Halloween, the presentation is recorded and mastered in digital quality! * Includes a FREE audio soundtrack of the presentation! $25 |
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