December 19, 2008 in My family/farm stuff, Pro-life, Supernatural/Signs & Wonders, Women | Tags: Batman, OneThing Conference, Twilight

Can you imagine… I wouldn’t let my three teenagers go see the most recent Batman movie because I’m convinced the spirit of death was/does operate in it.  Lead actor Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of sleeping and anxiety meds during the filming of it and confessed the weeks before to struggling with insomnia since the filming began and that the movie “messed with his head.” His friends noted something came on him during the filming because he just looked different, drained.  

One of the spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament is the discernment of spirits. If you are wondering how I can conclusively say the spirit of death was operating in the movie Batman all I can tell you is I discerned the spirit and, coupled with my experience in deliverance ministry, coupled with police chaplaincy, my own personal testimony with the occult, and I’m telling you this isn’t the Batman of twenty-five years ago.

Go ahead and chuckle at me – but most of you haven’t been to the number of teen suicides I’ve been to in the last twenty years. I look at what’s on their walls when I walk in to see them hanging by their neck in the doorway. I’m not saying your kid will go kill himself if he sees Batman, I’m saying demonic spirits have full access to our kids today through media and entertainment venues and parents are clueless.

twilight-2And here, though I’ve not personally seen it, I’m going to urge you to keep your kids away from a hugely popular movie and book series – Twilight. I have only seen the preview and that was enough for me to shut the gate in terms of allowing this teen craze into my household.

My 14 year old daughter reports to me Twilight has fully captivated her high school peers. I got online and watched the trailer and learned it’s an action-packed, modern-day love story between a teenage girl and a vampire (a vampire is a corpse that returns from the grave to terrorize and drink the blood of the living – the idea that there is a good one out there, one who is lovable is dangerous fantasy and deception at its peak).

The Twilight Saga is a Gateway drug -  lowering inhibitions and desensitizing.  It creates a fantasy world where girls experience Edward’s advances vicariously within their own imaginations – writes a Catholic blogger who has written extensively on this series. The movie and books are targeted to adolescent girls.  350 different fan websites are now on the internet averaging 31 female fans for every male. The demonic is after our daughters. It’s a part of the devil’s ancient war on women.

Parents need to be careful to not expose their daughters to the darkness that strategically emminates from this movie. One parent/Catholic school teacher reacted this way…

   I agree, this is a female mass intoxication with disturbing implications. The book, which I finished yesterday, is hypnotic and addictive. The mixture of sexual stimulation and bloodletting/violence is sickening, yet despite having such strong misgivings, I did find myself anxious to read the book again. ..to see what happens.

Take a good look at the picture  above and see if you can’t figure out a few reasons why I don’t want my daughter imagining herself in the arms of that spirit. I don’t want my daughter running around joking with guys quoting this movie - bite me, I want you to bite me.  Or how about this…

   What would you say if your high school aged daughter told you she was dating a vampire who had to fight the urge to kill her and suck her blood every time they were together?  And you thought dating a football player was bad enough!  If you were a sensible parent you would intervene and end the relationship, fearing that it might end in tragedy.  In fact, you would have an obligation to protect your daughter from the danger she was unwilling to recognize.  Your love for her would compel you.  So, what would you say if I told you your high school age daughter really is dating a vampire, vicariously, by reading The Twilight Saga?  Oh come on – you might think – it’s not the same thing at all.  The story is just a fantasy.  What’s the big deal?  Nobody is really getting hurt here.  Or are they?

Do you think I’m over-reacting? Here’s the deal, we do deliverance ministry week in and week out here at our church. These seemingly minor things – like movies, books, posters, charms – are welcome mats to the unseen evil world. We have discovered all it takes is one willful glance at soft core porn to release powerful demonic spirits of lust and perversion into seemingly strong men. Within months, good dads start walking around like zombies fully captive and bound to their perversion. Families are destroyed.

I discern the same demonic, blood-drinking spirit in Twilight that I battle against in the abortion industry – a demonic spirit that targets our daughters to drink the fresh blood of the emerging generation that bears the image of God.

Evil has a world-class marketing department and they are masters at packaging stuff to touch deep needs in the human heart. And there is no sector of our society more receptive and vulnerable than adolescent girls. Wake up parents! My wife was a middle school teacher and for years she kept current on the literature marketed to adolescent girls today. She regularly commented to me it’s far worse than parents realize in terms of sexuality and sorcery.

Some will say I’m sheltering my kids too much. Thanks for your concern but my kids have been in public schools and I’m pretty sure they aren’t in for much culture shock when they enter the “real world.” But hello? Isn’t my role inherently a sheltering role? I will continue to stand in prayer and in practice between my daughter and the demonic.

Here is a link to some other critical reviews of Twilight. Though a couple of my favorite Christian and pro-life bloggers are loving the Twilight series I do not share their enthusiasm.

I’ll end on a bright note. Youth today are wide open to the reality of the spiritual world. Between Christmas and New Years again this year our family will head to Kansas City for the annual OneThing Conference. It’s with great joy I report my three can’t wait to dive into the Book of Revelation which is to be the main focus of Biblical exposition this year at OneThing. This same God-given curiousity that the darkside is exploiting in movies like Twilight can been seen at One Thing as 30,000 young people pursue the One who is love and fully supernatural.
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http://stevehickey.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/twilight-is-a-welcome-mat-for-the-demonic/
Comments on this article on from this site :


Chris

demonic spirits have full access to our kids today through media and entertainment venues and parents are clueless.

This is so very sadly true…

Twilight (while we have not seen it either) certainly seems to be one of the many desensitizing tools that the enemy is using to slowly permeate the minds and hearts of the culture – to romanticize evil…

Films have made fictitious that which satan knows to be true.

Vampires – they’re real, but they aren’t what films have illustriously made them to be.
Werewolves…they’re real too – but again, they aren’t the man who turns into a wolf after midnight on a full-moon.



Lou Lou

Thank you so much Steve for writing this post. My sister has been captivated the last year with vampire and fantasy books. No matter what my parents did, she insisted there was nothing wrong with them, and would continue reading them.

This post articulates everything I’ve been trying to explain to her, Thank you!



Leslie Hanks

I very much appreciate this post!

In my own family we have quite the disagreement
about the Harry Potter series and I’m praying my
grandchildren whose parents approve will be protected
from long term spiritual damage.

So much of our culture is destructive, that we need to be
ever more discerning about avoiding.

Thank you!




Carl Thomas

Good Word.

The truth is that if the church does not believe in the power of God then she won’t believe in the power of the devil. Both are deceptions of the enemy.

Good and evil are at work whether we believe it or not. As a father, husband and pastor, I decided long ago that I would not allow those I love to be entertained by the demonic. Seems fairly reasonable to me.

Surprising how much push back I get from folks who should really know better.



Bret

I totally agree with your post. But why stop there? There are so many movies that christians, sadly including myself, have gone to that are filled with seduction, murder, killing, lust, etc. etc.

I remember when I first got saved, years ago, my good christian friend and I went to this show called “Weekend at Bernie’s”, after about 15 minutes into it we walked out, we were convicted and repulsed.

There has been such a compromise within the church in regards to movies and even the places of gathering with peers.

Christian have been “seduced” with entertainment. You know we don’t want to be judgemental and pious so we go along with the flow.

As christians we need to ask God to “clean out our closets” or nothing will change.




Liz

Steve, you are right on. I won’t let me daughter go the vampire movie either, although I found out she was reading the first book in the “Twilight” series months ago. We’re also opting out of the “Batman” movie. There is a spirit of death surrounding that movie. In working with youth these days I see how they struggle enough with keeping pure in mind and body. And the enemy wants to drag them into fantasy and sin. He’ll do it however he can. Trying to teach young people that God doesn’t want to rain on their parade or cramp their lifestyle by teaching them there is life and freedom within the boundaries He has set for them is a battle I’m willing to wage. Our next generation is so worth it.




Marcee

The demonic is real and active, but the Holy Spirit is even more real and active for those of us, who know Him.

This sounds and looks like a film to avoid. I rarely go to movies. When I was growing up, I loved all of those scary movies, especially the “Halloween” ones. I know those and other stuff opened up the gate for the devil’s influence in my life. I praise God for deliverance ministry so I am set free!

I’ll stick to reading God’s Word. There’s nothing more wholesome and mind influencing than that!

PC

Thanks for speaking out on this Steve. We need Godly spiritual voices to speak on these everyday decisions we make as Christians.

My daughter teaches 6th grade and said many of her students are reading the Twilight Series. Many at this age are trying to navigate life and find there own way, not their parents way, it’s a rebellious time.

It reminds me, that we as parents need to be plugged into what our kids are doing (ie. reading and watching) at all times.
I want to encourage parents to have an open dialogue with there kids on these books and movies. Don’t just lay down the law, listen first, then explain, maybe refer them to Steve’s post to get a full understanding.

Well done Steve, thanks again.