Harry Potter: Magic or menace?

Another Harry Potter film hit theatres everywhere on Friday and Steve Wohlberg, author of the new book Exposing Harry Potter and Witchcraft: The Menace Beneath the Magic, strongly advises against seeing it.

Wohlberg, a bestselling author, expressed his concern to The Christian Post. He said the trend toward witchcraft, vampirism, and occultism among teens has rapidly increased since the Harry Potter craze began in 1997. Written by J K Rowling, the Harry Potter series explores sorcery, witchcraft, and Wicca, noted Wohlberg.

He outlined his discoveries of evil themes in the series.

“The more I read the books, the more I realised how spiritually dangerous the material is,” he said. “Even though it’s fiction there is a lot of reality woven in it. My warning is that Harry Potter is a major contributor to Wicca."

Wohlberg also argued that although Rowling claims that there are Christian themes in the seven-part series, the author is being used as a channel for evil.

“To me she is just like Eve, not realising she has become a channel for the devil, she is not aware of it,” he said.

Since the beginning of the Harry Potter craze, several Christian and religious leaders have come out denouncing the series. Dr James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, was one of them, along with Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who voiced fears in 2003, that the "subtle seductions" contained in the Potter series could "corrupt the Christian faith" in impressionable young children.

Wohlberg has seen the negative effects of the fantasy novels and films on young people.

In his book, he gives several personal accounts of people who have dabbled in witchcraft specifically because of Harry Potter. Teenagers, he explained, are vulnerable to these themes because they are fascinated with the message that magic gives you power. He gives accounts of teens at bookstores on the day of the release of a new Harry Potter book, describing how they have “the book in one hand, and a wicca book in the other”.

Wohlberg wants to remind them of a greater power.

“God has power far superior to witchcraft – power of love and eternal life,” he said.

Wolhberg has published more than 25 books denouncing the Harry Potter series as well as the Twilight series – another wildly popular novel series among youths.

The author emphasised the role that parents must play in assisting their children to steer away from the culture of witchcraft and cults.

He cited Proverbs 22:6: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

On the Web: www.avoidharrypotter.com