This is a continuation of last week's review of Rowling's Harry Potter series. If a pastor preaches against worldly TV and worldly movies and books, Harry Potter is not a problem. The families in his church will not be blown about by every wind of entertainment that flies through. But right now, around the world, there are FUNDAMENTALISTS with multiple families in their churches who allow their children to read the Potter books. As an aid to these pastors, fathers and mothers, I have put together these studies. Please do everything you can to reprove and rebuke this evil: Ephesian 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. I have done my very best to reprove the trash in these Potter books while keeping the crude details to the barest minimum. HARRY POTTER: ALEISTER CROWLEY'S MODEL SORCERER Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) was a heroin addict, sodomite, pervert and witch. He also stalked around in black cloaks. He called himself "the Beast" of the Book of Revelation: "Before I touched my teens, I was already aware that I was THE BEAST whose number is 666." (Crowley, "Magick In Theory and Practice", pp.xi, xii) Crowley has been idolized by rock groups such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Ozzy. There is an even greater interest in his works today that has been spawned by the Harry Potter books: "Outside the workplace, the Harry Potter series of adult-read children's books has helped fuel a revival of British interest in the occult. The British Satanist Aleister Crowley and his growing band of disciples were recently featured in a television documentary on witchcraft as a kind of lifestyle choice."(May 9, 2001, James Woudhuysen, Spiked-Online) There is indeed a deep connection between Crowley and the Potter books. It was Crowley's goal to make magic "acceptable": "I found myself at a loss for name to designate my work, just as H.P. Blavatsky some years earlier...I chose therefore the name 'Magick'...I swore to rehabilitate magick...to compel mankind to respect, love, and trust that which they scorned, hated and feared...I must make magick the essential factor in the life of all." (Crowley, "Magick In Theory and Practice", pp.xi, xii) Rowling names a character after Blavatsky. No one can read the first few chapters of the first Potter book without realizing that it is also Rowling's agenda to make magic acceptable! She mocks those who fear it or despise it as evil. By doing so, she mixes fiction with reality in a manner that makes a statement. She does the same elsewhere: "You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago...They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution." ("Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", p.150) Since her books are set in the present, Rowling is mixing real historical witchcraft with the witchcraft in her fiction. She thus places her philosophy in the strategic framework of fiction, just like Albert Pike says all true occultists have done for centuries. Notice another connection between Potter and Crowley. Crowley explains the maturation process of a sorcerer: "Man is ignorant of the nature of his own being and powers. Even his idea of his limitations is based on experience of the past, and every step in his progress extends his empire." (Ibid., p.xvi) Harry Potter, in Rowling's first book, lives his life in total ignorance of his past and his true ability until he finds out he is a wizard (p.50). He finds this out at the exact same age Crowley found out he was supposedly "the Beast" of Revelation. Harry goes through the next few years in a clumsy sort of way, "discovering himself." Harry began to find out he was a wizard at age eleven: "It had been enough of a shock for Harry to discover, on his eleventh birthday, that he was a wizard...." ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", p.20) Why eleven? Is there any other connection to Crowley other than the fact that this was the same age he supposedly discovered his occult identity? Yes. But first notice the length of Harry's wand: "Harry had waved what felt like every wand in the shop...at last he had found one that suited him - this one, which was made of holly, eleven inches long and contained a single feather from the phoenix..." ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", p.310) Now notice the following words of Crowley concerning the number 11: "...11 is the number of Magick in itself..." (Ibid, p.86) In 1904 in Cairo, Crowley was supposedly contacted by a spirit guide (i.e. devil) called Aiwass. Aiwass dictated the "Liber AL Legis" or "The Book of the Law" to Crowley. The book announced that mankind had now entered a new Aeon (i.e. the Age of Horus). Crowley writes: "...[eleven] is the sacred number par excellence of the new Aeon. As it is written in the Book of the Law: 'Eleven, as all their numbers who are of us.'" (Ibid., p.86) But there is an even greater connection between Potter and Crowley's Satanic philosophy. In every Potter book, Potter is presented as a sort of rebel. He does not obey his step-parents. But then when he gets to school, he doesn't obey his wizard teachers either! But in spite of all their scolding, they usually end up "winking" at Harry's refusal to follow orders. In fact, we find out later, that all the "good" wizards who are Harry's role models also have a streak of independence and rebellion. Before we examine the connection between this and Crowley's witchcraft, let's document Harry's rebellion: "'Very well,' said Professor McGonagall prompting him as he paused, 'so you found out where the entrance was - breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way...Instinctively, Harry looked at Dumbledore, who smiled faintly, the firelight glancing off his half-moon spectacles...'I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules, said Dumbledore. Ron opened his mouth in horror. 'Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words,' Dumbledore went on, smiling. 'You will both receive Special Awards for Services...'" ("Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", p.328-331) "'Don't go blaming Dumbledore for Potter's determination to break rules. He has been crossing lines ever since he arrived here." (p.276) "You have a streak of pride and independence that might have ruined all..." (p.677) This same streak of rebellion is seen in all the "good" wizard role models in Harry's life: "'It's all right,' said Moody, sitting down...'Cheating's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been." (p.343) "'Who's he, to lecture me about being out-of bounds?' said Harry...'After all the stuff he [Sirius] did at school!'" (p.572) "Wouldn't Moody and Dumbledore be in trouble with the Ministry if they knew we'd seen the curses?' Harry asked...'Yeah, probably,' said Ron. 'But Dumbledore's always done things his way, hasn't he, and Moody's been getting in trouble for years, I reckon..." (p.220) Notice now the connection between Potter and Crowley's philosophy. Not only is a sorcerer ignorant at first, and must find his way to self-discovery (like Potter), but he must also disobey ANY rules that get in the way of this self-discovery: "One of the many attractions of Crowley's type of Magick, was this advice to follow one's own way and create your own life style. You don't need a priest or a judge to tell you how to act - work it out for yourself...." ("Fact Sheet on Crowley") Crowley writes: "Every man and woman is a star. That is to say...every man and woman has a course, depending partly on self, and partly on the environment...Anyone who is forced from his own course, either from not understanding himself, or through external opposition, comes into conflict with the order of the Universe, and suffers accordingly...Man is capable of being and using, anything which he perceives, for everything that he perceives is in a certain sense a part of his being. He MAY thus subjugate the whole Universe of which he is conscious to his individual Will." (Ibid., pp. xiv-xvii) Don't miss that paragraph. It is crucial to understanding Harry Potter. Potter has been bound up in ignorance through living with Muggles. Once he finds his proper path, Potter then uses the castle, the students, and whatever else he finds in his way, without regard to rules or regulations, in an effort to find himself and "progress". Crowley continues: "Every man has an indefeasible right to be what he is...To insist that any one else shall comply with one's own standards is to outrage, not only him, but oneself...Every man has a right to fulfill his own will without being afraid that it may interfere with that of others; for if he is in his place, it is the fault of others if they interfere with him...If a man like Napoleon were actually appointed by destiny to control Europe, he should not be blamed for exercising his rights...I trust that they will understand, not only the reasonableness, but the necessity of the fundamental truth which I was the means of giving to mankind: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law...One must find out for oneself, and make sure beyond doubt, who one is, what one is, why one is....In the course of this TRAINING, he will learn to explore the Hidden Mysteries of Nature, and to develop new senses and faculties in himself..." (Ibid., pp. xvi-xxv) The reader of the above sentence will now understand Harry Potter, and also understand why the Devil has allowed it to become so amazingly popular. Harry Potter is Crowley's ultimate child! People (especially children) are taught not to "interfere" with the New Age occult transformation of society that is upon us. This is indeed the "moral" lesson that Rowling gives in her fourth book: "Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open...'It is my belief - and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken - that we are all facing dark and difficult times." (pp.723-24) The "dark times" will no doubt include the RESISTANCE that many will be making to this New Age philosophy perverting the minds of our precious children. In reality, the Bible says the "dark times" are the present revival of witchcraft and sorcery and God's imminent judgment of the world because of it (1 Tim.4:1)! Finally, Crowley's ideas concerning death also find their way into Rowling's Potter books. Crowley writes:
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