The deception of carnal rationalism

The art of making the
unacceptable, acceptable: A response to Nicola
Creegan’s article on Harry Potter.

Harry Potter

The most dangerous attack on the
Christian faith today is coming from within the church itself.
This ‘subtle’ attack on the faith is from Christians
who apply ‘Carnal Rationalism’ in their thinking.
‘Carnal Rationalism’ combined with scriptural error
or scripture that has been twisted is extremely dangerous, to say
the least. In its most obvious form ‘Carnal
Rationalism’ is outright heresy; in its more dangerous
subtle form it appears ‘reasonable’ and in its most
extreme form it becomes established doctrine’.

Before I go any further lets
define what is meant by ‘Carnal Rationalism’.
Firstly, the word ‘carnal’ is defined as: not
spiritual, merely human, of the flesh or body its passions and
appetites, sensual, carnal pleasures. ‘Rationalism’
is defined as: the principle or habit of accepting reason as the
supreme authority in matters of opinion, belief or conduct.
Theology-wise, Rationalism is defined as: the doctrine that human
reason, unaided by divine revelation, is an adequate or the sole
guide to all attainable religious truth. So we can say that
‘Carnal Rationalism’ in the end is a doctrine that is
inspired by the flesh and supported by reasoned opinion. It is a
devils doctrine!

When a Christian utilises Carnal
Rationalism in a debate it is because they are not fully married
to the Word of God. They have become inspired by fleshly passions
and seek to justify this with human reasoning. In doing so, they
unknowingly or knowingly, set themselves up in the role of an
antichrist. They place themselves above the authority of the Word
of God and condone what is anti-God.

Using Carnal Rationalism the
deceived Christian gains a false understanding of good and evil.
By applying this thinking to a topic of discussion they can be
sold a lie. Carnal Rationalism becomes truly satanic when applied
to, and with, scripture. Especially scripture that is out of
context or twisted. It is this thinking that has allowed for the
growth of compromise in the Church and in the end will be
responsible for many turning away from the True Faith and will
allow for the successful rise of the Apostate Church.

The entertainment and media
industries of today utilise Carnal Rationalism to justify using
material that is anti-Christian, deviant and satanic in nature.
Being entertained appeals to the carnal nature of man. Behaviour
and thought that is abhorrent is seemingly made acceptable
because it is contained within a non-threatening package of
humour, action or drama. The material that professes to the
so-called intelligent, will lean more towards the rationalism,
while the material that delights or stimulates will lean more to
the carnal. It is the continual application of this man-based
thinking that is responsible for eroding the Christian values
that have been responsible for defining the values of our
society.

Now what has this got to do with
Nicola Creegan’s paper on Harry Potter? (Editors note:
August edition Omega Times) - In truth, everything!!

Nicola’s article on Harry
Potter is an alarming example of a Christian using Carnal
Rationalism to justify the acceptance of material that magnifies
the satanic. Whether this is intentional or unintentional is
another matter. The carnal side of Nicola has been inspired,
delighted with the noble virtues displayed by the characters of
the Harry Potter books and this has resulted in her understanding
of good and evil becoming blurred - so-to-speak. By concentrating
on these surface aspects of the characters she seems to attempt
to blind-side the reader to the darker issues. This is the Sugar
& Spice, everything nice technique which is used to cover
something that is rotten i.e.; Hansel & Gretel and the
witch’s cottage.

To help see this clearly we need
to define the meaning of good: The word good is defined as:
morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious; genuine, not
counterfeit etc. You have to ask yourself now how does one really
become morally excellent; virtuous; righteous etc? What is the
measure? There is only one measure for true good and that is
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only measure for true goodness
because he is the only person in earth’s history who
fulfils these characteristics and more. The world will measure
goodness on appearance, act, accomplishment and deed. And
that’s fine, to a point, but without Christ and His
principles, it is not a true measure. Goodness is best defined
as: how much one is in Christ. This involves the total man; body,
soul, and spirit. Thus we see that the true measure of goodness
is Christ centred.

From a Christian perspective,
therefore, the good-guy characters of Harry Potter are not truly
good. They are shown instead to be willing vehicles for forces
that the Word of God calls evil. By using witchcraft to
accomplish tasks and overcome, the characters of Harry Potter
show an allegiance to evil forces, and in doing so, they
themselves are shown to be evil. Even though in appearance and
some deeds they may convey what is generally considered good. To
those that measure good (and evil for that matter) by the
principles of Christ, material like Harry Potter can never be
acceptable. There are plenty of good books out there that show
children displaying virtuous natures, equally as good as the
characters in Harry Potter, and without being involved in
witchcraft.

But this is where that handy
process of Carnal Rationalism becomes a useful tool for those -
not fully married to the Word of God - would have us believe that
Harry Potter is really actually only Christianity in
disguise.

Let us look at of part of Nicola
Creegan’s essay:

Nicola presents her essay directly
from a positive of, “Some of us have read and loved him,
others feel outraged that one small wizard could gain such a
following” - notice the language used here some of
us loved him, others feel outraged that one
small wizard could gain such a following. If you don’t
love Harry it’s because you are jealous of his commercial
success. Not because he practices and magnifies the use of
witchcraft (Carnal Rationalism in full swing).

And evidently this has encouraged
a rigorous debate on the nature and function of fantasy, and its
relationship to theology and the Christian faith. As far as
I’m concerned fantasy and the Truth of the Word of God have
no relationship whatsoever. But we are now led into the belief
that the debate involves a relationship. Fantasy means
imagination and is defined in the Random House dictionary as
‘supposition based on no solid foundation’. The Word
of God however is a solid foundation. The solid foundation for
every born again believer in Jesus Christ and the scriptures that
have revealed Him. So the relationship between truth and
unbridled imagination is non-existent.

Next, the question: “What is
magic, and when is it - or any other power - dangerous?” A
question is raised “What is magic…”, but not
answered. So I will respond! Magic is defined as the use of
supernatural forces to gain a desired result to assure human
control - magic is also described under the heading of necromancy
from which we are forbidden to take part, and something that will
bar entry into heaven.

Next part of question: “...
and when is it or any other power - dangerous?” So now we
are led to assume that there is possibly a time when it is not
dangerous - ahh! This must be white magic as opposed to black
magic maybe, or only if not performed at midnight.

Another question: (and this one
really takes the cake) “Does a world have to be explicitly
Christian to be religious in a good sense?” - (you mean
there is religion in a bad sense, well we know that’s the
case don’t we) I suppose that depends on how you define
‘Christian’ and what religion has to do with the True
Faith anyway. If by a Christian world you mean Christ-centred,
and under his total rule, then to answer the question - YES IT
DOES!!!

An assumption in the form of a
question: “Is our attraction (who’s attraction) to
Harry Potter proof of our deception (Yes!) or evidence of his
goodness?” The devil comes as an angel of light and I dare
say, will be very attractive to those not close to the Word of
God. And what makes someone good, really good? How do we define
good? The Random House describes good as: Virtuous, Righteous and
Pious. There is only one person that has ever fully fulfilled
that description and the only way for anyone else to become like
that is to be in Christ. Someone in Christ would never utilise
witchcraft so Harry Potter is an excellent example of someone who
portrays goodness of character but who uses supernatural
(Satanic) forces to gain human control. Harry is an archetypal
antichrist - portraying goodness but bound to the evil one.

J.R.R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis

Another question: “Are the
Harry Potter books in the same league as the fantasies of Tolkien
and CS Lewis...” A comparison attempt to so-called
acceptable fantasy tales that are, evidently, tolerated by
Christians, in order to justify the acceptance of this one. But
who says that all Christians tolerate these other two stories any
more than Harry Potter. From what I’ve read both authors
were at some stage involved in either Catholic Mysticism or Pagan
Heroism. Mind you Lord of the Rings has been very successful
commercially and we don’t want to be seen as jealous of its
success. I mean it has put New Zealand on the map for tourism
– making money… The fact that it magnifies the
occult doesn’t really matter - the characters do some good
things, don’t they?

Moving on... Evidently other
articles relating to the discussion of the Potter topic are now
referred to as ‘diatribes’ (so intolerant) and they
make the sacrilegious mistake of citing sentences out of context
- I mean they didn’t even enjoy the books enough to get
that right. For crying out loud don’t they love the little
guy like I do!!! - sorry I couldn’t resist that.

This is bizarre... But at least
one such critique comes from the pen of a witch. Wow!! She must
be qualified. She was fooled by witchcraft for years. What does a
Christian know? All they do is get upset when books magnifying
satanic power under the illusion of entertainment become
worldwide best sellers. They get all upset - a bit like the Lord
did with the merchants in the temple - so emotional. Next thing
you know some of those believers (diatribe writers) will be
punching woman in the stomach and curing their cancer like Smith
Wigglesworth did. I mean it’s just not good theology but
they’re not going to dampen my enthusiasm for Harry - No
way! Some of US feel like that about the Word Nicola, and by the
way, a fear of the Lord can dampen one’s enthusiasm for
evil dressed up as fun.

An understatement “...that
even a word, at this time in history, can be an invitation to the
blurring of lines that can lead to violence or to the occult or
to madness”. Just a word Nicola. Think what a series of
books with lots of words can do. Thank God for his Word.

Another understatement...
“... for some children in some contexts it is possible that
Harry Potter would encourage a searching after New Age-neo
paganism”. Nicola! Nicola! Where have you been? Children
are running around casting spells and cursing each other. They
are performing satanic ritual in imitation of the Harry Potter
books but what the hey! As long as a word doesn’t send them
off into Neo-paganism. There has not been an increase in young
children helping old ladies across the road as a result of this
material.

A comparison to justify the
actions of the deceived “...good Christian literature has
turned some children off faith”. Be honest Nicola, some of
the Christian books are absolute rubbish and good Christian
literature, if it was indeed good, would not be responsible for
turning children from The Faith - and there is only one. What's
wrong with reading good books that aren’t Christian based?
Why does a Christian child have to read so-called Christian
books? This debate has nothing to do with books in general it is
whether children, any children, should be encouraged to read
novels that are openly occult in nature and indeed glorify the
use of occult powers to overcome. Christians are to overcome in
Christ Jesus.

The Harry Potter so-called
theology is simple Nicola. To snare young children into becoming
familiar in the ways of the occult. It’s conditioning their
minds. The book is written under the spirit of antichrist who...
will cause craft to prosper etc. It’s like the witches
house in Hansel & Gretel - all nice and spice on the outside
but what lies hidden beneath will try and destroy them. Nicola
says it in her own way... “Some of this unseen world is
pure delight...” (sugar and spice). “Other parts are
sheer hell...” (the not-so-nice stuff). That’s enough
of that.

Harry Potter is darkness dressed
up as light. Written to delight and titillate the carnal man.
Material like this is like sugar and spice but the dangers
though, perhaps hidden to many, are real. It would seem that for
the sake of fun and entertainment some would weaken their stance
in the Christian faith and not only that, try and convince others
to do the same. This truly is the age of deceit.

On reading Nicola Creegan’s
article I am convinced that it’s not just ‘Wolves in
Sheep Clothing’ that we should be wary of but maybe also,
‘Witches in Sheep Clothing’.

A final word to those believers
and diatribe writers who felt a sense of outrage at the concept
of Christians finding material like Harry Potter
acceptable...

GOD BLESS YOU!!!

...you are separated unto
God and not of this world.