It's official, the Twilight books and movies are an absolute craze. The Twilight Saga has been sold in 39 countries and over 42 million copies have been sold worldwide. The last book in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn, sold 1.3 million copies in its first day on-sale, breaking publisher records.
I have to admit that those numbers break my heart. This series has proven yet again, that people are hungering for a deep love story, especially one that involves the supernatural. They don't realize it, but they are yearning for the true story God wrote thousands of years ago. The promise and then coming of Jesus Christ is the world's most dramatic, beautiful love story. The supernatural is joined together with the natural and the whole purpose is redeeming love. The Twilight series taps into that hunger in a powerful way. Unfortunately, it does so in a completely counterfit way. Bella is willing to eternally give up not only her view of God (she doesn't want a god who would not accept Edward - a vampire), but also her soul in order to fulfill her desires.
Let me share a quote with you that I think speaks profoundly to the nature of these books;
"Stephenie Meyer is an amazing phenomenon—out of the brightness of her mind and spirit comes the illuminated darkness of her stories." (Orson Scott Card)
Illuminated darkness.
"for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." (2 Cor 11:14b-15)
Last night, Lucas approached us with a loose tooth. The tooth was a bit wiggly, but definitely not pull-out-able. I figured we were in for a couple weeks of wiggly tooth eating issues. Imagine my pleasant surprise when Lucas came to me this morning, and said, "Mom! I pulled out my tooth last night!" In shock, I asked how he could have possibly gotten it out. He responded, "Well, it was just a little loose, so I pulled it down until it hurt a little and then held it there until it didn't hurt anymore. Then I pulled it down a little bit more and stopped when it hurt a little and then held it there. I just kept doing that for a really long time (more than an hour - hey why go to sleep when you can mess with your tooth :P ) until it was really loose and I could pull it out!"
Satan works like that. He comes to us with a "guilty pleasure," (like a romance novel that involves an every day girl and a vampire) and honestly, God is so good that He often gives us the grace to stop there and we see no harm done. But we have opened ourselves to Satan's influence. We've pulled on the tooth. The next time Satan comes at us, he may come with something that is a bit more occultic. maybe not.
When God tells us to guard our minds and our hearts, He does so because He loves us deeply and He sees Satan as he is. "Be sober , be vigilant ; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about , seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8). God is so good, He doesn't let us see Satan as he is. We would be terrified. Every moment of every day. Terrified. Yet, because we don't see him - we are way too quick to dismiss him and his demons, and the work they are doing.
I don't think it is coincidence that many of the loudest voices who are screaming for us to discern carefully what we allow into our minds are those whom God has redeemed from in-depth occultic activity.
If you are into the Twilight series, I encourage you to click on the following links and read the articles with open eyes.
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_TwilightBook4.html
http://carylmatrisciana.com/x2/content/view/106/166/
Please also read:
http://www.avoidtwilight.com/quotes.html
Finally - I know some portray these books as simply fantasy, but vampires are real occultic individuals (no they don't have fangs and change into bats, but they do drink human blood, check the above link) and God has very strong words to say regarding any involvement in the occult. I remember reading This Present Darkness (Frank Peretti) years ago and praying that God would give me eyes to see the Spiritual War that is taking place in my own life and all around me. Would you pray that prayer? God wants us to be armed against our enemy and ready to fight. And praise be to God, we can win!!!!!
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
