Torched by an Angel

Be careful. Bad angels are on the prowl out there.
They want to reach out and torch someone.

Last night, after a busy day, my wife and I sat down in front of the TV to catch up on the news. Within half an hour we had been bombarded with several slick commercials for new television shows and movies that have Satan, witchcraft, and the demonic occult as their themes. That the media promotes this sort of dark fare is nothing new, and that itself is not what caught my attention. Rather, we were shocked by the sheer unrelenting quantity of these demonic-oriented programs and movies that are being spewed into the mainstream media in amounts I have never seen before. There is a definite, noticeable, quickening of the pace in the production of these kinds of shows.
As Christians, this rapid spike in the media’s production of “entertainment” that promotes satanic themes should disturb us and galvanize us to prayer and watchfulness, but it shouldn’t surprise us. As St. Peter warned, “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for (someone) to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings” (1 Peter 5:8 NAB).

We know that Satan, the original “angel of light,” is looking for any opportunity to drag people into hell. His avenue of approach is usually through pride and the senses, locating and then playing upon our individual tendencies toward particular vices. He pelts us with a hail of temptations that, if acted upon, will draw us away from Christ.

And that is his single goal. Our personal, eternal destruction — yours and mine. He’s the ultimate Jack Kevorkian, a killer angel who wants only to reach out and torch someone, to infect us with the ravaging, fatal disease of sin.

Today, his battle plan seems to be shifting into a more sophisticated effort to seduce the unwary through a new spate of devil-glamorizing television programs and movies. They have one thing in common: They inculcate a false sense of security, a sense that the Devil is “safe,” in the millions of people who make the mistake of watching them. By making witchcraft and demonic themes exciting, even attractive, these shows are steadily breaking down people’s instinctual revulsion for Satanism in its various forms. Worse yet, they are teaching people to view Satanism, witchcraft, and the occult as cool and desirable.

The prime time television cauldron is seething with shows that have witchcraft, demons, or the occult as their sole focus. They include programs such as Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Freaky Links, and Angel, as well as recent movies such as Blair Witch I and II, the Excorcist and End Of Days.

In the Warner Brothers synopsis for its popular show Charmed, we read that the plot focuses on “the conflicts between three vastly different sisters and their need to come together against the otherworldly backdrop of an ancient witchcraft prophecy.” These three very attractive young women “are powerful good witches, foretold as the Charmed Ones, [and this] creates a bond that reaches far beyond petty sisterly grudges. They must band together to keep their otherworldly witchcraft a secret and vanquish all comers.”

Charmed is aimed at a fairly wide audience demographic, from teens to men and women well into their thirties. What makes this show so dangerous — and this is true of all the other shows of this genre that use pinpoint marketing so effectively to reach and influence their target markets — is that a blatant sales pitch for witchcraft and all its demonic ramifications is now being bilge-pumped directly into the homes of millions of American families. Young viewers, especially young women in their late teens and twenties, are being fed a steady diet of messages assuring them that witchcraft is cool, it’s even sexy.

Just look at how cute and clever and hip the three sisters in the show are. The subtle, unspoken message to young women is this: “You have nothing to fear from witchcraft and the occult. It’s cool and sexy to be a witch. You should consider it as a lifestyle option. Explore it. Enjoy it! The dark side is your friend.” That’s the hype they’re peddling.

But we know otherwise. The thing to remember is this: The Evil One will do what he can to lure people through the media. So we have to be vigilant, as St. Peter reminds us, and take care that we and our children are not subjected to such seemingly harmless “supernatural” programs that will slither right into our living rooms, if we let them.

Just as we keep locks on the doors and windows of our homes to keep intruders out, so too we should install strong locks on our souls and those of our children to keep out the evil that lurks in the background of these shows. The strongest, most effective measure of all is to avoid such “entertainment” altogether. For my wife and me, this means we simply don’t allow our children, under any circumstances, not even our teenagers, to watch these shows or movies. And we don’t watch them either. The risks are too high.

We tell our kids that these shows will only corrode the souls of the people who watch them. Far from being harmless entertainment, they’re pretty poison. Teaching our children (yours, mine, everyone’s) to refuse to watch such programs is one of the best ways I know to reinforce the age-old parental reminder: “Never take candy from a stranger.”

On a happy note, we can rest secure in the knowledge that Christ, the One who loves us, is more powerful than all the bad angels and all their prime-time chicanery. As St. Peter tells us, “Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you. . . . The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ (Jesus) will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:7 NASB).

Take that, Buffy

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