Harry Potter’s Greatest Trick
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about devils. One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an unhealthy interest in them.
–C.S. Lewis, Preface, The Screwtape Letters
With more than half a billion books sold, along with their respective movies, merchandising, theme parks, and spinoffs, there isn’t a child in our world who doesn’t know the name Harry Potter. Yet concerned Christian parents continue to debate whether their children should immerse themselves in a world of magic, sorcery, potions, and divination. Many believe that the alure of the wizarding world will act as a gateway to the occult. Very few, however, consider the possibility that children immersing themselves in the “fictional” world of Pottermore will create barriers in their minds to believing the true word of God.
Children’s imaginations are amazing. Innocent fun can be had by pretending to play quidditch flying around the playground on a Nimbus 2000. Or they can begin a wizarding war and use a stick as a wand to cast killing curses on those they despise. It is at this point that a parent may question the appropriateness of using magical curses to kill their playmates, but the children will inevitably retort that it is all pretend, none of it is real.
But magic is real.
The Bible informs us in the book of Exodus that Pharaoh’s magicians were able to turn their staffs into snakes, the water of the Nile into blood, and conjure frogs. Again, in the book of Acts we are told that Simon was able to amaze the people of Samaria so much with his sorcery that he was referred to as “the Great Power of God.”
Non-believers, and even some Bible commentators, attempt to dismiss these stories as simple sleight of hand, mere illusions. Their belief is the same as the child on the playground, it is all pretend, none of it is real.
But the Bible, not Harry Potter, shows the true power of the magical arts.
Necromancy is the dark magical art of raising the dead. However, as Albus Dumbledore mentioned in his notes on Beedle the Bard, necromancy is “a branch of magic that has never worked.” Assuming the original goal of necromancy was to bring people back from the dead, this is mostly true in realm of Harry Potter: while it was possible to create Inferi, these were mindless creatures with no soul or intelligence, despite possessing human corpses and hence were not truly “raised” persons. See https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Necromancy
Unfortunately, Albus Dumbledore is not a Bible scholar. If he had ever read the Bible, he would know that necromancy is real. In 1 Samuel 28:3-28, after God departed from Saul, Saul sought the last remaining medium in the land. The medium raised Samuel from the dead and Saul was able to have an intelligent conversation with Samuel. Necromancy, the magical art that is too far fetched for even most occultists to believe in, is presented by the Bible as fact.
The question is simple: do you believe magic is real?
If you believe the Bible, then the answer is clear: magic is real.
Furthermore, if you believe the Bible is true, then you should heed its repeated warnings to not partake or tolerate the magical arts, witches, sorcerers, or mediums because “those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage other to do them too.” Romans 1:32.
A person fixated on Harry Potter encourages others to enter this magical world. While it is doubtful that readers of Harry Potter will become occultists, their immersion in the fictional world of wizardry reinforces the secular worldview that magic is make-believe. The Biblical worldview, however, insists that magic and demonic forces are real.
Christians must be cognizant of the fact that what they read and consume influences their belief system and may unwittingly undermined a proper Biblical worldview.
As originally stated by the French poet Charles Baudelaire:
