Posted on 10/20/2017 8:50:31 PM PDT by Simon Green
When Coco Layne, a Brooklyn-based producer, meets someone new these days, the first question that comes up in conversation isn’t “Where do you live?” or “What do you do?” but “What’s your sign?”
Interest in spirituality has been booming in recent years while interest in religion plummets, especially among millennials. The majority of Americans now believe it is not necessary to believe in God to have good morals, a study from Pew Research Center released Wednesday found. The percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 29 who “never doubt existence of God” fell from 81% in 2007 to 67% in 2012.
Meanwhile, more than half of young adults in the U.S. believe astrology is a science. compared to less than 8% of the Chinese public. The psychic services industry — which includes astrology, aura reading, mediumship, tarot-card reading and palmistry, among other metaphysical services — grew 2% between 2011 and 2016. It is now worth $2 billion annually, according to industry analysis firm IBIS World.
Melissa Jayne, owner of Brooklyn-based “metaphysical boutique” Catland, said she has seen a major uptick in interest in the occult in the past five years, especially among New Yorkers in their 20s. The store offers workshops like “Witchcraft 101,” “Astrology 101,” and a “Spirit Seance.”
“Whether it be spell-casting, tarot, astrology, meditation and trance, or herbalism, these traditions offer tangible ways for people to enact change in their lives,” she said. “For a generation that grew up in a world of big industry, environmental destruction, large and oppressive governments, and toxic social structures, all of which seem too big to change, this can be incredibly attractive.”
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
I agree that the occult is no joke, but I have to admit, your response cracked me up.
This was going on in the 1920s, it was going on in the 1880s. I’d wager it was going on far longer ago than that.
Satan has real power in this world and people who blow it off are in great spiritual danger. It’s not fun and games and superstition or fairy tales, and certainly not harmless.
They have to be warned but don’t have to believe it.
And sad to say that even many who claim to believe in God don’t believe what God says in His word about spiritual realities.
“What’s your sign?”
The Cross.
5.56mm
When I'm reading or watching something that mentions "magic", I go into my "willful suspension of disbelief" mode -- just as I do in SF for "warp drive", "transporter", "time travel", "light saber", etc. subjects -- and just view them as "plot devices"...
It helps significantly to be a Bible-believing Christian -- and a scientist -- when confronting such subjects...
It also helps to have visited a "Magicians Supply Store" as a kid and have seen all the "fakery gimmicks" for sale there -- to simulate "magic" in action.
(Lesson: if it requires physics & physical gimmicks, it ain't "magic" -- just tomfoolery!)
~~~~~~~~~~~
How do you know Rowling isn’t lying?
I KNOW Rowling is lying -- and don't care! She's just an entertaining storyteller (aka "liar")...
And, KNOW that folks waving wooden sticks around, muttering something -- and shooting deadly bolts of colored light --is impossible.
And, I also KNOW that metal things that look like mutant flashlights can't project a beam of colored light (that stops short in about a meter) that interacts with another such beam (with lotsa spitzensparken, buzzes and hisses) -- as if it were a material, physical object -- are physically impossible.
That doesn't prevent me from enjoying (and laughing at) their descriptions or on-screen depictions.
~~~~~~~~~
It is the weak-minded -- who accept that such imaginary crap might actually exist -- who are in danger of being led astray by it.
Count me out.
That’s not what I meant.
What I meant was—maybe she’s lying about being opposed to black magic.
There’s lying when you admit you’re making it up, and then there’s lying when you pretend it’s true.
Harry Potter is of limits in my home, too. Most people think I’m an extremist. I suppose I am.
Rowling could be a practitioner of black magic behind closed doors.
Or, she could be practicing it without knowing she is.
Bottom line—a major goal of black magic would be to turn people from God and from God’s word.
Exactly right.
Pharaoh’s magicians did real supernatural things to mimic the acts of God that Moses did.
Is what a lot of people call *magic* just tricks and deceptions? Yes. But not all of it and making it look all innocent and fun and games leaves kids open to dabbling in something they have no clue about.
And even the parlor tricks some people do involve deception, something God also hates.
If you think that there isn’t real power in the supernatural and behind much of magic, then you are wide open for deception.
The Harry Potter obsession is just bizzarro. There is a Harry Potter fest in northwest Philadelphia this weekend...tens of thousands of people, maybe more coming in. They are bussing them in from all over. Little witches everywhere! I don’t get it.
I am just relieved that my kids never even had interest. I don’t understand these obsessions with Harry Potter, Star Wars. I cannot comprehend giving this much attention to a freaking movie.
The funny thing is that it never really says why.
There you go again, lol. Projection.
No, Christians, who believe Christ is our Savior have no worries at all.
But those people have Free Will. We all have Free Will.
I wish, and pray, that people find Christ and raise their kids that way. And I do believe so many of our problems in Society relate or are a result of no Faith.
I just don’t believe or think it’s about spiritual demons. Evil people have always existed. They always will. I don’t think or believe books, movies, etc. are the cause of that evil.
There’s many people who have never been exposed to Christ, The Word, but I also don’t believe they are doomed to Hell for eternity due to the fact they were never exposed to The Word.
God wins the war.
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