Posted on 08/18/2009 11:43:02 AM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Twilight - Giving heed to fables…
By: Pastor Bill Randles
Why “Twilight” is spiritually fatal, and what it shows us about the state of
Christian youth.
“…and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:4)
If someone would have told me 25 years ago, that one day a popular series of “vampire romance” books would be accepted and promoted by evangelical ministries, I wouldn’t have been able to believe it. That’s why I was shocked to read this article by Christian documentarian and researcher, Caryl Matrisciana and Paul Villanueva, http://carylmatrisciana.com/x2/content/view/81/1/ which documents the glowing reviews of the occult book series by evangelical publications such as: Campus Life, Focus on the Family, Christianity Today, Christian Teen, and Christian Stay at Home Moms Magazine. All gave glowing testimonials, and some even suggested that the "Twilight” series could become the basis for Bible discussions and studies!
My purpose isn’t to merely echo Caryl Matrisciana and Paul Villanueva's excellent article, exposing the occult roots of this book series. Rather, I have a burden to show you why I believe that this literature could have a completely soul deadening effect on those who are fascinated by its dark vision.
First of all, consider what the ‘vampire’ myth really is - nothing less than an obscene parody of the precious gift of God - which is eternal life through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and by the gift of His blood, offered to God for us. To God blood is sacred, those who drink it are an utter abomination to Him, because of what blood represents. We obtain eternal life by accepting in faith our share of the offering of the blood of Jesus, termed precious by God, ”…As of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:19)
In the pagan myth, ‘vampires’ are those who obtain ‘immortality’ by sucking other’s blood. The ‘immortality’ they gain, is literally a damned existence. They live in the night, they cannot endure light, they feed on the blood of innocence. Far from just a harmless thrill, Vampirism is the basis for all sorts of pagan spiritualities. Blood drinking and blood sacrifice is an everyday reality among animists all over the world.
The vampire fable is nothing less than an all out assault on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Consider this, a young person can go to a theater on a Saturday evening and vicariously fall in love with a vampire, and his 'coven'(family), and then go to church on Sunday morning and partake of the Lord's supper. That same person on Saturday evening could conceivably root for a girl to forfeit her own mortal soul, to be the lover of a vampire, and the next morning go to church and eat the bread and drink the cup of eternal life! Can one eat at both the Lord's table and the table of demons? Did you know that this book series was 'given' to a Mormon woman in a dream, and that she was visited in a subsequent dream by the vampire figure?
“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” (I Cor 10:21)
Ah but Pastor it is only a movie! Lighten up! But this is more than a movie - it is a pagan myth which is a perversion of the only Gospel that can save us. The movie presents vampires as being attractive, in fact so attractive that the young lady in the story is willing to become a vampire to be with her lover. In order to be with her vampire lover, she submits to being an eternally damned soul! This movie skillfully plays on the emotions in such a way that the viewer pulls for the mortal young woman to be with her “lover”, a 110-year-old vampire in the form of an attractive and well-mannered teen.
What the popularity of this film, even among evangelical youth, says about the state of the church is that we have forgotten what we once knew very well. That is, you can’t fill your mind with all of this paganism without injuring your relationship with God. We used to know that it is very possible to “lose your soul”, to so jade ourselves by constant, undiscerning exposure to worldliness, that we render ourselves unable to pray, to hear the Word, or to live for God.
We once knew that to voluntarily expose ourselves to blasphemy and sexual sin - not to mention something as blatantly spiritual as Vampirism - was something to be shunned, avoided, that it was soul deadening, and injurious to our Christian walk.
Another thing the popularity of this movie shows us is the loss of the sense of the sacred among Christians. I believe in gospel liberty. We don’t need Christian guru’s telling us what books not to read and what movies to avoid, we have the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, Paul warned the Christians in Ephesus, to:
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11)
Where is the sense of the sacred? The idea of the sacred is that there are some things in life that are ‘other’, they are above us, they are not to be ‘profaned’, for they are above us. For example, marriage is sacred, so is sexuality, as well as life itself. The purity of children is to be held sacred, that is why there is a special warning to any who would cause them to stumble.
The Gospel itself is sacred. I believe that “Twilight” is a direct assault on the gospel, an obscene parody of the good news of salvation, the salvation we obtain by partaking of the precious blood of Jesus, offered as a sacrifice for us. Jesus is the one who has brought “life and immortality to light” through the Gospel. I don’t believe it is possible to read or enjoy “Twilight” without spiritual defilement.
Of course we must remember, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…for the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sins.” (I John 1:7-9)
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I don’t understand the phenomenon, probably because I’m older than 18. That said, reading the books hasn’t harmed my kids’ faith at all. They can tell the difference between fantasy fiction and reality. And they thought the movie was pretty lame.
“and observing that The Vampire myth is an inversion of the christian gospel.”
It’s much older than that. It stems from the Noahadic and (in turn) Jewish prohibition against drinking “life blood.”
Essentially all cultures have a vampire myth of some kind.
>>As for Twilight, 3 of my kids have read the books and all have seen the first movie. I’ve also read the books and saw the first movie.<<
Honestly, if one of my girls wanted to read them, I would plug and chug through them and then discuss after.
I heard from another mother that the sex scene from the first book was deleted by the author (an LDS) lady before publication. Is that true?
The guy also will not sleep with her until marriage, right? Something to be said for that.
By christian gospel I mean everything from Genesis three on up to Calvary,ie salvation by substitutionary blood atonement. “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood” Revelation 1:5
By christian gospel I mean everything from Genesis three on up to Calvary,ie salvation by substitutionary blood atonement. “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood” Revelation 1:5
>>I figure I read them as a teen and turned out just fine<<
Oh and I read those books as a teen and I didn’t turn out fine.
I looked for years for the “Perfect” guy. At 30 I realized there wasn’t one. Luckily at 34 my DH decided I was okay.
I strongly object to sparkling vampires.
How is the “Vampire Myth” different from “Lord of the Rings” or “Superman” or “King Arthur”? Not saying you are wrong, just curious about your reasoning.
I make my husband watch those movies because I can’t find any interest at all to keep me watching.
I have read the first book, and part of the second. This line that you have presented in your article:
The movie presents vampires as being attractive, in fact so attractive that the young lady in the story is willing to become a vampire to be with her lover. In order to be with her vampire lover, she submits to being an eternally damned soul!
is dealt with in the book. The young woman indeed does want to become a vampire, but her vampire boyfriend will not give her that "gift" because he doesn't want her to lose her soul.
While Bella is unaware of the serious eternal consequences of her desire, the vampire family that she becomes involved with are very aware and do not want that for her.
Did you know those facts?
I don’t see why they’re fascinated by it either...3 of mine really like the book series and the first movie. And one was also really into the LOTR book and movie series.
Thank you Buckeye, a timely warning. If you read the Matrisciana article I linked , you will see that the Author of these books is a Mormon who wrote them after a vivid dream of a vampire telling her the story. She says when she completed the first book, the ‘vampire’ visited her in her dreams, chiding her that she didn’t get the story quite right. In other words the books were written out of an occult experience.
Thanks Anitus, I was aware of those facts, and am also aware that she eventually takes the plunge. I also realize that this is mere fantasy.
As an aside, lot of the “vampires” of the modern iterations of the myth are not anti-Christian, in that they don’t recoil from the sight of the Cross or burn when exposed to Holy Water, whatever.
More of a science-fiction mutant than a demon, so to speak.
It’s a subtle point, but very important.
The same was true in the Harry Potter books; when you got to the end of why they were “wizards,” it turns out they were genetic mutants and it looked like what we call magic.
Spiritually, I don’t know. From the point of view of male/female relationships, creepy. The author thinks stalking and obsession is romantic. If I had a daughter I would make sure to properly ridicule the novel. Another thing, Bella(the female protagonist) is only interested in Edward(vampire) because of his handsome face and hot body.
From a reviewer who said it better than me on amazon.com: “And that’s what bothers me the most about this book and the message that it sends to all of its rabid readers: the importance of beauty. Not inner beauty, either. Edward and his wonderful vampire family (all of whom are good because they don’t feed on humans) are described over and over again in all of their wonderful physical qualities. They’re cardboard characters for us to admire. Bella, of course, doesn’t think of herself as beautiful, but the fact that she has four other boys in addition to the vampire falling all over themselves to please her begs to differ. I was willing to forgive the beauty of the vampires as a trait they acquire when they’re turned, but a few others turn up later that are described as “nondescript” and ordinary-looking. And of course, they turn out to be the bad guys. Really, Stephanie Meyer?”
I don’t know if the first book had a sex scene prior to publication and then deleted. The first book called Twilight does not have a sex scene nor does the movie. Breaking Dawn, the 4th book, they have sex but they’re married and the book isn’t descriptive as far as the sex scene goes.
Except who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys" in Twilight?
The vampires who drink human blood are bad.
The vampires who drink animal blood are good! Even the 110 year old vampire who preys upon an emotional teenaged wreck, sneaking into her house to watch her sleep, listening to her friends thoughts in order to spy on her, and taking her through this, "I could kill you Bella, I'm so dangerous Bella, but I just can't stop myself Bella!" nonsense.
Yeah, he's the good guy alright...
Oh he must love you for that!
Sounds like a fantastic allegory for an alcoholic who fights to rid himself of his condition.
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