I am not sure how many this will apply to who visit here, but I feel it is worth mentioning.
In my neck of the woods, the Twilight books and then the movie, were all huge hits. When the books came out, I discovered after the fact, that my son and all his friends – all around 16-18 had read them and was curious to see why books, which were written for the teenage-girl market, were holding these young dudes (as they call each other 
) like this. I got to know a little more, from a blog I chanced upon. It had a letter from a mum of teenage girls, warning parents who were under the impression that this was a ‘Christian’ book that they were very mistaken.
I had never thought that, I had never really had a look at them to be totally honest and thought up until that point that the books were just teenage romantic fiction – I asked my son and a friend if it had any sex in it and his friend answered, “No, but the sensuality was incredible!” It was apparently the way the authoress wrote the romance, that was fascinating for him. Our kids are growing up in a much freer, sexually- orientated ‘in-your-face’ world like I did not, here in South Africa back in the 70′s and 80′s.
Once I had read this mom’s letter, I had a discussion with my son about the content of the books, but he just kind of waved them away as fiction – a great story – a love story – so romantic! Incredible read!
I discussed the way we are presented with things and how they may seem harmless on the outset, but have a greater, darker agenda within.
I also handed this aspect of being a mum over to the Lord as I do with the rest that goes on in my life. I would not manage if I could not do this.
When your child is 17, it is not as easy to remove books or prevent them from reading specific books as you were able to when they were younger or even at times, know what they are reading. We need incredible wisdom from the Lord to know how to handle each and every situation and to understand that the Lord is in the actual day to day living of our lives, not tucked away inside some church somewhere or in a Bible study or to be picked out when we need a touch or a comfort. The Lord uses such situations to allow you to chat about Him with others. He is in absolutely everything – the real dealings we have with others, the choices we make, every move we make, He is there, if we are in Him.
I have also have had to come to understand that the Lord is speaking to my son His way. When He does, and I see the results, It is quite overwhelming. We can guide to the best we can with the Lord’s guiding hand, but there is a time that comes, when you have to sit back and take your hands off and allow the Lord to save your children out of the world, just like many of us were or even possibly for some, out of a church somewhere. We cannot save our children. We can but point them to the Lord Jesus and the Lord does the rest in His good time and pleasure.
To come back to the Twilight books and movie, I came across this really good link and the article written by Eric Barger, who has a discernment ministry. From the little I have read, he is quite sound and he has done a really good write-up in the form of a leaflet regarding the Twilight series and why it is not what Christians should be contemplating on reading and how many have been misled by it. He also has a few testimonies of people who did not realise the problems.
More than ever we need to be awake to the subtleties and cunning of the enemy and I pray that the information that is in the article below might assist someone who is perhaps in a situation where His blessed Truth is needed.
And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. 2 Cor 11:13-14
Bringing Twilight out into the Son Blockbuster books and hit movies confuse evil with good
An excerpt from the write up, by Bill Barger
I will admit that, in comparison, the content of Twilight seems lightweight in the overall scheme of today’s motion picture industry. The trailers previewing other forthcoming features that were shown before the screening of Twilight were frankly shocking and full of occultism and gut-wrenching violence. However, have we stooped so low as to say Twilight, with its vampire heroes and PG-13 rating is somehow more acceptable than the more gruesome R-rated jobs?” Is “not as bad as” somehow a prerequisite, making something OK for our kids? Since when did “the lesser-of-two-evils” become a biblical principle? One needs to be aware that there are Satanists who in real life practice drinking the blood of humans. To many occultists, vampirism is not just a fairy tale but something coveted. No matter how dreamy Hollywood may present Edward Cullen to be or how obsessed some junior higher may become with him, Twilight is nothing short of Satan’s cloak of evil appearing good. Remember, the most deceptive evil is not the most obvious. It is the most subtle. It also induces more people who may be repulsed by overt darkness to begin the journey from right to wrong.
Two Scriptures immediately come to mind here.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. – II Corinthians 11:14
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! – Isaiah 5:20-21
Bless you
Thanks for this post Steph, Jan Markell speaks out against this whole ‘twilight’ thing, quoting Barger {you can read her article here…http://defendingcontending.com/2010/02/22/warning-theres-no-power-in-this-blood/}
There is an 11-year old in my church who talked about watching this movie a couple weeks back. I told him it really wasn’t a ‘Christ honoring’ movie, in that it dealt with vampires, who drink blood. The Bible forbids such. He defended his choice, naturally!
I sent the article by Jan via e-mail to his parents, who attend my church. I haven’t gotten a chance to speak to his mom or dad about this, hopefully I will at some point.
There is so little discernment within the visible church, so much worldliness. Christians defending stuff like this, and ‘Avatar’. Hollywood should not dictate our means of entertainment {what is acceptable and what isn’t}…God’s word should!
Now, more than ever, we need to cleave to Christ, bury ourselves in His word, and cry out for discernment, wisdom, understanding, and perseverance.
I may see you sooner than either of us think! Blessings to you my sister in Christ…
Lyn
Hey dear sister – such a joy and lovely to hear from you again
Trust you are well?
We can justify anything to ourselves can we not? That is why we need to ask the Lord to search our hearts out – only He can know the heart and bring us to correction and give us a willingness to be corrected
Joy of joys!
Yes, we may well indeed see each other sooner rather than later – yaaay!
Hi Steph,
I was looking around a book shop (secular) the other day while my car was being serviced and they had a wall devoted to Teenage Fiction and I was amazed, it seems like 95% of this genre is currently devoted to material such as Twilight. 100′s of different books and book series.
I then happened to listen to a Q and A session with John MacArthur and the Twilight series came up, here is the relevant part of the transcript:-
EMILY: Good evening, Pastor MacArthur, my name is Emily.
JOHN: Hi, Emily.
EMILY: I just have a question. Are you aware of the Twilight Series?
JOHN: Am I aware of the Twilight Series? Yes, I’m living it. (Laughter) This is it. No, I’m not aware…I don’t know what you mean by the Twilight Series.
EMILY: Okay, it’s a book about vampires and werewolves…
JOHN: Oh, one of my favorite subjects, vampires and werewolves.
EMILY: Yes.
JOHN: I don’t think I’ve ever read ten words about vampires and werewolves but anyway….
EMILY: I was just wondering, do you think vampires and werewolves are satanic?
JOHN: Well, first of all, they don’t exist.
EMILY: Right.
JOHN: So do I think it’s satanic? Sure, absolutely. I wouldn’t allow any child at all to get anywhere near that kind of stuff because what it does…they’ve got enough evil in the real world and what it does is create a horrifying unreal world, a fantasy world where you can get away with even worst things.
You know, there are certain confines in the real world? You know what I mean?
EMILY: Yes.
JOHN: In the real world, certain behaviors are acceptable and unacceptable. In the real world, there’s a level of outrage. But in the world of vampires and werewolves, from what I understand, you can fly through the air and bite off somebody’s head and spit it out, or you can morph yourself into some kind of a horrible ghastly creature that can wreak havoc and massacre cities and people. That is evil the way Satan would want it to be in an unrestrained world. But he can’t pull it off in this world because he is restrained. But in the fantasy world, Satan is unrestrained. And I think that’s all that is, that is a fantasy world in which Satan runs unrestrained. And I…I mean, this comes down to video games, this comes down to books, this comes down to movies, anything that takes people into a fantasy world takes them to a place of danger because there are no boundaries there are no limits for behavior in the fantasy world. And that is why we have the kind of behavior in the real world that goes beyond these bounds to a degree that we’ve never had in human….in our lifetime in the past because people finally obliterate the line between the fantasy world and the real world and they turn in to monsters that do horrendous things that even appalls the criminal element in society.
So I think everything needs to be done by a parent to keep your children out of the fantasy world, keep them out of the unreal world (applause). Emily, that was a really good question.
EMILY: Thank you.
JOHN: Thank you. God bless you. Okay, that’s an interesting note. I’ve never been asked that question, Emily. That was good. But the answer was there, wasn’t it? Boy. That’s one of the amazing things about doing what I do, an answer I’ve never heard myself give. That’s not inspiration, it’s just common sense, huh? Okay.
This article originally appeared here at Grace To You
God bless,
Andy
John MacArthur is amazing.
Hi Anderson
THanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. JM’s answers in the phone conversation were real, sound and very practical for the young caller, weren’t they?
Hi Steph,
I listened to the recording and you what ? that answer really amazed me.. I thing Pastor MacArthur has a special wisdom.
And that little girl sounds very sweet. .. very helpful for teens.
His reply was very gentle and kind, wasn’t it?