Saturday, November 19, 2011

Twilight Obssessed


2Co 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.
2Co 11:3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
2Co 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.


Danger! It matters what you read--and see!

Excerpts from Berit Kjos's article on the Twilight phenom:

Quote:

Fantasy and imagination can transform beliefs and values more quickly than reality. Many of our readers defend their love for occult entertainment with this standard justification: "I know the difference between reality and fantasy." But it doesn't matter! Know it or not, persuasive fiction and virtual experience can change minds and plant lasting memories more effectively than actual experience!

God tells us to "abhor what is evil" and "cling to what is good." (Romans 12:9) When today's youth love the emotional thrills of popular occultism, they are desensitizing their hearts and minds to its evil. They are turning God's truth upside down. And they -- with a little help from the marketing industry -- are already turning America's values upside down. It all fits the plans of our globalist leaders and that old serpent in Genesis.

"You can only have a new society," wrote Marilyn Ferguson in The Aquarian Conspiracy, "if you change the education of the younger generation."[5] That process demands that people reject God's wise boundaries and "abhor" what He calls good. That change is well under way![6]

"You love evil more than good...." Psalm 52:3

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.... Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" Isaiah 5:20-21

4. Twilight's feel-good occultism brings "cognitive dissonance." Committed Christians (in contrast to cultural Christians) face a form of mental and moral confusion when confronted with incompatible values. Since Twilight's worldview clashes with Biblical Truth, readers are forced to make a choice: Will they heed home-taught values or the tantalizing message in the books and movie?

Many choose compromise. This moral "dissonance" prompts Christians to modify their values in order to resolve the conflict. After all, they don't want to lose their friends or their group's approval. Yet the only way to God's victory is willingness to take a stand on Truth -- whatever the cost.

"...the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you, be watchful in all things..."" 2 Timothy 4:2-5

The consequence of compromise is a new belief system. "These books are so addictive -- kind of like drugs," wrote a visitor. "If they can captivate Christians who should know better, just think what they can do to non-Christian readers."

Redefining evil. Few Twilighters see their new passion as evil. After all, Edward is a relatively "good" vampire, isn't he? Though he lusts for Bella's blood, he restrains his craving. Other vampires (and some of the werewolves) in the saga are downright murderous, but he's a good guy! Isn't he? Besides, the story has spawned a noble mission.

According to an article titled "Twilight fan knows it's not just vampires who need blood," college freshman, Kayla Urban, is "obsessed with vampires." She is also a blood donor "fixated on a blood drive" in her county. To her, the blend of "vampire-loving Twilighters and the need for more blood donations seemed a logical match."[8] Hers is a noble mission, as are many collective service projects these days. It all depends on who sets the standards for right and wrong -- God or man! While God's standard is like an anchor in a storm, man's values shift with the winds. For--

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9

Since the beginning, human nature sought alternatives to God and His guidelines. Spiritual deception gave rise to vast occult belief systems and unceasing manipulation by the forces of darkness. Thus pagan sacrifices -- a devastating corruption of God's perfect plan for His people -- became the norm in all parts of the inhabited world. These notes may help explain God's ban on "fellowship with... darkness...[and] idols," including blood-thirsty vampires.[9]

End Quote. More here.


Twilight's author Stephenie Meyer, a Mormon.

In an article at The Observer by Dan Glaister and Sarah Falconer, it says in part about Meyer:

Quote:

After nine rejections, her manuscript was noticed by an agent at Writers House in New York. From there it was a precipitous journey to book fairs, multi-million-dollar deals, a movie of Twilight, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and due out in December, and an obscure kind of celebrity. 'To be honest, I feel like I was guided through that process,' Meyer told an interviewer in 2005, after publication of Twilight.

The guide she was referring to was not her New York agent Jodi Reamer, or Elizabeth Eulberg, 'director of global publicity for Stephenie Meyer' at her US publisher Little, Brown. Rather, her guide is a more lofty being: Meyer is a Mormon and, while her books avoid direct mention of religion, her faith informs her work. Interviewed on amazon.com, she declared that the Book of Mormon was the book 'with the most significant impact on [her] life'. Accordingly, her books, in the words of one critic, are full of sexual tension but remain 'as decorous as Jane Austen'.

The intersection of vampirism and Mormonism has caused some comment among other members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 'Some Mormons, especially those who know me, are surprised by my choice of topics,' she told the Mormon arts and culture website motleyvision.com. '"Vampires?" they say, with a critical lilt to their voices. Then they add self-righteously, "I don't read those kinds of books." I hasten to explain to them that it's not like that. Unconsciously, I put a lot of my basic beliefs into the story. Free agency is a big theme, as is sacrifice ... Even after I explain all that, I still have LDS friends and extended family who look at me funny.'

End quote.

More Mormon influences in Meyer's work, here. Excerpts:

Quote:

If the media cannot get the major facts of Meyer’s own story straight, it is not surprising that journalists have missed a good deal of the theological underpinnings of her work. When Mormon themes are mentioned at all, they are explicitly tied to sexual abstinence to the exclusion of all else. That is not to say that sexuality is not a hugely important element of Twilight, or indeed of all vampire fiction: vampirism is nearly always a literary stand-in for eroticism, and falling in love with a vampire is the pinnacle of forbidden fruit.6 But the media’s focus on the steamy but restrained sexuality of the Twilight series, equating “Mormonism” with the fact that Bella and Edward do not have intercourse until marriage, misses the richest connections between LDS theology and Meyer’s writing. At least the Atlanticrecognized this tendency and grieved it: in Caitlin Flanagan’s brilliant article about the Twilight saga’s commercial appeal, she noted that, although every reviewer had made mention of Meyer’s Mormonism, “none knows what to do with it, and certainly none can relate it to the novel.”7

Meyer has publicly declared the Book of Mormon to be the book that has made the most significant impact on her life. A careful reading of her fiction attests to the reality of this statement; it is not just window dressing or pious platitude. Meyer’s theology is impressionistic and not systematic, and it is always embedded within story—very much like in the Book of Mormon itself—yet it is clearly discernible.

One of the most important theological aspects of the Twilight series is its emphasis on what the Book of Mormon would term overcoming the “natural man” (Mosiah 3:19). This phrase crops up throughout LDS scripture as a reflection on sin and redemption.

End quote.

Of course, the LDS and Book of Mormon have no idea who Jesus Christ of Scripture really is, nor about the sin nature or natural man and how to overcome it. LDS has a false Jesus that is NOT eternally God the Son, nor is their gospel that of Scripture and therefore LDS is utterly condemned by God (Gal. 1:7-9). For specifics on why Mormonism is absolutely condemned by God, go to Let Us Reason ministries.

Twilight "moms"--mothers who themselves are obsessed with Twilight to the point of neglecting their homes and wishing their husbands were vampires. (Also go here.)

"It's just so cool that I'm not the only 30+ mom and wife in love with fictional underage vampires and werewolves."

~Stephenie Meyer

Gal 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Gal 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

2Co 6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
2Co 6:15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
2Co 6:16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
2Co 6:17 "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.





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