Should Parents Allow Their Children to Read Harry Potter Books? No Way!
- Booknerdian
- Feb 17
- 9 min read
Updated: Jul 30
Have your kids asked for permission to read the Harry Potter series, or have they assumed you don't care what they're reading, as long as they are reading?
Don't kid yourself--Harry Potter books aren't just another engaging series under the fantasy genre. They are witchcraft training manuals, and if you care anything about your child's soul, it's imperative you redirect them to books that won't jeopardize their spiritual well-being.
Harry Potter Books Are Marketed to All Ages
Have you been to an elementary Scholastic book fair recently? If not, you'd be shocked to see how many books targeted toward grade school children revolve around witchcraft (and gender-bending nonsense). Don't assume books offered through left-leaning public-school systems have been properly vetted.
Scholastic's witchcraft-themed booklist is extensive. The younger the reader, the cuter the witch on the cover, all with the same aim--luring your kids away from God by fascinating them with the occult.
No series has beckoned children to the dark realm more than Harry Potter. Kids who love Harry Potter really love Harry Potter! J.K. Rowling is the first billionaire author, which attests to the unfortunate success of her witchcraft empire.
Since so many young people are hooked, your kids will likely gravitate to the book series in order to fit in and will feel awkward and disconnected from their peers if they aren't allowed to read the books and join the discussion.
The book addiction and frenzied allegiance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is fueled by the franchise's marketing machine. In addition to books and movies, Harry Potter messaging is everywhere: museum exhibits, video games, board games, magic wands, apparel, cups, calendars, umbrellas, necklaces, theme park adventures at Universal Orlando Resort, and more. Young children, teens, and parents alike find themselves caught up in "spellbinding" world of Harry Potter.
Why Are Harry Potter Books Bad?
Even parents of faith downplay the negative impact of Harry Potter books, passing them off as mere fantasy and dismissing biblical doctrine that would suggest otherwise.
Logic dictates that if a book is truly insidious, people would gravitate away from it, not toward it. Why does the opposite occur with the Harry Potter series?
Make no mistake, Harry Potter books entice people towards the occult like a human trafficker bribes kids into a white van with candy. God created us in His image. God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit comprise the trinity. Similarly, we are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. Some say that God created each of us with a God-sized hole, and only when we allow Him to fill it will we ever feel satisfied. For those driven by a spiritual hunger who haven't experienced the salvation Jesus offers through the cross, they turn to other sources for spiritual fulfillment.
Why would anyone knowingly embrace the occult? Marcia Montenegro, a former occultist who found Jesus, shared in an article in Christian Research Journal that those in the occult don't view it as evil. Here are her key takeaways on why some find the occult attractive:
People see occult practices as a journey in self-knowledge that leads to personal and spiritual growth.
The occult allows practitioners to harness healing energies.
People want to know things others don't by learning and practicing astrology, magic rituals, and numerology.
Provide your kids with biblical training, not witchcraft. This easy bible trivia game is a great tool for families. Click image to view on Amazon.
However, Montenegro points out that over time, the occult feeds the "fallen nature," and over time, imprisons those involved ever more deeply and fiercely on all levels—mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual. This happens because demonic power is the underlying force behind the occult, and the aim of evil is to ensnare souls away from God.
What Does the Bible Say About Witchcraft?
The bible is the source of absolute truth. Even if you don't accept scripture as the ultimate authority, it doesn't change the fact that God spoke it, and it remains absolute truth whether you believe it or not. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 clearly conveys God's command concerning the occult:
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.
The occult practices forbidden by God, therefore, include tarot cards, astrology, numerology, palm reading, crystal balls, psychic abilities, initiating contact with the spirits or the dead, and sorcery, which is the attempt to bring about changes in reality through access to invisible powers or forces.
The Harry Potter series sensationalizes occult practices condemned by sound biblical doctrine.
Knowing this, why would anyone continue to voraciously devour the Harry Potter series?
We find the answer in I Corinthians 2:14:
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
In other words, people who enjoy Harry Potter books are spiritually blind to the evil that fuels their fascination and intrigue with the occult. They reject God and therefore dismiss biblically based objections as silly and unapplicable to them. They place their own opinions above God's authority.
Consider Acts 19--God was doing miraculous things through Paul while he was ministering in Ephesus. The sons of Sceva, the Jewish high priest, tried to imitate God's power by exorcising demons in the name of Jesus. The demons spoke and acknowledged that they knew Jesus and Paul, but they did not know the sons of Sceva, so the demons leaped on them and overpowered them. In other words, the devil knows whether you have Jesus or not, and if you don't, you're in trouble if you try to tangle with him!
Everyone who heard about this was afraid and began to accept Christ. As they did so, verse 19 says, And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. As a result, the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. We learn that some people possessed books filled with magic spells, like you find in Harry Potter, and when they realized how evil these books were, they destroyed them. The Word opened their eyes to the power of God, not the pseudo power offered through the satanic realm.
The question is, do you want your children to be trained in witchcraft practices as described in the Harry Potter series, or would they be better off learning the things of God?
No parent wants their child to be led astray or harmed. For this reason, we train them to avoid drugs, drinking and driving, and sexual immorality. We guard our kids against human traffickers and shady characters in our communities. We keep our doors locked and arm them with phones and emergency contacts. We encourage them to make good friend choices and avoid the wrong crowd. Our chief concern is the physical and emotional safety of our kids, but what about their spiritual safety? We should be even more vigilant when it comes to guarding their souls and training them up in the way they should go spiritually (Proverbs 22:6).
Some parents scoff at the notion that their kids might join Wicca or some other coven as a result of reading Harry Potter. They are right. Few actually do pursue a life of sorcery for themselves. However, I Timothy 4:1 warns, Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons. Look no further than Harry Potter to learn about doctrines of demons.
Harry Potter continues to initiate young readers into the world of witchcraft, and they are enchanted at the thought of possessing powers like the characters they read about in the series. It's a trick. Satan is baiting them like cheese set in a trap for mice, and parents willingly look the other way.
Parents Are Deceived About Harry Potter Books
Parents know better than to feed their children a steady diet of junk food or let them spend hours each day on screens, yet some lazy parents do it anyway. The same parents fail to vet the books their kids are reading.
Some parents argue the Harry Potter series is about good overcoming evil with powerful underlying themes of friendship, loyalty, and bravery. While those themes may be included, truths that are sprinkled with lies are ultimately lies, not the truth. The witchcraft in Harry Potter books is the lie, and it eclipses anything good about the story with its pure evil.
The devil has been playing the same trick from the beginning of time, and people continue to fall for it. It started in the Garden of Eden. Satan told Eve she could eat the apple from the forbidden tree, insisting it wouldn't hurt her. He claimed that God simply didn't want her to know as much as Him, and she chose to believe the lie over the truth. Harry Potter is the apple, and it's your responsibility to make sure your kids don't take a bite.
Other parents argue that their kids were non-readers until they stumbled upon the Harry Potter series. Now, their kids are suddenly voracious readers--of Harry Potter only. Anyone who has read the series vouches for its compelling powers, but this attests only to the seducing power of evil, as outlined in I Timothy 4:1. The love of reading is one of the best pursuits you can inspire in your kids, but if you allow them to become hooked on the wrong books, it can lead to spiritual death.
Harry Potter books are just fantasy, many proclaim in their defense. When it comes to fantasies, the Bible clarifies what things we should be thinking about in Philippians 4: 8:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Witchcraft is Satan's imitation of God's power. Just as no human can perform the miraculous without the power of God working through them, no one can practice magic and spells without the power of the demonic working through them. God's power is life-giving; the devil's power is death-giving. God's power leads to freedom; Satan's power leads to bondage and destruction.
The books you approve your kids to read leave an imprint on their psyche. Do you want to brand them with the demonic?
Moderates on this issue advise waiting until your kids are older to introduce the Harry Potter series. Is there really a "right age" to do something harmful to your children? Is it okay to introduce narcotics to them when they are 18 rather than 12? Is it okay for your kids to view pornography at age 21 but not 15? The answer should be obvious.
Offer Alternatives to Harry Potter
If fantasy is what your kids crave, give them healthy choices. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien are Christian alternatives to stories about good triumphing over evil, but they are devoid the demonic element. Instead of satiating your younger kids with magic presented in the famed Magic Treehouse series, offer them adventure through the Christian substitute, the Imagination Station series.
When your kids are hungry, you don't feed them poison. Likewise, don't let them feast on spiritual poison when it comes to the books they consume.
What if your kids read the Harry Potter books when you're not watching? They don't like being the only ones in class who have never read Harry Potter. It makes them feel weird and uncool--the literary outcasts of elementary and middle school. If you have built a solid, Christian foundation in your home and your kids trust your judgment and respect your example when it comes to making safe choices for them, it shouldn't be an issue. Your kids look to you for guidance in discerning right from wrong. Talk it through and keep aiming them in the right direction, and they will continue to grow in independence and strong character and eventually learn to choose the right path for themselves.
Should Parents Allow Their Children to Read Harry Potter Books? No Way! Set the Right Example
Are you modeling the right behavior for your kids when it comes to the books you read and the movies you watch? If you are a Christian parent who loves Harry Potter movies and books yourself, don't be a hypocrite. Your kids won't respect your counsel when you don't follow your own advice. Furthermore, if you are a Christian parent who sees nothing wrong with this series, you have a serious problem. You are either biblically illiterate or you have drifted so far from God that you no longer feel the prick of conviction from the Holy Spirit who guides you in all truth (John 16:13).
Something isn't right just because everyone else is doing it. Harry Potter books are witchcraft training manuals disguised as entertainment. They open doors to the occult. It's your job as a good parent to make sure the door stays closed.
Should Parents Allow Their Children to Read Harry Potter Books? No way!
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