Twilight?

I love to read. You may say "Erin, love is a strong word. Surely you mean like." Well yeah, I do. But growing up the characters in my books were my best friends. They entertained me when I moved to a new place, ensuring that I was never lonely. Even now I can lose myself for hours in a good book, not emerging until the real world insists on stepping back in. So when new books come out, I have a difficult time not reading them. 

I'll be totally transparent: I have read every Harry Potter book and seen every movie. And I really didn't think it was that huge of a deal until I saw this video. Now I know it's about Twilight, but I believe the principal is the same. Witchcraft and inappropriate relationships are romanticized. We see people in both books using the "dark arts" or even the "good" spells in every day life like there is no consequence. But, sadly, there is. 

I remember when I was little and the first Harry Potter books first became popular. I was going into the 5th or 6th grade and all the kids were so obsessed with the books. And of course I was the one uncool kid whose parents wouldn't let them read the books. But there was one incident which I pushed to the back of my mind which should never have left the forefront: a girl in our church got caught practicing the spells and trying to make things really happen. A girl MY age. That shook me, but not as much as it should have. I pleaded with my parents to read the books, but they wisely said no. Eventually I read them all when I got into college, ignoring the Holy Spirit inside of me, who was telling me that this wasn't right.

So HOW is this about Twilight?! My Junior year of college the first Twilight movie came out. I was living in a very small apartment complex with my friends and everyone else was going to see the movie, so I went along. I hadn't read any of the books, but I wanted to at least see what all the hype was about before just totally dismissing it. When I came out of the movie I was MAD. Everyone I was with was depressed because we were all single and they wanted to be vampires and live forever to find the same true love. REALLY?? Do you know what a vampire is?! A vampire is a being who has no soul! They give up their very souls to be blood-sucking MONSTERS.

Do NOT let the enemy fool you into thinking that you can just give up a piece of your soul to find true happiness and it will all be worth it in the end. Why on earth anyone would idolize this trash is beyond me! It is not just a story! It's an obsession! I applaud my parents for taking the stand they did with Harry Potter, even though they weren't the most popular people in my book. And I would encourage other parents to do the same. Let me be really honest with those of you who may be thinking it's easier to give in: What's more important to you, to have your child hate you for a little while, or to willingly give your child over to the crap and lies of the devil? To say "sure, play around with witchcraft. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?" THEY COULD BELIEVE THAT STUFF AND GO TO HELL! No, not just because they read a book. Because they read a book, which influenced their choices, which lead to walking away from everything you're trying to raise them in.

If you've ever read the books, I am NOT saying you're bound for hell. I'm saying that it's garbage that God didn't intend for your life. Put down the trash. Stop idolizing the things of the enemy. Get wrapped up in the only unfailing love there is. Who cares if you can't read what everyone else is reading? Get up and pray for someone! See someone who was paralyzed stand up and walk! I promise you it's 100 times more awesome than that other fake stuff the enemy is trying to throw your way.