Disney: going farther into the darkness of the spiritual world

Life Site   January 9, 2020

The Disney Channel will premiere a new cartoon – The Owl House – on Friday, January 10, that promises to introduce young viewers to a world of demons and witchcraft.    

According to Disney, “The series follows self-assured teenage girl Luz, who discovers a portal to another realm where humans are not well-liked, and she must disguise herself in order to fit in at witch school.”  

Disney describes that realm as a “Demon town,” where Luz takes up residence with Eda the Owl Lady, “the most powerful witch on the Boiling Iles.”  

Luz declares, “Someday, I’m going to be just like her.”

“The original pitch (for the show) was ‘girl hangs out with witch in hell,’” voice actor Alex Hirsch told Newsweek.com.   

The show’s art director, Ricky Cometa, explained that when the show’s creator, Dana Terrace, first approached him, “she said that ‘we're trying to make this demon realm a part of Disney.’”' 

“We really wanted to make this demon realm feel like home, and just had to figure out how to do it," said Cometa. 

The writers room for the show is “full of books on witchcraft, witches and spells to take inspiration from,” according to the Newsweek piece.  

The visual design of the show is inspired by various European painters such as Hieronymus Bosch, who was best known for his surrealistic depictions of hell.   

Show creator Terrace, who first became acquainted with religious painters while growing up in Catholic school, said Bosch’s twisted takes on angels and demons would make for a “cool show in that art style.”

Last month, controversy arose over when major retailers such as Walmart, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble offered a book inviting young children to learn how to summon demons. 

Written for 5- to 10-year-olds, A Children’s Book of Demons directs kids to “conjure gentle demons by writing their sigils, which serve as ‘a phone number’ straight to the spirit.” 

“As ridiculous as the ‘demons’ contained in the book may be, there is nothing innocent or fun about even pretending to summon evil spirits,” noted Elizabeth Johnston, aka  Activist Mommy, on her blog. “But who is to say it is pretend? The spirit world is real and is no laughing matter.”

“It is a sign of the degeneration of our society that making use of demons is considered acceptable, and it manifests ignorance of their malice and desire to do us harm,” renowned exorcist, Fr. Chad Ripperger, told LifeSiteNews. “Books such as these ought to be avoided by parents and children, as they pose a possible opening to demons’ influence in their lives, which will only end in affliction and suffering.”

“Parents would be well warned that it is not something ‘silly,’ but contrary to the proper formation of their children,” he continued. “Opening up children to this at a young age will often place the child in a mindset that diabolic influence of demons in his life is not something serious or to be avoided.”

The true character of Lucifer

12How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

17That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?        Isaiah 14:12-17

The dragon and his friends

Lucifer was the third highest being in heaven

But there was one that chose to pervert this freedom. Sin originated with him who, next to Christ, had been most honored of God and who stood highest in power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven. Before his fall, Lucifer was first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. “Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering.... Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Ezekiel 28:12-15.       The great controversy page 493

The terrestial holy ghost

"Lucifer is divine and terrestial Light, 'the Holy Ghost' and 'Satan' at one and the same time." The secret doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky p. 969, (originally published in 1888)

Magnifying the character of Lucifer on TV

Lorena Blas, USA TODAY Life 10:44 a.m. EST January 31, 2016
Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) brings a different kind of devilish character to television. Fox's Lucifer (Mondays, 9 ET/PT) gives us a charming demonic dude who takes up residence in Los Angeles as a nightclub owner. Of course, he's quite the ladies' man, and well, he doesn't want to go back to hell, where his father wants him.
What’s next? Will the son of Satan walk among us? Oh wait, that's Damien, coming to A&E March 7.
But the Devil isn't new to the small screen. USA TODAY takes a look at other recent TV devils.

Lucifer (Supernatural, CW, Wednesdays, 9 ET/PT)
 Lucifer has had multiple faces on the drama series, which started in 2005. In most of his appearances, he's portrayed by Mark Pellegrino. But if you follow the show, you know this baddie also inhabited the characters played by Jared Padalecki and more recently, Misha Collins. It's a devil of a headache to follow.

Super Devil (Family Guy, Fox, Sundays, 9 ET/PT)
 Super Devil's appearance in Season 5 of the animated series is the stuff of legend.  He's got red skin, ram's horns, a flying motorcycle and a jar of marmalade that forces people to commit adultery. Ultimately, he's killed by Brian, the dog, randomly firing a revolver.

Devil Flanders (The Simpsons, Fox, Sundays, 8 ET/PT) 
Devil Flanders on the long-running Fox animated series is Simpsons neighbor Ned Flanders, transformed into Satan. One day, when Homer is out of doughnuts at work, he mutters something about being willing to sell his soul for a doughnut. So Devil Flanders  strikes a deal with Homer,  who thinks he can get out of the deal by not finishing it. Well, complications ensue and after a trial, Marge wins ownership of Homer's soul, beating the devil. Devil Flanders also appears on several "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episodes.

Satan (South Park, Comedy Central)
The animated comedy series has its own demonic spirit. Satan, who here is openly gay, occasionally rises from Hell to South Park to carry out wicked deeds, but he's not completely without compassion. He's had relationships with Saddam Hussein and more recently, Chris. And he has a son named (what else?) Damien.

USAToday

Fox's Tv show portrays satan as a 'good guy'

If late radio legend Paul Harvey were around to update his famous commentary “If I were the Devil,” he might include on his demonic to-do list, “portray Satan as a nice fellow.” Because this is precisely what the Fox network is doing in its new series Lucifer, set to premiere January 25.

Starring actor Tom Ellis as Lucifer, reviewer Valerie David writes that he is a “Brit-accented rogue helping humans while being harassed by angels” and that the show is “redemption for the Devil.” Deadline.com presents the storyline, reporting, “The series follow the story of the original fallen angel. Bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) has abandoned his throne and retired to LA, where he owns Lux, an upscale nightclub. Charming, charismatic and devilishly handsome, Lucifer is enjoying his retirement, indulging in a few of his favorite things — wine, women and song — when a beautiful pop star is brutally murdered outside of Lux.” One thing leads to another, and Lucifer ends up helping the police solve crimes and working on the side of justice.

Not surprisingly, the show has inspired protests. The organization One Million Moms launched a petition urging Fox to scuttle the series, writing that it glorifies “Satan as a caring, likable person in human flesh.” And Natural News’ Ethan A. Huff minced no words, telling us, “The Lucifer character will be offered up to the masses who watch Fox as a likable character with moral and ethical convictions, fulfilling the biblical account of this insidious demonic entity.... It's only fitting, then, that this modern-day show produced by satanists [sic] would portray Lucifer as a type of benevolent god, since this was always his goal — to take the place of the real God. Whether you believe what the Bible says or not, this is the clear-as-day implication of this upcoming show that will soon be watched by presumably millions of people.”

Of course, French poet Charles Baudelaire once wrote "The devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist,” and many today scoff at the idea of Satan as real supernatural being. Even so, note that our culture considers the Devil symbolic of pure evil. As such, perspective is gained by analogizing this matter to something else symbolizing evil in our time: the Nazis.

Imagine a series portraying a “good Nazi” — with a character sporting the typical uniform and a Swastika — and billed as a story of “redemption for the Nazis”? Would we consider this innocuous entertainment or a blurring of the line between good and evil?

And that’s the point. While it seems unlikely that Lucifer’s producers actually are “Satanists,” they assuredly are moral relativists. And such a mindset suffices for evil’s embrace. Apropos to this, an old cartoon in what, if my recollection is accurate, was New Yorker magazine showed the Devil addressing a group of people in Hell and saying (I’m paraphrasing), “There’s no right or wrong down here. It’s whatever works for you.”

Topside in our temporal world, we hear similar messages such as “If it feels good, do it”; occultist Aleister Crowley’s maxim “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”; and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s utterance in Return of the Jedi, “Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” British philosopher Edmund Burke warned that evil would triumph if good men did nothing. But why would we do anything (positive, anyway) if we consider good and evil mere social constructs, changing with “point of view”? And even if we had some vague sense that “ungood” exists, how could we know what to fight for and fight against with good and evil having been so conflated? Why, had Luke Skywalker truly taken Obi-Wan’s relativistic counsel to heart, he might have killed Han Solo and then become Emperor Palpatine’s PR man.

Yet black and white blended to gray is the norm today. Consider, for instance, the CBS program Angel from Hell, which One Million Moms (OMM) tells us is “about a ‘not so good’ guardian angel” and contains “blasphemous content including crude humor, foul language and distasteful dialogue.” In addition it shows the “angel” using profanity in front of children and “then joking that she never promised to be G-rated. The premiere also included the angel hiding liquor in the children's clothes and saying, 'My booze!' followed by a little boy saying, ‘That's so cool!’" writes OMM.  

Or just contrast the original film Cape Fear (1962) with its remake (1991). About a lawyer targeted by a violent criminal he once sent to prison, the original portrays the attorney (Gregory Peck) as a truly virtuous man in the crosshairs of a wicked and distasteful miscreant, well played by Robert Mitchum. In the new version, however, the lawyer (Nick Nolte) is, frankly, a dirtbag. Cheating on his wife, he has a tumultuous, unappealing family life and is generally a weak man, the father every boy neither respects nor wants. In contrast, the criminal (Robert De Niro) is larger than life: He’s clever, smart, and exhibits superhuman mental strength, not even blinking at excruciating pain. In other words, the movie portrays no hero. And presented with a pathetic weak man and a powerful, cool super-villain, whom would teen boys be more likely to emulate? Hey, remember, you can’t really be “good,” anyway, because “good” is a social construct, just a “point of view.” But “power”? That’s certainly real — and alluring.

This is precisely the opposite of the moral training youths received for millennia and is frighteningly dangerous. It was always heroes who were imbued with superhuman qualities, including superhuman virtue (insofar as the civilization in question understood it), an example of such being Lucas McCain of the old show The Rifleman. And in presenting a strong, admirable character whom every boy would want to be and who was the embodiment of virtue, children would develop an “erotic [emotional] attachment” to virtue, as Plato put it, long before they were capable of understanding its moral components in their abstract form.  

Today we’ve turned this on its head. By eliminating virtuous characters and portraying strong, manly ones who are the embodiment of vice, we inculcate an erotic attachment to evil. And “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree” — erotic attachments formed early usually last for life.

One thing Lucifer’s producers did get right is their casting of the main character as “hot as Hell,” as they put it, for the Bible tells us Lucifer is “perfect in beauty.” And therein lies a lesson for all: Beware those who would seduce with beauty, power, money, eloquence, sex — and all the other things that make for great Hollywood fare.       Thenewamerican

The five "I's" of lucifer vs the five "I's" of Christ

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Isaiah 14:12-15  Biblehub

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20  Biblehub

The snares of satan and his secrets plans agains the people of God

"As the people of God approach the perils of the last days, Satan holds earnest consultation with his angels as to the most successful plan of overthrowing their faith. He sees that the popular churches are already lulled to sleep by his deceptive power. By pleasing sophistry and lying wonders he can continue to hold them under his control. Therefore he directs his angels to lay their snares especially for those who are looking for the second advent of Christ, and endeavoring to keep all the commandments of God."

"Says the great deceiver: 'We must watch those who are calling the attention of the people to the Sabbath of Jehovah; they will lead many to see the claims of the law of God; and the same light which reveals the true Sabbath, reveals also the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, and shows that the last work for mans salvation is now going forward. Hold the minds of the people in darkness till that work is ended, and we shall secure the world and the church also."

"The Sabbath is the great question which is to decide the destiny of souls. We must exalt the sabbath of our creating [Sunday]. We have caused it to be accepted by both worldlings and church-members; now the church must be led to unite with the world in its support. We must work by signs and wonders to blind their eyes to the truth, and lead them to lay aside reason and the fear of God, and follow custom and tradition."

"I will influence popular ministers to turn the attention of their hearers from the commandments of God. That which the Scriptures declare to be a perfect law of liberty shall be represented as a yoke of bondage. The people accept their ministers explanations of Scripture, and do not investigate for themselves. Therefore, by working through the ministers I can control the people according to my will."

"But our principal concern is to silence this sect of Sabbath-keepers. We must excite popular indignation against them. We will enlist great men and worldly-wise men upon our side, and induce those in authority to carry out our purposes. Then the sabbath which I have set up shall be enforced by laws, the most severe and exacting. Those who disregard them shall be driven out from the cities and villages, and made to suffer hunger and privation. When once we have the power, we will show what we can do with those who will not swerve from their allegiance to God. We led the Romish Church to inflict imprisonment, torture, and death upon those who refuse to yield to her decrees, and now that we are bringing the Protestant churches and the world into harmony with this right arm of our strength, we will finally have a law to exterminate all who will not submit to our authority. When death shall be made the penalty of violating our sabbath, then many who are now ranked with commandment-keepers will come over to our side."

"But before proceeding to these extreme measures, we must exert all our wisdom and subtlety to deceive and ensnare those who honor the true Sabbath. We can separate many from Christ by worldliness, lust, and pride. They may think themselves safe because they believe the truth, but the indulgence of appetite or the lower passions, which will confuse judgment and destroy discrimination, will cause their fall."

"Go, make the possessors of lands and money drunk with the cares of this life. Present the world before them in its most attractive light, that they may lay up their treasure here, and fix their affections upon earthly things. We must do our utmost to prevent those who labor in Gods cause from obtaining means to use against us. Keep the money in our own ranks. The more means they obtain, the more they will injure our kingdom by taking from us our subjects. Make them care more for money than for the upbuilding of Christs kingdom and the spread of the truths we hate, and we need not fear their influence; for we know that every selfish, covetous person will fall under our power, and will finally be separated from Gods people."

"Through those that have a form of godliness, but know not the power, we can gain many who would otherwise do us great harm. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God will be our most effective helpers. Those of the class who are apt and intelligent will serve as decoys to draw others into our snares. Many will not fear their influence, because they profess the same faith. We will thus lead them to conclude that the requirements of Christ are less strict than they once believed, and that by conformity to the world they would exert greater influence with worldlings. Thus they will separate from Christ; then they will have no strength to resist our power, and erelong they will be ready to ridicule their former zeal and devotion."

"Until the great decisive blow shall be struck, our efforts against commandment-keepers must be untiring. We must be present at all their gatherings. In their large meetings especially our cause will suffer much, and we must exercise great vigilance, and employ all our seductive arts to prevent souls from hearing the truth and becoming impressed by it."

"I will have upon the ground, as my agents, men holding false doctrines mingled with just enough truth to deceive souls. I will also have unbelieving ones present, who will express doubts in regard to the Lords messages of warning to His church. Should the people read and believe these admonitions, we could have little hope of overcoming them. But if we can divert their attention from these warnings, they will remain ignorant of our power and cunning, and we shall secure them in our ranks at last. God will not permit His words to be slighted with impunity. If we can keep souls deceived for a time, Gods mercy will be withdrawn, and He will give them up to our full control."

(Spirit of Prophecy, Vol.4, Ch.27)