The Golden Compass: Satanically Inspired Movie

Matthew 10:16 "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. 1)The Golden Compass - A movie to avoid SALT SHAKERS E-NEWS - December 10, 2007 One movie to avoid is The Golden Compass, a new children’s movie starring Nicole Kidman. It was released in the USA on December 7 - it will be released in Australia on December 26, just in time for holiday movie-going. The film has been made by New Line Cinema, part of Time Warner - they also produced the TV show Sex in the City. Numerous emails have been floating around about this film... Although the movie seems to pick up on fantasy themes similar to the Narnia series, this film is based on an anti-Christian book by British atheist Philip Pullman. The Golden Compass is based on the first book of a trilogy called His Dark Materials (the first book was originally called Northern Lights.) Pullman told the Sydney Morning Herald in a 2003 interview “My books are about killing God.” The BBC said it is “a battle against the church and a fight to overthrow God,” whilst The Guardian said the books were “metaphysical fantasies encompassing parallel worlds, the death of God and the fall of man ...”. Snopes, an online website that assesses ‘urban legends’ said the “books follow the adventures of a streetwise girl Lyra who travels through multiple worlds populated by witches, armour-plated bears and sinister ecclesiastical assassins to defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God.” Early reports about the film say that some of the anti-Catholic themes in the books (under the name The Magisterium) have been removed from the film but it is still overtly anti-Christian - and children will be drawn to read the actual books. The second and third books build up the theme of opposing God. Animal spirit Each character in the story has a ‘daemon’ (yes, pronounced ‘demon’). The movie website says “In Lyra’s world, a person’s soul lives on the outside of the body in the form of a daemon - an animal spirit that accompanies them through life”. Even more alarming is the fact that the movie website actually has a section “Find your daemon in our online movies gallery”, encouraging children to select their own ‘daemon’ or ‘animal spirit’. This is a dangerous occult practice and needs to be avoided. Computer Game The Golden Compass has also been produced as an interactive game by Sega - for Nintendo playstations, X-Box, WII and PC. It is being released in time for Christmas - so beware!] Assessment: Watching such films that have an overt message against God give children the wrong message - we should be giving them the right messages. Some Christian websites (eg Christianity Today) have suggested we should be discerning but not fearful - and answer some of the questions asked about the film (see below). I don't support some of their suggestions but I give the link below for your information... Obviously it is up to parents to decide if their children should watch the film - our job is to alert you to what is happening and assess any of the problems we discern. Why not look out for some of the other children's movies - 'The Bee Movie' looks like a much better alternative! References: Perspectives: Does The Golden Compass point to a new atheism? Rebecca Grace (AFA) http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/perspectives_does_the_golden_c.php Snopes report: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp Christianity Today review: http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/reviews/2007/goldencompass.html Christianity Today discussion: http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/commentaries/fearnotthecompass.html Movie website: www.goldencompassmovie.com Games: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/10173/1092/ 2) Beware of "The Golden Compass" SNOPES - Politics>Religion>The Golden Compass - October 23, 2007 The Golden Compass, a fantasy film starring Nicole Kidman that is scheduled to be released into theaters on 7 December 2007, has been drawing fire from concerned Christians. The film is based on Northern Lights (released in the U.S. as The Golden Compass), the first offering in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy of children's books, a series that follows the adventures of a streetwise girl who travels through multiple worlds populated by witches, armor-plated bears, and sinister ecclesiastical assassins to defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Books of the trilogy have sold more than 15 million copies around the world, with Northern Lights winning the Carnegie Medal for Children's Literature in 1995 and in 2007 being awarded the 'Carnegie of Carnegies' for the best children's book of the past 70 years. The Amber Spyglass, the final book of the series, won The Whitbread Prize in 2001, making it the first children's book to do so. The series' author, Philip Pullman (who has described himself as both an agnostic and an atheist), has averred that "I don't profess any religion; I don't think it's possible that there is a God; I have the greatest difficulty in understanding what is meant by the words 'spiritual' or 'spirituality.'" Critics of Pullman's books point to the strong anti-religion and anti-God themes they incorporate, and although literary works are subject to a variety of interpretations, Pullman left little doubt about his books' intended meanings when he said in a 2003 interview that "My books are about killing God" and in a 2001 interview that he was "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief." (In 2002 conservative British columnist Peter Hitchens labeled Pullman "The Most Dangerous Author in Britain" and described him as the writer "the atheists would have been praying for, if atheists prayed.") Bill Donohue, president of The Catholic League, has condemned The Golden Compass as a "pernicious" effort to indoctrinate children into anti-Christian beliefs and has produced a 23-page pamphlet titled The Golden Compass: Unmasked in which he maintains that Pullman "sells atheism for kids." Donohoe told interviewer John Gibson on 9 October 2007 why he believes Christians should stay away from the film: Look, the movie is based on the least offensive of the three books. And they have dumbed down the worst elements in the movie because they don't want to make Christians angry and they want to make money. Our concern is this, unsuspecting Christian parents may want to take their kid to the movie, it opens up December 7th and say, this wasn't troubling, then we'll buy the books. So the movie is the bait for the books which are profoundly anti-Catholic and at the same time selling atheism. Other reviewers, however, have described Pullman's works as being more generally anti-religion rather than specifically anti-Christian or anti-Catholic: In "His Dark Materials," Pullman's criticisms of organized religion come across as anti-authoritarian and anti-ascetic rather than anti-doctrinal. (Jesus isn't mentioned in any of the books, although Pullman has hinted that He might figure in a forthcoming sequel, "The Book of Dust.") His fundamental objection is to ideological tyranny and the rejection of this world in favor of an idealized afterlife, regardless of creed. As one of the novel's pagan characters puts it, "Every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling." http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp 3) The Golden Compass, Philip Pullmans's Books and Movie with "Killing God" Agenda SPIRITUAL RESEARCH NETWORK - By Chris Lawson - November 5, 2007 http://spiritual-research-network.blogspot.com/2007/11/golden-compass-philip-pullmanss-books.html