As a Christian myself and one that is surrounded by scientific studies and did a proper-though-short 10,000 words research for Masters degree, being able to analyse research to judge validity and reliability of claims, such rumours really annoyed me. I'm accused that I could be biased against a 30-minute video because I refuted it without viewing it for the full length as I was busy. So now that I have cleared most of my work, I'll address this.
HAS CHRISTIANITY DEVIATED FROM WHAT IT SHOULD BE?
When I was in Sunday School, I was taught that Christianity is the Truth and it is not superstition. I was also taught 10 commandments to hold them dearly. One of them was "you shall not give false testimony against your neighbour" (Exodus 20:16). Today, Christianity is different from that when I was young. Obama was accused by one speaker even to be the Anti-Christ last year in a Church service I attended! Rumours of this or that is 'Satanic' is not uncommon and the trend is with Charismatic movement. I'm not saying that is necessary the cause but there seems to be a higher tendency to link anything to the spiritual world which is not so common back then among the traditional churches era.
And confirmation bias is rather common too. People just do not verify the validity of the source of a claim especially if it fits their initial belief (e.g. Pokemon is bad) and just anyhow spread it despite 10 commandments told us not to give false testimony. They can quote you many Bible verses to make their claims as if 'Christian'. Yet, even Arch Angel Michael dare not slander against Satan! (Jude 1:9) How many times did the Bible warn against the tongue and slandering? The word 'slander' came out in the Bible 43 times!
THE VIDEO CLAIMING POKEMON IS SATANIC
This video is by Stephen Dollins and is spreading around. Who is he? He is a self-claimed ex-Satanist High Priest which no information can be found to verify that. Most websites I found doubted that. For example, this website wrote about his background.
ARGUMENT AGAINST THE CLAIMS OF THE VIDEOS
So I'm going to address the logic and validity of those claims one by one. The video suggested Pokemon has its source from Satanism. Snopes, the famous website that debunk myths suggested not.
2:04: He claimed that Mew-Two has 3 fingers which if translated to humans will be the sign of the horns that Satanists use to mean "hail Satan". Hello... the so-called 'Satanists' which some give that label to Wiccans, use it as a sign of their goat god. There are only 2 fingers, not 3. The thumb is used to hold the other two fingers down making it look like a goat, not as a 3rd finger like the photo on the right (I took from wikipedia from the link above).3:52: He even claimed that Pikachu's lightning symbol on its tail is a 'Satanic Z'! I have no idea what is that and cannot find that. But I find the claim nonsense. So our ruling party cannot use lightning symbol already! By this time, I already feel like not wasting further time listening to the rubbish but since I did not finish seeing the whole video hence not in position to judge, to prevent such nonsense from spreading again, I'll finish watching and critique it.
4:10: He associated the Pokemon Trading Card game with Wizards of the Coast and link it to male practitioner of black magic solely because of the word 'Wizards'. However, do you know the card is not from Wizards of the Coast? It was first created by Media Factory in Japan in 1996 and Wizards of the Coast published it in USA in 1998! The company is named 'Wizards of the Coast' which I believe has nothing to do with black magic but more like because it is dealing with games based on fantasy. It became a subsidiary of Hasbro which your Cluedo and Monopoly came from! Are you saying Hasbro is into black magic?! I have also played Magic the Gathering during secondary school with my friends too. For Role-Playing game, of course you become part of the game else you call it 'Role-Playing' for what? But do you lose yourself? I did not become a more 'spiritual' person but rather even more rational and scientific today.
6:48: He claimed that those role-playing games lead you unable to tell what is real or not. You think I think the fantasy world is real? Kids may think it is real with their imagination (though I really doubted so). When I was a kid, I imagine I have lots of bodyguards protecting me and someone is hunting me down so I ran from school back home. It is role-playing too! But I acted as if it is real, not believing it as real.
And you better don't watch TV too. Back then when I studied Social and Applied Psychology, it was proven that people tend to assume what is shown in TV drama as factual (can't remember which study). Like men always force their way to kiss ladies ending up the ladies giving in. Some men do actually believed that works and ended up being sued for molestation or even rape! That is not even role-playing. So shut off your TV from now on...
8:18: He claimed that experts said many teens committed suicide because of playing Dungeons and Dragons. True? False. BBC News is far more credible than this guy. In the news, it is stated that the American Association of Suicidology found no causal link between Dungeon & Dragons and Suicide! Do you not see what nonsense and bad reputation you can create by sharing such nonsense? Even Christians became featured in BBC News on the nonsense we believe and we became infamous! Until you open your eyes and interact online, you won't know what sort of reputation has been created because of our not-so-careful behaviour.
10:55: Who can verify the students really believed Necromancer's ability and trying to summon spirits in school field? Magic the Gathering was also popular during my secondary school days. I did not see that. Anyone doing that will be a laughing stock.
12:40: He tried to link Pokemon with Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons because of Wizards of the Coast being the publisher for all of them in USA. But note that I mentioned Wizards of the Coast was not the originator of Pokemon trading card. That made all his linkage invalid.
14:50: Being a Pokemon 'Master' was warned as against God because you don't need parents or need anything. Maybe Christians shouldn't pursue a Master's degree. I should just burn my Master's degree too because it suggested that I have mastered a field of study (hence the name 'Master's').
16:35: I do agree that by repeating 'Gonna Catch'em All...' may induce purchase behaviour. But this has nothing to do with Satanism or 'enchanting'. This is marketing. Anyone trained in marketing likely to know that!
17:45: He mentioned Team Rocket who do cross-dressing and other behaviours are bad examples for kids. Have I cross-dressed despite growing up watching Pokemon? Nope. Social & Applied Psychology found that TV does influence kids (so as adults) but if adults are nearby and educate a behaviour as incorrect, it actually works out better than avoiding it completely (they will still be exposed to it in future just not in TV and when you are not around to educate, how?)!
Imagine you deprive your kids from all cartoons because it has a bit of things not in line with Biblical teaching, how can your kid fit into any social circle in school? Your kid will feel left out and may even eventually hate Church and associate all these social discrimination with Christianity because of your behaviour!
20:10: Claiming that MewTwo has a Satanic salute with its left hand (in Biblical tradition, 'right' is deem as good while 'left' is bad). Hello... that's the right hand on that poster though on your left hand side.
21:00: He featured this CNN news article that many Japanese became sick after watching Pokemon. He claimed that the kids did not have epilepsy. True? False again! A study based on sample size was carried out and NBC news did mention that electroencephalograms revealed that 10 of the 13 who had not been diagnosed with epilepsy did, in fact, have the disease! They likely have the genetic predisposition just may not be triggered before.
24:00: For the energy balls, for a electric-breed pokemon, you don't use lightning bolt symbol, you use what? For psychic pokemon, you don't use the eye, you use what? And that eye can be found on eye mo too! So eye mo Satanic? The fist is symbol of anarchy? We used to punch our fist to the sky in Army too! So rebelling? The symbol of fire is witchcraft? I see that in my fire extinguisher too! The leaf is also a witchcraft symbol? I don't know so many symbols have been copyrighted by witchcraft! Then water symbol also can link to witchcraft. Next time you better don't take water from any water source because it has the symbol and linked with witchcraft! Pokemon has its origins from its founder Satoshi Tajiri's childhood where he grew up at Machida where he collected bugs from rice paddies, rivers and forests. Full of nature. Of course you have those nature-based symbols!
Do you see how nonsensical you look to non-Christians when you believe in such things? The Bible has always been emphasised but did you know Paul in addressing food sacrificed to idols are only food if one does not associate it with the idols (1 Cor 8:1-13)? So what if indeed they are satanic symbols? If you do not know and do not believe nor your act will stumble others, does it matter?
28:40: You can have bad dreams for anything scary. You don't need hunter pokemon. I throw you a bunch of cockroaches see if you will have bad dreams. I once had nightmare assuming cockroach climbed on my legs and woke up suddenly because it did happen before! This is not the work of Satanism or whatever.
29:20: Then he mentioned 'Abracadabra' as a word used in magic. Do you know in Etymology, the study of the origin of words found it to have multiple possible sources and one of it is Jewish and perhaps Biblical origins? Read more about it from wikipedia and here. He then said Kadara has 'SSS' on its body which means 'Satan's Solemn Servant'. Have a look at this picture yourself if it is 3 wavy lines or 'SSS':
The Satanic salute I have addressed as well that it is invalid as the sign of the horns does not have three fingers. Further debate on Kadabra can be found here.
31:10: Did you see any kids really believing they have power to call upon pokemon? Last time, I did play with friends as a kid to call upon Captain Planet but it was for fun, not assuming it was real. We acted as if it was real because it was fun. Did you also see any pokemon fans raised their hands with the sign of the horns? I don't. If you have watched pokemon, you know that is nonsense as it has little association with pokemon. You call upon a pokemon by throwing out your pokeball and say "Pikachu, I choose you!"
31:20: He used news articles like the news on Montreal case (not the exact news page as can no longer find) as well as the Lakeland case to claim that kids believe they have magical power because they beat or even stab others over pokemon cards. Wait... doesn't make sense. If they believe they have, why still need a knife? Just call the pokemon like Pikachu to electrocute the other kid! And where did the News article claim that the kid did say "they were trying to steal my powers"? How did he know what the kid said exactly then?
I'm sure pokemon may destroy some families when some are players and some are not and those who are not debate with the players arguing it is satanic etc. then those that play will find them a nuisance and unreasonable. Then quarrel happen and family may break up. Was it really because of pokemon or the nonsensical belief that it is satanic leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy?
I have walked around my neighbourhood. I also saw families coming together where parents used pokemon to engage with their kids and play together. Instead of destroying families, it became a tool to bring them together too. It really depends on individual wisdom on how they use it rather than a deterministic view this speaker try to portray.
CONCLUSION
Why create the necessary fear among God protected Christians stumbling them by claiming this is associated with Satanism etc as if God does not protect His people that we have to check every single association and live in fear? Do you not know perfect love drives out fear? Fear has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18). If your heart is right with God, why should you fear? I do not agree or believe such message to be from God because firstly, it is not based on facts which I have given more credible sources to refute his claims. Christianity is about Truth and it is an insult to God by influencing people with lies just to get what you want. Sure, the spread of lies if adopted by majority can make it look 'true' but you are answerable to God when you see Him! Secondly, it creates unnecessary fears. Thirdly, it slanders against people without credible claims. It is against what a Christian should be.
Sure a few people may experience spiritual things but can individuals' experience be generalised for everything? Some people also experience spiritual things while cooking, so cooking = satanic? Sometimes what is 'spiritual' may just be your imagination. You are being bonded and you know that is not right. In psychology, that is called 'cognitive dissonance' which is uncomfortable and you will want to bring back consistency to your ideas, beliefs etc. You could do so by reasoning that it is not satanic or reason that it is and thus leave the game etc. The cognitive dissonance itself is not a claim that it is 'evil'. It is a state of no comfort, no peace. And why are you bonded? You may not really know. It may have some elements that increase psychological attraction etc. and need not be of satanic origins.
Pray for wisdom and think about the impact you have on your kids. By exaggerating cartoons as satanic when the claims are not valid and you just want to 'play safe', are you really abiding to Biblical standards and principles or are you creating the impression that Christianity is irrational, being a hindrance to a kids' ability to make friends and be seen as unattractive and drawing them away from God instead?
For me, as an adult, the spread of irrational news and claims do annoy me and in fact draw me away from the Church, not closer because I do not want to be associated with such irrationality. Then perhaps some may have self-fulfilling prophecy and say "ahh.... Pokemon led me to this else I wouldn't defend it against Christians". I'm defending the image of Christianity and will continue to do so until I no longer find it worth protecting. These claims are detrimental rather than beneficial for the Church in my opinion. How can I even attract people to Church when they know how nonsense it can be? Think again.
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