I am talking about Pokemon, the role-playing card game that has recently gained new popularity among kids and adults. I know that there will be those who say it is an innocent game; we have nothing to fear from it, and the new version of Pokemon GO is nothing more than a creative mobile app designed as "a location-based and augmented reality game; that it promotes physical activity and helps local businesses grow." Are you kidding me? First of all, if you are willing to accept that description without looking into it any further, then I'm more than a little worried about your ability to discern the schemes of the Enemy in this technological world.
I will also say that the intricacies of the game are too far-reaching and complicated to present them in their entirety on this post. Suffice it to say, that I want you to get an idea of just how satan can work within this game and its alternate universe in order to get us to mimic his strategies and schemes, and to walk outside the path God would have us follow.
Harmless little creatures that inhabit a virtual world? Or something far more ominous in nature? |
First of all, Pokemon is a shortened version of the Japanese name "Pocket Monster", and Pokemon are supposed to be "monsters" that have special powers and share the world with humans. Did that get your attention? If not, here is a very simple explanation [by promoters] of how the game works: "Pokemon are creatures inspired by plants, animals and various other things. Each one has different attributes, skills and quirks; they also can evolve into newer, stronger Pokemon with some training. In Pokemon GO, the ultimate goal is to capture them — all 151 of them — to add to your personal collection. Doing so makes you a Pokemon master." Here's how I interpret that explanation ... Pokemon are inspired by spirits, demons or gods (all false), and among their various "quirks" or "abilities" listed are scorching, stomping, poison, mimicry, stealth, use of claws and biting, reading minds, teleportation, inducing headaches, high intelligence, consumes people's dreams, hypnosis, confusion... oh, yeah, they also evolve into more powerful entities, too.
In short, the idea of the game is to have players learn how to collect as many Pokemon as possible, train them, and use them against other people's Pokemon by invoking the various abilities of each Pokemon creature. Does that sound eerily familiar to the assignments that the devil gives to his demons? And now that the game has developed a mobile app, it is playing into this world's obsession with technology. After establishing a game account, the player creates an avatar by selecting a hair, skin, and eye color; style; and outfit. Isn't that just a little bit creepy? You are in essence, creating an alter of yourself, and it is outside the realm in which you were created by God. Actually, you have now become the Creator of yourself, so to speak; your own god. (Sounds like the temptation in the Garden of Eden, doesn't it?) So now you have millions who are preoccupied with their alternative self (avatars), and who are forever trying to gain more power. Yes, it is a subtle implication, but does not the Bible say, Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made (Genesis 3:1).
In short, the idea of the game is to have players learn how to collect as many Pokemon as possible, train them, and use them against other people's Pokemon by invoking the various abilities of each Pokemon creature. Does that sound eerily familiar to the assignments that the devil gives to his demons? And now that the game has developed a mobile app, it is playing into this world's obsession with technology. After establishing a game account, the player creates an avatar by selecting a hair, skin, and eye color; style; and outfit. Isn't that just a little bit creepy? You are in essence, creating an alter of yourself, and it is outside the realm in which you were created by God. Actually, you have now become the Creator of yourself, so to speak; your own god. (Sounds like the temptation in the Garden of Eden, doesn't it?) So now you have millions who are preoccupied with their alternative self (avatars), and who are forever trying to gain more power. Yes, it is a subtle implication, but does not the Bible say, Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made (Genesis 3:1).
And here is another aspect that should concern you: When a player encounters a Pokemon, they may view it on their phone either in augmented reality (AR) mode or with a live rendered, generic background. AR mode uses the camera and gyroscope on the player's mobile device to display an image of a Pokemon as though it were in the real world. Think this might be acclimating people to interact with spirits in this physical world?
BUT, unlike other installments in the Pokemon series, players in Pokemon GO do not battle wild Pokemon (any Pokemon that are not currently owned by a Pokemon Trainer) to capture them. During an encounter with a wild Pokemon, the player may throw a Poke Ball at it by flicking it from the bottom of the screen up toward the Pokemon. If the Pokemon is successfully caught, it will come under the ownership of the player. That certainly suggests bondage and domination to me. I could go and on about the rules and the innuendos of the game, but I hope you're starting to get the picture.
If not, let me give you one more piece of information before sharing some of the consequences of playing the game. Pokemon GO was developed by Niantic Inc. and is funded by Nintendo. However, the original Pokemon franchise was developed by Wizards of the Coast, who gave the world the occult games, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and MAGIC THE GATHERING. Pokemon comes from a long line of anti-Christian, occult, and evolutionary development. I know there will still be those (and that includes the Christians who are advertising their Churches as Pokemon locations) who will say that "it is only a game". But it is a role-playing game and involves fantasy and elements of magic and potions. That is definitely something the Bible warns us against!
Besides that, look at the thousands of hours people are spending on their phones playing Pokemon GO; (the app has been downloaded over 15,000,000 times in its first week in the U.S.). The word "idolatry" comes to mind. And here we are in the Last Days running around trying to capture mythical and virtual demons, when we should be focusing on our mission to save souls. Who do you think we're pleasing -- God or satan?
Finally, there are the stories of men walking off cliffs while playing the game; crashing cars into trees; armed robbers luring victims to isolated locations; and perverts and pedophiles preying upon inattentive targets. But perhaps the most disturbing story I have heard is of a Russian woman in Moscow who claims that a giant Pokemon raped her after she fell asleep while playing the game. Police and her husband dismissed her complaint, suggesting she see a psychiatrist. But the woman insisted that the Pokemon GO app on her phone could still detect the same virtual character's presence on her bed, and that there are too many Pokemon at her place and even the dog can sense them. She says the dog barks whenever she plays Pokemon GO. (Any of you who have dogs will likely be able to attest to their extra sensory perception).
So, now you've read the entire spectrum of how Pokemon GO influences one's life --- from a harmless mobile app that helps you get some exercise; to testing your ability to capture and train virtual "creatures" (spirits?) with occult powers; to these monsters allegedly raping a player. Think it's all too ridiculous to be true, or that I'm stretching the truth? Yes, it seems like I'm describing something "out of this world". Guess what? IT IS! Throughout mankind's history, satan has found a way to infiltrate our world by tempting our impressionable minds and flesh with his ideas and his supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices, and phenomena.
Pokemon GO just a harmless mobile app? Do you not think that satan can draw us away from God by working through technology and with humans who develop occult-influenced games? If those game designers are not as focused on the Lord and His truth (as we all should be), satan, through his demon hosts, can somehow raise thoughts and questions in our minds that lead to creating things that honor him instead of the True God of the Universe. Then from that designer's human mind to ours, the Enemy uses external temptations (a mobile app) by which he seeks to control or influence our minds through what we see, read, hear... and play. This is simply how he works through this world system over which he rules. So you can dismiss my assessment of this game if you like, but I am willing to say that it is just one more spiritual weapon that the god of this world is using to deceive us and lead us away from God. Consider this: Doesn't the game of Pokemon Go sound a whole like the Bible verse that says, Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour?
Acts 13:10 "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you never stop perverting [making crooked] the straight paths of the Lord?"
If not, let me give you one more piece of information before sharing some of the consequences of playing the game. Pokemon GO was developed by Niantic Inc. and is funded by Nintendo. However, the original Pokemon franchise was developed by Wizards of the Coast, who gave the world the occult games, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and MAGIC THE GATHERING. Pokemon comes from a long line of anti-Christian, occult, and evolutionary development. I know there will still be those (and that includes the Christians who are advertising their Churches as Pokemon locations) who will say that "it is only a game". But it is a role-playing game and involves fantasy and elements of magic and potions. That is definitely something the Bible warns us against!
Besides that, look at the thousands of hours people are spending on their phones playing Pokemon GO; (the app has been downloaded over 15,000,000 times in its first week in the U.S.). The word "idolatry" comes to mind. And here we are in the Last Days running around trying to capture mythical and virtual demons, when we should be focusing on our mission to save souls. Who do you think we're pleasing -- God or satan?
Finally, there are the stories of men walking off cliffs while playing the game; crashing cars into trees; armed robbers luring victims to isolated locations; and perverts and pedophiles preying upon inattentive targets. But perhaps the most disturbing story I have heard is of a Russian woman in Moscow who claims that a giant Pokemon raped her after she fell asleep while playing the game. Police and her husband dismissed her complaint, suggesting she see a psychiatrist. But the woman insisted that the Pokemon GO app on her phone could still detect the same virtual character's presence on her bed, and that there are too many Pokemon at her place and even the dog can sense them. She says the dog barks whenever she plays Pokemon GO. (Any of you who have dogs will likely be able to attest to their extra sensory perception).
So, now you've read the entire spectrum of how Pokemon GO influences one's life --- from a harmless mobile app that helps you get some exercise; to testing your ability to capture and train virtual "creatures" (spirits?) with occult powers; to these monsters allegedly raping a player. Think it's all too ridiculous to be true, or that I'm stretching the truth? Yes, it seems like I'm describing something "out of this world". Guess what? IT IS! Throughout mankind's history, satan has found a way to infiltrate our world by tempting our impressionable minds and flesh with his ideas and his supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices, and phenomena.
Pokemon GO just a harmless mobile app? Do you not think that satan can draw us away from God by working through technology and with humans who develop occult-influenced games? If those game designers are not as focused on the Lord and His truth (as we all should be), satan, through his demon hosts, can somehow raise thoughts and questions in our minds that lead to creating things that honor him instead of the True God of the Universe. Then from that designer's human mind to ours, the Enemy uses external temptations (a mobile app) by which he seeks to control or influence our minds through what we see, read, hear... and play. This is simply how he works through this world system over which he rules. So you can dismiss my assessment of this game if you like, but I am willing to say that it is just one more spiritual weapon that the god of this world is using to deceive us and lead us away from God. Consider this: Doesn't the game of Pokemon Go sound a whole like the Bible verse that says, Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour?
Acts 13:10 "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you never stop perverting [making crooked] the straight paths of the Lord?"