Pokemon
 

Monsters In Our Children's Pockets

By Eileen Koff / Co-Director

Isaiah 54 Ministries

    In schoolyards and back yards across the country, elementary school children are "summoning" forces by raising sticks into the air and saying, "Spirits enter me." They call it, "being possessed". Three year olds are mimicking that which they have seen on TV by chanting in deep raspy voices, "Bulbasore attack, Bulbasore, Bulbasore". It's not a stretch to see how closely these exercises resemble practices before reserved solely for the occult.

    What is leading our little ones into the ways of the occult? Who is coaching them in practices otherwise reserved for devotees of witchcraft? You may be surprised to learn that it is the "benign and innocent" role-playing phenomenon known as Pokemon.

    Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. (Ephesians 5:11 NIV)

    The development of the original Pokemon, the video game, was long and intense. It has also been calculated to push all the buttons of the collective kid conformity-based population. Japanese video-game creators Satoshi Tajiri and Tsunekaz Ishihara spent six years designing the creatures and the game. Ishihara is also credited with developing the trading cards.(1) These strange looking creatures from Japan, which are quickly monopolizing children's school and back yard role-playing games, derive their name from a streamlining of the phrase
POCKEt MONsters and is pronounced Poh-keh-mon.

    Pokemon, separated from its collectible and merchandizing side, is first intended to be a role-playing game. Role-playing in and of itself is not an evil thing. It does, however, depend of what role you are striving to emulate. As children are drawn into the shows' concepts, their role-playing gives them the fantasy ability to seek out powers, evolve and control their destinies over other humans and dark forces. Within the Pokemon stratagem there are three young children who are learning to be masters (trainers) of the pocket monsters. Their theme song from the cartoon is; "I will travel across the land. Each Pokemon to understand. The power that's inside, you teach me and I'll teach you Pokemon".

    There are two triune groups; Ash, Brock and Misty who are the "good guys" and Jesse, James, and Meowth who comprise the evil group called "Team Rocket". These two groups of individuals are striving to master some 151 Pokemon.(2) There is a dual personality element of each Pokemon that plays a large part of the appeal to children. "I may look adorable and innocent", the child-monster seems to say, "But don't make me mad."(2). Below is a partial list of Pokemon characters, and their powers, as taken from the Pokemon handbook:

*Nidoran - his head releases powerful poison.

*Clefairy - a fairy who prays to the Moonstone and uses a metronome technique to hypnotize its enemy.

*Zubat - has a vampire-like ability to suck the energy from its enemy

*Poliwag & Polywhirl - use mind control powers to cause amnesia

*Drowzee - eats its victim's dreams

*Abra - mind reading, telekinesis, sends out brain waves to cause headaches

 
*Jynx - psychic powers and a lovely kiss technique that puts opponents to sleep.

* Chansey - has magical powers to bring happiness to their trainer (your child)

    Are these the attributes and practices we want our children to know about, emulate and learn to control? Is this simply a benign child's role-playing game or does the enemy of our children's souls, and the marketing companies controlled by him, have a hidden agenda? Parents have underestimated the psychological strategies behind this mass marketing ploy! To pass off the Pokemon craze as harmless, innocent and benign fun is to shut off ones brain as to what our children are being led into.

    Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 NIV)

 
    Another aspect of Pokemon found both in the cartoon and the GameBoy version is the repeated use of strobe lights and bright colors. In the article by Debbie Damone, "Pokemon - A Phase To Craze In The last Days", Damone did extensive research into the effects this has on a child's brain. She states, "... in the 1930’s neurosurgeons were experimenting to understand human brain disorders and epilepsy." Please note(3) that in Japan hundreds of children were hospitalized because of epileptic seizures when Pokemon debuted on TV. Damone continues, "They elicited sounds and visions to probe the cerebrum. They found various reactions from anger to rage, relaxation, and even euphoria could be evoked through various stimuli. Light, color, and noise can be used as stimuli." She states, "Research shows that flashes of light, certain colors, and certain movements cause different electrical effects on the human brain."(4) The makers of the computer game GameBoy concludes its warning label with the statement, " We recommend that parents observe their children while playing video games. If you or your child experience any symptoms; dizziness, altered vision, eye or muscle twitching, involuntary movements, loss of awareness, disorientation, or convulsions discontinue use immediately and consult physician".  (4)

    In a Time magazine article dated May 12, 1999, David Walsh, a child psychologist and founder of the National Institute of Media and the Family, stated POKEMON could lead to obsessions that are more dangerous. He explains the technology behind most video games are based on a psychological principle called "Operant Conditioning", essentially stimulus, response, reward. "Operant Conditioning" is a powerful shaper and influencer of behavior. (4) We have heard of children cheating other children out of more desirable Pokemon cards and even more recently a child was stabbed, here on Long Island, in a dispute over the cards.(5)
 

    In regards to the Pokemon Movie which premiered 11/99, "Michelle Holder, 42, a paralegal, said that her son Jeremy, 9, had been "counting the days" until the movie opened. Because he feared that all the trading cards, which sell for $5 to $8 each, would be gone, Ms. Holder loaded up on tickets and planned, for more than a month, to take him today. "I have no choice," she said." (6)

    Dear parents, YOU HAVE A CHOICE!

    "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15 NIV)

(1) "Invasion Of Pokemon" by Jamie Baylis 8/29/99 pg. H01; (2) NY Times Film Review "POKEMON" by Anita Gates 11/10/99; (3) 1997 Newsday article (4) Pokemon - A Phase To Craze In The Last days by Debbie Damone 10/99; (5) Newsday article 11/11/99; (6) NY Times article "Pokemon Movie a Strong Lure vs. School" by Katherine E. Finkelstein, 11/10/99


 

Eileen Koff has a B.S. in Child Development and is co-director of Isaiah 54 Ministries.
 

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