Church to burn Harry Potter books

An interesting note about the devil, is that he promotes the
idea that he does not exist. Secondly, we never read of him going around saying,
"I am the devil and I am here to destroy you," as he has discovered the
secret that in order to trap people, cunning must be used.

It is clear that if you wish to poison somebody, you would be
a fool to put the poison in a glass and say, "Here, have a drink of poison."
A better way to do it would no doubt be, to mix it with some raspberry cordial
and say, "Here, have a drink of cordial."

We Christians recognise through the prophecies that we are
living in the latter days just before Jesus comes back, and in the book of
Revelation 12:12b, we read: "for the devil is come down unto you, having great
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

The people of the world who have not received Jesus Christ as
their Saviour, will not understand these things, for they are spiritually
illiterate. Therefore, it is the job of the born-again believer in Jesus to
share our knowledge with those who are lost in darkness.

Another Scripture comes to us from 1 Timothy 4:1-2, speaking
about the days in which we live:

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter
times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and
doctrines of devils."

Verse 2: "Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron;".

Then in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, we read:

"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who
now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way."

The Harry Potter phenomenon that has come upon us is
certainly not a physical phenomenon, as these books were advertised even before
they came on the market by some person or group who knew exactly what they were
doing.

Never before in the history of the world has this ever
happened to such a degree, that books, tapes and information has been spread
worldwide, particularly among our young people at such a vital time in history.

Many years ago, we were invited to speak in southern New
Mexico at a town called Alamogordo and interestingly enough, on 28 December
2001, we read an article from the Otago Daily Times, with the headline:
"Church to burn Harry Potter books." The very church that we spoke at is the
very church that is going to destroy these books, and for that we give praise to
God. We quote in part:

"A church in New Mexico plans to burn Harry Potter books
because they are 'an abomination to God', the church pastor said.

Jack Brock said he would have a 'holy bonfire' on Sunday
at the Christ Community Church in Alamogordo, southern New Mexico, to torch
books about the fictional teenage wizard who is wildly popular with young
people.

'These books encourage our youth to learn more about
witches, warlocks, and sorcerers, and those things are an abomination to God
and to me,' Pastor Brock (74) said.

'Potter books are going to destroy the lives of many young
people.'

The books, written by British author J.K. Rowling, have been
run-away best-sellers and a movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,
is a blockbuster hit.

Pastor Brock, who said his Christmas Eve sermon was titled
'The Baby Jesus or Harry Potter?', described the book burning as part of an
effort to encourage Christians to remove everything from their homes that
prevents them from communicating with God.

The books have come under fire in a few US communities for
supposedly encouraging devilish thoughts among the young, but Ms Rowling, in an
earlier statement issued by her publisher, Bloomsbury, called the criticisms
absurd.

'I have met thousands of children now, and not even one
time has a child come up to me and said, "Ms Rowling, I'm so glad I've
read these books because now I want to be a witch",' she said." (emphasis
added).

That is exactly the point of this article. That none of the
children sets off wanting to be a witch, but very shortly because they have had
the seeds planted in them, those seeds will grow, and unfortunately the crop is
not going to be a good one.

We recommend that if anybody wants power, that they go to
Jesus Christ, receive Him, and then exercise His power in their own lives, for
it was He who said, "All power is given unto me in Heaven and on earth."

Don't go to the devil for power, go to the real source, our
Lord Jesus Christ.