The Harry Potter Funeral

The Harry Potter Funeral

Text: Deuteronomy 18:9-12

Today we are here to pay our disrespect to Harry Potter of Hogwarts School of Witches and Wizards. We will not open the casket because he, like Lazarus, "stinketh."

Little Harry will be buried at sea because Jesus said that the bottom of the sea is where anyone who offends a child belongs. There are no children down there to offend.

Not since Beatle mania swept our country in the 60’s has there been such a furor kicked up.

The movie version of Book I, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone" grossed 93.5 million dollars on the opening weekend. All previous box office records were shattered.

WWL Radio in New Orleans announced that kids skipped school to see the movie and workers left their jobs to see it.

Jess Cagle of Time Magazine reported that the worldwide book sales amounted to 100 million.

Lyn Blake of Amazon.com said, "I haven’t seen a book like this. This is over 7 times the largest pre-order we’ve ever had."

A veteran public school teacher in Central Florida told me, "My students are wild about it, and our school library can’t even put the books on the shelves for fear of theft. When a student wants to check out a Harry Potter book, the librarian goes to a special hidden spot to get it."

This phenomenon began in the mind of a Scottish lady named Joanne Kathleen Rowling. The books give her name as J. K. Rowling and I have also seen her name in print as simply Jo Rowling.

In 1992 the characters and plot began to come to her. In 1997 "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone" was released. In 1999 two more books were published. They are "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."

The latest book came out in 2000 under the title of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

The story centers around an orphaned boy named Harry Potter who is a wizard-in-training at Hogwarts.

Why are the children so drawn to this story? Is it just harmless fantasy like Bambi or Winnie the Pooh?

I believe that children learn the wrong things from the books and movie. Harry goes into places he doesn’t belong. In Book III, Harry lies at least three times. Book III is filled with foul language, drunkeness and swearing.

It is obvious to me in reading the reviews that Harry Potter is not a model child. Children will inevitably pick up wrong attitudes.

Never before has anything been more laced with the occult. First of all, Harry is a wizard. Fortune-telling plays a prominent role in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."

Howarts has a divination teacher. They study palmistry, reading tea leaves, and crystal ball gazing.

God said in Exodus 22:18, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Harry Potter, a wizard-in-training

doesn’t deserve to live.

In II Kings 17:17 it is revealed that God was very angry when Israel engaged in divination and enchantments.

Isaiah 5:20 warns, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"

As a boy growing up in Winter Haven, Florida, I was absolutely thrilled with the Bible stories I learned in Sunday School. What a Book!

The Old Testament accounts of the great patriarchs of Israel filled me with excitement. My favorite was about that rock star David and his greatest hit. I really believed, and still do, that an axehead not only floated...it swam!

My interest level rose as I studied the life of Jesus Christ. I know that he was born of a virgin and was raised in a carpenter’s shop.

He was the E. F. Hutton of that ancient world because when He spoke, people listened. No man even spoke like that Man!

He wrote a love letter in the sand one day to an adulteress. He stopped funeral processions and brought the dead forth. He converted a crooked politician up in a tree at Jericho. O what a Savior!

His life ended one mid-afternoon at a place called Calvary. No one was ever so majestic in death. He even forgave those who were putting him to death. Such love!

He was laid in a borrowed tomb, but God raised Him from the dead on the third day. He met with his disciples again and commissioned them to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature."

The Book of Acts is the story of the extension of the church. A terrorist named Saul of Tarsus is converted and becomes the church’s greatest missionary.

Many have signed the death warrant for the church, but it is still alive and triumphant. It has survived dungeon, flame, and sword. It is destined to meet Him in the clouds one day. From there He takes his Bride to live with Him forever in a holy city.