I published this post a year ago on October 21st but felt led to publish it again as this time of year came around. Why, you ask? Because The Father reminded me that until His Son returns, things will go from bad to worse; and as long as that is the case, there will be a need for such writing.
In addition to the reason I cited above, I know of a conversation that a grandmother had with one of her grandchildren this past week that is still heavy on my mind. It served as a second witness to His leading to re-post this piece.
The woman's grandchildren have been reared with the truth about Halloween. Last year, one of her grandchildren actually refused to sing the Halloween songs in his music class. He then respectfully told the teacher why he wasn't singing. The teacher, perhaps not knowing what to say, said nothing, then turned and walked away.
This year their church is offering one of those "safe" alternatives to trick-or-treating. From what I heard, the boy's lament went something like this, "There is candy and fun activities! You don't wear scary costumes. And it's at the church, on a separate night from Halloween and the church uses it as a chance to reach out to people, we're supposed to bring our friends! They tell a Bible story, and they don't call it trick-or-treating!" As anyone knows, an evening like that would appeal to the nature of a child, so the child wanted to go. But alas his dad said, "No. It is still like celebrating Halloween." So when Dad says no, you do what any thinking child does, you talk about it when you go to grandma's.
The grandmother prayed as the child lamented and what came forth was quiet, respectful of the child's predicament, and yet honest. Much to his disappointment, she told him that she was proud of his dad. That until he was more mature, his dad was there to help him make wise decisions. She also told him the story of Esau who got the yummy bowl of stew he wanted, but lost so much more and even though he cried bitter tears he could not get it back. (1) She explained that some things are not worth going after and if we are not careful, we can end up with the same kind of thing happening to us. The child's eyes grew wide and took on that pre-tear look. The messages contained within Scripture have been recorded for our benefit, (2) to keep our feet from falling. (3) That day, the child was kept from sliding down the slippery slope that he was trying to traverse.
So ...if the story had such a nice ending, why do I carry a heavy heart? Because that was the outcome this time. The pull of the world ...and sadly even the church, are strong. The enemy of our souls has made it his business to make sure that there is enough out there to appeal to our fallen natures and unless a person has died to the desires of the flesh, they are tempted. People or things would not tempt us if there was nothing left in us that desired them. That's why we are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (4) and to crucify the carnal nature, because the spirit of the world and our own carnal natures are antagonistic toward the law of YHVH. (5)
As I was praying last night for the grandma and the boy, this post again came to mind and with the second witness to His leading, the decision was made to put it up. When I had finished praying, I went to YouTube and a recommended video for me was the following one by Paul Washer. The last time I included one of his videos on a post, it was re-posted by others, six times. Somehow I think this one will have less appeal.
An unexpected chuckle just broke from of me. A friend and I emailed each other this morning, and as we broached this subject we wrote about how we are like sore thumbs and party poopers who seem to make everyone's festivities less ...festive. However I promised Him that I would write what He wanted me to write because He loves you and wants you to live out the calling He has put before you, (6) to walk in holiness, (7) for your good and the good of your children. (8)
With that in mind, please remember as you watch Pastor Washer's video and read the rest of this post that I didn't start this thing of celebrating the "Lord of the Dead". YHVH has only asked me to expose it. (9)
The post from October 21, 2013
Where I live, the morning is cool and overcast. Its gloom is a reflection of the heaviness of heart that I feel, today. In an earlier post entitled, "A Time for Every Purpose", I explained that a few years ago a prophet of the Lord told me that one day I would have a blog. At the end of that post I wrote, "My comfort comes in knowing that His timing is always perfect, this blog is His, and I am never alone." The part of that sentence that stands out strongly to me this morning is where it says, "...this blog is His". You will see why as you continue to read.
Another point that I brought up in "A Time for Every Purpose"" was that my only real experience with writing has been through composing letters for family members and friends. A sister-in-law of mine who has since passed away, once responded to one of my letters asking me to please keep sending the "epistles". So needless to say, I am accustomed to writing about my life, my experiences with the Lord, and what I am learning from His Word. It comes pretty naturally to me. What doesn't come naturally to me is sharing the hard truths. I think the reasons are at least two-fold. First of all, His gift of mercy is strong in me. Very strong. Yet so is the need for truth. Sometimes it is a prayerful process to walk that line in accordance with His will. Secondly, my flesh has died a lot in the ways of pleasing people, but there was enough of that within me to keep this blog from beginning at an earlier date in time. As my walk deepened with Him, as He revealed some painful truths that cut deeply into the practices of Christianity, I knew that He would want them to be shared with other people. Clearing those hurdles had to take place before I could even begin to place my fingers on this keyboard for the purpose of writing this blog.
Today I have to bring one of those painful truths to light. The heaviness associated with it doesn't stem from caring about what you will think, (as odd as that still sounds to me) it comes from having to expose it at all.
A few days from now, people around the world will take part in the traditional festivities of Halloween. It was a night that I grew up celebrating, even into my teen years. As a young child, I liked dressing up in costumes and getting candy. In my teen years, I rode in the back of a pick-up truck in order to smash pumpkins, steal apples, and "decorate" trees with toilet paper. Those times were fueled by peer pressure more than what I considered to be fun, but I went along with it, anyway.
When my children were toddlers, they went trick-or-treating one time. They were uncomfortable in their Care Bear costumes and they didn't smile beneath the masks that I told them to wear. I was uncomfortable too, looking at them as they reluctantly stood for picture taking, but I didn't know why. I felt strangely convicted but it didn't make any sense to me why I should. After my husband took them to a few houses, they came home to happily rid themselves of the costumes that they needed to wear in order to get the neighbors to drop candy into their plastic jack-o-lantern pails. It's funny how memories can bring back the emotions that one felt at the time ...this memory brings sadness along with it ... and that it took a long time for sleep to come that night. As a new day started, I began the routine of caring for the children and our home, thus putting the thoughts of the night before, behind me. Or so I thought.
When that time of year rolled around again, I remembered. As Father would have it, I was working in my kitchen one morning, when I stopped to turn up a program I was listening to on the radio. Dr. James Dobson from Focus on the Family was interviewing a man about Halloween. The content of the interview caused me to stand still and listen. I was shocked as I learned about the satanic origins of this "holiday" and WHO is really being celebrated. What the real meanings are behind the "harmless" acts of fun. My eyes widened as I listened to his explanation of druid worship of demons and the vile acts of witches. I shook my head in dismay at the animal and human (including newborn) sacrifices to the "Lord of the Dead" that still take place on that night!
No wonder my children couldn't smile for their pictures! No wonder I was convicted for encouraging their participation in glorifying the god of that night's sick practices! The conviction of His Spirit was so strong that no argument would stand up. Can you imagine how lame it would have sounded after learning what I had learned, to tell you, "Well, be that as it may, that's not how WE celebrate Halloween. For us, it is about good natured fun, dress up, and candy. Besides, I couldn't harm the kids by keeping this tradition from them or tell my in-laws and our friends at church that we won't be celebrating it. What would they think or say?!"? That's what we could have told ourselves, but deep down the honest reasoning would have been, "Let's not make the kids stand out from others, or cause the adults to wonder about our sanity or parenting choices. I don't want to deal with it. Let's just keep doing what we did last year and ignore the presence of His Spirit within us. Let's grieve HIM, instead. He understands. He forgives us, right?" Really? Would we trample the Son of Elohim, the Only True God underfoot because we didn't want to have to explain to others why we chose to let that holiday go? How could we one day look into the eyes of the One who died to set us free from that kind of stuff, and say, "You understood, right?"
If I have learned anything through the indwelling of His Spirit, I've learned that when He reveals and convicts, He doesn't allow for compromise. If I choose to push past His commands and His conviction, I'm sinning. Period.
So ...how did the story end? What was revealed in that single interview caused my husband and me to repent for our unknowing sin and never to return to it! We ignored that night from then on. We didn't choose some "Christian" alternative to traditional trick-or-treating. We simply stopped, and it went back to being just another night in the life of our family. And to our surprise, people seemed to be okay with it. At least to our faces. What they might have said behind our backs was none of our business. People, even those closest to us, were not our Judge. Neither are the people in your lives.
(1) Genesis 25:29-34; Genesis 27:30-38; Hebrews 12:15-17
(2) 1 Corinthians 10:6-7; 1 Corinthians 10:9-15
(3) Psalm 56:12-13; Psalm 73; Psalm 116:8-9
(4) Philippians 2:12-13
(5) Galatians 5:24; Romans 8:5-8
(6) Ephesians 5:6-16; 2 Peter 1:2-11
(7) Leviticus 20:26; Isaiah 52:11; 2 Corinthians 6:15-7:11; 1 Peter 1:3-25
(8) Deuteronomy 30; Malachi 2:13-15
(9) Ephesians 5:8-17
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