October and Living for Jesus

October is such a neat month!

I mean, in the country I live in, the United States of America, October is a major month of the season, Autumn.

Leaves are already beginning to change here in Atlanta, Georgia…even more so in the mountains where we have a cabin!

Temperatures have dropped…days are comfortable instead of hot…and our nights are down right chilly!!

The northern states are cooler than we are, of course, since they are located in the higher latitudes.

There’s an excitement with this crisp air!

I’ve even been in the mood to crochet.  I’m working on an afghan with 3 warm colors…chocolate brown, dark tan, and cream/beige.

 

I can’t even enjoy the craft of crochet when it’s hot…but when the air cools…I like to sit and create something for my family or a friend.

I love that I live where I have all 4 seasons every year!

So, as I’m enjoying all of this...I mean the trees and the cooler temperature and the gorgeous days…all of God’s creation…there is a counterfeit that comes in to try to steal my pure affections for the LORD JESUS.

I’m speaking of the ghosts and goblins that are beginning to decorate many of the houses around me.

All the stores are decorated with and selling decorations for a day that has become competitive with Christmas. 

I mean the sales at Halloween compete with Christmas sales.

                                                                                                                                   

You might think that there were many witches, or sorcerers, or idolaters in our nation, since there are so many houses and stores decorated…and so many television shows and movies about Halloween.

We all know that Christmas is…at least it is supposed to be...a holiday…or Holy day…for us to celebrate the birth of our Savior and LORD, JESUS CHRIST!

The Church, throughout the world, celebrates Christmas in our churches and in our homes.  We celebrate the LORD’s crucifixion at Easter…in the Spring.

My concern is that so many Christians…Believers in Christ…celebrate Halloween.  Now, how do they celebrate Halloween?

Well, they dress up like…ummm…well, some dress up in superman characters…or toys that children play with…but some dress up like ghosts or witches or even the devil. 

Adults have parties that often look like orgies.

 

Why is that?  And, what do these people believe about these creatures…and the behavior at the parties?

                                             

If you were to go on google and type in the words…”What does the Bible say about witchcraft or witches or sorcery or magic?”  Maybe, you did not know the Bible talks about these things…well, it does.

You can get a Bible perspective or you can type in “What do witches believe about Halloween?

I read today from a Christian perspective, and I read from the perspective of a witch…and what’s amazing is that they said the same thing.

If you have never researched Halloween, and you are a Believer in Jesus Christ, you owe it to yourself and your children to find out what it is.

Ever since I did…almost 40 years ago…I’ve had nothing to do with it.

I just found it hard to be Holy as the LORD is Holy…as He tells us to do in His Word…and to be Holy as a ghost or witch.

I found it impossible to walk in the Spirit…and to mingle with other spirits.  I know that sounds wild but it’s true.

If you go to a carnival, and sometimes the people…like the one who reads palms seems eerie…it is because that person is a sorcerer…looking into the future outside the Spirit of God.

Saul was rebuked by God for seeking the advice of the witch of Endor…and God rebukes us with His WORD when we do the same.

There are palm-readers in almost every town in the United States.

Remnants of the New Age Movement is still in our midst.  Remember all the ankhs women wore that were involved in the the Feminist Movement in the late 70’s and early 80’s? An Ankh is an Egyptian symbol of fertility.

The LORD told Israel through Moses to have nothing to do with the gods of Egypt, and after 40 years of being in the desert, the LORD told Joshua the same thing about the gods of Canaan. 

If we dress up like and play games of or rub shoulders with all this during this unholy festival, are we not playing footsie with the devil and his cohorts.

I mean, I know it’s only one night a year, but I just can’t do it one night…I can’t give up my Holy God for one night…and I sure can’t take His Holy Spirit with me to these rituals.

I shudder to think of it!

I also can’t watch things about vampires…since they represent the evil one.  I mean no LORD JESUS or Holy Spirit of God drinks blood.

I mean Our God poured out His blood for us…he doesn’t drink our blood as a ritualistic sacrifice.

I do not believe in ghosts.  I believe to be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD…as the Word says…and once with the LORD…I believe that we wait until our bodies rise from the grave to join our spirits.

There is a cloud of witnesses around me all the time…all those who’ve gone before me…they are cheering for me every day…but they are not disembodied spirits that are trapped here.

The LORD says, “Fear Not!” over and over in the WORD!

Why? Because we are to Trust Him with all our hearts and not be afraid.

Movies, games, books, constumes…all with the theme of scaring people to death…of frightening them…well, it’s not a God thing is it?

I’ve prayed with fearful people, and many have confessed that they have caused fear in their lives by what they watch and read. 

Thus the song we sang as children, “Be Careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little minds what you think. Be careful little ears what you hear.”

The LORD tells us to thing on things that are lovely, pure, or a good report, etc., in order to have peace of mind.

Scary things do not give our mind peace.

Funny, that you can draw for a child…a man with a mischievous face…or dress him or a woman in black…and have them walking around in the dark…and fear will creep up their spine.

 

Tell the child to draw a good person and a bad person…and color and facial expressions and clothing will be different for the two.

The LORD clearly says, “Depart from evil and do good!”

What do we think this means?

Resist the devil, and he will flee! Playing around with the devil keeps him around us.

I tell my grandchildren the same that I told my students and their daddy’s, my sons. 

“Mimi doesn’t do Halloween.”  “Mama didn’t either, and neither did Mrs. Holt.”

I pray the LORD raise up in you the boldness to stand and not do Halloween anymore.  Peer pressure may be a struggle, but it always is….

Until the next time…

Teddi