Shalom friends! Even as I write this, I’m praying to the Holy Spirit saying: Lord, I do not know how I will be able to continue to write on holiness. I do not feel equipped to write on this topic beyond a few posts and I know apart from you I can do nothing. I am fully dependent on You to speak to me and direct what I am supposed to write. Amen.
That prayer reminds me of this verse: Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much (1 Corinthians 8:2 NLT). It also reminded me that humility is a great place to start even when it comes to writing. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6 NLT). It is His grace that enables me to write.
As I shared in a previous post, I have known for many years now that the Lord has asked me write. I did not know what all that would include but I know bible journaling was an easy place to start. What I mean is that in the mornings as I am reading my bible, if there is any verse that I just love or resonates somehow, I usually write it down in my journal. Then if I have any thoughts on that verse, I will usually write those down. Most of the time another verse will pop into my head and so I will write that down too. Then sometimes I will write a prayer regarding those verses. And if I know of a worship song that has a similar theme, I may write out some of the lyrics and or listen to it as well. However, writing is a discipline for me as I have never really enjoyed just writing my own thoughts down as I see it as repeating myself which as a mother, I do not enjoy doing. I remember one time thinking, I am so tired of repeating myself to my children. Then I realized that God has repeated himself for thousands of years so that gave me some perspective. He has also sent His prophets, the apostles and even His Son, Jesus, to repeat His holy words.
A key passage that I always reference when it comes to learning about being holy is 1 Peter 1:13-16 in the Amplified translation:
So prepare your minds for action, be completely sober [in spirit–steadfast, self-disciplined, spiritually and morally alert], fix your hope completely on the grace [of God] that is coming to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14[Live] as obedient children [of God]; do not be conformed to the evil desires which governed you in your ignorance [before you knew the requirements and transforming power of the good news regarding salvation]. 15But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your conduct [be set apart from the world by your godly character and moral courage]; 16because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY (set apart), FOR I AM HOLY.”
If being holy means that we are not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2), my conviction is that I should examine all activities that my family partakes in such as the various holidays. Today happens to be the time when many people will celebrate Halloween. This topic is debated among the church, and it seems evident that a Christian has one of three stances on Halloween:
-It is harmless costumes and delicious candy, what’s the big deal?
-Participating in Halloween is an opportunity to engage with the culture/ non-Christians.
-Nothing good comes from partaking in Halloween, give no attention to it.
I am not here to debate but rather share my conviction on the topic. This is what Holy Spirit has revealed to my husband and myself:
We do not participate in Halloween as too much of it revolves around the occult/death and the Bible is very clear about choosing life. Our girls cringe at anything that resembles Halloween. They are bothered how much time stores give to marketing various dark and demonic looking “decorations.” Deuteronomy 18:9-14 gives very specific instructions and lists occult practices to stay away from and it sounds a lot of what Halloween celebrates. Let’s give it a read.
9“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. 10For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, 11or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. 12Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the LORD your God will drive them out ahead of you. 13But you must be blameless before the LORD your God. 14The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the LORD your God forbids you to do such things” (NLT).
The King James Version (KJV) and the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) translations mention “familiar spirit” in verse 11 so because Halloween has a familiar spirit to occult practices/death, we have nothing to do with it. If you haven’t before, look up John Ramirez’s testimony; he talks about the practices of satanists on Halloween. It is very disturbing and makes you almost want to say, “yeah right, that is so extreme.” But if you read the Bible, there are some very extreme stories of the work of Satan. See, Satan doesn’t show up on your door in a red body suit with horns and a pitch fort asserting, “Hi, I am Satan and if you let me in, I’ll ruin your life.” If so, it would be too easy to slam the door shut on him and his deceitful tactics. Rather, just like in the garden of Eden, he is “the most cunning” (Genesis 3:1 HCSB). Other translations say, “crafty”, “shrewdest”, and “subtle.” This fits perfectly to him being described as a serpent (Gensis 3:1). He doesn’t bang on your door; he waits for you to open it just a tiny bit and then he will slither in.
I appreciate verse 13 in that passage in Deuteronomy: “you must be blameless before the Lord your God” which echoes New Testament passages like Colossians 1:21-22 NLT: “This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.” In essence, it’s like willingly walking over Jesus’ dead body/ ignoring his atoning death on the cross by partaking in anything that opposes life and light. And last time I checked, “life” and “light” are not adjectives to describe Halloween.
My children are not “missing out” on not celebrating. They are not even interested because what they discern from all the advertising does not give them a sense of peace. They recognize the spirit of fear within the advertising and understand that God has not given us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7) and therefore do not want any fellowship with the activities. They dress up all the time, whenever they please but when they do, the costume is within a royal context. As Christians, we know our identity includes being joint heirs with Christ, so I encourage them to walk in their identity of royalty anytime. And Candy? They have access to it all year long because their father has a special interest in gummies, so they do not lack in their sugar consumption, but they also do not need one day to mass consume it.
I understand the idea to participate in passing out candy to your neighbors to engage with the community just as Paul and others did in the New Testament (Acts 17:22-34), but Halloween is NOT the only day you can actively engage with your community. And if you have young children, it is more important to protect them from some of today’s costumes which are disturbing or over sexualizing than engaging in the “fun” of collecting candy.
Paul exhorts us in Philippians, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (4:8 NLT). I also do not think anyone would describe Halloween with these adjectives nor is it “worthy of praise” from a biblical perspective. I just don’t see the point in celebrating something if it does not honor and celebrate God the Father, Jesus the Son and or the Holy Spirit.
Examine the scriptures and see if celebrating Halloween lines up with the way Christians are called to walk. It may take time and perhaps more time than you want to give but this is worthy of your time so that you may know how to lead yourself and your family.
1 Peter 1:15-16 bears repeating: But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your conduct [be set apart from the world by your godly character and moral courage]; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY (set apart), FOR I AM HOLY.” Friends, it takes moral courage to not participate in many worldly activities and scripture says because of Jesus’ atoning death, we stand holy and blameless before God (Colossians 1:22); therefore, let us walk in holiness together and live a life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27) that has saved our souls.
Let’s give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; let’s worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness (Psalm 29:2). Amen.