ON HALLOWEEN

This coming Sunday will mark one of the most celebrated day in our American culture. It is an ancient pagan rite of worshiping the powers of darkness, called Samhain. The ancient Druids practiced it toward the end of October, offering human sacrifice to appease the "forces of darkness" so they would keep the people safe during the dark days of winter. How odd to think that you could appease evil with evil and somehow keep at bay the very things that wanted to destroy your life before you found out about God's grace!

The Church tried to redeem the day by having it be known as All Hallowed Eve, the evening before the feast of All Saints Day. That practice has proven futile, as culture has become more and more fascinated with the powers of darkness. Church's have "Fall Festivals" on October 31st to try and replace Halloween. It appears that we want to make sure our kids aren't denied their candy, or draw any more ridicule from their friends by appearing too strange to their friends even more strange.

Halloween is actually not our holiday. In Deuteronomy 12:29-31 God tells His people to not investigate how the pagans worship their "gods" since God will not have them attempting to worship Him that way. The cultures that were displaced by Israel were occultist to the core: witches, mediums, sorcerers and others communing with the demonic to try and gain power over life. They willingly practiced human sacrifice as the demonic demanded the blood of the first-born. Was it, maybe, Satan's attempt to destroy "the Seed" that was prophesied to one day come and crush the Serpent's head? Maybe.

Our culture is utterly fascinated by the paranormal, the occult. You can buy a Ouija Board next to Monopoly in most stores. That is a direct tool to draw children into contact with the demonic. There are at least 48 shows now running on TV (cable + regular) that directly have to do with the occult. Oh, it's never promoted as such, but that is what it is. "The Ghost Whisperer" or "Medium" supposedly doing mankind a great good by solving murders and mysteries. Well, the demons that incited the murder definitely know who they inspired to kill and where the dead bodies can be found.

When you then count the horror films, those dealing with the supernatural and rampant demonic evil, there are hundreds. Hollywood keeps making them because they make money. People are fascinated by them. The underlying premise in them all is "There is no God; no Ultimate Good that has power and authority to defeat the evil portrayed." Even in the Exorcist, the poor priest gets impaled by the forces of evil...God ultimately couldn't keep His servant.

Our God has defeated these foes by the Supreme act of Redemption in Jesus Christ on the Cross, by His death that destroyed the ultimate power of death and by His resurrection. He opened the way for us to begin to live eternal life in the here-and-now by Jesus coming to live His very Life within us, making us one with Himself and empowering us by the the Holy Spirit.

The reality is, human "normal" has been broken and distorted by sin. The realm of the paranormal is the bailiwick of the demonic. The Life we are given in Jesus Christ is supernatural, a "new creation" where we a part of God's Kingdom, His family. People are desperate to know about spiritual things, life after death, meaning, purpose and destiny. That gnawing hunger is due to the fact we were created to KNOW the Lord God and thus true meaning, purpose, destiny and true peace and contentment.

Our spiritual enemy is right there ready to deceive. Even Christians get deceived and get off into "baptizing" methods from the east used to bring pagan worshipers into contact with the seducing spirits, demons sometimes referred to as "familiar spirits" in Scripture. Thinking their "intent" will sanctify a pagan form of worship they open themselves to deception. There may be great spiritual experience. But spiritual experience is NOT self-validating. One may have real spiritual experience and it not come from God.

God is in control, not us. He has made it clear that we are not to adopt the practices of paganism in any form. He will not be worshiped that way. Signs and wonders can be produced by Satan. They are not the "fruit" of God's action. Our lives must be grounded in the full counsel of God's Word. If it does not line up with Scripture, don't mess with it, regardless of how "spiritual" it may outwardly appear. The Holy Spirit's work does not make us "spooky" it makes us real!

Below are some Scripture passages worth reading.

Isaiah 8:19-22; Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Jeremiah 10;1-2, 23:16-24; 1 Peter 5:6-9; Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Corinthians 11:3-6,14-15