Should Satan have that which is called Holy?

'The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.' Romans 14:6-9

The other day I made a post about something Christians can do today that would be God honoring and to an extent pro-life in that it would focus on how sacred and fragile life is resulting in showing us how important it is to share the Gospel whenever and however we can, because we don’t know when someone will breathe their last, while also praising God for His grace and mercy offered to us through Christ’s death on the cross. I was surprised to see the negative reactions to this post from Christians and most likely only because of how I referred to today and by looking at it as a Christian Memorial Day, which is what the early church intended.

The way I had referred to today was by calling it Halloween (HOLY evening), in fact after I saw those reactions I began to wonder if they would have reacted the same way if I had said Reformation Day (as both refer Oct. 31 just Reformation day would only be recognized by a few Christians in some protestant denominations while Halloween is a more widely known way to refer to the day even by nonbelievers) or if I just left off calling it anything other than Oct. 31 or not referred to a specific day at all.

Earlier that same day I had posted on how the way many of us Christians treat Halloween is essentially telling Satan if he twists something far enough, we will let him have it, even if it is called “holy,” remember Satan is not holy so why should he be allowed to take something that has holy in its name? Halloween literally means HOLY evening, and for those that state it came out of a pagan celebration that takes place at the same time of year, Halloween was originally observed by the early church in May for about 200 years before getting moved to October (which some will state was because of pagan influence, but there is also strong evidence it was for more practical reasons such as Rome being better able to handle an influx of pilgrims later in the year compared to the summer).

Regardless I didn’t state we should practice the pagan rituals that have become associated with Halloween, though as a side note in reading up on Halloween with some activities it is hard to separate what came from the pagan celebration and what was more from medieval superstitions mixed with the teachings of the church at that time (from what I read the church’s practice of “souling” may have come about a century before the pagan practice “mumming and guising” which both are viewed as being the precursors to trick-or-treating) and thus some of the traditional activities should be approached prayerfully and through personal conviction by the Holy Spirit with an eye towards passages like that found in 1 Corinthians 8 or Romans 14:1-9; rather I just offered a way Christians can observe the day in a way the early church intended, but without the medieval superstitions and associated beliefs, as essentially making it a “Christian Memorial Day” again. Just like regardless of all the pagan practices and imagery that have become strongly associated with Christmas and Easter, and some could argue that they have become just as pagan centric as Halloween through Satan’s attempt to claim them as well, as Christians we still celebrate Christ’s birth and resurrection on those days respectively constantly fighting Satan to keep the Christian origins in those days and keeping him from claiming them as his own.

If the reaction was due to fact that there are pagan practices associated with how I referred to the day, while I said nothing about partaking in those practices, I have yet to read a passage that states not to honor or glorify God on days that have been overrun by pagan traditions or to only honor and glorify God on days that don’t have any pagan associations. Remember we are called to be a light to the world, and a light is most effective when it is dark; so, what better time than today to be a light to the world.

Don't give Satan the power?

'And just as it is appointed for people to die once — and after this, judgment — so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.' Hebrews 9:27-28

'Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For by this our ancestors were approved.' Hebrews 11:1-2

Well we are quickly approaching that time where there tends to be strong opinions and great division among Christians, and no I don’t mean the elections though they are also approaching. What I am talking about is Halloween. I have seen a range of feelings among believers regarding this day to where some don’t view it as anything wrong to allow their children to dress up and go door to door “trick or treating” to those that believe it is a sin for any Christian to even acknowledge the term Halloween. I can’t give an opinion on how accepting of the current activities a Christian should be other than to suggest approaching it in prayer; but I can state I feel it is an issue to completely ignore the day or to acknowledge its existence. The reason I state this is that what many people don’t realize or have been led to believe the opposite is that Halloween was originally part of a Christian celebration (Holy Evening) to remember the Christians that have passed on and celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death, which Satan had twisted its appearance over the years, to the point of people believing the origins are anything but Christian.

If you don’t see where I am going with this, here is what I am getting at is that I feel for a Christian to ignore, or “boycott” Halloween is telling Satan that he can take anything that was intended to be used for good or bring glory to God and if he twists it enough we will cave in and let him win. It is telling Satan that he has power over us and the power to take what isn’t his. Now I am not saying that Christians should go and practice everything currently associated with Halloween, that is a matter of prayer; but what I would suggest is to take Halloween back to its origins. Use the night to reflect on the contributions of various church fathers to the faith as well as look at their life and how God used them. If you are a protestant look at the lives of some of the reformers or some of the events around the Protestant Reformation as October 31 is also the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Read Hebrews 11, as this is a passage that looks at Old Testament believers and focuses on their faith and how God used them because of their faith. Finally celebrate in some way the salvation Christ will bring when He returns. Again I can’t state what all of the current practices around Halloween a Christian should allow, that is a matter of prayer and conviction, but I do say as Christians we should rise up and tell Satan he no longer has the power over us to corrupt and steal that which was created with good purposes; and possibly if more Christians rather than ignore Halloween started treating it as the Holy Evening it was created as the more non-Christian practices will become less prominent.

3Kim Gruver, Curtis J Evenrud-Gruver and 1 other

What is Pro-life?

'But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you... But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.' Luke 6:27-35

During this time of election one topic I see a lot of division over is that of being “pro-life” in terms of the issue of abortion. Now you may have noticed that I placed the term pro-life in quotes, that is because this verse/passage in Luke probably sums up what it means to truly be pro-life. It isn’t about stopping abortions, which I will state is an evil practice that would nice to see ended; but because as shown in Genesis 8:21 the “intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” abortion and similar evils have always been around and unfortunately will remain until Christ’s return, no matter if it is legal or not. Pro-life means valuing EVERY life equally, this means the life of the unborn is just as important as the life of those racially and culturally different from you, the life of the police and first responders, the life of the rich, the life of the poor, the life of those serving and have served in the military, the life of the homeless, the life of our friends, the life of those who may want to kill us, the life of those who perform abortions, and the life of those who seek abortions. The number of abortions performed are just as bad as the number of deaths due to “X”, and the number of deaths due to “X” are just as bad as the number of abortions performed. To steal a phrase “ALL LIVES MATTER!” From the womb to the grave, whether they are friends or enemies, whether they can speak for themselves or they unable to speak up, whether they have similar beliefs or have an opposing worldview, whether they love you or they seek to harm you; “All lives matter.”

Now if you prayerfully look at this and personally reflect on it, it is hard to truly be pro-life, and we all will fall short and the reason, to paraphrase George Orwell, is that on some level we tend to believe whether we want to admit it or not, “All men are equal, but some men are more equal” which is a reflection of man’s sin nature. Jesus basically put it this way it is easy for us to love those that love us, but try loving those that want to do you harm and you will probably see how we fall short in being pro-life. In fact, I would go so far as to state that Jesus has been the only person to have ever walked the earth who was truly pro-life and He willingly gave up His life for all so that “whosoever” places their faith and trust in Him shall enjoy eternal life and a restored relationship with God. All we can do is strive to be pro-life and seek God's help and strength when we hit those times when being pro-life is hard to do, because it is only through the work of the Holy Spirit that our heart can change in such a way to value ALL lives equally.

Are you worshiping God or your actions?

'On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.' Matthew 7:21-23

Let me start out by stating I don’t care how you vote, and trust that if you are a Christian you voted the way you did after much prayer and how the Spirit led you, even those that placed their vote based on just one issue. What I will caution you however is not to allow that issue or issues to become your god, as I have seen where some might be going that way. In this passage it isn't those who weren’t doing good works, voting a certain way, speaking out in regards to certain issues that have noble intentions that are being condemned. It’s those who were doing good works, in God’s name even, yet rather than their focus being on God their focus was on their works (their own righteousness). They worshiped what they were doing rather than God, they looked religious but what they worshiped wasn’t the Lord but the law. In the same way there are some that appear to falling into a similar trap of Satan, he doesn’t trip us up with the things that are evil but takes those things that are good and twists them to take our focus away from God, by moving their focus from God to placing their focus solely on a specific issue.

Now I will admit this is a challenge to all of us, as I have heard one pastor say, “We are all control freaks,” we want to be in control of everything and will often try to avoid that which we can't control; and it is easy to worship and place our focus and trust on that which we control, such as an issue we focus on regarding our vote, or the good deeds that we do. This is why Paul states in Romans 12:1, we are to daily offer ourselves up as a living sacrifice, because all of us have a daily struggle in choosing to focus on God or to place our focus elsewhere.

Finally, I voted how I felt led; but I also know regardless of how I voted God is sovereign and the results on November 4 will be that which God has ordained. His will, will be carried out no matter what and will all work out ultimately to His glory.