That brings us to our key verses for today. There are three very plain parts of it for us today that relate to celebrating Halloween. The first is something I do not think we do enough in our lives and that is to carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Think about that for a minute. Shouldn't we be trying in everything we do to be pleasing to the God that saved us and has assured us eternal life? Yet how often, and myself is certainly included here, do we not consider what we are doing in relation to God? I can list any number of things here from what we say, to how we treat people, to what we watch. Instead, let's just bring it back to Halloween. Do we honestly think for one second that God is pleased when people who are called by His name partake in a holiday that glorifies death, the living dead, witchcraft, sorcery, demons, and the devil? I understand the world sees this as harmless fun but that is because they do not have the Spirit of the living God inside of them to convict them otherwise. How can I be so sure? The next part of the key verses.
Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness. We are supposed to be different. We are supposed to be set apart. I read a horrible op-ed by a famous mega-church pastor once who was defending the secularization of the church by saying he didn't want to be thought of by his neighbors as "that crazy Christian at the end of the block." They can call me crazy until the day Jesus comes back and says "well done." I remember I had a Christian friend work for me and she would always play her Christian music station and her answer to everything was Jesus. One of her peers, who was not saved, took great offense because how many of us know that the Spirit of God does not get along with the spirits of this world. She would file complaints with me and with Human Resources. My friend did not retaliate, she just prayed for the woman. Don't you know that when that woman's life fell apart the first person she went to was my friend and through that was led to the cross of Christ for salvation. Don't tell me the Gospel isn't enough! We just need Christians who are willing to stand up for it, get out of the way of it, and stop hiding it. We need enough Christians who are ok with being the crazy person at the end of the block, who prays for their neighborhood, always has nice things to say, always seems at peace, oh yeah"and doesn't celebrate Halloween. It may seem a minor point but I am willing to guess that if we start making excuses for the devils holiday, what else have we made excuses for in our lives? What do people see when they look at us? Do they see a secret agent Christian or one who stays true to what they believe, even if the world mocks them?
The final point from the key verses is the reason I decided to do this devotional after much internal debate. Because I am human too and know that there will be backlash from people I know in the world and unfortunately, people I know in the church. But all they can offer me are carnal arguments. They cannot offer a Scriptural argument for Halloween because there isn't one. The key verses say that it is not enough to merely have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness but we are to expose them. Call me crazy.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- October 29, 2012
