It's Halloween again. Which means another Christian personality has come out defending evil...

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But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; - 1Peter 2: 9 (KJV)

It seems every year another Christian celebrity comes out and tells us all who believe in the Bible why we ought to celebrate Halloween. Last year it was Natalie Grant and this year the dubious honor seems to have fallen to Darren Wilson. For those who do not know, Wilson is a filmmaker and director of some of the most heretical "Christian" movies of the past five years. He is a follower and believer in Bill Johnson and Bethel Church. He is staunchly in the camp of the false signs and lying wonders movement. He believes God miraculously gives people gold fillings in their teeth for no reason, that glory clouds and gemstones are real manifestations of the Holy Spirit and that if you want to use the Bible to prove him wrong then you are just "religious." His recent "Holy Ghost" movies are a tour de force of the demonic being passed off as the Spirit of God. So it is no wonder to me that someone who cannot tell the depths to which he currently traffics in the demonic came to the defense of the most demonic day on our calendar. My concern is as always for people who would read his nonsense or watch his movies and be genuinely confused. Here is a link to the article he recently wrote on Charisma to which I am speaking:

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/behind-the-lens/52677-it-s-ok-for-christians-to-enjoy-halloween

Now to be honest, I do not want to get into every insane line of thought and strawman argument Wilson presents. Primarily because I think when it comes to Halloween, most people are not on the fence. There are those who rightly see it for what it is and those who will bow to societal and cultural forces to placate their children or excuse what deep down they know they simply should not be involved in. You can use any carnal reasoning you want and it will not change God or His Word. I understand that it is difficult to parent children in this society but the Bible calls us to be a different people. Unfortunately, the modern seeker friendly churches strive for "relevance" to the evil culture we live in so many churchgoers today simply cannot see the big deal of sending their kids out into the midst of this cauldron of evil. Like Natalie Grant tried to argue last year it is "just about dressing her nine year old up as a princess." Kids are not stupid beloved. They see what we accept. They see what we condone. They see the compromises we make and they will continue to make the same ones as they continue to grow. So it may be cute when she is a princess at nine. Maybe it is not so cute when she is a zombie at 13. Maybe it is starting to worry you when she is a vampire at 16. Then when she is 20 and into the occult, tarot cards, body piercings and cutting. Wait a minute preacher! Are you saying one has to lead to the other? Of course not. Maybe she comes out of it unscathed but if that is your best argument you need to rethink your logic. When your teenager is into death metal and witchcraft perhaps you can trace it back to when you said it was OK to partake in the most evil day of the year because she looked so cute as a princess. Go read the testimonies of former witches who have been saved. They all tell the same story. Halloween is the largest day of occult activity in the year. It is considered Satan's birthday and is a high holy day for Satanism. That said, I just want to point out a few of the glaring errors Wilson makes.

1) "And I wanted to write this to show that there may be another viewpoint for Halloween that is not only valid, but may be even biblical. We don't need any more faith bullies."

"May even be biblical," and then Wilson goes on to provide zero scriptures for how celebrating Halloween would be biblical. The larger point here is the tone is set by pretending that if you stand for the Bible you must be a faith bully. Nonsense. If you want to celebrate Halloween as a Christian, knock your socks off. While everything is permissible however not everything is beneficial. Just do not try and lead other people into your carnality. There is this funny commercial out now mocking the decisions made by characters in horror movies. The group of teenagers portrayed are trying to figure out where they should hide from the killer. The seemingly sane one suggests simply getting into the running car and the rest respond, "are you crazy?" They instead settle on hiding behind the wall full of chain saws, to which even the killer is left shaking his head in disbelief. I am not being a faith bully beloved. I am trying to point out that hiding behind the wall full of chain saws may not be the safest option when there is a running car we can hop in to escape!

2) "It's a holiday and as long as you're not celebrating the demonic but just having fun, it's not a big deal. I can enjoy dressing up and getting/giving candy without being a Satan worshiper. Everyone just needs to chill out."

This is the start of a series of strawman arguments that Wilson portrays as what is being argued when no one actually argues it. I have never heard anyone argue that partaking in Halloween make you a Satan worshipper. The problem is that it is a Satan worshippers holiday. If you want to celebrate Ramadan it will not make you a Muslim but you will be celebrating a Muslim holiday. The ironic thing is most Christians would think celebrating Ramadan is abhorrent but have no problem celebrating Halloween. Wilson then embarks on a long strawman argument designed to set the discussion in a way that he can excuse Christians celebrating Halloween. He sets up a false dichotomy. He says that people only view Halloween through one of two lenses. The spiritual lens will lead people to see only witches, goblins and ghosts, while the cultural lens will lead people to see it as a slice of Americana. To Wilson, the cultural lens folks are probably annoyed at the spiritual ones. What is missing is the third lens and that is the Biblical lens. It is the lens we are supposed to view everything through - including culture! Because Wilson is biblically illiterate and follows the dominionist teachings of Bill Johnson, he believes it is the responsibility of the church to influence the culture. This teaching of course is not found in Scripture. We are to proclaim the Gospel. The Good News that can save people from the culture. It is the culture that is killing them and the Darren Wilsons of the world are trying to make the church relevant to it.

Do we even understand anymore that we are called to be different beloved? The key verse teaches us that we are a royal priesthood. A holy nation. A peculiar people. The dictionary defines peculiar as "strange, odd, or unusual." It is OK if we are not like everyone else in our culture. It is OK if we seem different and maybe even a little odd to those walking in darkness. I often here parents complain that they do not want their kids to feel different but that is exactly what they ought to be! If we were honest we just do not want to tell them no when the world is saying yes. We have been called out of the darkness that Halloween represents. Why in the world are we so keen on rushing back to it?

3) "There is also another thought process among Christians that I find strange, and that is the notion that somehow if you are in proximity of something that is "evil", the evilness of that something is going to jump on you and somehow taint you."

Wilson goes on to speak about how he would be filming in occult situations or with witch doctors but how he knew he would not be affected because he has the light of Christ in him. Except his movies are an abomination to God. They make a mockery of God and His Word. I do not find it coincidental that his primary area of heresy is in relation to matters in the spiritual world yet he cannot tell that hanging out with witch doctors in occult situations is no big deal. If you watch his movies with an open Bible then it will appear that perhaps the witch doctor was an assistant director. Beloved while we are to be afraid, we best not be so spiritually arrogant as to think the things of the devil are meaningless. The Bible instructs us to resist the devil, not hang out with him. Not approach him with some false sense of bravado. Wilson's bragging here only highlights how truly clueless he is about the darkness he faces. The principalities that preside over that darkness. It is the same darkness that pervades the culture he wants to be relevant to. It is the same darkness that pervades his movies. It is the same darkness that pervades Halloween.

4) "What you believe will always be your reality."

This beloved is the natural result of not following the Bible. You start to think that you are in control instead of God. In word faith heresy the false teacher espouses that our words create reality. This statement from Wilson espouses that our perspective dictates reality. That as long as you believe that evil cannot affect you then it cannot. How dangerously naïve. It is this naivete that results in making movies that serve Satan while you think you are filming God. As Christians our reality must be based upon the Bible because it alone is absolute truth.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12: 2 (ESV)

Wilson's entire article is an exhibition in carnality trying to find a Christians excuse. There are cultural arguments. There are arguments about how great candy is. There are arguments about making friends with your neighbors; as if October 31 is the only day we could do this as believers. Also, do not fall for the false narrative he presents by constantly pretending that Bible believing Christians are advocating for turning their lights off and hunkering down until November 1st. That is also absurd. As believers we ought to answer the door. We ought to give the neighborhood kids candy, and tracts, and pray for them. That does not mean we have to partake in the darkness they do not understand. Perhaps the abstinence will start a more meaningful conversation with our unsaved neighbors than telling them about Christ while we dress our kids up like the Walking Dead.

5) "But for many Christians, we consider our separation from the rest of society who needs Jesus as a kind of badge of honor, when in reality it's just Christians acting like a bunch of weirdos in the eyes of the very world we're called to reach."

Absurdly illogical arguments. Is Halloween the only day we can evangelize our neighbors? We are not called to reach them with candy but with the Gospel. I know this is lost on Wilson because he ascribes to such false teachings about church to begin with. The church essentially tries to reach the world with candy and passes it off as being evangelical. The problem is when you reach them with candy and carnality then only candy and carnality will keep them. When you reach them with the Gospel, Christ will keep them. As for the weirdos comment, which way is better? That the world sees Christians who behave exactly as they do? That the world sees Christians unwilling to take a stand for anything? The overwhelming reason given by young adults for why they leave the church is that it is no different than the world. Think about how sobering that thought should be to us. Maybe it would be a better thing for the world to see us as a little off from their norm. As a little peculiar. Maybe even a tad weird. Remember the things of God are foolishness to them anyway. Just the fact that we proclaim Christ makes us fools in their eyes and we think by trick or treating with them they will suddenly feel differently? It should be a badge of honor that we consider ourselves separated from a society that is leading people to hell. Wilson actually states here that if you choose to abstain from Halloween then you are not normal like the rest of your neighborhood. Think about that for a second and what it says about what Darren Wilson actually believes in. The unsaved people in the world who dress up their children like all forms of wickedness are the normal ones. The Christians who choose to say no to the carnal world and yes to the Bible are the ones who are not normal.

6) "We're not called to run from Halloween. We're called to redeem it."

No Darren we are not. Nowhere in the Bible does it say we are to redeem anything but the time. That verse means we are to make the most of the time we have to spread the Gospel, not conform to the evils of this world. Once again though, we see the end result of the false teaching Wilson follows. It turns us into God. It is God who redeems us beloved. We do not have the power of redemption within us. You may as well say we are redeeming adultery or fornication by partaking in the very sin. Do you think the world cares if Christians celebrate Halloween? If anything it only furthers their belief that we are hypocrites. To redeem Halloween we would have to be changing it to something holy. Is that what happens when we dress our kids up as ghouls and goblins and do exactly what the world does?

While we are on the subject, there is also no redemption is pretending we are not celebrating Halloween by changing the name. Harvest parties are still celebrating Halloween. Hallelujah parties are the same. Trunk and treat or whatever other ridiculous slick carnal marketing idea can be cooked up in the laboratory of purpose driven, seeker friendly theology will all still result in the same thing. You will be partaking in Halloween. I know to Darren Wilson that doesn't mean anything but it ought to. It really ought to.

Reverend Anthony Wade - October 28, 2015

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.