Tuesday; October 31

I do my best to not allow my personal biases derail our time together too much, but every-once-in-a-while I find myself climbing on a soapbox.  Spoiler alert - today is one of those days.  I will be blunt, I am not a big fan Halloween.  No, I don’t think it is wrong to allow our children to canvass the neighborhood begging (or threatening people) for candy, but I think we must also be cautious about its dark side.  First of all, we must be careful that the day doesn’t become an excuse for destruction or debauchery.  Yet, another word of warning – we must be careful not to ignore the dark side of the spirit world.  Any day that honors the presence of the devil or dabbles in the unknowns of the spirit world in a positive way should be viewed with caution. 
Folks, I don’t want to be the fun-police, but I also don’t want us to trivialize something that might be offensive to God.  I realize this comes from the Old Testament, but God warned the Israelites as they entered the pagan world, “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.”.  (Deuteronomy 18:9-12)  Moses finishes up the discussion with, “… the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.”. (Deuteronomy 18:14)  If God didn’t want His people dabbling in spiritualism in the past, what does it say to His people in the 21st Century? 
No, we don’t have a New Testament prohibition, but maybe this should cause us to take a minute to pause and reflect.  No matter how we choose to celebrate our night tonight, let’s be careful and be thoughtful in what we do and how we do it.
Think About It!

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