Recently, our office held a planning retreat. The first half of the meeting was establishing our strengths, our passions and our values. We talked about how values can be handed down through generations, and accepted based upon their parents’ or elders’ values, and how sometimes we need to do some soul-searching to establish the values that we hold as truth. So periodically I find it necessary to analyze why I believe what I believe. I want to own the value, not just accept someone else’s, even if it is someone that is dear to me. I think my thoughts in dark and light. I become confused and muddled when those two opposite spectrums become intermingled into the gray zone… it’s not a place that my brain appreciates. Or excels in. It’s foggy there, and sometimes dense and scary. So, I continue to process a thought until it becomes “right” or “wrong”, “dark” or “light” based on God’s word to me, and occasionally, the research that I do.
Well. I have been doing some soul-searching… and some processing…
I love my Christian friends. I love the common bond that we have with our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ. I love knowing that we can all go to His Word, and compare thoughts and evaluations, and seek His Truth… to find out what He really would do. God has led me to become much more tolerant of other’s thoughts and beliefs and actions…. much less judgmental because I have come to realize that not everyone has been exposed to the same information, the same experiences, and the same awareness. And that includes the celebration of “All Hallows Eve”, which can be a gray zone for many Christians.
The Bible doesn’t say “Thou Shalt NOT Celebrate Halloween”, but what the Bible does say in Deuteronomy 18:10-14 is, “For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, 11 or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead.12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. 13 But you must be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things.”
I don’t expect most of the people that read this do any of those things listed above, but did you realize that this holiday is the Wiccans high holiday? They feel that the veil between the mortal and spiritual realm is at its thinnest on that night, and they rejoice at the deception… as followers of Christ consistently dress-up, and abide by many of the “practices” that are rooted in paganism, such as jack-o-lanterns, and trick-or-treating. Did you know that many Wiccans do actually offer sacrifices on this day… the day that they refer to as Samhain, who was the god of the dead? Did you know that it is still celebrated as an ancient pagan festival of the dead by witches all over the world?
Do you want to even come close to blurring the line of good versus evil? Or do you want God to know that you honor Him and no other, and that you are willing to take a stand against the devil and his team of demons who circle the world looking for those to deceive, destroy and devour?
My heart is firmly set against satan and all he represents, and I refuse to become a casualty of this dark day, and all that it represents. I am thankful for the full protection of my Heavenly Father, his Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and I do not feel the need to test this protection by celebrating the wicked things of this world. I value God’s truth over other’s thoughts of me, I value his Ways before man’s ways, and I value the love that He freely and generously showers over me, even when I fall short.
I am aware that doing things differently, and going against the ways of the world is uncomfortable, but my objective has never been to be part of this world. My purpose is to share his love, share his hope, and share his ways. It is to stand steadfastly in the Truth, that I may shine as a beacon of light for Him, so that when it is time, He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Loves Doves 