Part 2: Awake & Reform!! 🚫😈👻🔄
⏩Please go back and read Part 1 of this post from yesterday, to learn more about this day and why it is not what some claim it to be.⏩ There is nothing about "All-Souls Day"/Halloween that we, as spirit-filled believers, should celebrate. A prayer meeting, yes. A worship service, yes. Anything else that even resembles Halloween..NO! If we want to have a type of harvest festival, with games and hay-rides for children, then I think that would be appropriate to do any other time in October and November, but I don't feel it should be anywhere close to this date on the calendar, and definitely should have no resemblance to Halloween. I also don't feel it is appropriate to dress up in a costume, as this practice clearly came from the pagan Samhain festival that is celebrated by witches and warlocks on Oct. 31st. (See my previous post regarding the Samhain Festival for more info) And do I really need to say that it is inappropriate to decorate with "haunted" or demonic things, such as graves, skeletons, witches, and black cats? Clearly, anything that is based in fear is not of God. ~ 2 Timothy 1:7 - For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I think we can have fun and make it fun for children and others, without dressing up, and without celebrating death and evil. I remember as a child when we started attending a church where the Pastor taught about the dangers and evils of Halloween. My mom was not aware of these things, but immediately was convicted and said she would not be allowing us to participate in anything like that from that point forward. I also remember that same church having a church-wide Harvest Festival with fun games, booths, prizes, and candy. It was earlier in October I believe, and no one dressed up or promoted anything remotely to do with Halloween, but it was loads of fun! I remember liking it so much more than I did going around the neighborhood asking for candy, and I didn't miss anything about Halloween at all. It was held in the church parking lot, and it was bright, colorful, loud, and fun! As a matter of fact, I remember being glad of the fact that I didn't have to be scared of the other kids who were dressed up in scary things, and glad that I didn't have to go up to all the houses with the scary graves, etc. Even as a child, I was aware that something wasn't right with those things. It is already a frightful world for children in some ways, and many of them struggle with fear and anxiety...why would we want to do anything to promote those things? Not to mention exposing them to much demonic activity, which is getting more and more prevalent with every Halloween that passes. Let me mention here that I also don't agree with churches having "trunk-or-treat" as it is simply playing into the same thing that the world is advocating. It even has the same type of connotation as trick-or-treat, and looks way too much like Halloween, even promoting kids to dress in their Halloween costumes. Why would a church do this? To be popular, to draw people to the church...with candy? This is not what true Christianity is about. We don't have to look like the world, and act like the world, to attract the world. I know, I know...many will say they use it for evangelism. Well, I would like to ask...how many true disciples of Christ have you won over at a trunk-or-treat? I don't mean visitors to your church, I mean true, lasting, disciples of Christ? Few if any. Statistics actually show it to be very, very few. It is time for a "Metanoia" people of God...time to repent, and change our minds! The word tells us to be in this world, but not of it (John 17:14-15). It is time for us to decide we are going to be a holy, righteous, and set-apart bride...and that doesn't include dancing with the devil, no matter how "fun" it may seem! What the world may do, and what other so-called "Christians" may do, is not necessarily what we should do. We should do the work of Him who sent us, and strive to please His heart. I'm not trying to be legalistic or religious, or to take away your "fun". Believe me, I like to have as much fun as the next person, but not when it is wrapped around celebrating something evil and demonic, that can open up for the demonic to operate in your life...and not when it is something that is as compromising as this evil celebration is. I am telling you now people of God...we MUST do better! Satan and his demonic hordes are on a rampage against God's people, and now is not the time to pander to his kind of "fun" any longer. It is time to make sure you are on one side of the fence or the other...and never, ever cross back over to the other side, for any reason! Pastors and leaders in the Body of Christ...it is time for you to teach these things in your churches and ministries. It is time to teach that certain things are wrong and not acceptable to participate in. It is time to teach that some things cannot be redeemed or reconstituted. It is time for you to stop compromising just to appease the people, just to make sure you don't lose "attenders" or "partners", and stop wanting to be "liked" more than "right". I believe if Pastors and leaders were more concerned with growing the people than they were growing their churches or ministries, we would have a lot less of this kind of behavior within Christianity. If we would stop living in the grey, and teach the people as much about the "Fear of the Lord" as we do "The Love of the Father", we would actually have disciples instead of luke-warm, compromising people, who are as much in love with the things of this world as they are with their "form of Jesus". We would not have a people that are so weak and in bondage, that it is hard to distinguish them from those in the world. We would begin to actually have people who are passionate, balanced, standing in truth, and walking in His power and Glory! Stop fearing man, leaders, and start fearing God again! Repent...change your mind, and return to your first Love! Become the true leader in the Body you were always meant to be, and not one who is led by your desire for a successful ministry. It is time...You can do this! It is time...for a sold-out, no compromising, God-fearing people to arise! It is time for them to come out of passivity, come out of apathy, come out of bondage, come out of compromise and fleshly behaviors. It is time for them to be the awesome and fearful army of the Lord that they are called to be...a people that do not pander to the enemy, nor play in his camp, but who strictly does what the Spirit leads them to do! It is time for the true remnant, to ARISE!! Stand up, and be counted, men and women of God! If now is not the time, when is it?? If we are not the people, then who is?? 🔥⏫ "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light!" ~ 1 Peter 2:9 #NowIsTheTime #WeAreThePeople #OutOfDarkness #IntoHisLight #AChosenGeneration #aRoyalPriesthood #AHolyPeople #NoFear #NoToHalloween #NoCompromise