When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations. No one is to make his son or daughter pass through the fire, practice divination, tell fortunes,  interpret omens, practice sorcery, cast spells, consult a medium, or familiar spirit, or inquire of the dead.  Everyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and the Lord you God is driving out the nations before you because of these detestable things.  Deuteronomy 18:9-12 HCSB

Remember the Israelites and the whole Promised Land story.  These people took 40 years to make a 14 day trip.  They would do well, fall into sin and idolatry, repent, be forgiven and repeat.  This pattern happened over and over.  Sound familiar?  I went through a long period in my life where I lived that way.

In our scripture passage today, they are being warned that they are going into a land where people practice witchcraft, fortune telling and things like that.  They are told that God is driving these people out before them and not to associate with them.

Many of us are getting excited as the weather cools off a bit and Halloween approaches.  We want to be scared.  We will pay money to go through haunted houses and trails.  We want encounters with zombies and all kinds of scary people.

Now I watch a lot of true crime shows on tv.  I am frightened by the fact that you can be sleeping peacefully in your bed, minding your own business and be the victim of a violent home invasion.  This is the kind of stuff that scares me.  But what really scares me is hell.  You see hell is very real and we must be careful not to go there.  Here on earth you walk through a haunted house or haunted trail and come out.   Once you go to hell, you spend eternity there.  Many churches do programs during Halloween which give you an idea of what hell will be like. If you have the opportunity to go through one of these, I strongly encourage you to do so.

It’s very tempting to know what the future holds.  But remember, if God had wanted us to know what the future holds, then we would all be able to see into the future.  It’s very tempting to be able to conjure up the spirit of a lost loved one.  If God had intended for us to consult with the dead, He would have left a line of communication open. Our Bible tells us that we are not to do these things.  It tells us that these things are detestable to God.  We are told many times in the Bible that we are not to have any association with fortune tellers, sorcerers, mediums, psychics, or any of those type people. If you don’t believe me, read it for yourself.  A few of the scripture passages that deal with this are Leviticus 19:31, Exodus 22:18, Leviticus, 20:6,27, Galatians 5:19-21, Revelation 21:8, Revelation 22:15 and Isaiah 47:8-14. There are even more found at openbible.info.  Use their topical Bible search and enter sorcery or witchcraft.

In Revelation 21:7-8,  The victor will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.  But the cowards, unbelievers, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars-their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.  Now, that’s scary!

Be very careful as you celebrate this time of year.  Halloween is a satanic holiday.  My friend, Gwen, has a website which is biblestudyforeveryone.com.  She wrote a bible teaching which gives a wonderful history on how the celebration of Halloween came about.  I honestly never knew the history of Halloween.  It’s a good read and I encourage you to read about it before you decide how you will celebrate this holiday.  Many churches have trunk or treat and/or fun festivals for children.  Our church is having a fall festival on October 27th from 5-8pm.  It is a salute to our heroes and we will have police, fire and ems vehicles and personnel there.  We will also have food and games along with a bonfire and a hayride.  If you live in the Natalbany area we would love for you to come out and join us.

We are in the end times, my friend.  Be very careful.  Steer clear of anyone who practices witchcraft, consults the dead or claims to be a medium or fortune teller.  Now some of you will read this and say that you just do it for fun.  Well, the problem with that is that it opens a doorway for the devil.  This is something you never want to do. The Bible is very clear on the fact that we are to not associate with anyone who does these things.

Have a great day!