These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your gates. Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all this”-this is the Lord’s declaration.
Zechariah 8:16 HCSB
Many people will celebrate Halloween today and have lots of fun being scared and scaring others. But we must be careful because we live in the midst of a spiritual battle between good and evil. We are told in 1 Peter 5:8 that we must be sober and alert because the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Ephesians 4:27 tells us not to give the devil an opportunity.
There is no likeness between good and evil. We are told to take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. My dear friend often quotes Isaiah 5:20 which says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”
Halloween is the one time of the year where we even pay people to scare us. We must be careful, however. We must teach our children of the dangers of opening a door to the devil. Our actions can do this and once that door is opened, the devil will bust right in and take over if we aren’t careful.
Proverbs 22:6 tells us to train up a child in the way he should go and even when he is old, he will not depart from it. We must teach children about the dangers of exposing ourselves to darkness or evil. We must teach them not to lie and not to plot evil against others or do the things that God considers to be an abomination.
The Bible is very clear on how we should avoid these things. We are also told to avoid mediums or fortune tellers. We should stay away from things like horoscopes. In Leviticus 19:31 God told the Israelites that they would make themselves unclean by seeking them out.
We are all tempted to want to know what our future holds, but we must cling tightly to our Lord. He holds our future in His mighty hands. We must surrender to Him and trust in Him.
I’m also seeing a trend that I find disturbing. People are decorating their homes more for Halloween than they do for Christmas. This concerns me. I’ve seen it in my neighborhood and surrounding areas. I had an opportunity to travel out of state a week ago and saw the same pattern.
Halloween can be a fun time of getting candy and attending carnivals. It’s a time to welcome in the fall. But we must be careful that we don’t welcome anything else in that we don’t want to deal with. Most importantly, we must teach our children the truth according to God’s Holy Word. We must teach them the dangers of participating in works of darkness.
Many people say, “Oh, it’s just for fun.” Well, all sin is fun if it wasn’t we wouldn’t do it. But as God’s children we are called to be in the light and to be the light that shines for others to see. We can’t do this if we are lured into the darkness. Our light overcomes the darkness.
In Ephesians 5, we are warned against being deceived. Do not be deceived, God’s wrath will come upon those who are disobedient. We are warned against becoming partners with those who are in darkness. We were once in darkness when we were lost in sin but have been called into the light.
As children of the light, we are to try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. People should look to us and see God’s light. They should see goodness and truth.
I would like to close with 1 Corinthians 10:21 which says, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
Don’t be lured into the darkness and open the door for the devil. Teach your children to beware the darkness as well.
Have a great day!