The Spirit of Halloween, Demons, and Addiction – Purity 1489
Purity 1489 10/29/2024 Purity 1489 Audio Podcast
Purity 1489 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Well, It is Tuesday and I have shared the story before that the line of demarcation in the decision of when and how I would ask my “girlfriend” of two weeks to be my bride seemed to be the Buskirk Bridge, as I received the news that the engagement ring I had purchased was going to be delivered later that day, after having crossed that bridge to get to my work assignment. At the time I reflected on how everything in my life would change after crossing that bridge on the way back home as I made the decision to surprise TammyLyn later that evening as we were going to see one another for the class I was teaching and pop the question. She said “Yes” and the rest is Christian podcast history as the Lord used my faithfulness to spread the Freedom in Christ message with a podcast and TammyLyn’s faithfulness to follow Him to bring us together as man and wife! God is good. And it is a very good thing that God is good because so often it is proven to us that we are not. That’s why we need a Savior and God’s continual grace in our lives.
This is the time of year that nearly every Christian ministry, podcast, or blog does the seemingly obligatory message on whether Christians should celebrate Halloween or not. Unfortunately, if Christians are looking for one thing they can agree on – the topic of Halloween Celebrations – yay or nay – is not going to be it. Beyond the questions of whether or not Christians dress up in costumes, decorate their homes, have Halloween parties, or participate in “trick or treating” even the historical, pagan, or occult associations or origins of Halloween seem to be a matter of debate or controversy depending on the different articles you read.
Ultimately, while Christians should probably NOT be associated with anything that may have occult or pagan origins, as with most things in the expression of our faith as Christians, our decisions to participate or not will come down to our personal choices and convictions and those choices will be based on your knowledge, experience, and preferences. Our faith should never be reduced to a list of do’s and don’ts any more than we should blindly follow “orders” without knowledge, discernment, and trust.
While I would never seek to open up a can of worms by suggesting questions of morality lie on a relativistic scale for our interpretation, we have to realize that “sin” and the conviction of sin often have a lot to do with the individual’s knowledge and maturity in the faith. Some people don’t know better. They haven’t studied the Bible and they haven’t been exposed to good Christian teaching or haven’t been convinced that there are spiritual forces of darkness that influence us.
So while it may seem clear to me how the enemy delights over the celebration of Halloween and the dark things that come into the light at the end of October each year, it may not be clear to other “Christians” who don’t know the things I know or who have not experienced the things I have. From my studies of the Bible and spiritual warfare, and through my experiences personally and as a “freedom prayer minister”, I know that Satan is real and that demons can and do seek to “steal, kill, and destroy” us.
However, any warnings about ancient pagan or occult rituals behind Halloween or warnings of demonic influence fall on deaf ears for the “secular Christian”. They see those things as ancient history or superstition, don’t believe in ghosts, the devil, or demons, and consider Halloween a time to have “fun”.
Unfortunately, exorcists, deliverance ministers, and “freedom prayer ministers” like myself know that involvement with the occult and the sins that are encouraged at Halloween can give demons access and permission to afflict and torment those seeking to indulge the flesh or to partake in some dark delights. The Bible warns about giving the enemy a “foothold” in our lives for a reason. Indulging in sins of the flesh can turn into a “stronghold” or an addiction and what was just “harmless fun” can easily turn into a habit that becomes a bondage of addiction.
Halloween activities invite people to let loose with food, alcohol, drugs, sex, deception, and destruction – as vandalism and “pranks” are evil done in the name of fun. Anyone of these can turn into a habit and an addiction.
Me? I can admit to participation in all of the above in the “spirit of Halloween” in the past and I have to admit that the “spirit of Halloween” has grabbed ahold of me once again! I had a “lost weekend” of sorts as I was tempted to celebrate Halloween early when box loads of candy were donated to my wife and I felt the inexplicable call to secretly watch Halloween themed horror movies and ended up stealing and devouring handfuls of candy bars! So much for my food plan and trying to stay in the light!
As an addict, I know when you start hiding things you are in trouble so I’m confessing my failures, again, and do so publicly so I can stop the insanity. While I know that eating candy and watching horror movies, may seem like harmless fun, for me – it’s sin because of the way it activates those addictive and secretive tendencies. Hiding things is lying and indulging the flesh with food in the uncontrolled manner that I do is addiction, and the only way to be free is to come into the light by confessing what I have done and by making the decision to not do these things again.
Lauren Roskilly of Mindful of Christ shared a blog post on the topic of whether or not Christians should celebrate Halloween and I am sharing a link (https://mindfulofchrist.net/should-christians-celebrate-halloween/) to it on the blog today because it shared a few Bible verses that really hit at the heart of the matter for me.
Lauren’s blog post shared
Ephesians 5:11-12 (NKJV)
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
And
Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.
Which tell us clearly that we, as Christians, are to think and seek after “true, noble, pure, lovely, virtuous, and praiseworthy” things and to avoid all works of darkness and the things done in secret.
If I feel I have to hide my activities from others, regardless of how benign or seemingly harmless they may be to others, it clues me into the fact that I am walking in darkness and I should stop. So, I’m throwing myself under the bus again as a food addict and a former occult-horror genre enthusiast. I confess that these things are “works of darkness” and steal the peace and joy from walking in the light. So I turn from them today and choose NOT to celebrate Halloween – no decorations, no parties, no horror movies, and no indulging the flesh – because I not only know that the spiritual forces of darkness are love to be worshipped through it – I know they love to see people use any excuse to give in to sin and to be trapped by it.
Let the Lord and His word be your guide through life and listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling you rather than the “spirit of Halloween”.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
( While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Friendships.
Proverbs 27:17 (NASB)
17 Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.
Today’s verse is the second of two passages that fall under the seventh point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Friendships.
7. A godly friend can be of great help.
Today’s Bible verse is the quintessential verse for Christian accountability and discipleship relationships. Together we make ourselves “sharper” when we come together in fellowship to obey the word of God and encourage each other to follow the Lord only.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own private study and to support his work. This resource is available online for less than $10 at many sites.
EVENING READING: REVELATION 10
“Take and eat it [the little book]; and it will make
your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey
in your mouth.” – Revelation 10:9
The Word of God is very often sweet to the spiritual taste, but very bitter to the flesh. How often one speaks of a promise being sweet, but how different it is to enter into the experiential knowledge of it! For very often, to experience such a promise, the flesh has to be drastically dealt with.
Faith is the soul’s taste, while the belly speaks of that which is carnal and very often intemperate. It was said of some that their “god is their belly” (Phil. 3:19).
But bitter or not, the command to John and to me is “Take it up and eat it.”
O, that I may withstand the bitter in order to fully
appreciate the sweetness of Your promises.[1]
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1] Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).
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