Forsaking the Darkness of Halloween | 2 Corinthians 11:12‭-‬15

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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All right, so Today's message is titled

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Confessing sin and forsaking darkness and I have the verse here listed as 1st

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John chapter 1 verses 8 through 10 however I'm gonna be primarily talking be talking about Halloween and the

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What it means what it's about and how we as Christians should respond to that day and So I'm probably going to be focusing more on forsaking darkness than confessing sin because that's the that's the part that talks about 1st

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John, so we're going to be talking about forsaking darkness and That's our the entire sermon is essentially a public service announcement to deal with this issue and As a preliminary

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I did want to recommend if you want more detail on this more discussion

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Tim and I actually did a Over two and a half hour discussion on Halloween and we talked about whether Christians should celebrate

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Halloween harvest festivals Their impact on children Satanism paganism in our society other holidays and Reformation Day So it was a very good episode it's episode 18 of a simple referendum on the radio and I encourage you to check that out at thorn crown ministries comm and the thorn crown network podcast

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Now we before we dive further into the truth itself let us first expose the lie and As I've mentioned before when we talk about other holidays like Easter and that kind of thing every religious holiday in our day is often mixed with pagan baggage and Carryovers and For example, you have

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Christmas where we're supposed to celebrate the birth of Christ But you also have Santa Claus the reindeer the elves and the weird creepy man.

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Those elves are creepy and and that kind of thing and then you have Resurrection Day where we're supposed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and but you also have

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Easter the pagan Celebration of the the fertility and of rabbits and bunnies and chocolate and all that stuff and of course now we come to the issue of Halloween and Reformation Day and Reformation Day is about celebrating what what

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God did through his church and specifically Martin Luther in 1517 on October 31st

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To protest the sale of indulgences, but Halloween is a whole Festivity in and of itself as you all well know.

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It's a big holiday, especially here in America and We need to get a good understanding of what it's about so that we don't fall into a compromise and Now there is a good and wholesome way to celebrate these days but there are also wrong ways to celebrate them and that's what we want to watch out for and These celebrations the good ones that is are not mandatory so we don't have to celebrate these days whether it's

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Christmas or Resurrection Day or Halloween, I mean, sorry not Halloween Reformation Day But if we do

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Celebrate them. We must do so as discerning worshipful Christians who observe

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Christ person and work without the pagan baggage and practices. That is our goal for celebrating these times these types of days and Sadly the state of the

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American Church, at least there's many churches and Christians who either Celebrate Halloween or they tend to have some knockoff imitation version of Halloween like trunk or treat or Harvest festivals and This is something that we want to be mindful of and to scrutinize

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Now Jesus said in John 14 6. I am the way and the truth in the life

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No one comes to the Father except through me What Jesus is saying here is that he is not an alternative

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He has not some knockoff version of a pagan holiday Amen, he is the way he is the truth and the life

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So we should not give credence therefore to or participate in pagan practices or other alternatives that attempt to replace them or celebrate them outright obviously now

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There's a there's a really good passage here in Exodus 23 Verses 23 to 25

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This is shortly after God delivers the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and as you know in Exodus 20 the second commandment of not to make any images not to bow down or worship them and in Exodus 22 and 23 through 25 we see

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God go into a little bit more detail with respect to this commandment and So here

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Chapter 23 starting in verse 23 God says when my angel goes before you and brings you to the

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Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites the Hivites and the

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Jebusites and I blot them out or destroy them You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them nor do as they do

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But you shall utterly Overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.

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You shall serve the Lord your God Amen, so This is very clear how

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God dealt with false religion false worship and false pagan idolatrous practices

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He's very clear do not bow down do not serve them do not do as they do do not imitate or copy them and Do not and you in fact overthrow them

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Break their worship apart in pieces. Take it destroyed in your life. Do not have take that out of your life in other words and The New Testament is just as explicit if not even more so so some people say like oh, well, that's the

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Old Testament That was back then. You know, this is now that there's more grace in the New Covenant. That's not the case at all here

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God is still God. He is still light and darkness is still darkness and Idolatrous worship is still sin so You have several commands in the

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New Testament Which many of which we'll read today such as have no on fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness

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But instead expose them that's Ephesians 5 11 or come out from among them and be separate

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Separate yourselves. Do not be like them. It's the same concept the same command the same principle applies today

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We will examine these passages in more detail shortly Part of the thesis for today or the driving conviction that I want us to instill in ourselves is to have balance without compromise

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Balance without compromise to be in the world, but not of the world

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Okay in the world, but not of the world Holiness truth and holiness and being

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Distinct and that's what holiness means to be separate to be different to be peculiar people

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Like God says to be different and salt and light So that we our works may show and glorify

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God before an evil unbelieving world 1st Corinthians 14 20 also says

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Brothers do not be children in your thinking be infants in evil

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But in your thinking be mature and as you know I've preached on this many times because the

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Bible emphasizes this all throughout Its pages we must be infants in evil, but Mature in our thinking we must have a sound mind

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About this and then and everything else. So now being infants in evil means do not sin avoid sin

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It does not mean that we should be ignorant of evil and of the devil and his schemes.

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That's not what this means So let's not get this passage twisted. It means to not Sin to avoid sin and to prove this to you we can turn now to 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 2 verses 9 through 11 We will see here

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God's Word is very clear in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 Verses 9 through 11 here we see

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That God's Word says For this is why I the Apostle Paul wrote that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything

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Anyone whom you forgive I also forgive indeed what I have forgiven if I have forgiven anything

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Has been for your sake in the presence of Christ so that we would not be

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Outwitted by Satan for we are not ignorant of his designs of his schemes of his works of darkness

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Etc. So the Bible very clearly says that as Christians Soldiers in God's army the enemy of which is the world the flesh and the devil

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We must not be ignorant of our enemy any responsible soldier

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Needs to know his enemy and how to fight the enemy So we cannot afford to be ignorant because that ends up in sin and compromise we must inform ourselves of the truth and we need to be careful to know the truth and to know where these

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Festivities and activities and holidays where they come from there's a history that ties to them and that history

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Oftentimes is not good. It is not sound and It's also like we read like we sang today

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But all my life in every step be fellowship with thee and all your ways

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Acknowledge God and everything that you do not just on Sundays, right? Everything in our what we do it for entertainment what we celebrate

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Everything needs to be captive to the Word of God and submission to the obedience of Christ so the

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Bible clearly Repeatedly and emphatically teaches us not to be ignorant especially of our enemy and how he operates

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Amen ignorance also Ignorance is not an excuse for sinning or participating in works of darkness

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Ignorance is not an excuse ignorance Willful ignorance is also sin.

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So we are constantly Instructed in the word just like we just read in Corinthians be mature in your thinking study learn the truth

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Constantly seek to know the truth and to know God deeper and how to relate

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God and your faith in this last and evil day We must constantly strive to know the truth and to know discern good from evil like Hebrew says by constant practice

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Constant practice every day. This is a lifestyle. This is the Christians lifestyle discernment of good and evil

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So we must therefore both both equip ourselves biblically with the truth and also

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Study the lie and falsehoods to discern what we as Christians should do during these days and these festivities

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Now for a question for you what but well for us what is Halloween?

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What exactly is it? And what is its purpose? What is the purpose of Halloween of all the trick -or -treating the disguising the jack -o' -lanterns?

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What's behind all of that? and so I'll go straight to one of the sources the

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Satanic Bible written by Anton LaVey who got most of his inspiration from a very evil man called

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Alistair Crowley who also wrote the Satanic book of the law and Inspired many famous people and artists today such as Ozzy Osbourne, you know, he has a song called.

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Mr Crowley all of the artists today basically love this guy. They are inspired by this guy

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Michael Jackson The Beatles everybody has familiar knows intimately who this man is because he wrote a lot of really evil things about influence and about how to channel demonic powers and activity and so This is what the

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Satanic Bible says on page 67 after one's own birthday The two major Satanic holidays are our

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Walpurgisnacht and Halloween or all Hallows Eve so regarding birthdays

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The Satanic Bible says the highest of all holidays in the satanic religion is the date of one's own birth

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This is in direct contradiction to the holy of holy days of other religions which deify a particular

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God who has been created in an Anthropomorphic form of their own image thereby showing that the ego is not really buried.

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So his point is that Birthdays and there's a right way to celebrate birthdays I'm not saying we shouldn't celebrate birthdays, but there is also a wrong way to celebrate them by making everything about the individual and not

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Realizing that it should be a celebration of the life that God has given us another year of life and being grateful for that and so Walpurgisnacht is based on a

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Saint Catholic of celebration Her name was st. Walpurgis or Walpurgis or Walburga and it's commemorated at various times

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But principally on May 1st her day taking the place of an earlier pagan festival

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You're gonna see this pattern a lot with the Roman Catholic Church They tend to they tend to put a blanket a

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Christian blanket on pagan holidays and call it You know, hey stop worshiping Diana.

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Just call her Mary now and stuff like that so Amazingly enough all of this rigamarole was for I'm still quoting the

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Satanic Bible All of this rigamarole was found necessary simply to condone the continuance of the most important pagan festival of the year the grand climax of the spring equinox

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The eve of May has been memorialized as a night that all of the demons specters or ghosts

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Afrits which are again very evil demons and banshees Which are like like like your honor they're like crying spirits that Mourn over the loss of a loved one or warn you about the loss of a loved one

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They come forth and they hold their wild revels and symbolizing the fruition of the spring equinox.

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So it's a very demonic day for Witches and Satanists and things like that and now we come to Halloween, of course

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Halloween or all Hallows Eve or all Saints Day Falls on October 31st or November 1st

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Originally all Hallows Eve was one of the great fire festivals of Britain at the time of the

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Druids The Druids were a Pagan cult basically they had their priest and it was very similar to witchcraft and nature worship and that kind of thing

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It was very a very demonic thing Pagan type of religion in Scotland.

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It was associated. I'm still quoting the Satanic Bible, by the way In Scotland, it was associated with the time when the spirits of the dead the demons witches and sorcerers were unusually active and propitious

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Propitious meaning satisfying their wrath or anger what by sacrifices

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Paradoxically all Hallows Eve was also the night when young people Performed magical rituals and determined their future marriage partners

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The youth of the villages carried on with much merrymaking and sensual revelry But the older people took great care to safeguard their homes from the evil spirits

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Witches and demons who had exceptional power that night You're gonna see

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Everything I described is going to pop up and all of the different things that you see in Halloween that are celebrated or done

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Halloween is one of the most important Satanic holidays of the year Which makes sense because it's a blatant celebration of the devil and all of his wicked schemes

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It's it should be obvious to most of us to it should be obvious But sadly, there's a lot of confusion in the church these days and there's a lack of there's a lack of holiness and there's a lot of compromise that we need to shake off and not not stain ourselves with because Like like James says

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We need to pure religion is to care for widows and to be pure and undefiled from the world free from the stain of the world and from evil so Let's look a little deeper into what the

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Satanic Bible tells us here The history of Halloween so like I mentioned

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Halloween is The word comes from all hallows

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Eve or all Saints Day Eve is the word for evening and Hallow means it's from the obsolete

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Middle English hallway or holy person or saint which is from the

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Old English Helga and So it means holy That's what it means the

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King James Bible uses the word hallow as well. You all probably already know may have memorized this

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When Jesus said after this manner, therefore pray ye our Father which art in heaven hallowed

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Be thy name Matthew 6 9 that's Holy be your name.

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Holy is your name? ironically, however Halloween is anything but holy

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It's the exact opposite and we're gonna see more why in Celtic Celtic is the pagan

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Irish version kind of like the Druids or the British version Celtic is the

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Irish the more Irish and Welsh version of this paganism It was called they had a festival called

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Samhain which is spelled Samhain say S -A -M -H -A -I -N and Samhain was a liminal or Threshold festival when the boundary between this world and the other world thinned meaning the

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AOC The spirits or fairies could more easily come into our world

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Most scholars see the AOC as remnants of pagan gods at Sam at Samhain They were appeased remember

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Propitiated they were appeased With offerings of food and drink to ensure the people and their livestock survived the winter the souls of dead kin were also thought to revisit their home seeking hospitality and A place was set at the table for them during a meal mummying and guising or disguising

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Were a part of the festival form at least the from at least the early modern era where the people

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Whereby people went door -to -door in costume reciting verses in exchange for food

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This is also called souling and we'll get into that in a little bit the costumes may have been a way of imitating and disguising oneself from the

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AOC or the spirits the evil spirits that wanted to be satisfied with blood

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Divination was also a big part of the festival and often involved nuts and apples

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Divination is like using a fortune -teller. It's like trying to predict the future through Astrology or or with that kind of false magic and that kind of thing

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Bobbing for apples Notice it said apples bobbing for apples is one of these pagan celebrations or traditions

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Which is a form of marriage divination? so this tradition actually comes from a

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Pagan practice to determine who you were going to marry You would put apples and an apple would represent a person that you were interested in or something and whatever apple, you know you tie your hands you would tie your hands behind your back and you try to grab the apple with your mouth and when you grab the apple that would be supposedly who you would marry and And Totally pagan like nonsense and In the 9th century the

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Western Church endorsed November 1st as the date of All Saints Day possibly due to the influence the influence of Alcuin who was a medieval scholar and The 2nd of November which later became

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All Souls Day So there's a difference there it is believed that over time

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Samhain and All Saints and All Souls Day influenced each other and eventually synchrotized into the modern

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Halloween most American Halloween traditions were inherited from Irish and Scottish immigrants so from the

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Celtic and the Druid ancestry the customs

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According to pagan practice such as the Druids which is what the

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Satanic Bible refers to the one I the section I read if you didn't leave a treat or appease or propitiate the evil spirits that day they would play a trick on you or there would be a hex done on you a

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Curse and they would attack you and your family and or even demand a sacrifice Because they wanted to be appeased propitiated that's what that means they wanted a sacrifice they wanted blood so many of the pagan practices in Halloween are

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Designed or meant to ward off these evil spirits. That's what they're trying to do and so costumes

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Which were for guising or disguising yourself Originally, it wasn't being dressed up as Superman or Some cute little thing.

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It was meant to disguise herself as a demon or an evil spirit to Confuse or to ward off the evil spirit so that he wouldn't attack you

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That's what the costume Work was for it was for protection from evil spirits

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So you would look like them to not be attacked and Originally when

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Halloween was first celebrated it was celebrated that way it was evil demonic Costumes and stuff and people would harass people their homes and stuff and it wasn't something that people wanted to celebrate because they were just being hooligans and so many

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Another one is jack -o' -lanterns right the carving the pumpkin with a face on it These Jack -o' -lanterns were originally turnips and in the

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British the pagan British times these were also to ward off demons and Just like wind chimes were also meant to ward off demons

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Okay, this is a funny sight. I did not know this myself, but Wind chimes are also extremely pagan

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In ancient Roman China bells were believed to ward off malevolent spirits

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And were often combined with a phallus which was a symbol of good fortune and charm against the evil eye so Yeah we recently had to take we took down our little wind chime that we had hanging on our on our porch because we were like Man, this is there's so much pagan

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Things in our society today that are just dream catchers, you know dream catches the same thing

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They're meant to ward off evil Presences and spirits and dreams and stuff. It's all designed.

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They're pagan forms of you know Talismans and amulets to try to protect you but our protection is the blood of Christ Amen, we don't put our trust in these pagan things

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They don't work this anyway and so That is where we must

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Take Heed and so the Roman Catholic Church now in in comes the

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Catholic Church, right? they step in and they often appropriated these pagan practices into church holidays or festivals

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So many of what you see that all Saints Day is just that it was a pagan appropriation of Halloween the the

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Sam Sam when and all that stuff and so One tradition is called souling and souling is an

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English Roman Catholic medieval tradition where people visit local farms and cottages and seeing a traditional request for apples ale and soul cakes and this includes solars visiting houses with hollowed -out turnip lanterns and A candle inside of it which represented a soul trapped in purgatory so before the jack -o' -lantern was supposed to be a story about Jack and he was trying to escape the devil or something and he and and then there was an

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Amber from hell that ended up in the jack -o' -lantern and so it's all this pagan

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Demonic stuff and so the Catholic Church took it and said well Let's turn this into something that we believe it represents a soul in purgatory trapped in purgatory

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Now in Roman Catholic tradition all Hallows Eve was the day that the spirits in purgatory got a chance to take a break and visit their earthly homes or loved ones

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Which is exactly what the pagan tradition was all about. So they just they just go ahead and say well, yeah

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Let's just yeah, it's the it's the spirits from purgatory coming to visit us It's like no, it's not.

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Okay. No, obviously not On all Saints Day and all Souls Day during the 19th century

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Candles were lit in homes in Ireland Flanders, Bavaria and Tyrol which and they were called soul lights

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That served to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes in many of these places

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Candles were also lit at graves on all Souls Day in Brittany libations of milk were poured on the graves of kinfolk or Food would be left overnight on the dinner table for the returning souls a custom also found in Tyrol and parts of Italy It's the same thing same pagan practice.

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Just just you know replaced with some Roman Catholic theology built, you know sprinkled into it

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And it was traditionally believed that the souls departed Wandered the earth until all

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Saints Day and all Hallows Eve Provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world

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In order to avoid wreck being recognized by any soul that might be seeking vengeance people with dawn masks or costumes same thing

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Trying to disguise yourself or hide yourself from evil spirits or demons to From attacking you or trying to go after your blood or your family so This was the very context of the

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Reformation This was the context of the Reformation This is why indulgences were set up so that indulgences could be purchased on behalf of somebody in purgatory

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To release them from purgatory and go to heaven Keep this in mind.

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It's very important for next week when we set when we talk about and celebrate Reformation Day Halloween So that's the history of Halloween.

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That's what his that's what Halloween is all about Halloween is still to this day blatantly satanic even today

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Although it's become very commercialized very domesticated and very normalized and we can thank the media and entertainment companies for that None other than the big one of all the biggest one of all probably is

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Disney they recently came out with a movie called Hocus Pocus 2 and it is a blatant celebration and in a glorification of witchcraft based on three dead witches and If the whole movie is based on witches harvesting children for blood sacrifices and This is for children.

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This these movies are designed for children There's even other movies that seem more harmless and innocuous like in canto which is a story that makes haunted houses fun and Frivolous like it's a good thing.

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It's a fun thing and even demonic possession is considered a gift. They call it a gift and And the the list goes on and on and on there's you have

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Harry Potter Which is a blatant celebration of witchcraft How to be a witch it's to show your child how to be a witch

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How to be a wizard or a witch and and to do what to practice witchcraft

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Which JK Rowling by the way Based Harry Potter's life on the Satanist Alistair Crowley himself

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The guy that all the rock stars are inspired by and write their music after All of these things are designed to make evil palpable to us and to our children to Desensitize us from the evil that it really is and that it really represents

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Halloween in other words is a celebration of absolutely everything the

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Bible condemns there's just no way to get around this reality and It is a celebration of everything that first John condemns

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You know, we've been talking I've been preaching on first John and you can see very clearly Everything that first John condemns is what

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Halloween celebrates? What does Halloween celebrate death? Darkness horror evil sin

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Satanism witchcraft lust sexual perversion Men dressing up as women the cross -dressing women dressing up as men people dressing up as Jesus There's all kinds of blasphemy and mockery of Christianity and Halloween That's what it's for haunted houses making light of the demonic and and the devil and his in his kingdom and It's all meant to pervert

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Eve the the goodness of God now let's turn to the

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New Testament and look at some of these verses in more detail in 2nd Corinthians chapters 11 chapter 11 verses 12 through 15

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We will see another very clear directive from God 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 11 verses 12 through 15 so in 2nd

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Corinthians Chapter 11 starting in verse 12 we read but what am

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I doing? But what I am doing I will continue to do so that I may cut off Opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded

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Just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting for such men are false apostles deceitful workers

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Disguising themselves as apostles of Christ No wonder for even

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Satan disguises himself as an angel of light Therefore it is not surprising if his servants

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Also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness whose end will be according to their deeds

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So you see here the devil often disguises himself

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To make himself more palpable to us To make it desirable to make it enticing that's why there's the candy and the sexual nature of it to entice us and to tempt our flesh to sin and to celebrate evil and so Satan however has really no need to disguise himself on Halloween Why because that's what

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Halloween is all about Halloween is all about the devil. It is the most blatant overtly satanic

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Mainstream celebration celebration of the entire year and it has been since its inception

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From the very beginning that is what Halloween has been about Samhain the

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Druids all of these pagan festivities were about Trying to Propitiate the devil the minions ward off the spirits and all of those wicked things and so But Halloween as you well know has many palpable temptations especially for children

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Like we just talked about the movies the movies from Disney and children's movies that try to make evil

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There was another movie called demon or I forget who made that movie the same thing trying to make this evil good and good evil and so There are

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Temptations to entice us and children With the dressing up in costumes to make it look fun, right?

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You get to dress up as your favorite character The candy and all of this is designed to draw you in to make you more insensitive to evil and to sin to make it a part of your life so that it makes you lukewarm and Doesn't allow you to practice holiness in your life and it cut that will

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That will cut off That will mess up your relationship with God that will hinder your relationship with God Because sin and darkness and evil separates us from God and so we need to examine our life examine what we do and repent if we are doing these things that are rooted in evil and To not take part in them regardless of motive

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Okay motive motive is another thing that you cannot use to excuse this you cannot say.

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Oh, well, you know what? We like the number six six six, so we're gonna go ahead and use it as an analogy for Father Son Holy Spirit You can't do that Amen, you cannot take the mark of the beast and make it something forgot to represent

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God That's not how this works and we'll talk more about that when we talk about objections to this now

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Okay. So now This is designed to sacrifice

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Us and our children in some way it doesn't have to be by killing them It can be by corrupting them by perverting their minds

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By making it seem like it's good Like Harry Potter all of these things and all of these practices in Halloween To try to make the devil palpable.

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This is a form of sacrificing our children in our minds to the devil So now turn with me to 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 11 No, I'm sorry.

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We just read that my apologize. Let's turn now to Ephesians 5 Ephesians 5 verses 6 through 11

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Ephesians 5 verses 6 6 through 11 We will see this as one of the clearest commands from God About how we as Christians are to Follow him with with respect to these kinds of issues

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Ephesians 5 verses 6 through 11 Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience

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Therefore do not be partakers with them for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the

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Lord for You Sorry walk as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth

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Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord do not participate do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness

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But instead expose them Amen That is our calling as Christian soldiers in God's army

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We are not to participate but to expose to condemn and to expose and to warn about the evil that is lying behind these kinds of festivities

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Notice this verse does not say but instead redeem them for God's glory

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Turn it into a harvest festival or a trunk -or -treat festival That's not what it says

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Or to sanitize it and make an alternative version to replace the the original pagan practice

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Nothing good comes from partaking partaking in evil sinful celebrations and there's the darkness here is just It's despicable if In in fact child abductions tend to increase in the month of October because Satan demands a sacrifice and that is why we need to be mindful of these things and not be like these

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These these bah humbug these these these these Christians who are so shallow and so superficial

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That just say oh, it's just candy. Oh, it's just you know, it's just costumes who cares.

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It's just this it's just that I'm sorry, but You're disobeying God and you are not

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Obeying God in seeking to learn where these things come from and whether we should

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Take them out of our lives or and expose them That is what God clearly commands us to do

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Like I said, all of this is designed to desensitize desensitize kids with media and entertainment.

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Like I mentioned Harry Potter There's also another one called the Golden Compass Which was actually by Philip Pullman who who who hated?

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Christianity so much that he wrote a series to counter the Chronicles of Narnia series

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Which was a Christian allegory by C .S. Lewis He wrote that story which is now movie to celebrate evil and condemn goodness of Christianity, so That's what

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Halloween is all about one of the biggest dangers in celebrating pagan practices like Halloween is that it deters you or prevents you from distinguishing the differences between the sacred and the profane

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That is something that the Bible is absolutely clear on God is holy holy holy and he commands us to be holy because he is holy

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It is extremely important for us and our children

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Especially to know the difference between good and evil and to draw the lines clearly

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Particularly when they grow up in church So that they don't pervert the grace of God with sin and compromise

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It is extremely important to do this That's why churches can't be validating

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Halloween or trying to make some replacement of it to Try to pacify or make them seek become seeker sensitive and try to draw people in that way

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Or to or to make the kids happy Some things just don't have an alternative Amen What's the alternative to pornography?

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There's no alternative to smoking crack or you know, there's no alternative some things you just don't do period so it is

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It is the in fact there's there's a very interesting study Demonstrating that children are much better able to process and discern good and bad

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When they are clearly presented as good and bad black and white

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Which makes perfect sense because they're maturing their minds are developing and they're malleable. They're they're easily influenced and so When they read good books and and read good

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Good good things good stories that clearly present a good side and a bad side that helps them to Understand that good is good and evil is evil

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But when you blur that line and you mix the sacred with the profane the good with the bad the good with the evil they get confused and It makes them think that it's okay

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That is the danger of celebrating Festivities like Halloween and all of these different kinds of works of darkness like the

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Harry Potter and all of that other stuff That's the danger there It desensitizes and it kills our discernment

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It blunts our discernment from me from eating being able to clearly see it and expose it for the evil that it is so Turn now to 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 6 Verses 14 through 17 Scripture is just unmistakably unequivocally clear on these matters in 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14 through 17 the word says do not be unequally yoked or bound together with Unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness

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What communion has light with darkness what accord or agreement has

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Christ with Belial or Satan? What part has a believer with an unbeliever and what agreement has a temple of God with idols?

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For you are the temple of the Living God as God has said I will dwell in them and walk among them

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I will be their God and they shall be my people therefore come out From among them and be separate be holy says the

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Lord Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you this is black and white that is how

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God instructs us to To live and to respond with these kinds of matters these kinds of issues

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In 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verses not starting in verse 19. We see something similar in 1st

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Corinthians chapter 10 verse 19 We see We read what do

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I mean then that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything?

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No But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice They sacrifice the demons and not to God and I do not want you to become shares and demons you cannot

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You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons You cannot partake of the table of the

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Lord and the table of demons or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than he are we

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Black and white God says I Am God there is no other the devil is evil.

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He is everything that is evil I am NOT him therefore do not confuse in any way in anything that you do

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Something that approves of or is from or celebrates him and the works of darkness period and To close out this

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This this just amazing array of scriptures as to how clear God is with respect That's why we cannot mark this off as something.

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That's a Romans 14 issue where oh, it's just a matter of conscience Maybe it bothers you, but it doesn't bother me to celebrate

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Halloween Why not? Why doesn't it celebrate you? So why doesn't it bother you to sell it to celebrate?

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The very holiday that is all about death sin darkness

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Satan witchcraft So you name it? Is there something wrong with you if you think that's okay?

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Seriously wrong with you and you need to examine yourself First Thessalonians 5 21 through 22 says but test everything discern everything

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Hold fast what is good? abstain from every form or appearance of evil every form

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No matter where it comes from no matter what it is Abstain do not partake in do not celebrate do not commend do not approve up But instead expose it like Ephesians 5 11 says amen

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Now I want to talk about a few objections before we close out a few more objections

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You know a lot of some people will say well Halloween is not like that anymore there's no witches running around or or sorcerers running around trying to cast spells on people or any of that stuff and This is where you see the enemy has has bested these people

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Because the enemy is no fool and we just read that the enemy disguises himself as a minister of righteousness

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As an angel of light to try to Lower your guard, of course, it's not going to be obvious in every situation and Witchcraft and these kinds of sins they see this is where the media the entertainment industry perverts our understanding into making you think that witches are these black hooded black

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Pointy hats and old ladies that make cauldrons and broomsticks and flying around and you know, and you know, even

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Sabrina that the the the innocent little witch right and They which the media conditions us into thinking that this is what they look like and I don't see that I don't see that here the problem, of course is that witches

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Sorcerers Satanists they look like normal people. They have normal jobs.

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They look like us they don't look like they don't dress every day looking like a bunch of demons or You know outright

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Satanist or witches And we have to be smarter than that We are not ignorant of Satan's devices.

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Amen. We cannot be ignorant of Satan's devices and So The other objection is of course, but why not just redeem

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Halloween? Why not just redeem it? God is a redemptive Savior, right?

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Many ministries and churches believe this is a valid thing to do and we need to be careful with this and They say well after all doesn't

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God redeem us Aren't we wretched filthy fallen sinners redeemed by God's grace doesn't he make us good and we were formerly evil and Yes, this is very true

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But that's because we are humans made in the imago

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Dei made in God's image That we we are made originally righteous according to God's image

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Ecclesiastes 7 Ecclesiastes 7 29 says see this alone. I found that God made man upright

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He made him good He made him upright, but they have sought out many schemes

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Adam fell right and there goes the rest of the story Adam fell and sin so Humans were not always evil.

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We were made upright. We were made after God's image. We are God's image So this is that's a category error to say well just as God redeems sinners like you and me

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He can also redeem the pagan practices No Absolutely not

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God redeemed sinners, but he does not redeem. He never has and never will redeem corrupt pagan practices false god worship cultures none of that He in fact destroys them and in commands us to expose them

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To stay away from them to come out and be separate have no fellowship with have no common ground with We just saw the scriptures are adamantly clear about what we should do

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It doesn't tell us to redeem them or to baptize them like the Catholic Church did amen and say oh

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We'll just call it, you know, how hallows Eve and commemorate commemorate the dead saints and and have some

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Have a meal for them when they come visit you. No, that's Not that's not that's not what

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God tells us to do God is not an alternative He is the way amen.

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We cannot Insult God by copying a pagan practice and trying to sanitize or baptize it when its origin is evil

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So now the other objection is well, what's wrong with evangelizing or handing out gospel tracts on Halloween?

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and To that there's not necessarily anything wrong with it, but we need to be careful We need to be careful to have balance without compromise

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Because it's one thing to evangelize and to hand out gospel tracts and all of these things but it's another thing to then give out candy or Participate in or dress up as something as as a

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Martin Luther or something to try to fit in or something and That's where the compromise sets in we have to be careful not to give credence or participate in these

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These unbiblical wicked things and another reason is because you hear news reports all the time

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I remember when we were in the Bible thumping wingnut Network one of the the

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The the co -host was like this this what is this stuff about the candy the little old lady who lives next to me?

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She gives me all these homemade baked goods and stuff. There's nothing wrong with that and it's like You need to stop being so ignorant.

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Okay? There's constant almost every year there's reports about how there's like people found nails and candies and razors and all this stuff

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It happens get your head out of the sand And wake up to the reality of what we're here doing

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Satan is still evil. Okay? The world does not love you. The world does not want what's best for you

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It wants to destroy you to steal from you kill you and destroy you

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Amen, so we need to be careful not to compromise because then

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Again you give candy to somebody and then it's like well there was a razor in it Some other candy that they got from a witch or something had a had a nail in it

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It's like well, we can't we can't endorse that we have to be careful to mark ourselves separate ourselves from that and so You know there and then people say well every day of the week is pagan so there's you can't avoid it

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So you might as well just give in right every day of the week is pagan Christmas is pagan

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Easter is pagan and Again, we need to make that's a category error.

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Okay, that's a call the category error We need to distinguish between something that we have no control over and something that we do have control over We can't we can't decide what we're going to call

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Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday, right? Odin's day and Thor's day and Sunday and we can't we know we didn't have a choice in that We're stuck with it because we live in a pagan society go figure right that loves to celebrate the devil on Halloween right but We do have control over what we do on those days

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So obviously on the 31st, we don't celebrate those evil things

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That is a choice that we have and we are responsible for it so Therefore we should make the right choices that honor

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God That honor God and keep us pure and undefiled from the stain of sin and of this world

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So and it's like Psalm 101 and 3 says I will set nothing wicked or worthless before my eyes

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I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not cling to me It shall not cling to me

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Separate ourselves from it a perverse heart shall depart from me. I will not know wickedness

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Remember once again that ignorance and motives is not an excuse for participating or sinning with these practices

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We must not be ignorant of God's designs Amen now the last thing for today

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What about Reformation Day? Because this is where it's at This is why I wanted to talk about Halloween first so that I wouldn't eat into talking about Reformation Day because this is what it's all about For Christians, you know, but some some will say well isn't

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Reformation Day a Christian alternative to Halloween It's like well No, it's not

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Why is that because the Reformation and Reformation Day is

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The the meaning and the intent behind it is to counter the evil and the wickedness both of the devil and of the

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Catholic Church The Protestant Reformation fire was kindled by the protest of Indulgences and false pagan beliefs about purgatory and Celebrated on all

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Hallows Eve based on the pagan practices of the Druids and Samhain and all of that stuff

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The the Reformation is a counter to that It is not an appropriation of it it is

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What one of the Protestant Reformation mottos says Post tenebrous looks post tenebrous looks that's

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Latin for after darkness Light This is where in Spanish the word tenebras darkness tenebras the light of the gospel

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Burst forth during the Reformation and changed the entire world The very gospel that redeems sinners from Satan's grip and the

01:00:07

Savior which will crush him under his feet so the

01:00:12

Reformation and Reformation Day And it's just like evangelizing right?

01:00:18

It's okay to evangelize in Halloween Just be careful because evangelizing is totally counter to what

01:00:24

Halloween and the devil and the Roman Catholic Church are about they are

01:00:31

Countercultural, that's what we as Christians are. We are peculiar people that don't go with the

01:00:38

Tide of this world. We are we're like salmon, right? We swim upstream

01:00:43

Or what? How do you say against the flow? We swim against the flow of the world.

01:00:48

So Now the question how shall we then live? How do we then as?

01:00:56

responsible discerning Worshipful Christians observe this day Based on Scripture and the origins and meaning of Halloween.

01:01:04

We should not participate in this evil day We should not participate in this evil aspects of Halloween however, we can and encourage you to celebrate and learn more about the

01:01:17

Protestant Reformation and And while again these celebrations are not necessarily mandatory if we celebrate them

01:01:25

We must do so as discerning worshipful Christians who observe God's nature and work without the pagan practices

01:01:32

And that is what Reformation Day is all about. It's about God bursting forth through Luther's hammer against the church at Wittenberg the 95 theses

01:01:46

To protest the corruption the decades the centuries of corruption of darkness from the

01:01:52

Roman Catholic Church of the perverted notion that you can buy indulgences for somebody trapped in in purgatory

01:02:01

That they would visit you on All Saints Day and all that stuff and the the whole pagan stuff that's exactly what

01:02:07

Luther was protesting and that's exactly what gave birth to the Protestant movement and the gospel

01:02:14

Shown forth and changed the entire world And so not only this is a day and it's a shame that it's happened this way

01:02:24

This is a day that not only Christians should celebrate but the entire world should celebrate because this was the day that the

01:02:37

Because of what God's work in society It broke the chain of darkness and the shackles and bondage of the

01:02:45

Roman Catholic Church on society the Roman Catholic Church had a death grip on the entire society and It was the truth that sets the entire

01:02:57

Society free it turned the world upside down. The gospel is The way the truth in the life of Jesus Christ and that is what we must always be about and all of the things that we do amen, and So to that I apologize.

01:03:15

I know I went a little long, but I got a little excited and I Didn't even get a chance to talk about confessing sin.

01:03:22

So we'll come back to confessing sin after Reformation Day on the 30th and so Let's just take heed and be so okay a final thing is

01:03:37

One thing that we like to do in our home is we put up a sign on our front door that says something like No candy.

01:03:45

No candy. Happy Reformation Day and Maybe include a Bible verse like, you know, like John 14 6 or Acts 14 12 a gospel verse, right?

01:03:55

I am the way the truth in the life and no one comes to the Father except through me And so that that is a better way to be salt and light in an unbelieving world

01:04:06

That's making a statement that hey these people aren't going with the flow like everybody else is

01:04:11

Putting on their costumes and trick -or -treating. What what what what's the deal with that? What is that about?

01:04:17

What's Reformation Day about? That's funny because somebody went to our door last year and they were asking for candy.

01:04:23

It's like oh, no, I'm sorry We don't celebrate Halloween. We celebrate Reformation Day and they were like what? What is that it's like, oh, yeah, you don't know that's the day that Martin Luther Martin Luther named the 95 theses and protest of the indulgences and all that stuff and they were just like what and so it's an opportunity there to be salt and light a peculiar people amen, so Let's now close out in prayer our precious

01:04:52

Heavenly Father we thank you again Lord for the opportunity to preach your word as Undiluted as we

01:05:00

Possibly can according to the knowledge and the understanding that you have blessed us with Lord Help us to continually strive to be a faithful peculiar salty holy people

01:05:12

That emit your light and shine your light in a dark and unbelieving evil world help us to Give us the courage

01:05:24

Lord the courage and the and the boldness to be different to be different to go against the the current of this world the evil of this world to take a stand to be adamant in our faith in This last and evil day

01:05:41

Lord to draw people to you through our holy

01:05:48

Living and our words of truth Father God Help us to grow in these areas and to to be bold because you know

01:05:58

Lord That we need it that our times are so corrupt. There's so much evil surrounding us

01:06:03

Lord help us to rightly discern Good from evil and to instruct our children to do the same to know the difference and to live in truth

01:06:15

Knowing that the truth sets us free to not compromise and to examine ourselves and to take care and to Search out anything in our life that may be hindering our walk with you

01:06:26

Lord if it be anything ungodly that doesn't please you Lord, whether it's entertainment or movies or books or any practices or Any other things that are not grounded in good things that honor you

01:06:41

Father God that are grounded that that have come from evil or wicked things Lord Give us the knowledge and the discernment guide us into all truth with your spirit

01:06:51

Lord To know the difference and to live according to it and we ask these things in Jesus mighty name.

01:06:58

Amen Thank you for listening to the sermons of thorn crown covenant

01:07:03

Baptist Church where the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety Has applied to all of faith and life.

01:07:09

We strive to be biblical reformed historic confessional loving discerning

01:07:15

Christians who evangelize stand firm in and earnestly contend for the Christian faith

01:07:20

If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area or for more information about our church sermons and ministries

01:07:26

Such as Semper Ephraim on the radio and thorn crown network podcasts Please contact us at thorn crown ministries calm and may the mercy peace and love of our triune