The Encourager Newsletter - Vol.3 Issue 39

Toward Knowing God and Walking With Him

A FREE WEEKLY PUBLICATION with a BIBLICAL WORLD VIEW

Dan Carr, Editor

Who Invented Halloween?

The U.S. News Political Bulletin this week (10-23-08) gaped at the $5.3 Billion, record shattering price tag of November's elections. In the same paragraph they noted that Halloween this year is expected to pale that figure at nearly $6 billion. The National Retail Federation keeps records of Halloween spending and estimates Americans will increase their shell out for Halloween next week."

The NRF website says: "This year, the average person plans to spend $66.54 on the holiday, up from $64.82 one year ago. Total Halloween spending for 2008 is estimated to reach $5.77 billion." That's $400-million more than the total cost of the November election. There is not yet a Halloween Tree but there's a growing trend toward residential lawn displays that rival Christmas.

So, what is Halloween all about? It's a little complicated because it is a blending of several histories and modern adaptations. For many today, it's simply a different flavor of innocent fun disconnected from anything in particular. Accompanied by parents, young children dress up in a variety of garbs and go to a few familiar houses for candy and the pretend of the moment.

Older kids want more spice and revel in flirting with such scary things as ghosts and goblins and witches .At that point we are back in time to the symbols that pay homage to death and the dark world of demons. Not a few churches have incorporated haunted house "ministries" as an "evangelism" outreach. However, there are a fast growing number of churches that are avoiding Halloween altogether and are staging lively Harvest Festivals to recognize God's blessings.

Halloween is short for "Hallowed Evening," a term from All Saints Day. It was the Hallowed Evening prior to All Saints Day. All Saints Day was a time to remember those who died as faithful Christians. For a time it effectively countered the Celtic dark side celebrations. But over time the term Halloween became infused with the cult of death and darkness. Innocent fun has been blended together with the dark side of paganism.

●Internet articles and books on Halloween pretty well agree on its origin. The summary goes something like this: "The origins of Halloween are Celtic in tradition and have to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition. In what is now Britain and France, it was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks. Believe it or not, most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions." (Pastor Eric Watt –CBN)

●Wikipedia Encyclopedia enumerates the prevailing themes: "Halloween imagery tends to involve death, magic, or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include ghosts, ghouls, witches, owls, crows, vultures, pumpkin-men, black cats, spiders, goblins, zombies, mummies, skeletons, and demons.^[11]Particularly in America, symbolism is inspired by classic horror films, which contain fictional figures like Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy. Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins and scarecrows, are also prevalent." (Note: pumpkins and scarecrows are simply thrown in.)

What parents should do about the holiday is one of considerable variation. A Bible-believing Christian has to begin with the Bible. A clear verse, thousands of years old is this: A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them. (Lev 20:27)

Since we don't stone people in America, we at least should be able to pick up on God's attitude toward the satanic dark side of Halloween.

Deciding what to do about Halloween takes place at five levels: the individual; the family; the church; the community; and for those who are interested: what God's Word says about certain elements of Halloween.

OK, what do I do on Halloween night? Some families turn out the lights and go to the mall. Other families stay home and greet the little people at their door with open arms and bags of candy stuff.

I don't have chapter and verse, but I suggest you go to the store and load up on some good candy selections; include a good tract on God's plan of salvation and a tract on the history of Halloween. I don't think this is an endorsement of Halloween. You have been the best witness you can be on Halloween night.

The church needs to have a Harvest Festival and plan plenty of games and food. Advertise it for a month and make a big deal of it. Have it on or near Halloween Night. Arrange for plenty of help to keep the lid on. Toward the end, sing some lively Christian songs, have a short devotional from the Bible on God's blessings and give the plan of salvation; clean up the mess and praise God for the good time you've had. Review and revise this year's program to improve for next year.

The family is affected by friends and what they do. If your church does not have a planned activity, have a party at your house. In these days if we are going to honor the Lord at Halloween, we need to be reading and planning a little every month. Educate your children on Halloween and let them help plan and carry out your Harvest Party. It's not just what we are against but also what we are for. We are for fun and good times and we are also for honoring the Lord.

If you are among those who think Halloween is no more than a harmless fun time you might want to consider what the WICCA witches think about it. Today, for them it is a special time of celebrating the ancient rituals of the dark side of the spirit world. It's one of the two high days of the year. I Googled "WICCA" and got 8,000,000+ references.

You may want to begin a little collection of Halloween books, Internet articles, magazine articles, etc. that will undergird your knowledge and give you ideas for doing something different and exciting every year as an alternative. It's easier if your church provides the framework by sponsoring a Harvest Festival or Harvest Party. Dressing up in pretend need not be demonic or dishonoring to the Lord. God is not a grump. He made us so we can laugh and celebrate. But we should not celebrate the Devil and the powers of darkness that are going to spend eternity in Hell.

For more information on Halloween and ideas for alternatives try this link: More from CBN.com's Halloween Resource Section. There's enough inside this one web site to keep you reading for hours. You will not agree with everything you read here. You may want to file some of the articles in your Halloween folder on your computer. This is not an endorsement of CBN or any of the writers that may be included. It is an excellent place to read with a grain of salt and shop for ideas you can use. They have been gathering information and articles on this for several years.

What should we do? Christians are placed in this world to be a light. We cannot ignore Halloween. At the same time it is very wrong and harmful to celebrate a hellish holiday that celebrates death, darkness, and rebellion against God.Ω

Oh Be Careful Little Ears

—Barbara Carr

Joni Earickson Tada said, "We bring so much delight to the Lord when we sit at His feet and consider all the things He says. Others may miss the point or bypass the lesson. But for those who hang on to His words, to them, God reveals His secret plan and purpose."

This quote reminds us of Mary and Martha. (Luk 10:38-39) "Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word."

The world today is so full of sounds—voices, music, motors and distractions of every kind. The voice of God is drowned out with endless activity and noise. In the midst of all this, do we find a time and place to just listen to God? Our ears have become dull to hearing God talking to us. Our conscience often speaks to us saying, "this is right" or "this is wrong." Do we listen? I heard this somewhere: "Whenever your conscience speaks, pay close attention!"

God does not force us to listen. In fact, if we do not listen to the alarms our conscience sends, eventually we won't hear them at all. We lose the sensitivity God intended for us to have. I sometimes think we love to hear the sound of our own voices. We talk so loud and long our loved ones even tire of hearing. God wants us to listen for His voice. Listening isn't something that comes easy. Listening is a learned skill.

We find in Isaiah 30:21 " And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."

If we are listening, the Holy Spirit will call to our attention a wrong direction or that we are saying the wrong words or that we are doing the wrong things. He has not left us without shepherds and other spiritual guidance that will lead us. As children, we follow our parent's leadership and guidance and trust them completely. We need the voice of the Lord to guide us and keep us from going astray.

Do we guard our children's hearing? Remember last week—the eye takes a picture and we store it and retrieve it at will? The ears hear and that information is stored and mixed with what is already there. "Be careful little ears what you hear. There's a Father up above looking down in tender love. So, be careful little ears what you hear." It is our job to teach our children to listen for God's leading. They may use the "everyone else is listening to this" trick to get around an issue. You can use: "God's children don't."

We often wander from the straight path. Isaiah tells us a voice will call to us and direct us back in the way we ought to go. We do want to go the straight path don't we? A stanza from an old hymn says: "I hear Thy welcome voice." Let's clear our ears of the world and in silence listen and welcome our Lord's voice. He will admonish us when we are wrong, comfort us in times of grief and love us eternally.

Can we say with Joni Eareckson Tada? "Lord, today I sit at your feet to listen. May I genuinely hear what wonderful things you have to say." Ω

This article can also be viewed at http://www.biblewalking.com/.

The Encourager Newsletter - Vol. 3 Issue 38

Dan Carr, Editor

They Have Moses and the Prophets…Jesus told about a rich man who loved himself and despised a beggar, Lazarus, who was covered in sores and competed with the dogs for the scraps from the rich man's table. His only doctor was the dogs that licked his sores. This story in Luke 16 is either avoided or mocked by most people. We don't want it to be true. We're not perfect, but we are nice enough and God does not send nicepeople to Hell. Some Christians struggle with this. We needed to be saved—a little but not very much. Most of us were not really bad sinners, regardless of what God says about us.

Today our look at Dives (Latin for "rich") is about the nature of evidence and its role in turning lost people to God on His terms. When Dives bargained with Father Abraham to get the beggar, Lazarus, to bring him some water, Dives came to realize that he was truly stuck in Hell. Then he thought about his five brothers at his father's house on earth that would certainly join him some day, so he asked Abraham to send Lazarus to testify to his brothers. He thought that all they needed was evidence, someone to talk to them that had been raised from the dead. Evidence would convert them.

It has been pointed out that "the flames of Hell do not atone for sin or purge hardened sinners from their depravity (Rev. 22:11). Unbelief is a moral rather than an intellectual problem. No amount of evidence will ever turn unbelief to faith" (MacArthur). But the word of God has been appointed by God as the instrument of the Holy Spirit to give sinners an opportunity to repent and exercise saving faith in the shed blood and finished work at Calvary's cross.

Abraham told Dives that his brothers had the writings of Moses and the prophets (not the men themselves because they were all dead). What these brothers needed was "persuading." We sing the invitation hymn, "Almost persuaded now to believe. Almost persuaded Christ to receive. Seems now some soul to say, 'Go Spirit, go thy way. Some more convenient day. On thee I'll call'."

Some believe that if unbelievers had a mountain of evidence heaped upon them that they would come to faith in Christ. No, they have Moses and the prophets, the Gospels, the writings of the Apostles, and Bibles in the Dollar Tree for $2.00, less than the price of a hamburger. But according to Jesus' story of Abraham's words, even the evidence of one raised from the dead will not convince many stubborn people. Jesus presented Himself with words and miracles aplenty but only a small minority believed.

If one raised from the dead would do it, then what of the testimony of Christ who was raised from the dead? He who was crucified in the presence of a million Jews on Passover day and died at the time of the evening sacrifice as the promised lamb of God. Crucified under a darkened sky at noon, an earthquake, the ripping of the thick 60' linen veil in the Temple from top to bottom. When He died graves were opened and at His resurrection many of the dead in those opened graves came out and showed themselves alive to many. What about that evidence? (Mat 27:52,53).

The capital city of Nineveh repented at the preaching of pouting, rebellious Jonah whom God raised from the dead after his ride in fish. But that was before Jesus was raised from the dead. Jesus said: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here (Mat 12:40,41).

The wicked men of Nineveh repented at the simple preaching of Jonah but many people are "special sinners" who have no interest in repenting and believing on God's terms. Do you want to read Jonah's sermon? And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown (Jon 3:4). Eight words bellowed out over and over again. And the whole city repented. These people had no Moses and the prophets. They had the eight words from God.

…Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation (Heb 3:15).

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Rev 22:17). Ω

Be Careful Little Eyes

--Barbara Carr

Aren't you glad God created us with eyes? We can see and enjoy all of His beautiful creations. At this time of year, the leaves have changed into gold, rust and reds; mixed in with the evergreens. The colorful fall flowers like chrysanthemums—yellow, dark red, lavender, etc. are so beautiful!

Do you remember the children's song: "Oh Be Careful Little Eyes What You See?" The first verse is:"Oh be careful little eyes what you see. Oh be careful little eyes what you see. There's a Father up above looking down in tender love, so be careful little eyes what you see."

One Sunday not long ago, Pastor Charles Garrison's sermon was on guarding our eyes. He talked about our eyes being a window of the mind; about the eye being like a camera. Our eye is the camera and our brain is a computer. The eye takes the picture and the brain prints and stores it. Then we can open up that picture any time we want to. We can also mix it with our imagination.

I looked up "eye" in e-Sword and found 478 references—enough for several days of study. The very first reference is Genesis 3:5-7.

5) " For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7) And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."

Satan used sight to cause Eve to sin: "the woman saw." Satan had painted a beautiful picture of how wonderful life would be if she would follow his suggestions. After eating the apple, Eve would know good from evil and she would be wise. As soon as the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened, they knew their sin and hid. But, sin brought forth death. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen.3:19).

Next in the line of references was Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Then came Lot: "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar" (Gen 13:10).

Lot's eyes saw well-watered gardens in the direction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the "Big Apple" cities. Given a choice, he put himself first and chose the best, leaving the scraps for Uncle Abraham. Lot's wife loved Sodom. Apparently she was a socialite at heart and they had moved up with possessions and prestige.

When the angel of God hurried them out of Sodom, she was heart-broken to leave her things and friends behind. She cast her eyes backward in violation of God's command before she turned into a permanent pillar of salt (Gen 19:26). Her look was not a mere glance but a deep-seated longing for Sodom. Much has been written about this in secular literature. Josephus claims to have seen this memorial statute. Jesus admonished: "Remember Lot's wife" (Lu 17:32).

Now, let's skip a few references and go to King David in II Sam. 11:2-5. 2) "And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. 3) And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4) And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. 5) And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child."

When David saw Bathsheba, he could have turned his back and walked away, but the Bible says she was, "beautiful to look upon." He gazed upon her. His eyes took a picture of her. Lust took a picture of her and he had to have her. He was King and it was in his power to do so. Read II Sam 12 for the story of how the Lord handled this.

We have a command from God to guard our eyes. We can't keep from seeing things that are evil, but we have a duty to look away immediately. We should not take the picture and store for later examination or to ponder upon and take action. We may think, "I don't have a problem with what I see." Are we not tempted by beautiful things that God has told us to stay away from? Do we not long for the luxuries of wealth? Are we closer to God than David? He was the apple of God's eye. Consider:

"Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes" (Deu 11:18).

"My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways" (Pro 23:26).

"But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute" (Psa 141:8).

The hymn "Look and Live" says, "Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah! It is only that you look and live." Based upon this verse: "And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live" (Num 21:8).

Remember the song: "Be Careful Little Eyes What You See." We will look at another verse next week. Ω

This article can also be viewed at http://www.biblewalking.com/