Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow

With the passing of the month of October (It's FINALLY over!), it is time now to look ahead to the blessed month of November and the priceless possession it holds. THANKSGIVING!

Often when I am feeling a bit down, I will ask the Lord to speak to me in ways I can hear Him clearly. Occasionally, I will ask Him to bless me through my mailbox. Inevitably, I will receive a note from someone or some other such reminder that I have worth and value to someone. Truly a blessing.

I have been eagerly awaiting my mailbox blessing, but I didn't recognize it immediately this time. I found in the box a package sent to (of all people) my mother who has been deceased for more than 6 years.  Aggravated that this company did not have the good sense to purchase updated mailing lists, I opened it to get the information to call and politely inform them of their error and "please take her off your list." 

Upon opening said package, I realized it was a spiritual magazine, and knowing my mother had some rather eclectic spiritual experiences during her walk on earth, I was expecting something "New Agey" and considered simply tossing it. Prompted by the Spirit, I opened it nonetheless. 

The subject of each article was being thankful for blessings. Once again, my mind asked the question, "Why do so many non-believers celebrate Thanks-Giving?" Acknowledging that our blessings come from outside of ourselves to the degree we feel we must GIVE THANKS to someone else should provoke one to question, "To WHOM am I giving thanks?" Should it not?

"Praise GOD from Whom all blessings flow..." 

I did read the entire magazine, and it was delightful.

So often we are caught up in daily pursuits; rushing to get this or that thing done. Then, at least for wives and mothers, doing the same thing all over again. Laundry by the mounds, dishes by the sinkful. It is so easy to get lost in the tedium. How refreshing to remember to step back and be thankful...

• The dirty dishes mean we at today (many times). Thank You Lord for our daily bread.
• The laundry means we all had clothes to wear. Thank You Lord for providing raiment.
• That it is bountiful means we have a wonderful little family (or is 4 babies and 2 adults "little"). Thank You Lord for each life you have breathed into our family.
• The clothes for two adults means that our marriage is still holding on. Thank You Lord for my husband who loves his family so.
• The work clothes in the laundry means my husband still has a job. Thank You Lord for employment in this harsh economy.
• The dirt on the kids clothes means they have been outside playing hard. Thank You Lord for our beautiful property and gorgeous weather. Thank You that our children are healthy and happy and love to play together.
• The piles of election propaganda ready for the burn pile tells me I need to vote. Thank You Lord that I live in country where I am free to vote. Thank You Lord that You alone are sovereign and in control of the outcome. Thank You that I can rest in the knowledge that, anxious as I may feel, I need not worry, because Your Word assures me of the final outcome.
• Thank You Lord for Your Word. Thank You I live in a country where I am free to have and to read Your Word.
• Thank You Lord for great Bible Studies.
• Thank You Lord for wonderful women of God with whom to do Bible Studies.
• And... (the list goes on)
• Thank You Lord for blessing my mailbox (again).
• Thank You Lord for magazines sent to recipients long since deceased.

Halloween Update

I would just like to take a moment to let you know how the Lord has been answering prayer.  As you recall, if you read my previous posts regarding Christians celebrating Halloween, I have been praying for several years for the Lord to give me peace regarding this practice.  I also requested your prayers as I grumble through yet another October.

Well, the Lord has done great things - again.

While, I still do not believe it is right for Christians to celebrate satan's holiday, and will never personally participate, I have been convicted by scriptures such as it is not right to judge another man's servant, and if it is not sin to them then it is not sin in God's eyes, and so forth.

The bottom line is this: though it grieves me to my soul knowing what that day is really all about and that generally speaking it appears most Christians don't care that their behavior is causing our God to be mocked, it is between them and God. They will stand accountable before Him and Him alone. Not them and Him and me. How dare I?

If God has a problem with Christians celebrating in this way, He is big enough to let them know. The Holy Spirit is certainly capable of convicting of sin, He does not need my help.

If asked, I will continue to share my feelings on the matter. However, I am more aware now that when speaking with others about it, I get more and more passionate and vehement about my position. Therefore, as Emily Post suggests, it is more polite to decline to speak of things about which we are passionate. We tend to get carried away and inadvertantly hurt others in the process.

So, unless asked, I will refrain from speaking and thereby keep this peace the Lord has granted. I know this will only be possible with His help. Therefore, my new prayer will be that no one will ask. ;)

"It's Not Really Halloween" (Part 3)

There are many such comments that fall within the scope of this excuse.

It's not really Halloween....

• it's a Halloween "Alternative"
• because we don't allow scary costumes
• and we don't call it Halloween

 Many years ago, I was boarding at the house of a friend who had 3 children under 8. We were discussing whether or not her children were celebrating Halloween by going to what their church had titled a "Halloween Alternative." They were not to wear scary costumes and they had renamed it, therefore in their thinking, it wasn't really Halloween.

I ecouraged her to test that theory. One by one she called the children into the room and away from preparing their costumes. From the oldest to the youngest, when she asked, "What are you getting ready for, where are you going?" They responded, "Halloween!" There was no hesitation, and no, they did not think they were going to an "Alternative."

Make no mistake, the customs of the ancient pagans are still alive and hiding in the "alternative" celebrations.

In the ancient practice, witches would attend huge bonfires in celebration of Samhain (Halloween). On the way to the bonfires, they would stop at houses along the way to demand foods and treats to offer their god. They would knock on the door and demand a treat or threaten a "trick." They would do some damage to the property of the person refusing to offer food. Hence, "Trick or treat." In order to not get in trouble for the trick, they wore disguises, hence costumes.

By offering candy on Halloween, we are mimicking the practice of offering food to be sacrificed to pagan gods.

When there was an argument among the early church leaders regarding whether or not Christians should be required to be circumcised, the response was sent to the churches that circumcision would not be required, but that they should "abstain from anything that has been polluted by being offered to idols..."

The word sanctified means set apart. I challenge you to find any bag of candy during the month of October that does not bear markings of being set apart for Halloween. We have made an idol of Halloween, the only holiday of the year dedicated (set apart) for satan.

If we are unable to tell children they cannot celebrate Halloween because we don't want to ruin their fun, then their enjoyment has become more important to us than remaining a people sanctified and set apart for God Almighty.

The costumes, the candy, and yes, even the pumpkin carving and bobbing for apples all have pagan roots. The Israelites were instructed to not adopt the pagan practices of the people in the lands in which the Lord sent them. And yet they did. And when they did, there were always consequences. They compromised. So have we.

Calling these practices by some other name and thinking that we are fooling anyone, makes us look like fools.  And make no mistake, the pagans are watching and laughing. We are causing the Lord God to be mocked. That grieves me to my soul!

Father forgve them for thy know not what they do. Unfortunately, in the 12 year since I have been saved, I have been sharing this information. Consequently, I cannot say, Father forgive them for they know NOT what they do, for now they know exactly what they do and they DON'T CARE! Satan's holiday is more important to them than the fact that GOD IS BEING MOCKED BECAUSE OF THEIR ACTIONS!

Lord, HELP ME! I pray again and again and again for another year PLEASE Lord, if YOU are OK with Christians celebrating Halloween PLEASE change my heart! If YOU are OK with this Lord, PLEASE make it wildly successful so that I can see that YOU are blessing it. If Lord, YOU are NOT OK with this, please break it apart, make it a collossal failure so that ALL may see that You are displeased. Break our hearts for what breaks Yours! Father, Jesus Himself was jealous for the sanctity of Your house! How DARE we allow the hallowed grounds of Your Dwelling place to become polluted by celebration to satan! Forgive us Father, forgive us!

If you are reading this, I ask you to please pray for me. As you can see, I am grieved, as I am EVERY SINGLE year. It does not get better. For the next month or more it will get worse and worse.  I will be spending the night of Halloween on my face before the Lord at my church. Please feel free to join me.

Let's Just Give Them a Safe Place (Part 2)

When I became a Christian and began this ongoing debate regarding Christians celebrating Halloween, I asked why Christians think it is acceptable. The excuse I heard most often and continue to hear 12 years later goes something like this… “Kids are going to do it anyway, so we just give them a safe place to do it and use it as an opportunity to preach the Word.”

I find this line of reasoning nothing short of remarkable.

This post will be brief, because I have only one response. Let’s replace the “it” of Halloween with any other behavior in which young people would like to engage if left to their own devices.

“Kids are going to do drugs anyway, so let’s just give them a safe place to do it and use it as an opportunity to preach the Word.”

“Kids are going to drink alcohol anyway, so let’s just give them a safe place to do it and use it as an opportunity to preach the Word.”

“Kids are going to engage in sexual activity, so let’s just give them a safe place to do it and use it as an opportunity to preach the Word.”

Ludicrous! Wouldn’t you agree?

“Kids are going to celebrate satan’s highest holiday anyway, so let’s just give them a safe place to do it and use it as an opportunity to preach the Word.”

“Kids are going to adopt pagan practices and cause God and His Bride to be mocked, so let’s just give them a safe place to do it and use it as an opportunity to preach the Word.”

“Kids are going to celebrate the day of the year on which spells are cast and demons called upon, so let’s just give them a safe place to do it and use it as an opportunity to preach the Word.”

"Kids are going to celebrate the day on which the spirits of the dead are being contacted, so let's just give them a safe place to do it and use it as an opportunity to preach the Word."

This makes no more sense to me than the previous statements. If it is WRONG, don’t do it. If it is wrong tell kids not to do it! Don’t just give them a “safe” place to do it!

If you want to preach the Word on that day, go to the people who are trapped in Wicca. Pray for the people who are Pagans on that night. Use that night to pray against what they are doing. Use it to pray against their practices and bind the demons they are releasing.

Next…. “It’s not really Halloween, because we don’t allow scary costumes.” (Seriously?)

Christians and Halloween (Part 1)

As Halloween approaches yet again, my heart grows heavier with each passing advertisement. It remains a reminder of years past. You see, before I became a Christian I was one of those who celebrated Halloween for what it really is.  I was involved in Witchcraft and recognized the moon closest to October 31 as Samhain (pronounced sow-en).

For 12 years I celebrated Halloween proudly as a witch, and was extremely annoyed by Christians who “stole” our holiday.  My friends and I would mock them saying, “If they only knew what they were really celebrating, they would be horrified! (Hahahah)! What a bunch of idiots!”

Imagine my surprise when I became a Christian and warned people about what they were really celebrating and THEY DIDN’T CARE!

It is quite literally Satan’s holiday.  Wicca is an art, a science, and a religion. In the religion of Wicca, we were taught by tradition that we turn the “wheel of the year” by recognizing 8 Sabbats. The primary sabbat, or the new year, was celebrated at the moon (full or new) closest to October 31. Wicca teaches of a god and a goddess. During the year, 6 months are controlled by the god while the goddess is in the underworld, and 6 months of the year the god goes to rule the underworld and the goddess comes alive on earth.  The time of the goddess is spring and summer, while the time of the god is fall and winter.  These are based on masculine and feminine attributes of these times. In the fall and winter, the god is the god of the hunt. Therefore, the god they worship is a god of the earth, and according to tradition, he is half-man with cloven feet and in respect for the animals whose life he takes in hunt, he wears their horns.

It is argued by Wiccans that all similarity to the Christian satan is because as Christianity spread into Celtic areas, in order to villainize Wicca, the Church adopted the appearance of their god and called it the Devil. However, make no mistake; in every way, the Wiccan god is the antithesis of God. He is Satan and Halloween is his holiday.

Further, witches believe that on this moon, the veil between the two worlds is at its thinnest. Therefore, on this night more than any other in the year witches and spiritualists contact the dead.

In short, Halloween is the night when satan is being worshipped, spells are being cast, demons are being unleashed and the dead are being contacted. What a delightful time for Christians to celebrate.

Over the next few weeks, I will focus my writing on why I am so adamantly opposed to any form of acknowledgement of this heinous holiday by Christians. In my humble opinion, the ONLY acceptable activity on this dark night would be to gather together and pray for those unfortunate souls who are stuck in witchcraft and are headed directly to hell.

In advance, please forgive my tone as I will undoubtedly reveal my deep aggravation with the attitude of the church which remains one of acceptance.  I have been speaking out about this for twelve years and have fallen on deaf ears. I have prayed over these 12 years that if indeed it is acceptable in the Lord’s eyes for churches to participate in “Halloween alternatives” that they would be wildly successful so I could see that He was blessing them, and that He would remove this burden from my heart. In 12 years, neither has happened. To my knowledge, I can only recall one salvation resulting from these. I would not consider that wildly successful.

As ALWAYS, this forum is meant to be interactive. I would truly love to hear your response to this series of articles. Please feel free to comment. Remember, if you are reading this from an email, in order to respond you need to click the link to take you directly to the blog and comment there. If you are not on the blog when you comment, it will go to the email program not to the blog and will not be seen.

When Angry, Do Not Sin

I have just finished reading yet another article from a Christian source suggesting we need to confront conflict in order to resolve it. It said in short that if we don't resolve the conflict, it will fester and build up steam until we explode and someone gets burnt.

I would suggest another resolution to this situation.

Quite some time ago, early in my Christian walk, a book was suggested to me called, "Make Anger Your Ally." I was aggrivated with the book from the beginning, as the author began by describing the various methods by which people deal with their anger. He did not mince words while telling the reader each of these methods was rooted in selfishness. Then I read it. He said somewhere near 95% of the time we are angry it is because we are not getting our own way. How dare he?! I was so angry I threw the book and did not read it again for a very, very long time.

But it stuck in my craw, as they say. I began to examine the situations in which I was angry and ask myself, "Truly, am I angry right now because I am not getting my own way?" Indeed, the answer 95% of the time was, "Yes."

I could not escape the truth.

There are certainly times we should expect to "get our own way." For example, when we are dealing with our children, we are right to expect them to obey us. We are responsible for their safety and for teaching them and therefore, we must have first time obedience. If we are in a position of authority in the workplace, we should be able to expect our subordinates to comply with orders.

However, in every situation where we are the subordinate, we do not have the right to expect our demands to be obeyed. If we are cranky, it is generally because we are not getting our own way. And, one must ask one's self, "Why do I feel that I have the need or the right to impose my will in this situation?"

Generally speaking, these articles relate to marriage. Therefore, it seems to me the heart of the issue is whether one accepts their position in marriage.  The Bible tells us clearly to subordinate ourselves to our husbands. (Ephesians 5:22, 24; Colossians 3:18; 1 Peter 3:1 among others) In other places we are admonished to submit to the Lord. If we are submitted to the Lord, we will live according to His Word, and His Word tells wives to submit to their husbands. Ergo, if we are not submitted to our husbands, we are not truly submitted to God.

I have not yet mastered this concept myself, however I do scratch my head in wonder at believing women who counsel other women that it is advisable to ignore the Lord in this.  We have as example, the countless times the Israelites refused to submit to the authority of the Lord. We have in Jesus' own words that the one who loves Him will obey Him (John 14:15). He clearly takes authority and submission seriously. So who are we to dimiss this when we are angry about something? Could this be, at least in part, that to which He was referring when He said not to sin in our anger? "When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down." (Ephesians 4:26)
 Pause in writing, because....

Quite literally, even as I write this, I am helping my children to resolve an interpersonal conflict because each wants their own way. I ask them each why they feel they should have their own way. I ask them why they feel they have the right to expect to get their own way. And then I remind them that we are instructed to esteem others higher than ourselves. Who is willing to be the kinder person? Rose relents, but is still angry. I remind her she is submitting but with a wrong heart and unpure motives, she needs to let the anger go. "HOW!?" she whines emphatically. ("Lord, give me the wisdom I lack in this moment, because I fail at this daily!" I pray quickly and silently.) And then the words come from somewhere within... "Whatever is kind, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, think on these things." So we go through the mental exercise of recounting things that make us happy. Satisfied and happier, she goes back to play.

Perhaps next time will be a bit easier for me, as well?

Love of the Brethren

Throughout the Old and New Testaments we are called to holy living. (see Lev 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7&8; and 1 Peter 1:16 among others) We are told repeatedly that God expects this of us, if we call Him “Lord.” (1 Peter 1:17, for example)

Hebrews 10 tells us that we are made holy through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Here Paul tells us that “by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified,” thereby indicating that we are justified immediately, but that sanctification is a process.

We are to remain pure and holy once we have been cleansed. But how? Our instruction fills the New Testament. But, what I find interesting is that in the above referenced passages which speak directly to our living holy lives, these verses are followed immediately by exhortation to loving the brethren.  For example, in the Hebrews 10 passage, we are told that because of our having been sprinkled with the blood, we may enter boldly to the Holy of Holies with a clear conscience and a body purified by living water. Immediately thereafter we are told to hold fast to our faith and to consider how we may stir up one another to love and good deeds.

In 1 Peter 1 we are exhorted that as obedient children we should be holy in all our conduct since we have been redeemed not by corruptible things, but by the precious blood of Christ so that our faith and hope are in God. Immediately this is followed by, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, ²³ having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”

We are charged again and again to obey and to love. Three times in John 14 Jesus tells us that if we love Him we will obey Him.  And we are commanded to love the brethren. By this outsiders will know that we are His disciples.

Taken together then, we are commanded to live holy and sanctified lives. We are holy because of the sacrificial death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. If we have accepted His redemption by faith, then we have been purchased by the incorruptible blood which has purified us and made us holy, sanctified to Him. If we Have been sanctified and made pure, then we are to live holy lives of obedience. And Biblical precident says that if we are to live holy lives of obedience, then we must love the brethren and consider how we may stir one another up to love and good deeds.

So, I ask you, in what ways do we as born-again, Bible-believing Christians stir one another on to love and good deeds?

I was astounded recently, when a fellow Christian informed me that my child does not need to make a “project” of being friends with another child whom the adults assume to be a challenge.  

We have been raising our children since they were toddlers to go out of their way to make sure others do not feel excluded. If they see a new person in class who might be shy, they have been taught to go say hello and introduce themselves, and perhaps introduce them to their friends.  They are not allowed to leave out any of their siblings in games or play, including even the baby.  

How would I explain to my child that it is appropriate for her to not care if this particular child feels left out of “the brethren” if it is a challenge to be their friend?  Is that really what we want to teach our young people?  Could it be that this lack of love for the “difficult” is what outsiders see when they look at us? "By this they will know that you are My disciples that you have love one for another."  We are no different than the world when we tell our children they can choose to be obedient only when it is easy and sit out when becomes a bit more taxing.

This is a lesson for us all, not just the children. How often do we reach out to love the unlovely? I was challenged in this by the Lord through prayer at one point. Later, after I had made a half-hearted attempt, I held up my “accomplishment” to the Lord and was quickly brought down by the words, “You didn’t LOVE her. You tolerated her!”  Ouch! But, sadly, it was true.

I cannot say that I love and obey my Lord and my Savior, if I do not truly love the brethren - ALL of them.

Note: I do acknowledge that this is not the sum total of our call to holy living.  However, it is of great importance to the Lord, as seen by its placement in scripture.