Halloween, or Reformation Day?

I personally don't celebrate Halloween. Since Jesus came to give us life and light (guidance) in this world, I can no longer in good conscience participate in a holiday that celebrates death and darkness (and every evil thing conceivable). Here in Detroit folks use it as an excuse for vandalism the night before Halloween, calling it "Devil's night", despite the fact that the night belongs to (and exists because of) God. So on October 31, I encourage people to celebrate something better - "Reformation Day."

On Oct 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses - a list of abusive practices in the Catholic church that needed reforming in order to bring the church into alignment with the teachings of Jesus. On that day, a darkness that had hovered over the world since before the middle ages began to lift, as error was exposed by the truth of scripture. So October 31 should not be a celebration of darkness. It should be a celebration of what the light of Jesus' truth can accomplish to bring mankind out of spiritual darkness. September 11 2001 showed us clearly that it matters what a person believes; on this day, terrorists who believed they were doing the right thing caused thousands of deaths. No longer can we casually argue that it's ok to embrace wickedness and darkness, pretending there will be no negative consequences for doing so.

No longer can we argue that the evil of Halloween is acceptable if we sugar-coat the evil with a little fun and candy. No longer can we ignore the detriment to society caused by the "do what thou wilt" philosophy of satan. Sure, it feels good to do what you want. But look at the resulting state of a world filled with people who are all doing whatever they want. Would we allow a man to murder our family members if he first gave us free tickets to the local amusement park? Certainly not. Then why do we ignore Halloween's obvious themes of witchcraft, death, evil spirits, and everything satanic just
because the neighbors throw in a few tootsie rolls for the kids?

Few in our culture distinguish between good and bad anymore. When I was 5 yrs old, I attended kindergarten at a Presbyterian church. I can still remember the teacher dressing up for Halloween as a witch with tall pointy black hat. I suppose her version of the Bible must have suffered misprints in those scriptures that condemn the practice of witchcraft. Today, over 30 years later, the Presbyterian church has much greater problems than the acceptance of witchcraft, and have moved beyond the acceptance of homosexual "ministers" to actually debating the redefinition of marriage as described in Genesis. When we take things that God created, such as gender and marriage, and give ourselves permission to redefine them, we find ourselves on a slippery slope. The next step will be a redefinition of what is human, and we find we are not far from allowing relationships between humans and farm animals. A future health care act may very well require employers to grant health coverage to a person's animal "spouse".

Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone yielded to the light of God and followed God's ways, and accepted the historical fact that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to earth to die and to be raised back to life? He was not raised to life like a Halloween horror movie full of zombies and half-decomposed bodies walking around. Jesus was resurrected in power and honor. If everyone followed God's ways, nobody would have ever heard of AIDS. There would be no rape. No violence. No war in Iraq. Twin towers would still be standing. No road rage, or self-centered drivers cutting you off. No lead in children's toys. No infidelity. No internet porn. People would find fulfillment in heterosexual marriage, negating the temptation to decide to engage in homosexual or lesbian "sex". Folks would look out for one another, instead of living for 35 years only two houses away from neighbors they never talk to. God's ways are right. They are life and light, and I will celebrate and embrace them instead of Halloween. And I will continue what Martin Luther started 490 years ago - a fight for the truth. Because what we believe really does matter.

Happy Reformation Day! And feel free to use the template above to carve your own pumpkin. Here's the instructions!

Popular posts from this blog

Online Relationship Calculator for Autosomal DNA

Image
Have you taken a DNA test? Have you looked at the results and wondered what they mean?  What is a centimorgan? Why do you and relatives share them? Is a DNA match your great aunt or your evil twin brother? The calculator chart at the end of this article will help you narrow down the possibilities. Is a DNA match your 2nd cousin, or your 4th cousin twice removed? What does twice removed even mean? The calculator chart will help you visualize the relationship. Simply type in the shared centimorgans (cM) of a DNA match, and the calculator will show you how you're likely related. Here's a picture of the chart with no relationships highlighted. To use this solely as a reference chart, you can download it as a pdf at this link . But to use this chart as a dynamically-highlighted calculator, keep reading... The calculator is based on the Shared cM Project data, version 3.0 dated Aug 2017. This data is a compilation of data from volunteers who input their shared centimorgans ind...
Read more

Crime Pays for Ex-Army Manager

Injustice in America takes many forms. Often it takes the form of when justice is not administered by the legal system. "Don't be corrupt when administering justice. Never give special favors to poor people, and never show preference to important people. Judge your neighbor fairly." - The Bible Sometimes crime pays handsome dividends due to ridiculously light court sentencing. This is the story of how Anthony (Tony) Shaw, an Army acquisition manager at the US Army Tank Automotive Life Cycle Management Command (TACOM LCMC) in Michigan, used kickbacks from an Army contractor to bail himself out of personal debt. Tony ends up being the winner, despite being ordered to pay restitution and serve almost 4 years in prison. In an episode that reminds us of the government bailout of AIG, Shaw personally benefited from taxpayer funds that bailed him out of over-leveraged real estate investments in the aftermath of the 2008 recession. Thanks to Tony's light court sentence, ...
Read more

Rebedding a whole house dechlorinator

Image
Our new rental house came with a 8x40 Kinetico dechlorinator in the garage, next to a Kinetico dual tank water softener system. The dechlorinator is basically an 8" diameter container that is 40" tall, about 3/4 full of granulated activated charcoal (GAC). As the water flows up from the bottom of the container through the GAC, chlorine is removed from the water. However, the GAC only lasts for a finite time before it needs to be replaced. The specs for a similar dechlorinator say something about 60,000 gallons of water can be treated, but it depends on the amount of chlorine in the water. Since the system is 12 years old, I am going to change out the charcoal bed. The dechlorinator is the black bottle on the left. The two black bottles on the right are a 2-bottle water softener system that works in conjunction with the brine tank on the left. The left bottle shows the 2 water pipes going to the dechlorinator. Release them by pushing up the metal pin in the metal brac...
Read more