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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween - How should Christians Respond?

The traditions of Halloween are based upon the worship of false gods, contact with the dead, foretelling the future, and communing with evil spirits. Does the bible have anything to say about these practices?
The worship of false gods is condemned numerous times in both the Old and New Testaments and is emphasized so strongly that it is the very first of the commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

In Exodus 20:2-3 the Lord writes with His own hand:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
In Deuteronomy 11:16 He warns the Israelites:
“Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.”
The Psalmist warns in Psalm 81:9:
“You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god.”
John even closes the “Love Letter” of 1 John with the admonition to “…keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).

The passage in the bible that most directly addresses the customs mentioned above is Deuteronomy 18:9-14, where we read:
9 When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so. 
We see here about the most inclusive list of the activities upon which Halloween was established that can be found anywhere in the bible, and the practitioners thereof are labeled “detestable.” Those habits are, in fact, the very reason the Pagan nations were driven out of the Promised Land.

In Amos 5:14 The Lord tells Israel, “Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.” He goes on in the next verse to say, “Hate evil, love good.” Note the emphasis (added) on the statement “just as you say He is.” Even though one may be making a profession of faith, Amos is clearly saying that the Lord Almighty is not with those who are actually seeking evil, instead of good. Peter reminds us of this when he says “…the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:12).

The scripture has a lot to say about participating in such activities:
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you’” –2 Corinthians 6:14-17.
1 Thessalonians 5:22 says to “avoid every kind of evil.”

Jesus said it best in John 3:19-21:
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
Finally, Paul gives us an idea for a costume to be worn on Halloween (or any) night in Romans 13:12:
“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
There will certainly be people who will still rationalize ways to participate, at some level, in the festivities of Halloween. To this the Lord replies in Proverbs 3:7
“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil,” and 8:13 “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” Will we seek to push the boundaries of our faith to see just how far we can go? Or will we seek to serve the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength? “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isa 5:20).
The Lord equates Spiritual maturity with the ability to discern good and evil. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that they should “stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults” (1 Corinthains 14:20). The author of Hebrews makes it even more clear when he says “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

For those who would still insist that they can participate in such activities with a clear conscience, there is another aspect to think about: the example you are to those around you.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God– even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved” (1 Corinthains 10:31-33).
I BEG (IMPLORE) YOU TO:

  • Spend much time today in prayer over all of the lives that are subjected and forced into satanic worship & those that are demon possessed. 
  • Implore a holy & righteous God to execute his wrath upon Satan and all of his demons.
  • Implore a merciful & forgiving God to show his mercy & pardon on all of the children & babies that are forcibly made to participate in demonic activities, and rescue them from that lifestyle. 
  • Reach out to those that are trapped in this lifestyle, and show them that you love them, and that God cares about them, and deeply loves them.

My Favorite Verse says:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Please humble yourself, and pray, and seek God's Face, and turn from your wicked ways today, & God will hear from heaven, and God will forgive our sins.

Monday, October 29, 2012

My Personal Past (Caleb)

In a college Leadership Class I just took, I was given an assignment to write out a Personal Leadership Plan. 

There are 6 parts to this Personal Leadership Plan. I'm not sure yet if I will post all of them here or not.

  1. Knowing my Past
  2. Knowing Myself
  3. Vision & Mission
  4. SMART Goals
  5. Mentors
  6. Skills I Need
The assignment was this:  - Knowing yourself: 
  • Your Preferences
  • Strengths
  • Gifts
  • Talents
  • Tendencies
  • Are examples provided to support your conclusions?


    I do not mean to post these assignments to brag about who I am, but rather as a tool so that you all can better understand who I am. If you do not think this really represents who I am, I would ask that you please let me know how and why it does not clearly represent who I am.

    Part 1: Strengths

    My strongest strength would be in the area of Evaluating & Analyzing. Webster’s defines Evaluating as determining the significance, worth, or condition of, usually by careful appraisal and study & Analyzing studying or determining the nature and relationship of the parts of by analysis. An example of this strength in my life would be evaluation of whether or not to become a Certified Public Accountant or an Enrolled Agent or both about 4-5 years ago. I examined the average pay rates of both designations, the ability to do different jobs, the public status & recognition of the different titles, the public education needed, and many more tests. My results of the study were to first become a Certified Public Accountant and later in life become an Enrolled Agent.

                Another strong strength would be the ability to organize. Webster’s defines Organizing as setting up an administrative structure. Organizing is the collaboration of Systematizing, Collecting, & Organizing. An example of this strength in my life would be organizing information for presentations (PowerPoint’s, Handouts, Articles, etc.) for the past 3 years or so. I enjoy collecting the different sources of information and organizing it into the best attraction to the eye and in the most logical order.

    Part 2: Talents

                My strongest Talent would be in the area of Logic & Math. I love to sort, categorize, and characterize. An example of this in my life would be in the area of my vocation. I started in the Accounting / Tax arena about 4 years ago. I have loved every bit of the adventure. I love working with the calculations in Tax & Accounting, and love fixing a complicated problem. I love the thrill of solving and balancing the books while working on corporate & personal tax returns.

                Another strong Talent in my life would be the intelligence of self. I would say that this talent is linked to one of my spiritual gifts of Serving. I love to serve quietly by myself where nobody notices. An example of strong characteristics of Self in my life would be spending my spare time typing out devotionals or talks or books or possibly chapters of the bible. I love to do this in the early morning and the late evening when no one else is around. I also love to listen to sermons when I am alone. How I would classify this as serving others would be that this prepares me to be better equipped to know how to relate to someone else, or to give them counsel in that given topic, or to lead them to the scriptures in a Biblical Study. I can recall many different sermons or different topics and apply that to my life and others lives to whatever situation they or I might be facing.

    Part 3: Spiritual Gifts

                My strongest Spiritual Gifts would be Giving & Serving. Looking back over my life, I don’t think I can truly separate the gifts of Giving and Serving. I think that they each compliment the other gift to the point that if you remove one of them the other loses most of its significance. I serve an individual by giving to them. This is done by giving of my resources (time, treasures, talent, etc), and many other ways, including, giving of my experience and knowledge to bless someone make correct decisions in life (decisions about – Life Purpose, Life Goals, Education, Marriage, Children, Vocation, Calling, etc.). The reverse of that is that I give to individuals by serving them. I serve them by finding joy in doing the small things in life that others may not notice or enjoy doing that will bless them in a very certain way.

    I believe that the cycle you can see with the children of Israel of: God’s Blessing on them, turning the blessing into materialism, turning the materialism into Idolism, God’s Judgment on Idolism, the Children of Israel’s Repentance of their Idolism & Materialism, God’s Blessing on them, over & over again is also a pattern in Church History as well as our Individual Lives. I believe that the way that this cycle is stopped is by realizing that God’s Blessing is not meant to be turned into Materialism but rather to be used to bless others for his kingdom, for his glory, for his honor & praise!

    When I look at the gift of serving, I believe that it is displayed through finding Joy in doing the smallest tasks however menial & tedious they are. I have heard a lot of people say that the people, who have the gift of service, are usually not the most efficient at what they do. I don’t believe that is completely true, especially in my life. When I find something small/tedious to do that would be of a benefit to others, I usually find myself asking this question, “Is there a faster way to do this task that would be more efficient and produce greater quality or quantity?”

    An example of how I served by Giving is: Through this last year I have found many ways to give to people & projects that I believe was truly serving them with my time & resources. It is truly such a blessing to give and not expect a return, which will always lead to a blessing from God. He may not & usually does not bless in the exact way that you gave though. For example; if you give away your money, he may bless you with time, or stronger relationships, or better health, or more money back.

    An example of how I have given by Serving is: Every month a ministry that I am actively involved in called LAMB Services, Inc. has an evening for the community to come together and pack different things to bless others around the world with. The first in the cycle is a food pack, the second is a clothes pack, and the third is usually an assortment of projects. One of the events is a Pack of Good & Evil Books for Prisoners in CA. It has been my privilege to set up and manage some of the systems that are in place for this project. One of the main systems that I manage is a program that was built in excel for easy entering of the inmates information (address, ID#, Cell#, etc), & easy label printing. During this process, I have realized how much of a Joy & a service it is to do the small & tedious things when they are a service to God.


    Check out my new blog about my College Life here - http://calebjenkins-collegeplus.blogspot.com/