Bulletins - Sunnyside Church of the Nazarene

Great I Am
God Of Wonders
Holy Is The Lord
Halloween is a week away. Christians still struggle with questions like - “Is Halloween evil? Do we celebrate; not celebrate?” I've struggled with that question because I really enjoyed Halloween as a kid. But let’s be honest, Halloween in 2021 is very different from Halloween in 1981. You would be blind (metaphorically speaking) not to see Satan's fingerprint and influence on Halloween. It has become a very dark morbid openly demonic celebration in many ways. The truth is that the demonic was already there, it was just hidden in years past. But that doesn't mean that everything about Halloween is necessarily evil or derived from Satan. It's my opinion that there are elements of Halloween that are spiritually benign or neutral.
I'm not going to get into the evils or history of Halloween. We could spend hours talking about that, but honestly, I don't think that does much good. There are so many different spins on the history, and a lot of people already have their mind made up one way or the other.
Not heading there - but I do want to challenge us to look at this from a different viewpoint. When you do ask questions about Halloween, where is your starting point? In other words, who at the center of your concern? God or self? Perhaps stop asking if it’s evil or not, and start asking,
How does God want me to navigate Halloween?
And truthfully, how does God want me to navigate any celebration.

Let’s work through three questions. I think these three questions will help us tremendously. Before we get to those there's a few things to lay the foundation.
Keep in mind that God wants us to enjoy life. We’re not to be fuddy-duddies. God established celebrations for His people. These were mandatory fun events that involved food and dancing and music and worship, and family and get-togethers.
God wants us to enjoy life. Even though God wants us to enjoy life, we must remember that there is a spiritual realm that shares the same space that we do. The spiritual or supernatural is real. If the supernatural is not real, then throw your bibles away and go home. God is spirit. In the Scriptures we encounter a variety of spiritual beings both good and evil. God has given us his Holy Spirit. Jesus cast out the demonic. Why did God say don’t worship other gods (spiritual beings) if they don’t exist?
What's my point?
One of the worst things a Christian can do is to minimize or pacify the spiritual, or pretend it doesn’t exist. The supernatural is reality.

Again, I’m laying the foundation for how we navigate Halloween.
Halloween has an extensive supernatural history which is very spiritually active today. We cannot take the supernatural out of Halloween
- if you do, you’re foolish or ignorant or naïve. Not saying everything about Halloween is spiritual or demonic - I'm just saying there's a lot of supernatural connected to October 31 and we need to be aware of that.

How does God want me to navigate to Halloween?
If you participate in Halloween, the first question you must ask is -
1) What or who am I glorifying?
What does it mean to glorify? Glorify means worship, magnify, to make much of something, to exalt a person or thing. Christians are supposed to glorify whom?
Psalm 34:3 ESV
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

God is the Giver of love, of life (life is precious), a peace, of restoration, of goodness ….
God’s Son, Jesus Christ died on a cross to destroy the works of the devil, to destroy death, to destroy that which is evil. The powers of darkness, devil, the demonic want to steal, kill, destroy, torment, abuse …. Think about all the demonic does in this world.
Why would a Christian want to glorify that which Christ died to conquer?
1 John 3:8 ESV
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Why would we want to glorify death, or the demonic, evil spiritual beings who are the enemies of God? Why would we want to glorify that which is evil, glorify suffering …? Who would dress like a Nazi and walk into a Jewish community? No decent person would do that. So why do that with God? Why dress as something or glorify something that is vile, that God hates, that breaks His heart, that profanes His name, His character, His purpose?
Again, I'm not saying everything about Halloween is evil or that we should not participate, but we need to ask ourselves a serious question - who are what are we glorifying.
(My pumpkins are neutral)

2) Am I aware of that SRA is real?
What is SRA?
Satanic Ritual Abuse
RA and SRA are not only about Halloween, but Halloween is a significant day for those who engage in these wicked torturous practices. It’s a real thing. People suffer on Halloween. If you want to know all the bloody gory details, all you have to do is look it up. Some nasty unbelievable horrific things happen on October 31st. I'm not saying that we need to stop all of our festivities or activities, but Christians of all people should be keenly aware of what happens on Halloween. It is ludicrous for believers to pretend Halloween is nothing but an innocent night of fun in candy.
Think of it like this, there are people in this world who claim the Jewish Holocaust did not occur. “The Nazis did not kill 6 million Jews.” Those people are sick and delusional. Imagine being a Jew, especially one who survived the Holocaust and you hear those words. How would you feel?

So imagine being a survivor of satanic ritual abuse and you hear your fellow Christians deny or minimize that evil things really take place on Halloween. “It’s not that bad.” How would you feel? Truthfully and sadly, many survivors do not find solace in church. Why? Because many evangelical churches are just like those who deny the holocaust.
I can't speak for survivors, but I would imagine that what they want the most is to be believed, welcomed, accepted, given lots of grace and patience, and prayed over - especially this time of the year when the spiritual battle is possibly the heaviest.
Galatians 6:2 ESV
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

Question
2) Am I aware of that SRA is real? How do I help my brothers and sisters who suffer during this season?
What would you want?
As I grieve the loss of Brandon, there are two things that people do that don’t help. They forget or they flap their lips.
What is helpful? Simply acknowledge. Be sensitive. I don’t need people to explain away the pain. Just care and pray. Encourage. Probably same for survivors.

Lastly,
3) Am I prepared to engage in spiritual conversations?
2 Timothy 4:1–2 ESV
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

It’s the perfect season for spiritual dialogue. Rather than figuring out how to avoid Halloween, why not be in prayer and ask God to prepare you for spiritual conversations?

How does God want me to navigate Halloween?
Romans 12:9 ESV
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

What are or who are you glorifying? Are you sensitive to those who have suffered? Engage the culture with spiritual conversation.
- - Psalm 34:3NLT
- - 1 John 3:8NLT
- - Galatians 6:2NIV2011
- - 1 Thessalonians 5:14NLT
- - 2 Timothy 4:1–2NIV2011
- - Romans 12:9NIV2011
We Fall Down
Build My Life

Psalm 34:3NLT

1 John 3:8NLT

Galatians 6:2NIV2011

1 Thessalonians 5:14NLT

2 Timothy 4:1–2NIV2011

Romans 12:9NIV2011