Amen.
All right, we're there in Romans chapter number 14.
And of course, tonight we are having our annual harvest party
and our nation is celebrating this day of Halloween.
And tonight I wanna preach, we're of course having
our harvest party and all those things,
the chili cook-off and the games after the service.
But I do wanna take a few minutes as quickly as possible
to preach a sermon on the subject of Halloween
and why it is that Christians should not celebrate,
should not participate in Halloween.
Now you're there in Romans chapter 14
and I wanna just bring your attention to a thought
just by way of introduction.
If you look down at verse number five,
I want you to know that God in the Bible
actually gives us liberty to choose what holidays
we would or would not want to celebrate.
In Romans 14 and verse five, the Bible says this,
one man esteemeth, the word esteemeth or esteem
means to think or consider, to regard.
It says one man esteemeth one day above another,
another esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Here we have a situation where God,
and God is very black and white in a lot of areas
and he tells us what we should think about certain things.
But when it comes to holidays and to specific days,
he says look, one man esteemeth one day above another,
another esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Verse six, he that regardeth the day
regardeth it unto the Lord.
And he that regardeth not the day
to the Lord he doth not regard it.
He that eateth, eateth to the Lord,
for he giveth God thanks, he that eateth not to the Lord,
he eateth not and giveth God thanks.
So here we see an example of Christian liberty
where God says, you know what,
if you wanna celebrate a holiday,
if you wanna celebrate a specific day, go for it.
If you don't want to, you don't have to.
He says, one man is seemeth one day above another,
another is seemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
The idea is this, that you should have a clear conscience
about what it is that you want to do
and don't want to do, what you feel comfortable doing
and not feel comfortable doing.
And when it comes to holidays and to specific days,
this is what the Bible teaches.
Keep your place there in Romans.
Go with me to Colossians chapter two if you would.
Colossians chapter two.
Keep your place in Romans
because we're gonna come back to it.
Colossians chapter two and verse 16.
You're there in Romans, you're gonna go past
first and second Corinthians into the book of Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.
First, second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians.
And this is important because there's actually
a lot of fighting and a lot of conflict
in regards to whether we should
or should not celebrate certain holidays.
The Jehovah's Witnesses teach
that you should not celebrate Christmas,
you shouldn't celebrate Easter,
you shouldn't celebrate your own birthday.
And there's many religions and many Christians out there
that would say Christmas is a pagan holiday
and Easter has its roots in paganism
and for that reason we should not celebrate those days.
But the Bible clearly says, look,
one man esteemeth one day above another,
another esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord.
Here's what the Bible says.
Look, if you wanna celebrate a day
and regard it unto the Lord, he says, great.
And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord,
he does not regard it.
So when it comes to this argument that Christmas
and Easter have their roots in pagan origins
and we shouldn't celebrate those holidays,
I think that that goes against the Bible.
First of all, I'm not convinced that they're obviously
that those holidays have pagan origins,
but the point is this, today,
when we celebrate Christmas today,
we as Bible-leaving Christians
are not celebrating Santa Claus.
We are celebrating the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We esteem that day as unto the Lord.
We celebrate it to the Lord.
When we celebrate Easter,
we're not celebrating an Easter bunny.
We're celebrating the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We regard it unto the Lord.
So the Bible says, and by the way,
if you don't want to celebrate Christmas,
you don't want to celebrate Easter,
that's up to you.
The Bible says, let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind.
So God gives us liberty when it comes
to celebrating certain holidays.
And God says, look, this is an issue
where you can do whatever you want.
Here's what the Bible does say about the holidays though.
And this is the issue that I have with those who teach
that you should not celebrate those holidays
is because that camp of people that says,
you're wrong for celebrating Christmas,
you're wrong for celebrating Easter,
you shouldn't even celebrate your own birthday.
Those people generally become very judgmental
towards those who say, hey, I regard it as unto the Lord.
I celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ during those holidays.
Colossians 2 16 specifically forbids that.
Notice what the Bible says.
It says, let no man therefore judge you.
It says, don't allow anybody to judge you
in these certain areas.
In meat, you can eat whatever meat you want.
We're New Testament believers.
We're not under the Mosaic dietary restrictions.
He says, don't let anybody judge you in meat or in drink.
Of course, that's not talking about alcohol.
That's talking about being able to drink
in the drink offerings of the Old Testament.
He says, or in respect of an holy day.
He says, don't allow anyone to judge you
in regards to a holy day because this is an area
where God has given us liberty to say,
if I want to celebrate Thanksgiving,
I'm celebrating Thanksgiving as unto the Lord.
I'm being thankful primarily to the Lord Jesus Christ
and to God for everything they've done for us.
If I want to celebrate certain holidays,
I can do that and you should not allow any man
to judge you in respect of that holiday.
Now, listen to me very carefully
because that's my position on holidays
and whether or not you should celebrate holidays
and here at Very Baptist Church,
we do celebrate all those holidays.
However, Halloween does not apply in that category.
You say, oh, that's kind of hypocritical.
Well, I'm gonna show you from the Bible
why it is that Christians should not celebrate Halloween
but let me just kind of give you a thought
by way of introduction.
There's no way a Christian could celebrate Halloween
as unto the Lord.
Oh, well, when I dress up like a vampire,
I'm celebrating the Lord Jesus Christ.
No.
Now, Halloween, and I want you to understand something,
Halloween actually has its origins in pagan,
the origin of Halloween comes from pagan rituals.
It actually does have pagan origins
unlike other arguments made by everybody else
about Christmas and Easter but here's the thing
and I'm gonna share some of those pagan origins
with you tonight because I just think it's interesting
to shed some light but please understand,
I'm not standing up here tonight telling you
you shouldn't celebrate Halloween
because it has pagan origins,
because back in the ancient world
when it was celebrated, it was pagan.
That's not the reason I'm telling you
you shouldn't celebrate Halloween today.
The reason I'm telling you you shouldn't celebrate
Halloween today is because today in 2021
in the United States of America,
the modern holiday or celebration of Halloween,
not the ancient, the modern celebration is pagan.
It is a pagan holiday, a pagan celebration
that Christians should have nothing to do with.
So here's what the Bible says.
The Bible says, look, whatever holiday,
if you can do it as unto the Lord,
then do it if you want and don't do it if you don't
but Halloween doesn't fall into that category
because it cannot be done as unto the Lord.
It cannot be celebrated to the Lord.
It does have pagan origins but what's worse about Halloween
is that the modern version is pagan itself
and we as Christians need to ask ourselves
before we participate in certain things,
we ought to ask ourselves, what does the Bible say?
Now we're Bible believing Baptists.
What that means is that the Bible is our boss.
What does God say about this thing?
What does God say about this certain day?
Should we participate?
As Christians, we should always filter everything
we do, think, and believe through the word of God.
So tonight I wanna ask the question,
should Christians celebrate Halloween?
And I wanna give you four reasons as quickly as I can
why the Bible teaches that you should not celebrate
Halloween as a Bible believing Christian.
Now let me just say this and I realize that many of you,
you say, I've already heard this,
I've heard these things before.
The Bible says in Philippians 3, one,
you don't have to turn there.
I'll just read this for you.
It says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord
to write the same thing to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is saved.
You know, it's good for you to be reminded of these things.
And you can say, I've already heard these things.
I already know why we should celebrate Halloween.
But it's good for you to be reminded about these things.
And it's good, especially for children growing up
in these types of churches,
to be reminded why we don't celebrate.
Look, it's not good to tell you,
we don't celebrate Halloween, and that's it.
You know, we should always give our children the why.
We should tell them, look, it's not honoring to Christ,
and here's the reasons, and I'm gonna give you
reasons tonight why we should not celebrate Halloween.
But let me just say this.
You know, I looked up, the last time I preached a sermon
on Halloween was two years ago.
Well, you know what, two years ago,
in the last two years, our church has grown a lot.
We have a lot of new Christians and believers
coming to our church, and they may already know
why we shouldn't celebrate Halloween, but they may not.
And it's good to be reminded.
It's good to teach a fresh and new
to some newer Christians and new believers.
Let me also say this by way of introduction.
People might say like, oh, well, you know,
this is just primarily something that happens in the US,
and it's only for a US congregation.
We have a YouTube channel that has a lot of
international people that watch and things,
and we appreciate the Lord blessing us in that capacity.
But let me say this.
The things that I'm gonna talk about tonight,
there's other holidays in other countries
that it applies to, you know?
And I'm gonna talk about the Samhain religion
and the Druids tonight.
But you know, they've got the All Saints,
the Catholics have their All Saints Day.
The Spanish world and in Mexico,
they've got their Dia de los Muertos.
They've got all these same type of,
look, the devil's the same everywhere.
Celebrating the same things that are all anti-God.
So I wanna give you full reasons tonight
why it is that Christians should not celebrate Halloween.
And it's not just because it's pagan, although it is pagan,
but the problem is that it's pagan,
and it's still pagan today.
Maybe you can write these down.
Somebody might ask you, you might have a family member
who says, why don't you guys celebrate Halloween?
That's kinda weird.
Are you in a cult?
And it's like, no, actually you're celebrating the cult,
not us.
But you know, you can give them full reasons
why you don't celebrate Halloween.
Number one, maybe you can write this down.
We should not celebrate Halloween
because Halloween celebrates death.
See, Halloween is a celebration of death.
And according to the Bible,
death is not something that should be celebrated.
Go back to the book of Romans, if you would.
Romans chapter five.
See, the Bible teaches that death is the result of sin.
You know this if you're saved.
Romans chapter five and verse 12 says this,
wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
notice, and death by sin.
The Bible says that death is the result of sin.
Sin entered into the world and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned.
Romans six, verse 23.
You know the verses, but look at it with me.
Romans six, 23.
The Bible says, for the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Go to the book of Proverbs, if you would.
Proverbs chapter eight.
If you open up your Bible just right in the center,
you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms.
And right after Psalms, you have the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs chapter eight.
See, death is the result of sin.
Death is not something that should be celebrated.
And you might say, oh, well, no.
You don't understand, you know,
I'm gonna celebrate Halloween as unto the Lord.
I'm gonna honor the Lord in it.
But here's what you need to understand.
Halloween is a celebration of death,
and death is the opposite of God.
Death is the opposite of God.
Death is always a negative thing in the Bible,
not something that we should celebrate.
Are you there in Proverbs?
Notice Proverbs chapter eight, verse 35.
Here we have wisdom speaking in the book of Proverbs.
The writer of Proverbs personified wisdom,
and he wrote down wisdom as though wisdom is speaking.
And here's what wisdom says.
For whoso findeth me, this is wisdom speaking,
notice whoso findeth me findeth life.
When you, and by the way, the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom.
You find wisdom when you find fear in God.
And the Bible says when you find wisdom,
when here wisdom says whoso findeth me findeth not death,
they find life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord.
But he that sinneth against me,
he that sinneth against wisdom, wrongeth his own soul.
Notice all they, notice what the Bible says.
All they that hate me love death.
The Bible says if you hate wisdom, you'll love death.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
So if you're against the Lord and you're against wisdom,
you're gonna love death.
This is why we as Christians
should not celebrate Halloween.
Why, because Halloween is a celebration of death.
Go to John chapter number 11,
if you would, in the New Testament.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John chapter 11.
While you're sitting there, let me read to you
a little article, a little excerpt from an article here.
It's called Halloween, A Covenant of Death and Hell.
It talks about the origins of Halloween.
It says this, Halloween began over 2,000 years ago.
It says even before Christ.
Among the Celts and their pagan priests called the Druids.
The Druids are without question history's king of the occult.
Witchcraft, Satanism, paganism,
and virtually all facets of the occult
acquire instruction from the Druids.
From the popular jack-o'-lantern, trick-or-treat,
costumes, to the pranks, ghoulish ghosts,
demons, goblins, and witches,
Halloween owes its morbid birth to the Druids.
The Druids believed during Samhain,
the mystical veil separating the dead from the living open,
the Druids taught that these roaming spirits
loosed on Samhain when searching for a body to possess.
The frightened Celts would masquerade
as demons, evil spirits, and ghosts,
hoping to convince the roaming evil spirits
they were another evil spirit and leave them alone.
The Celts also prepared meals as treats
to appease these evil spirits
from the malicious acts or tricks,
hence the custom of trick-or-treat.
The Druids performed horrifying human sacrifices
and other vile rituals during Samhain,
and let there be no doubt,
Samhain was the original Halloween knight.
See, Halloween is a day, it is a celebration of death.
Halloween today still celebrates death.
That's why tonight, and I'm glad you're here tonight,
but if you were to walk the streets of America tonight,
you would see a bunch of United States of America children,
supposedly a Christian nation,
dressed up like a bunch of ghosts,
a bunch of ghouls, a bunch of goblins,
vampires, mummies, dead brides,
all sorts of things that celebrate death,
and I'm here to tell you,
I think you guys are being a little too strict.
Listen to me, the Bible says that death
is not something that we should celebrate,
and by the way, as a Bible-leaving Christian,
we will never experience death.
Death is not something that we'll ever experience.
Are you there in John, chapter 11?
Look down at verse 25.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ at a funeral.
Notice what the Bible says, Jesus said unto her,
notice what Jesus says to this woman at a funeral.
He says, I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoso believeth in me, he says,
I am the resurrection and the life,
he that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live, he says,
and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Look, as a Bible-leaving Christian, I'll never die.
As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll never die,
and then of course he asked that wonderful question,
believeth thou this?
He said, I am the resurrection and the life.
He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
He said, the Bible says that God is light,
so we should not celebrate death.
He is life, but let me say secondly tonight,
not only should we not celebrate Halloween,
because Halloween celebrates death,
we should also not celebrate Halloween.
Are you there in John?
Go to John, chapter three, if you would.
We should also not celebrate Halloween,
because Halloween celebrates darkness.
I mean, when you, and I, you know,
I grew up in a Christian home,
so we never celebrated Halloween,
but when you may have grown up celebrating Halloween,
when did it all start?
Once the sun went down, once it got dark.
This all goes back to the pagan origins of Halloween.
Let me read to you from this article again.
Salt Wind is a Gaelic festival making the end of the,
marking the end of the harvest season,
and beginning of the winter, or dark half of the year.
In the northern hemisphere, it is held on November 1st,
but with celebrations beginning on the evening
of October 31st, as the Celtic day began
and ended at sunset.
The word Salt Wind, I think I'm pronouncing that properly,
is defined as, the word means the lord of darkness.
And the whole point was celebrating
that the year was changing, and obviously we know
at this time, the sun begins to go down earlier,
and they were going into the dark half of the year,
and it began as a celebration of darkness,
the fact that it was going to be dark.
But let me tell you something.
The Bible teaches that we should not celebrate darkness.
The Bible teaches that we as Christians
should walk in light.
John chapter three, look at verse 19.
Notice what the Bible says.
And this is the condemnation, that light,
and by the way, that's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ,
because Jesus Christ is light.
That light is come into the world, notice,
and men love darkness rather than light, why?
Because their deeds were evil.
Darkness is not something we should celebrate.
Why, because the only reason that men love darkness
is because their deeds are evil.
They refuse to come to the light
because their deeds are evil.
Men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds were evil.
Go to John chapter eight, if you were there in John three,
just flip over to John chapter eight, look at verse 12.
And look, we could spend all night
on this idea of light versus darkness.
It's found all throughout the Bible.
I'll just give you some examples just to make the point.
In John chapter eight, verse 12.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying,
notice what Jesus said, I am the darkness.
Is that what he said?
No, no, he said, I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me, don't miss it,
he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life.
Notice John chapter 12 and verse 35.
John 12, 35, the Bible says, then Jesus said unto them,
yet a little while is the light with you.
Walk while ye have the light.
He says, lest darkness come upon you,
for he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whither he goeth.
Look at verse 46, same chapter, John 12, 46.
I am come a light into the world
that whosoever believeth on me
should not abide in darkness.
Go to Acts chapter 26, you're there in John,
just flip over to Acts chapter 26,
and like I said, we can spend all night
looking at verses about this.
I'm just gonna show you these as an example.
Acts 26, verse 18, the Bible says, to open their eyes.
This is what we're supposed to be doing
as we preach the gospel.
What are we doing?
To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God.
Notice how the power of Satan is equated with darkness,
and the power of God is equated with light.
To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they might receive forgiveness of sins
and inheritance among them,
which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
See, the Bible teaches that we should walk in light,
that we should not walk in darkness,
that Jesus is the light.
I'm thinking of the verse even in our bulletin today.
1 John 1.7, it says, but if we walk in the light
as he is in the light, we have fellowship,
one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ, his son,
cleansed us from all sin.
See, we are not to celebrate darkness, but here's the thing,
Halloween is a big celebration of darkness.
Wait till it gets dark, wait till it gets dark,
it gets scary.
We're gonna go out there, we're gonna have a good time.
You say, and here's what people think,
go back to John chapter three if you would,
John chapter three.
You preach these things and people say,
well, you know, you're kind of just spiritualizing it.
Okay, Jesus is the light, God is the light,
we're saved out of darkness, that's fine,
but that's just kind of a religious picture,
spiritualizing it, it's not real practical or specific.
But let me tell you something.
It is very practical because of the fact
that darkness emboldens sin.
Again, we already saw it, but I want you to see it again,
John 3.19, and this is the condemnation
that light has come into the world,
and men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds were evil.
See, people might say, look, you say,
why not let the kids celebrate Halloween?
Here's why we shouldn't let them celebrate Halloween,
because we don't want them to get used to
the love of darkness, to think that darkness is a good thing
to think that darkness is where we have fun.
You say, why?
Because darkness, very, you say, theologically speaking,
the Lord Jesus Christ is the light,
we understand those things, but here's the thing.
Practically speaking, darkness emboldens sin.
It is in the dark, it is in the dark.
The Bible teaches this, but your own experience
should tell you this, it is in the dark
that people get drunk, it is in the darkness
that violent crimes are committed,
it is in the darkness that fornication is committed,
it is in the darkness that adultery is committed,
it is in the darkness that murder is committed,
it is in the darkness that people do things
that they would never do in the light.
Darkness emboldens sin.
Halloween is training our children to say,
oh, dark is fun.
When it's dark, when it's night, it's fun.
By the way, that's why places of sin
are characterized by darkness,
darkness characterizes sinful places.
The Bible says, you don't have to turn there,
in fact, you go with me if you would
to 2 Timothy chapter one,
if you find the T books, they're all clustered together,
1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy Titus, 2 Timothy chapter one,
and while you turn there,
I'll read for you from Ephesians 5, 11,
the Bible says this,
and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
So you shouldn't be having fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness,
it says, but rather reprove them.
Let me tell you something, you've heard me say this before,
but it's good for you to hear it again,
and it's good for our young people to hear it.
Look, darkness, darkness is a emboldened sin.
And by the way, I remember when I was growing up,
my dad would teach us, nothing good happens in the dark.
Nothing good happens in the night.
We were taught growing up,
you don't need to be out when you're a young person,
you don't need to be out at 10, 11,
to midnight, one in the morning,
nothing good's gonna happen.
You say, oh, we wanna have fun and we wanna fellowship,
great, have fun and fellowship, in the light.
And look, and I understand the sun goes down
early in the winter,
and I'm not saying you need to be in bed by five,
that's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is this,
darkness emboldens sin,
and sinful places are characterized by darkness.
You know it's true, that's why bars are dark.
That's why casinos are dark.
That's why nightclubs are dark.
That's why rock concerts are dark, why?
Because darkness is characterized by sin.
And sin is characterized by darkness.
By the way, that's why at Verity Baptist Church,
we don't try to make our church feel
like some sort of rock concert,
where you come in and everything is dark
and there's these purple lights.
You say, you know, it's not the new fad,
everything's dark, you know, why do you have so many lights?
Hey, men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds are evil.
And look, there are places,
and this is part of you just kind of walking in the Spirit,
not quenching the Spirit,
not being sensitive to the Holy Spirit of God
and not grieving the Holy Spirit.
And I can't tell you this is a sin and the Bible says this,
but sometimes, and you've heard me say this before,
sometimes there's been times my wife and I
walk into a restaurant and we're just like,
yeah, we're not gonna stay here.
Just a little too dark.
The music's just a little too loud.
It's just not the right atmosphere for a Christian.
And you may disagree with that and that's your position.
You be fully persuaded, but I'm here to tell you this.
Darkness, dark places, sinful places
are always characterized by darkness.
Why?
Because sin brings shame.
If they turn on a light,
they turn on some bright light in that bar,
you know, people like cockroaches begin to get out.
Why?
Because men love darkness rather than light,
that's why.
You turn on some big ol' bright light
at the nightclub, at the casino, at the rock concert
and people don't want that.
They want darkness where there's sin.
We should not celebrate darkness.
We should teach our children that darkness is not of God,
that God is light, that we should walk in light,
theologically and practically.
We should not celebrate Halloween
because Halloween celebrates death.
We should not celebrate Halloween
because Halloween celebrates darkness.
But let me say thirdly tonight,
we should not celebrate Halloween
because Halloween celebrates fear.
Let me just read to you from this article again.
The fall harvest was complete and winter loomed ahead.
The Celts believed the power of the sun was fading.
For the next several months, darkness would prevail.
They believed that during Samhain,
the veil separating the living from the dead
was at its thinnest.
Then on the evening of October 31st,
evil spirits and the souls of the dead
passed through the barrier
and entered the world of the living.
Departed family members would revisit their earthly homes.
The thought was frightening and exciting.
The Celts believed these spirits and dead souls
could torment the living.
Crops might be destroyed, babies stolen,
farm animals killed.
The Celtic people feared the evening of October 31st
more than any other day of the year.
Halloween has its origins in a holiday,
a celebration of fear, and even today.
Again, I'm not telling you don't celebrate Halloween
because of the pagan origins.
I'm telling you the modern celebration of Halloween
is pagan right now.
You say, I don't know anything about the druids.
You don't need to know anything about the druids
to know that it's not something Christians
should not participate in.
The Bible teaches that fear rightfully belongs to God.
The Bible teaches that we should fear no one but God.
Did you know that?
The Bible says that you should not fear anyone
except the Lord.
2 Timothy 1 and verse seven, the Bible says this.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear.
Listen, whenever you have a spirit of fear,
and here we're not talking about the spirit of fear,
the Lord, but you're fearing something else,
you're afraid of something else,
there's a reality that there is a spirit of fear
and sometimes we're afraid and we're scared of things,
but the Bible says when you have that,
that you did not get that from God,
for God had not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Amen.
I heard somebody say that that was the Trinity of courage.
Power, love, and a sound mind.
When you know you have the power of God
and access to the power of God upon your life,
when you know you have the love of Christ,
like Paul said, the love of Christ constraineth us,
when you know you have a sound mind,
hey, we need fear nothing.
We need fear no one.
There's a famous quote, there's nothing to fear,
but fear itself, but I would submit to you,
the quote is wrong, there's nothing to fear,
but God himself.
We are to fear God.
Fear belongs to God.
It rightfully should be given to God.
Proverbs chapter one, if you would,
I'm not sure if you kept your place there,
if you go back there, Proverbs chapter one,
if you have your place in Psalms,
right after Psalms you have the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs one and verse seven, the Bible says,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Notice, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs chapter two, verse five,
then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
Today the world is trying to get us
to fear everything but God.
And I'm not just talking about Halloween.
I'm talking about the coronavirus,
I'm talking about all these mandates,
I'm talking about all sorts of things
that the world tries to put on us
to cause us to be afraid.
Hey, Jesus said, fear not man.
Don't be afraid of man.
And he puts it in context, he says,
fear not man who can kill your body.
Here, you say, the thing that you and I
are the most afraid of is that somebody would kill us.
I mean, isn't that true?
The thing we're most afraid of is that somebody
would come into our house in the middle of the night,
break into our house, that's why,
and I'm not against it.
I've received many death threats over the years.
I've got alarms and I've got cameras
and I've got big guard dogs and little useless dogs
and I've got guns and I've got all those things.
I'm not against it, I'm just saying,
isn't that what our fear is?
Someone will break in the middle of the night and kill us.
And Jesus said, Jesus puts it into context,
he says, fear not man who can kill your body.
Jesus says, you know the worst thing
man can do to you is kill you?
You say, but I'm kind of afraid of being killed.
Are you saved?
Hey, if I'm saved, then the worst thing
you can do is take my life.
I go to heaven, praise the Lord.
Jesus said, you know what you should fear?
You should fear God who can destroy
both soul and body in hell.
And you say, ah, ah, ah, ah, I'm afraid.
And we have this whole celebration of fear,
isn't this what Halloween's all about?
That's why all the horror movies come out
during Halloween, so you can watch something and be afraid.
That's why they have the haunted houses,
so you can go experience something and be afraid.
That's why they wear all the scary costumes,
so that you can be afraid.
And being afraid is a fun thing,
and being afraid is this celebration.
No, the Bible says, and we ought to teach our children,
that the only thing to fear is God.
And the psalmist said, yay, though I walk
through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil.
For thou art with me.
There's nothing to fear but God.
But Halloween teaches us to celebrate fear.
It's fun to be afraid.
It's fun to be scared of something other than God.
I'm here to tell you, the only thing we ought to fear is God.
Let me give you fourthly tonight.
Go with me if you would to the book of Exodus.
In the Old Testament, you have Genesis, Exodus.
I said, number one, we should not celebrate Halloween
because Halloween celebrates death.
I said, number two, we should not celebrate Halloween
because Halloween celebrates darkness.
I said, number three, we should not celebrate Halloween
because Halloween celebrates fear.
Number four, this is the last one.
We should not celebrate Halloween
because Halloween celebrates the occult.
You say, what are you talking about?
Let me give you a definition for the word occult.
It's defined as of or pertaining to magic, astrology,
or any system claiming use or knowledge of secret
or supernatural powers or agencies.
Things like witchcraft, fortune telling.
It says of, relating to, or dealing with
supernatural influences, agencies, or phenomena.
See, today, people think the occult
is just fun and games and fake.
I mean, you can go to Walmart, you can go to Target
and get a Ouija board and it's right there,
right next to the Scrabble.
And it's all these fun and games.
I don't know what's popular right now.
I'm disconnected from the world.
I know when I was growing up,
it was all Harry Potter and vampire movies.
Vampire movies, vampire books, Harry Potter.
These were the things that people, and the occult.
And look, it's not anything new.
There's no new thing under the sun.
Even, you can remember, even back in the 60s and 70s,
shows with witches, Bewitched,
and it was all fun and games.
Again, when I was growing up, it was Sabrina,
the teenage witch, and all just these fun things you watch.
And today, people act and they're made to believe
that the occult is just fun and games.
It's fake, it's not real.
It's not a real thing.
Let me tell you something.
The Bible teaches that the occult is very much real.
And that it should be taken seriously.
Exodus 22 and verse 18.
This is a law that God gave the children of Israel,
a literal law for the nation of Israel.
It says, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Sabrina, the teenage witch, wouldn't have made it.
In Old Testament Israel.
Now, why would God put a law in the book saying,
death penalty if you're a witch.
You know why he would do that?
Because witches are real.
Deuteronomy 18 and verse 12.
You're there in Exodus.
Go pass Leviticus' numbers into the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 18 and verse 12.
The Bible says, there shall not be found among you
anyone that maketh his son or his daughter
to pass through the fire or that useth divination
or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch.
And we can spend all night looking at verses like this,
but let me tell you something.
The Bible teaches that these things are real.
Look, you should not be going to a fortune teller.
Shouldn't be reading your horoscope.
Those are all satanic, pagan, witchcraft.
You say, oh, it's just fun.
It's just fun and game.
No, the Bible says it's real and we should stay away from it.
And by the way, I'm not talking about the druids.
I'm talking about 2021, Halloween night,
witches are out and the occultist people are out
doing all sorts of wicked things on this night.
And we should stay away from it,
and we should dead sure never celebrate it.
Halloween should not, we should not celebrate Halloween
because Halloween is a celebration of the occult.
It's a celebration of devils, of demons.
People are going, oh, it's just fun and games.
It's just, you know, cast for the friendly ghost.
No, cast for the friendly ghost is a familiar spirit.
It's demonic.
And we should stay away from it.
We should teach our kids to stay away from it.
We should teach our children,
it's not something to play with, it's not a game.
It's not something we make light of.
The occult is serious.
It's not fun and games.
Someone said, it's this,
the greatest trick the devil ever played
was convincing people that he doesn't exist.
Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, if you would.
If you kept your place in Romans, right after Romans,
you have the book of 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians chapter 10.
Here's what you must realize.
I am not telling you tonight
that you should not celebrate Halloween
because it has pagan roots,
although it does have pagan roots.
I'm telling you tonight
that you should not celebrate Halloween
because the modern holiday itself is pagan.
You cannot, you say, but Romans says
that we can celebrate any holiday as unto the Lord.
I understand, but the problem is
that you can't celebrate death as unto the Lord.
Because the Lord is opposite of death.
You cannot celebrate darkness as unto the Lord
because the Lord is opposite than darkness.
You cannot celebrate fearing something else
as unto the Lord.
When the Lord tells us the only thing to fear is God,
we cannot celebrate the occult and celebrate the Lord.
So as Bible-believing Christians,
this is not something that we should participate in.
I'm glad you're here on October 31st
to fellowship with God's people.
And by the way, let me just say this.
Go to 1 Corinthians 10.
But people often attack.
As Christians, we just like to fight about anything.
And sometimes people will attack churches and say,
you shouldn't even have a harvest party on Halloween night
because it's just making Christian,
it's like a Christian Halloween.
Well, wait a minute.
Remember where we started?
A man can celebrate any day he wants.
One man esteemeth one day above another.
Another man esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
No, you shouldn't be having a harvest party.
But we're not celebrating death here.
We're not celebrating darkness.
We're not celebrating fear.
We're not celebrating the occult.
And by the way, the Bible says,
the Bible says that you should put off the old man
and you should put off the new man.
It says you should put off the old man
and it says you should be renewed
in the spirit of your mind
and then you should put off the new man.
You know the Bible teaches this concept
that you should remove and replace.
You should remove the bad,
but then don't just remove the bad.
Look, don't bring your kids to church like this
and say, we're gonna take everything away from you
and you're not ever gonna have fun ever again
because we're gonna serve the Lord.
But you know what the Bible says?
Hey, yes, we must remove some of the bad,
but we should replace it with good.
And fellowshipping with God's people tonight,
it's a good thing.
There's nothing wrong with it.
In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with it.
And the same argument as to why we celebrate Christmas
can be applied to this.
By the way, you're celebrating the harvest
and that has its origins in paganism.
Look, in the Old Testament, they had feasts of the harvest.
So don't tell me, you know, these ultra spiritual,
you know, we should celebrate everything.
We should just go to home on October 31st,
turn all the lights off, get everybody in bed
and just ignore the doorbell.
We should celebrate Halloween
because it celebrates things other than God.
But there's nothing wrong with God's people
getting together and saying, you know what,
we're going to take this day and celebrate some things
and do some things and fellowship and have a good time
and remove and renew and replace.
But Halloween, because people say,
well, what if I just go?
What if I go and I don't celebrate darkness?
You know, I'll have a flashlight with me.
And I don't celebrate death.
I don't celebrate fear.
I don't celebrate the occult.
We don't celebrate anything worldly.
We're going to put on, we're going to go out
and make sure we find a costume that is honoring to the Lord.
You can't dress up like the apostle Paul?
I remember one time my wife and I were in this church
and they would do these things where they had people
thought it was okay to celebrate,
put on costumes for Halloween.
But nothing ungodly.
And one guy showed up in an egg.
It's just this giant egg.
There's nothing ungodly about this egg, you know?
And if you say, you know, I'm going to dress up like an egg.
My whole family's going to be just,
we're going to be 12 eggs, a carn of eggs on Halloween.
And we're going to go out there.
We're going to go out there, but we're just going to,
you know, not celebrate those things.
Is that okay?
Well, here's what the Bible says,
1 Corinthians 10 verse 19.
What say I then?
That the idol is anything?
Or that which is offered as sacrifices
to the idols is anything?
But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice,
they sacrifice to devils.
Look, whether the Gentiles out there,
the unbelievers out there understand it or not,
they're worshiping the devil.
But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice,
they sacrifice to devils and not to God.
I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord
and the cup of devils.
You cannot be partaker of the Lord's table
and of the table of devils.
You say, I'm going to go out there.
I'm not going to celebrate those bad things.
Yeah, but you're, but you are fellowshiping with the devil.
You say, well, what should I do?
You need to come to church, celebrate with God's people.
Fellowship with God's people.
Fellowship in the light.
Have a good, clean time.
You know that you don't have to get drunk
to have a good time?
You know how you have to do drugs to have a good time?
You don't have to go into dark places and ruin your life
and ruin your testimony to have a good time?
It's a sad thing when you have to get drunk,
when your life is so miserable,
you have to go, you know, get under an influence
of something else in order to have a good time.
You might be surprised you begin to walk in the Spirit
and spend time with God's people.
That you can fellowship in the light.
Have fellowship with God's people,
with God himself.
So, Halloween, it's not like Christmas and Easter
and Thanksgiving and birthdays.
Not because of its origins,
but because the modern celebration itself,
right now, today, is pagan.
And I believe that we as Christians,
and I think the Bible's clear,
should not celebrate Halloween.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord,
for allowing us to have this time.
I think for these dear people
that would come out to church on a night like this.
Lord, I do realize that there are unsaved people out there
and they don't know any better.
They're just doing whatever they're doing.
But help us, as Christians,
to understand why we do what we do,
why we believe what we believe.
And Lord, I pray that you would
help us to have answers to these questions.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray, amen.