So leave your Bibles open there in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and I'm preaching a sermon that
I didn't really plan to preach today.
I had planned to continue going through the Rightly Divided series that we've been going
through and it's a sermon that I thought I'd never have to preach here in Australia and
unfortunately our nation's becoming more wicked.
Unfortunately our nation's becoming more wicked and tomorrow many, many Australians will be
celebrating Halloween.
If you look at 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, it says,
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
The title for the sermon tonight is the Seducing Spirit of Halloween.
The Seducing Spirit of Halloween.
Just turn off that fan.
Seducing Spirit of Halloween.
Now as I grew up as a child in school and obviously familiar with Halloween, familiar
with the Hollywood films, the Hollywood TV, I understand the American culture and how
Halloween has been embraced by Americans but you know when I was a child it was never celebrated.
When I was a child my friends, we never went door to door asking for lollies, asking for
sweets.
We never went dressing up as witches and ghosts and devils and things like that.
I thought, thank God for Australia.
I thought thank God that we've got one up against the Americans.
The wickedness that's coming out of that nation of America and the wickedness of the celebrities,
the celebrity icons, the music, the Hollywood films, the filth, the pornography that's coming
out of America and a lot of that has influenced our nation.
And I thought thank God for Australia.
You know that as Australians we're not buying into this pagan witchcraft junk of Halloween.
Thank God that I don't have to see this in Australia.
So I thought, so I thought.
You know when I came up here to the Sunshine Coast I was shocked.
We started the church here on the first of October, didn't we?
And then October 31st the same month, the end of the month, I saw the children dressed
up here.
You know more than I saw in Sydney dressed up in their devil outfits, in their ghosts
and going around house to house.
And last year I saw an increase, I saw more kids out there doing it.
And you know I live in this area called Ora where there's all new developments and the
area that I live in tomorrow the community is going to do a Halloween party.
You know some streets are going to be selected, have been selected where the kids can go and
trick and treat and the residents of the street have been provided sweets, have been provided
sweets by the community or by the local government and say hey, help the kids here.
You know teach the kids Halloween.
You know teach them this doctrine of devils.
And the Bible's warned us here in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving
heed to seducing spirits.
You see Halloween is a seducing spirit.
It's a seducing holiday for children specifically, for children.
How do they seduce children?
Well children love sweets don't they?
They love their lollies.
They love that you know that flavour in the mouth, hey go and celebrate this devilish
holiday and you'll get some sweets out of it, you'll get some lollies.
That's seduction.
That's a seducing spirit.
They'll also tell them hey you know go and dress up.
Kids love to dress up right?
Kids love to play games where they pretend to be you know somebody you know instead of
being something like a firefighter, instead of you know being someone you know dressing
up as something you know that's productive, you know they're being taught to dress up
like devils.
Dress up like these evil spirits.
And the Bible tells us, another thing they say is man Halloween's so good you get to
meet the neighbours, knock on their doors, you know meet the neighbours.
Listen if you want your kids to meet the neighbours, every week we've got Daughters of Saul in
here in Australia right here on the Sunshine Coast, right here in Caloundra, take your
kids to meet the neighbours.
So they can see how much they hate God, so they can see how much they think they're good
you know they're good enough to go to heaven, so they can see the alcohol, the drugs, they
can see you know the wickedness of man, hey let them meet the neighbours in the true sense
rather than by celebrating this wicked holiday okay.
The Bible tells us in Isaiah 5 20 woe unto them that call evil good and good evil that
put darkness for light and light for darkness, look at this, and put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter, Halloween is a bitter, wicked, dark holiday.
But they make it sweet, right they make it sweet, go get your little lolly bag there,
go knock on the neighbours door, meet the neighbours, dress up and get your lollies.
I can see why my children might be tempted to participate in that, sounds good, dress
up, get out of the house and get some free lollies.
You know I read, I don't know if this is accurate but I read that a quarter of the sales of
lollies and you know they call it candy in America, you know a quarter of the years sales
of candy all take place around Halloween, think about that a quarter of the years sales
on one day of Halloween, so obviously you know this has been promoted by the businesses
and what upsets me the most is you know I need to go and we need to go get groceries
for the family and now Woolworths, Coles, you go to these shopping centres, they're
all decorated now with Halloween decorations, they're ashamed to decorate you know the
nativity scene in Christmas, they're ashamed to decorate things that depict Christ or his
crucifixion, they're ashamed to do that but they're not ashamed to decorate with Halloween
decorations, ghosts and demons and all this, why?
Because they want to sell lollies, you know and I went to the local IGA, you know not
on purpose but some of the dark chocolate that I saw there that I love, half price,
wow, awesome, half price, they don't realise it's half price because they're trying to
sell as much lollies as they can during this season, alright so I mean I'm going to take
advantage of the sales but you know at the end of the day they're doing it for business,
alright they're doing it for business and it's unfortunate that they're selling the
wickedness of the devil, you know why should we not involve our kids into this celebration
tomorrow?
The Bible says in Proverbs 22 6, train up a child in the way he should go and when he
is old he will not depart from it, think about those words, we often associate that with
teaching our kids about Jesus Christ, teaching our kids to fear God, teaching our kids to
walk in the ways of the Lord so they would not depart from it in the future but you know
the reverse is true, if we teach our kids the works of darkness, we teach our kids these
pagan holidays, when they grow up they're not going to depart from it, so you've got
to be careful with what you allow your kids to be influenced by, you know so you know
it's just getting worse, you know this is for Australians, this is a holiday for millennials,
you know if the children that have grown up you know from the year, have been born from
the year 2000, they're known as the millennials, you know they're growing up now and they
think Halloween is an Australian holiday, they think this is just part of our culture,
you know what happens when they become adults, they're going to teach their kids to celebrate
Halloween, guys generation after generation this is going to get worse, this is going
to be worse, they're going to be more ashamed to celebrate the things that depict Christ
and they're going to be more proud, they're going to be more boastful of the things of
wickedness, it's coming, we've been affected now, it's a disease, it's a virus that
Australia has gotten from watching American programs and they've brought it here into
our nation, what a shame for our nation, let's learn a little bit about Halloween, maybe
you guys don't know much about, I didn't really know much about it except you know
dressing up, trick and treating, let me tell you a little bit about this but please first
go to Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8, Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8, before
we get into the history, before I tell you much about it, I do want to ask, have a warning
before we look at this okay, Ephesians 5 8 please, Ephesians 5 8, the Bible reads, for
you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord, walk as children of
light, listen the kids going out there walking, knocking on the neighbors, are they walking
as children of light, no they're going walking as children of darkness, parents please don't
allow your kids to participate in Halloween, please don't let them participate going
walking in darkness, verse number 9, for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and
righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, proving what is
acceptable unto the Lord, do you think Halloween is acceptable to the Lord, of course not,
he hates that celebration, he hates those that participate in that mess, look at verse
number 11, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove
them, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret, now
this is where the warning is, of course, you know, I have to speak about this, the
Bible told us there to reprove them, I never thought that I would have to reprove Halloween,
I didn't think I'd become a pastor, I never preached about Halloween here in Australia,
but the Bible told us here, when we see the unfruitful works of darkness, we have to reprove
it, we have to call it out, we have to say this is a wicked holiday, and not allow our
families and our children to be affected by this, verse 13, but all things that are reproved
are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
So how do we reprove the darkness, how do we correct it, how do we judge it by the light
of God's word, by the light of God's word, and so as we go and look at the history of
Halloween, I'm just going to touch upon some points here, I'm not seeking for you to get
interested and go, man, I'm going to really study out Halloween, what for, what for, it's
a study of darkness, but we need to understand it to some extent, understand it from a surface
level so we can reprove it accurately with the light of God's word.
So what is Halloween? Well this began about 2,000 years ago, and it starts from Celtic
Ireland, and they celebrated a festival called Soin, and it's kind of like a New Year's,
it's kind of like the New Year's Day, celebrating the change from summer to winter, the changes
of the season, and they believe that at this point in time, that the separation between
what was physical and spiritual was not very, the separation wasn't that clear, and it would
allow evil spirits, it would allow ghosts and spirits from the spiritual realm to come
into the physical realm, that's the thoughts that they would have.
Now as I tell you this, this isn't true obviously, it's not true, okay, it's fables, okay, but
this is what they believed, and so they believed that this is a time that spirits would enter
into our world, and then they would dress up into costumes, they'd put on masks to hide
themselves from those spirits, okay, and they would dress up like spirits, so the spirits
would think that oh, you're just another spirit, instead of tormenting them, they would
go and torment people, and so that was the reason why they would dress up and do this.
Not only would they do this, but the droids, have you ever heard of the droids in Europe?
These are kind of like wizards, witches, male droids, they would make these large bonfires
to scare away the devils as it were, they would even sacrifice animals, and the purpose
behind it was to protect the people from these evil spirits.
And the Bible tells, look these droids, I mean it sounds like oh, they're protecting
the people, look these are wizards, you know this is witchcraft, what does the Bible have
to say about that?
In Leviticus 19 31, it says, regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after
wizards to be defiled by them, I am the Lord your God.
And if this holiday has this influence of these wizards, these wicked people, God says
don't regard them, but we've regarded it, we've brought it into our nation, and I say
we, I'm not talking about me and you, I'm talking about our society, our people, our
fellow Australians are bringing in this wicked holiday into our nation, it saddens me, please
go to Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 9, Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 9, Deuteronomy
chapter 18 verse 9, God had very clear instructions for Old Testament Israel, how to deal with
these people, in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 9, the Bible reads, when thou art come into
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shall not learn to do after the abominations
of those nations, God wants us to keep free from abominations, and what abominations,
let's keep reading verse number 10, 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 wizard, or a charmer, or a consultant with familiar
spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer, for all that do these things are an abomination
unto the Lord, and because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from
before thee, man, you know, the Lord has no reason to not judge Australia today, we've
gone after this divination, we've gone after the way of these wizards, we've sought after
these pagan things, and now we're bringing it, we're celebrating it in our nation here,
and we're getting our kids involved in this, and I'll say it again, we, our society, Australians,
let's look at verse number 13, it says here, sorry, yeah, 12, 12, no, 13, thou shalt be
perfect with the Lord thy God, for these nations which thou shalt possess, hearken unto observers
of times, unto diviners, but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee, so
to do, the word suffer there means he's not allowed us to do these things, the Old Testament
nation of Israel were the people of God, and when it comes to these New Testament times,
you are the people of God, if you're saved today, you're part of New Life Baptist Church,
we are the people of God, and God says I don't allow you to be part of this, you say oh come
on, you know, the neighbourhood's having a celebration, they're having a barbecue, at
least surely the barbecue, right, no, it does not allow us to be part of it, you don't celebrate
it, you don't get ready with lollies just in case neighbourhood kids come to your house,
you get neighbourhood kids come to your house asking for lollies, you tell those kids, in
this house, we don't celebrate Halloween, that's what you tell them, in this house,
we serve the Lord God, that's what they need to hear, don't you think that's going to wake
them up a little bit, they go house to house, everyone say hey come in, give me some lollies,
they knock on your house, hey we don't celebrate Halloween, he's a tract, hey come to church,
wouldn't that wake them up and go hold on, why don't people celebrate Halloween, maybe
they'll start investigating, maybe they'll start looking at this, start researching,
start seeking the Lord God, hey I'm not allowed, God does not allow me to celebrate Halloween,
how about that to the kids, alright, hey do you love God, do you love Jesus, well God
says hey we shouldn't do this, he's a Bible tract, take that, let's do that, ok, now let's
keep going through the history here, so they would celebrate this day of Samhain and then
the Roman Catholics, the Roman Catholics obviously they didn't like this, these pagan teachings
and so like the Roman Catholics love to do, they Christianised the celebration, right,
they Christianised the celebration and instead of it being a celebration of death, it still
kind of was a celebration of death, they called it the All Saints Day, the All Saints
Day, now of course we think of saints, we're all saints here if you're saved, ok, but for
the Roman Catholics what are the saints, the dead, the dead believers that have done miracles
after the death and then they call them saints and they pray to the saints, so they pray
to dead people, the Roman Catholics do, ok, and so they took a celebration of death and
they just tried to Christianise it, right, tried to make it a religious holiday and All
Saints Day was also known as, so All Saints Day is, you know, when we look at the word
saints, that comes from the word sanctified, right, sanctified and this became known as
All Hallows Eve, All Hallows Eve, when you think of the Lord's Prayer, you know it says
our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, that's where the word Halloween
comes from, hallowed be thy name, the word hallowed comes from holy, something that is
holy, something that is holy is set apart, it's sanctified, you know the words holy and
sanctified are interchangeable words, they mean the same thing, they've been set apart
for a purpose, hallowed be thy name and so when you look at the word All Saints Day,
they think of saints as sanctified as hallowed people, ok, so that's where we get the idea
of All Hallows Day, All Hallows Eve, so the first of November to this day by the Roman
Catholic Church is All Saints Day, ok, All Saints Day, but just like before the day of
some celebration, think of Christmas, we have Christmas Day on December 25th, don't we,
but what do we call December 24th, what do we call it, anyone? Christmas Eve, why Christmas
Eve, because it represents the evening before Christmas Day and so All Saints Day, All Hallows
Day on the first of November, the eve prior to that, being October 31st, became known
as All Hallows Eve, All Hallows Eve and that's where we get the term Halloween from today,
ok, so that kind of gives you the idea, why do we call it Halloween, it's an interesting
thing because they're basically saying it's a holy day, you know, it's something that
is sanctified, something to do with saints, but for the Roman Catholics, dead saints and
for the pagans, you know, the spirits, the ghosts, the devils, all those kinds of things,
so it's very ironic that it uses this term when the Bible teaches us not to celebrate
this nonsense, not to celebrate this wicked religion or this wicked holiday, alright,
so that gives you a bit of the history there and then when it comes to trick or treating,
this is probably what we know Halloween most for, the trick and treating, ok, so what would
happen in medieval Britain is that the poor would go to homes begging for food, begging
for bread, in exchange for praying for dead relatives because if you know the Roman Catholic
religion, they believe in purgatory and they believe that you can get your relatives that
in purgatory, out of purgatory into heaven earlier if you pray for them, so the poor
would come, beg for food and say if you give me food, I'll pray for your dead relatives,
again, it's a celebration of the dead and this is where it begins this idea of trick
and treating, going to people's houses and getting something to eat, you know, the Bible
tells us in Hebrews 9-27, as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the
judgment, there's no point of you praying for the dead, we're never instructed to do
this in the Bible, this is a pagan practice, this is a practice of false religion to pray
for the dead, once you're dead, guess what, you've been judged, the dead is already
either in heaven if they're saved or burning in hellfire, there is no purgatory, there
is no halfway house, ok, praying for the dead is a pagan practice, Luke 16-26, Jesus Christ
speaking of the rich men in hell and Lazarus in heaven, he says and beside all this, between
us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you
cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence, listen, once the dead person
is in hell, they can never go to heaven and once that dead person goes to heaven, praise
God, they can never go to hell, wasting your time praying for the dead, no, ok, but this
is where the trick and treating comes from, contrary to what the Bible teaches.
Then Halloween kind of started to, you know, not be celebrated all that much of the years
and then in the United States there was a revival of Halloween because in the 19th century
there was a large immigration of Scottish and Irish immigrants that came from those
lands, they migrated into the United States, ok, and into Canada and as often many migrants
do, they want to bring something of their past nation, something of their past, something
of their culture and they brought Halloween, so it's actually in our modern day, in our
western society, it's quite a newer celebration, even though it goes back 2000 years, but again
in our western culture, it's a newer thing, again in Australia, it's a brand new thing
really that's coming into play as we live and they repackaged it and they called this
celebration trick or treating, but during that time it wasn't so much about the treats,
it wasn't about the sweets, it was more about the trick, you know, it was about doing pranks
on one another, it was more about committing, like doing vandalism, destroying things, that's
what the celebration was about, destroying, destruction, you know, doing pranks, things
like that and the Bible tells us in Proverbs 4, actually please go there, go to Proverbs
4, 14 please, Proverbs chapter 4 verse 14, Proverbs chapter 4 verse 14, so today it's
more about the treats, today it's more about the logs, okay, but when it started in our
western countries, it was more about the treats, sorry the tricks, the vandalism, the pranks,
Proverbs chapter 4 verse 14 and a couple of nights ago we had somebody, I'm not sure
what time it was, I think it was 4 in the morning, come and bang, bang our sliding door,
just come and bang, bang, bang, you know, and I'm just thinking it's probably the Halloween
season, it's a time for pranks, you know, it's not someone that's trying to break in,
someone that's trying to break in is trying to be quiet, right, someone just wants to
bang and bring fear into the family or whatever, why, because we're allowing this to come into
our culture, people playing pranks and here in Proverbs chapter 4 verse 4, it says, enter
not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men, look at this, avoid
it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away, how should you celebrate it, it says
right there, avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away, God does not want us
to celebrate the celebrations of wicked men, verse number 16, for they sleep not except
they have done mischief, that's what happened to us a few nights ago, some stupid idiot
4 in the morning banging on our door, right, runs away, whatever happens, why, he couldn't
sleep, right, for they sleep not except they have done mischief and their sleep is taken
away unless they cause some to fall, for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the
wine of violence but the path of the just, look at this, that's us, is as the shining
light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day, the way of the wicked is as darkness,
they know not at what they stumble, as Christians we should not participate of the work of the
wicked or the works of darkness, we're called to avoid it and you don't need to turn there,
Leviticus chapter 20 verse 26, it says here and ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord
am holy and have served you from other people that ye should be mine, a man also a woman
that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put to death, they shall stone
them with stones, their blood shall be upon them, you know wizards, witches, those that
do these practices, God says they should be put to death, put to death, it's an abomination,
okay, Christians, believers, we need to stay away from these celebrations, stay away, don't
walk in darkness, okay, but there are seducing spirits today, seducing spirits, trying to
seduce our children to celebrate this wicked celebration, what about the jack o' lanterns,
now I don't really see jack o' lanterns, I'm sure it's coming in, I'm sure soon we'll
see them everywhere, I don't really see them in Australia that much but in America a very
popular thing to do because they've got these large pumpkins, they've got mega pumpkins,
they've got the right conditions for that and they carve out those pumpkins, they carve
out a little wicked looking face in there and they put a lamp in there that shines out
of it, right, you guys are familiar with that, jack o' lantern, let me tell you a little
bit about the history when it comes to the jack o' lantern, why is it called the jack
o' lantern, well the story goes and obviously this is a fable once again but this is the
story, there's this guy called stingy jack, okay, stingy jack, he was a man who would
trap the devil, that's what I say, he would trap the devil and he would only let the devil
go if the devil promised not to send him to hell, so according to the story he did not
want to go to hell so he would try to blackmail the devil so he would not go to hell, okay,
now immediately as a believer that should just be nonsense to you, all right, nonsense
because in Luke 12 5 it says, but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear, fear him, referring
to God, fear him which after he have killed have power to cast into hell, yea I stand
to you, fear him, hey who cast the wicked into hell, it's not the devil, it's our
lord God that cast people into hell, you can't make an agreement with the devil, he's
got no power over hell, in fact the Bible tells us in Revelation 20 10 that he's
going to burn in the lake of fire forever, it says in Revelation 20 10 and the devil
that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and
the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever, that's the
destiny of hell, of the devil, burning day and night forever and ever in the lake of
fire, he's got no power over hell, give me a break, hell is the righteous wrath and anger
of God, his judgment on the wicked, those that reject Jesus Christ the saviour, prepared
for the devil and his angels the Bible says, so the story is nonsense just to begin with,
all right, and we see the Bible reveals the truth, right, we're rebuking darkness with
the light of God's word here tonight, anyway, obviously this man did not want to go to hell,
he wanted to go to heaven, this story, this stingy jack, anyway he dies, apparently the
story goes he dies and heaven didn't want him either, okay, so what happens, he ends
up, his destiny was basically to be a ghost on the earth roaming the earth for the rest
of his life forever and ever and the story goes that the devil carved out a turnip for
him and put coals of fire in that turnip that would shine his way through the earth as he
travels the stingy jack through the earth, okay, neither hell nor heaven wanted him,
that's where the story comes from and so when these immigrants, these Irish and Scottish
immigrants went to America, they didn't really have turnips but they had big pumpkins, so
instead of carving out turnips, they've carved out the pumpkins and that's the tradition
and the reason they do this is they believe it's going to scare away stingy jack, his
ghost and it's going to scare away all the other evil spirits that are out there, that's
the idea, that's what they believe, alright.
Now what about coming to wear costumes, I already covered a little bit about the costumes,
let me just go into that a little bit more but in medieval Britain, they would dress
up the young in costume during this time and these children would go asking for food and
for money, okay, obviously people are going to be more receptive, more forgiving to little
children, you know, it's begging for food rather than adults and the problem that I
have with this, you know, according to the bible, Ephesians 4 17 says, neither give place
to the devil, what are we referring to here, 28, let him that stole steal no more but rather
let him labour working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give
to him that need of, does God tell us to train our children to be beggars, to go out to the
neighbours and beg for food and money, no the bible says that's giving place to the
devil, we need people that go out and work hard, we need to go there and work with our
hands so we can be people that can give to the needy, not begging for food, not begging
for money, what these British people did was teach their children the way of the devil,
they gave place to the devil begging, begging, hey go and work a job, you know, go and label
with your hands, you know, for me if you're a believer in Christ and you go and work with
your hands, the Lord will bless you, it doesn't matter how, you know, if you're living in
the worst time on the earth, it doesn't matter if there's been wars going around you, there's
famines, look you just do what God says, he'll provide for you, he'll find a way, you know,
I truly believe that but these children have been taught how to be beggars and, you know,
once again to avoid being terrorized by evil spirits, they would dress up like evil spirits,
okay, the thought was that they're tricking the evil spirits to leave them alone, okay,
because these evil spirits apparently are trying to get out there and torment human
beings, so if you dress up like an evil spirit, they'll think, oh, you're not a human being,
you're one of us, okay, that's the idea behind it, so it's fear, they dressed up because
of fear, they did not want to be terrorized by these evil spirits, but the bible says
in 2 Timothy 1.7, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of
love and of a sound mind, now, brethren, I don't know if the thought of Halloween scares
you, I don't know, does it scare you, you know, knowing that there are witches and wizards
and Satan worshippers and just, you know, these pagan people enjoying the celebrations,
you know, doing their witchcraft, doing their curses, doing all these, does that give you
fear?
I hope it doesn't, I hope it doesn't, now, let me just make something very clear, there's
nothing wicked about October 31st, there's nothing wicked about tomorrow, you know, it's
a day that the Lord hath made, okay, we'll be glad and rejoice in it, right, it's a day
that the Lord hath made, we shouldn't allow these practices to give us fear, God has given
us the Holy Spirit and he's not given us the spirit of fear, in 1 John 4, it says, ye are
of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world.
You know what these children needed to do?
You know what these children here on the Sunshine Coast need to do?
They need to just believe on Jesus Christ, they need to have the spirit of God in them,
that's how they overcome the wicked one, not by dressing up like the wicked, okay, not
by dressing up, that's not going to, you know, help your fear, what's going to overcome your
fear of the wickedness of the devils and this wicked practice, this wicked holiday is by
putting on Jesus Christ, by believing on him, receiving the Holy Ghost, alright, so I hope
that gives you an idea of what Halloween is, what it represents, again, this is a newer
thing for us as Australians, it's not Australian practice, I want to get back with that, we
just kick that overseas again, I don't know how we do it, actually I know how we do it,
okay, I know how we do it, it's the same answer to everything, every problem we have in Australia,
but in conclusion, how do we respond to this brethren, how do we respond, number one, do
not celebrate Halloween, okay, do not celebrate Halloween and you know, my wife and I, many
years ago, you know, when we had a few people come to our door, kids, very few, we always
wondered what should we do when these kids come, you know, listen, don't celebrate it,
it's up to you what you want to do, you know, if you just want to be home and just not answer
the door that night, you know, they'll be around, just do that, don't answer the door
if that's the best way to do it, or open the door, like I said, just say hey, we don't
celebrate, this doesn't celebrate Halloween, okay, hey, here's the tracks, alright, whatever
you feel you need to do, you know, just don't celebrate it, you know, don't have lollies,
you know, don't leave that temptation in your house, where you might be, you feel sorry,
ah, just give me a lolly, we've got a track, no, no, don't participate in the works of
the wicked, alright, 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14, please go there, 2 Corinthians
chapter 6 verse 14, 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14, while you're turning there, I'm
going to read to you from Proverbs chapter 4 verse 14, Proverbs chapter 4 verse 14, we
already read this passage, just as a reminder, it says, enter not into the path of the wicked
and go not in the way of evil men, avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away,
okay, don't participate, 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14, be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness with unrighteousness and what
communion have light with darkness, listen, your local government, you know, your community
is trying to get you out of the house to celebrate these holidays with the wicked, with the ungodly,
with the food, celebrations, music, clowns, I don't know, whatever, you know, let's
celebrate, you know, no, don't fellowship with these people, don't get yoked into
their celebrations, verse 15, for what concord have Christ with Belial, or what part have
he that believeth with an infidel, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols,
for ye are the temple of the living God, as God have said, I will dwell in them and walk
in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, you are the people of
God, you are the temple of God, God indwells in you, do you want to take God with you to
celebrate Halloween, hey God, let's go celebrate Halloween, you're not acting then, if you're
doing that, you're not acting as the people of God, you know, you're celebrating with
the works of the devil, so number 1, do not celebrate Halloween, just get away from it,
if it's too hard for you, get out of the house, just go somewhere, spend time with the family,
get out of that place, if that's, you know, if it's too hard for you, you know, to not
participate in the celebrations, but number 2, how do we respond, and I'm just borrowing
in a little bit from what brother Callum preached, of course, Jesus Christ said, you know, in
John 8 12, then spake Jesus unto them and said, saying, I am the light of the world,
he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life, Jesus Christ
is the light of the world, and if we're following after him, Jesus says that we cannot walk
in darkness, if you walk in darkness, if you celebrate Halloween, you're not walking with
Jesus Christ, let me just say that, you're not walking with him, okay, you're given into
sin, you're given into the lust of the flesh, you're given into the devils, deuce and spirits
believers, we should not do that, that shouldn't be part of our life, not only is Jesus Christ
the light of the earth, in Matthew, or the light of the world, Matthew 5 14, Jesus says
about us, ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid,
neither the men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and
it shall give a flight unto all that are in the house, let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father, which is in heaven, maybe
that's the best you can do, is just be a light in your community when those kids come to
your house, hey we believe in Jesus, we don't celebrate Halloween, okay, Jesus is the light
of the world, he'll reprove the darkness, but what I'm asking for you guys brethren,
and this is a last minute thing, is I'm going to use the opportunity tomorrow to preach
the gospel, preach the gospel, you know, please go to Romans 13, go to Romans 13, while
I speak, my local area is going to celebrate, I told you, a couple of streets away, they're
going to put on their celebration at 5.30pm, I'm not interested in knocking those streets,
because they've already committed to have their time with the devil, you know, their
hearts are already going to be hardened, they've already, you know, decided yeah, we're celebrating
our street, give us these lollies, you know, government, local government, so we can give
it to the kids, but I'll be knocking the surrounding streets of the area, okay, I'll
be knocking those surrounding streets from 3pm, if you guys are free, come and join me,
just a few minutes away, 5 minutes away from here, if you're free, 3pm tomorrow, please
participate with me, I know a lot of you guys have to work, but I think this is something
we need to do annually, annually, it's getting worse guys, it's getting worse, you know,
if you're able next year, you know, Halloween day, take the day off, alright, take the day
off, and let's make this a soul winning event, let's make this a soul winning time, we can
shine the light of the gospel, you know, in this dark world that we live in, you guys
in Romans 13 verse 11, Romans 13 verse 11, the Bible says, and that knowing the time,
that now it is high time to awake and asleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed, the night is fast spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore cast off
the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light, listen guys, tomorrow I'm
not putting on the costumes, I'm not putting on the Halloween costumes, I'm not putting
on the devil costumes, but I am going to put something on, it said there right there, the
armor of light, let us put on the armor of light, that's what we need to do tomorrow,
the armor of light, okay, let's keep going, verse number 15, sorry, verse number 13, let
us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envy, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision
for the flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof, hey man, I'm getting dressed up tomorrow,
I'm going to put on the armor of light, I'm going to put on Jesus Christ tomorrow, you
guys want to dress up with me, let's go dress up and celebrate October 31st, by preaching
the gospel of light to this community, they need to hear it, I want to mess up the day,
I want a bit of gospel, I want a bit of light shining there, I want people to get angry
that we're using the day to celebrate Jesus, nothing wrong with the day, it's the day that
God created, let's use it to preach the gospel, so tomorrow guys, 3pm, if you're free, let
me know, I know it's last minute, you got to work, all that kind of stuff, but I'm going
to take my kids with me, and my plan is this, I'm going to go knock, if no one else can
join me, I'm going to go knock with a couple of my kids, knock doors, you want to come,
amen, praise God, anyone else, praise God, and on the other side of the street, I'm going
to send my four oldest kids, you know why, because when they see kids, they're going
to open the door, because they're expecting, they're expecting trick or treat, alright,
and here's what my kids are going to do, Isabel, Nicholas, Matias and Christian, they're
going to knock on the door, and they're going to give them a tract, and say hey, you know,
we're from the local Baptist Church, New Life Baptist Church, you know, my father's going
house to house preaching the gospel, are you willing for my dad to come here, and tell
you how you can be 100% sure you're going to heaven, alright, and if they say yes, they're
going to run to the other side of the street, grab me, say dad, this person wants to hear
the gospel, I'll go there, and give them the gospel, that's the plan, like I'm going
to use my kids, I'm going to use the occasion, right, because the neighbors are expecting
kids to come house to house, alright, let's use the occasion then, let's do that, let's
let them put on the armor of light, put on Jesus Christ, that's the plan, alright, so
how am I going to celebrate so in, by so winning, I'm not going to celebrate so in, they became
Halloween, no, I'm going to celebrate by so winning, okay, get out there, giving the gospel
to this community, let's pray.