Halloween Is a NO for Christians

Years ago many of us thought Halloween was cute and fun. Historical and storybook characters were the majority of costumes worn by our children. But, as with most slippery slopes, we now see demonic and cult-like scenes in many yards around our neighborhoods. Yet we continue to say Halloween is harmless and just about getting some candy. The Bible warns us to stay away from the occult, witchcraft, sorcery, etc. so why do we just ignore the warnings (Deut 18:10-12)?  And to make matters worse, MANY of our churches actually participate in this evil holiday with their own version called "trunk or treat."  I guess the theory is it's safe and even "Christianized" by holding it in the church parking lot and restricting costumes to non-scary or non-demonic ones. I wonder what would happen if some of the nonChristian community kids came and had devil costumes on.  Would we tell them they couldn't participate and go away?  Lets stop trying to blend into the world which we are not called to do but instead stand apart from it (James 4:4; Ephesians 5:8,11)

Jan Markell has an excellent video on this matter:

 

Did You Really Hear God's Voice?

Many of today's churches teach and preach about hearing God's voice. They cherry pick scriptures that at first glance seem to support this notion. But upon further contextual reading, it's certainly not the case. They love to teach that prayer is a two way street - talking to God and then listening for His answer. But Jesus didn't teach his disciples anything like that when they asked him to teach them how to pray. Here's a sermon by Justin Peters that really digs in and takes this false notion to task.

https://www.gty.org/sermons/TM19-3/hearing-from-heaven-how-to-know-the-voice-of-god-justin-peters