When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, don't take on the abominable ways of life of the nations there. Don't you dare sacrifice your son or daughter in the fire. Don't practice divination, sorcery, fortunetelling, witchery, casting spells, holding séances, or channeling with the dead. People who do these things are an abomination to God. It's because of just such abominable practices that God, your God, is driving these nations out before you. (Deuteronomy 18:9-13 — The Message)
Ancient pagan customs around the time that these words were written actually demanded that a son or daughter be burned to death as a sacrifice so that his/her parents could have their future revealed to them, or to receive the help of some spirit or god. Still today fortunetelling, psychics, séances, Ouija boards, communicating with people “on the other side” and other forms of witchcraft and the occult have a healthy following. In fact, this section in bookstores is commonly larger than the Christian section. In the Old Testament, King Saul asked for the help of a medium after he had turned away from God and insisted on doing things his own way. The next day he and his sons died in battle (1 Samuel 28).
Why does God hate these practices? Because they’re all based on an attempt to sidestep God’s revelation and will for our lives. God has never been, and will never be content to be one god among many; He is the only God and insist that we recognize Him as such. Any dabbling in witchcraft and the occult communicates that we feel He is not enough, that we don’t trust Him, that someone or something can give us more that He can. If God has not communicated to us what our future holds, then that information must not be necessary at this time, and we should put our total trust in Him knowing that He will tell us what we need to know.
The majority of people in the US do not come into contact with mediums and witches on a regular basis. But almost everyone celebrates Halloween and views it as a lot of harmless fun. Who doesn’t like getting dressed up in a costume and wearing a mask? Except what this holiday glorifies are demons, zombies, ghosts, vampires, witches, cemeteries, hangings, etc. Children dress up as the devil or as witches, and are rewarded with candy for doing so. The pumpkins on our front door steps are an old tradition from the British Isles when pumpkins were carved with scary faces and candles placed inside in the belief that they would ward off spirits of the dead that had slipped into this world for a short time. This holiday is a clever, undercover way for the devil to infiltrate our lives and have us treat a very serious, dangerous subject as harmless. For some Christians demons are a fairytale, but the real truth is that demons are a very real, constant threat in this world, not something to laugh at or play around with.
Your kids may complain if you decide not to participate in Halloween, but God calls us to be different, to follow Him and value the things He values. (We will ask the kids in our Kids Zone to wear a costume the Sunday before Halloween… something from nature or a character from the Bible.)
God communicates with each one of us every single day, various times a day. The Holy Spirit is beside you right now, or inside of you, and He is there to guide and direct you. Why would any of us need the stars when we can speak to the One who made them? Concentrate on hearing God’s voice. Learn what it sounds like. Tune into His voice and tune out the voices of the world.
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