Halloween

Happy Reformation Day

"[Today] much of the culture will be focused on candy and things that go bump in the night. Protestants, however, have something far more significant to celebrate on October 31." - Robert Rothwell

Indeed we do. It's Reformation Day, a time that we remember an October 31 almost five hundred years ago, in 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the church door and began the world-shaking Protestant Reformation. Below are some articles, free resources, quotes, and encouragement about Reformation Day. 

What is Reformation Day All About? - "(W)hat is the significance of Reformation Day, and how should we consider the events it commemorates?"

A Quote from Calvin on Why God Raised up Luther - John Calvin wrote this a mere twenty-six years after the first Reformation Day had happened and its already massive effects had started to play out. 

The Light Shines on All-Hallows' Eve - Even if we went to the television stations, the radios, the malls, and the schools and told them it was Reformation Day, culture isn't going to let us forget that today is Halloween. Jon Bloom writes about modern Halloween and our celebration of Reformation Day. 

Reformation Then and Now, Here and There - How is the Protestant Reformation commemorated in other cultures? Are the ideas of the Reformation dying out of our western culture? Here's a look at the Reformation's influences over different cultures today.

Is the Reformation Over? - But perhaps you're simply wondering, what is the big deal? Don't Catholics and Protestants pretty much believe the same thing? In several concise categories, Kevin DeYoung explains exactly what we disagree on, from salvation and the sacraments to Scripture and Mary.

Free Reformation Day Resources - Until midnight tonight, Ligonier Ministries is offering two online studies, three e-books, and an audiobook free. All of these resources pertain to the Protestant Reformation. Don't miss out!

Halloween on Mission


As today dawns All Hallow's Eve, a very controversial holiday for Christians, I found this post by David Mathis for the DesringGod blog very enlightening. Enjoy!

"What if a crisp October wind blew through “the way we’ve always done things” at Halloween? What if the Spirit stirred in us a new perspective on October 31? What if dads led their households in a fresh approach to Halloween as Christians on mission?
What if spreading a passion for God’s supremacy in all things included Halloween—that amalgamation of wickedness now the second-largest commercial holiday in the West?

Loving Others and Extending Grace

What if we didn’t think of ourselves as “in the world, but not of it,” but rather, as Jesus says in John 17, “not of the world, but sent into it”?
And what if that led us to move beyond our squabbles about whether or not we’re free to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve, and the main issue became whether our enjoyment of Jesus and his victory over Satan and the powers of darkness might incline us to think less about our private enjoyments and more about how we might love others? What if we took Halloween captive—along with “every thought” (2 Corinthians 10:5)—as an opportunity for gospel advance and bringing true joy to the unbelieving?
And what if those of us taking this fresh approach to Halloween recognized that Christians hold a variety of views about Halloween, and we gave grace to those who see the day differently than we do?

Without Naiveté or Retreat

What if we didn’t merely go with the societal flow and unwittingly float with the cultural tide into and out of yet another Halloween? What if we didn’t observe the day with the same naïveté as our unbelieving neighbors and coworkers?
And what if we didn’t overreact to such nonchalance by simply withdrawing? What if Halloween wasn’t a night when Christians retreated in disapproval, but an occasion for storming the gates of hell?

The Gospel Trick

What if we ran Halloween through the grid of the gospel and pondered whether there might be a third path beyond naïveté and retreat? What if we took the perspective that all of life, Halloween included, is an opportunity for gospel advance? What if we saw Halloween not as a retreat but as a kind of gospel trick—an occasion to extend Christ’s cause on precisely the night when Satan may feel his strongest?
What if we took to the offensive on Halloween? Isn’t this how our God loves to show himself mighty? Just when the devil has a good head of steam, God, like a skilled ninja, uses the adversary’s body weight against him. It’s Satan’s own inertia that drives the stake into his heart. Just like the cross. It’s a kind of divine “trick”: Precisely when the demonic community thinks for sure they have Jesus cornered, he delivers the deathblow. Wasn’t it a Halloween-like gathering of darkness and demonic festival at Golgotha, the place of the Skull, when the God-man “disarmed the powers and authorities [and] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them” at the cross (Colossians 2:15)?

Marching on Hell

What if we were reminded that Jesus, our invincible hero, will soon crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20)? What if we really believed deep down that our Jesus has promised with absolute certainty, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). What if we realized that the gates-of-hell thing isn’t a picture of a defensive church straining to hold back the progressing Satanic legions, but rather an offensive church, on the move, advancing against the cowering, cornered kingdom of darkness? What if the church is the side building the siegeworks? What if the church is marching forward, and Jesus is leading his church on an aggressive campaign against the stationary and soon-to-collapse gates of hell? What if we didn’t let Halloween convince us for a minute that it’s otherwise?
What if Ephesians 6:12 reminded us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic power over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places”? What if we remembered that it’s not our increasingly post-Christian society’s Halloween revelers who are our enemies, but that our real adversary is the one who has blinded them, and that we spite Satan as we rescue unbelievers with the word of the cross?

Resisting the Devil

What posture would Jesus have us take when we are told that our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8)? Naïveté? Retreat? Rather: “Resist him, firm in your faith” (verse 9). What if we had the gospel gall to trust Jesus for this promise: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)? And what if resistance meant not only holding our ground, but taking his?
What if we hallowed Jesus at Halloween by pursuing gospel advance and going lovingly on the attack? What if, like Martin Luther, we didn’t cower in fear, but saw October 31 as a chance to serve notice to the threshold of evil? What if we didn’t turn out our lights as if hiding, but went pumpkin-smashing on the very doorstep of the King of Darkness himself?

Orienting on Others

What if we saw October 31 not merely as an occasion for asking self-oriented questions about our participation (whether we should or shouldn’t dress the kids up or carve pumpkins), but for pursuing others-oriented acts of love? What if we capitalized on the opportunity to take a step forward in an ongoing process of witnessing to our neighbors, co-workers, and extended families about who Jesus is and what he accomplished at Calvary for the wicked like us?
What if we resolved not to join the darkness by keeping our porch lights off? What if we didn’t deadbolt our doors, but handed out the best treats in the neighborhood as a faint echo of the kind of grace our Father extends to us sinners?

Giving the Good Candy

What if thinking evangelistically about Halloween didn’t mean just dropping tracts into children’s bags, but the good candy—and seeing the evening as an opportunity to cultivate relationships with the unbelieving as part of an ongoing process in which we plainly identify with Jesus, get to know them well, and personally speak the good news of our Savior into their lives?
And what if we made sure to keep reminding ourselves that our supreme treasure isn’t our subjective zeal for the mission, but our Jesus and his objective accomplishment for us?
The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
– Jesus in Matthew 9:37–38"

Only Treats, No Tricks


Happy Halloween, readers. Today, as it is October 31, you may be going out trick-or-treating. Maybe you aren't, but your kids or grandkids are. Whenever you (or your kids/grandkids) go up to a door on Halloween night, all dressed up, what do you (they) say? 'Trick-or-treat!' Hence, the people at the house gives you (them) some candy.

The phrase 'trick-or-treat' originated from the olden days (no, not when our parents were kids, even farther back). People would literally play tricks on people that didn't give them anything. Instead of candy, people gave out coins, apples, nuts. So, Halloween in the olden days, doesn't sound like much fun.

Did you know that there's no tricks with Jesus? Only treats. When you turn to Him, you aren't going to get any shocking surprises. He tells you that Christianity will be difficult, yet rewarding. Jesus does not trick us into Christianity with false lies of health, wealth, and happiness. He warns us of the difficult times, but He also shares with us that times of happiness and joy will come. To become a Christian you have to:

1. A- Admit to God you are a sinner. (Romans 3:23)
2. B- Believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9)
3. C- Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. (Romans 10:9)

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