Hello and welcome to Folly's End podcast, a podcast created to plant the Word of God
into your heart, giving you the tools you need to lead a life full of the abundance
Jesus said, He came to give us all. That's John 10 verse 10. I'm Jessi Cox and today
we're going to be talking about how to navigate Halloween as a Christian family. But before
we get into today's topic, I want to remind you that this is not a self-help podcast.
Self-help never really works because it's based on your own ability to help yourself
and that never produces anything long term or anything really worth having. Jesus said
in John 15 verse 5, I am the vine, you are the branches, he that abides in me and I in
him, the same brings forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing. So before we
go into today's topic, please remember to take what I'm saying to your own relationship
with the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit to talk to you and to give your own revelation. Don't
just take my word for it. Today I want to talk to you about Halloween. Halloween seems
to be picking up fast pace in the UK. After a little bit of research, I found out that
it didn't really start to become a commercial thing in shops until 2010, which is when retailers
started to stock more Halloween items. Now it is considered the third biggest holiday
celebration in the UK, the other two being Easter and Christmas. When I was a child,
some 30 years ago, Halloween wasn't that big of a deal. But now if you choose not to
participate in Halloween, you'll struggle to avoid it. And I guess the same could be
said about Easter and Christmas. So what's the big deal? Why are we even talking about
it? When my children were three and under, this was a really easy explanation. We just
don't celebrate Halloween in our house. Hallow's Eve, or now as we know it, Halloween, was
actually the day before All Saints Day. And it was a day that was celebrated All Saints
Day in the Christian calendar. As it's got more commercial, it seems to be a lot more
sinister than it was some 30, 40 years ago. At no other time of the calendar year would
any of us consider hanging witches from our tree outside or hanging dead things dripped
in blood. I honestly think it's getting darker every year. And I believe this is not an accident.
You might be thinking, well hang on Jess, it's just a bit of harmless fun. We're not
encouraging the kids to become devil worshippers, it's just a bit of community fun. I believe
that there is a real battle for our children's innocence and for their minds. And anything
that influences my children is worth my time and my attention. It's never just a bit of
harmless fun if it has the power to influence their lives and shape their minds. There are
things that influence them positively, but even that's worth my time and attention,
just working out if it is positive. 1 Timothy 4 verse 1 says, Now the Spirit speaks expressly,
that in the later times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of the devil. Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared
with a hot iron. We can sear our children's conscience with a hot iron through what they
watch and what they get involved with or what they get involved in. Our children's conscience,
they're precious and we as Christian parents need to protect that and guard them. This
is only our family's second academic year with our eldest child. This term she has been
invited to three Halloween parties outside school and one party inside school. This week
we've received a birthday invitation for a December party and the party is Harry Potter
themed. I shared the invite with my daughter and I asked her what she wanted to do as I
do with all the invitations that come in. We talked about the theme of the party and
whilst Harry Potter is just a movie, the theme is witches and wizards and she doesn't want
to go. Now in theory it's a harmless party with maybe a theme or two, but before I found
out any more about the party, which is relatively easy to do since I know the mum well, I told
my daughter that she absolutely doesn't have to go and we'd find something else to do after
school. I don't want my daughter or my son to violate their own conscience or to worry
about going to an event that she doesn't need to attend. Once I spoke to the mum of the
little boy who's holding this party, it turns out that my daughter is completely right not
to attend as there's a real wizard performing. Now the likelihood of this being anything
more than just smoke and mirrors is very unlikely, but it's my daughter's heart and her imagination
and her conscience that I'm protecting at this stage. A lot of Christians believe that
there's dark and then there's light, but there's a whole lot of grey things in the middle,
that some things are neither bad nor good. But that is totally contradictory to what
the Bible says. Teuteronomy 30 verse 19 says, I call heaven and earth to record this day
against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and cursings. Therefore,
it is life that both you and your seed may live. Everything we watch, everything we go
to, everything we listen to, everything we speak is either life or death, blessings or
cursings. There is no grey. God didn't say there's life and death and there's just some
natural stuff in the middle and it's just harmless fun. It is either life or death.
And Deuteronomy 30 verse 19 says, therefore choose life that both you and your seed may
live. We have to make choices for our children that produce life and not death. It's crazy,
but when you look at even the decorations people hang up outside their house, it's not
life. It's celebrating death. I think it's so interesting that at Christmas, pretty much
all my neighbours will put up a Christmas tree inside their homes. Not many people put
Christmas decorations up outside the house, but when it comes to Halloween, it's all outside.
We live in a small village with a local school and we're very lucky to be able to walk to
school in the morning. But in October, it becomes a complete mission to avoid things
like pictures of demons, witches, skeletons, bloody limbs hanging from trees. My neighbour
has these little dead heads that she hangs from her trees. It's just weird. But come
Christmas time, all they have is a little Christmas light plus some house lights, which
if I'm perfectly honest, my husband put up for them almost five years ago. It's disproportionate
and I think it's spiritual and it's very intentional. I want my children to be sensitive
to the Holy Spirit. When God speaks to us, he speaks to our spirit. God does speak in
an audible voice, but that's the exception and not the rule. In 1 Kings 19 verses 11
to 13, God is speaking to Elijah in a small and still voice. I'm in the process of teaching
our children how to hear God for themselves. Of all the life lessons I will teach my children,
having a personal relationship with God where they can hear him for themselves and not only
through me is the single most important thing that I can do as their parent. I don't want
to give them anything else to get over. They're already going to have enough things to get
over by just living in this world. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 33 says, be not deceived. Evil communications
corrupt good manners. That means that all my hard work in teaching my children good
manners, teaching them the ways of God can be completely undone through evil communications.
And the Bible tells us here not to be deceived. There is a lie in the world that it doesn't
really matter. It's not a big deal. It's just harmless fun, but we're not to be deceived.
Evil communications corrupt good manners. Jesus said in Matthew 6 verse 22 to 23, the
light of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye be single, meaning whole, your whole
body will be full of light. But if your eye be evil, your whole body will be full of darkness.
And if therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? What
our children watch with their eyes has the ability to fill their body with light or darkness.
Not many Christians believe that. And sadly, one of the reasons the church as a whole is
so confused is because we're not speaking the truth, because we're scared to offend
people or be rejected. My daughter is taking quite a stand at the minute that she does
not want to be part of Halloween, as is my son who's 16 months younger than she is.
She asked me recently if she would miss out by not going to all these parties. I told
her that when you give something up because you love God, he sees to it that you don't
miss out. He gives you something even better. Mark 10, 29 to 30. And Jesus answered and
said, truly I say to you, there is no man that has left house or brethren or sisters
or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospels, but he
shall receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers
and children and lands with persecution and in the world to come eternal life. There is
nothing that you can give up that God won't make sure you receive more for giving that
up. Hopefully I've put forward a good argument as to why we shouldn't be celebrating Halloween.
So how do we handle this season? How do we equip our children and our teenagers to walk
through it? Well, firstly, I think it's important to teach them that just because something
isn't good for them, it's not something to be scared of. One John 4, 1st, 4. You are
of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than
he that is in the world. Just quoting this scripture at our kids isn't enough, especially
when it comes to small children and even teenagers. You have to teach them what this means. You
have to teach them how to be a good teacher. One of the ways to teach children is to paint
a picture for them. I think this is one of the reasons why Jesus taught in parables because
a picture is worth a thousand words. This picture has helped our family and I hope it
might help your family too. The other morning we were talking about how we don't celebrate
Halloween. The kids were saying that they were scared. It was quite early in the morning
and the sun wasn't up. So I asked the children to turn the light of the room off. I said
to the kids, it's dark. Can you see anything? No, mummy, we can't see anything. I said,
that's because it's dark, right? Yes, mum, that's because it's dark. Good. Let's turn
the light on. Once they turn the light on, I asked them, where did the darkness go? And
they said it's gone. I asked them, is the darkness fighting the light? No, they said,
because the light is more powerful than the dark. And this is what I said to them. What
you have on the inside of you is light because God is in you. Everywhere you go, you take
that light with you and the light is always more powerful than the dark. Perhaps that's
something that you can do with your smaller children and with your older children you
can explain to them that the darkness doesn't fight the light when you walk into a room
and switch the light on. The light fills the room and the darkness is gone. As Christians,
we can often see ourselves as like a small candle on a table in the middle of the room
that's barely holding back the darkness. Well, that might be how the devil wants you to see
yourself, but that is not the truth. You are a powerhouse of light. You have God Almighty
living on the inside of you. And just like any light bulb expels the darkness, so do
you. Because what you have on the inside of you is bigger than what is in the world.
Many years ago, when I was with my dad, we watched Lord of the Rings. And you might be
familiar with it, you might not be, but there's a scene of Gandalf the Grey standing in this
big cave and he is fighting this huge demon. And it is massive, bigger than any house that
you can imagine. And Gandalf is tiny. And he is standing against this huge dark force
with his tiny little stick in his hand that's kind of pulsating this white light. And he
screams at the top of his voice, you shall not pass. And of course, this thing isn't
really paying any attention to him. And this dark force goes to knock him out of the way.
And Gandalf kind of grabs him and they both fall into this massive hole. Later on in the
movie, Gandalf appears victorious. But it is interesting that Gandalf is seen as this
very kind of powerless light pulsating gentle force, where this darkness is absolutely massive
and towering above him. As Christians, we can often see ourselves like this, that we're
kind of holding up the cross, pleading the blood, holding on by our fingertips, fighting
with everything that we've got. But this isn't the truth. We're coming from a victory. What
Jesus did on the cross was amazing. It defeated the enemy once and for all. And now all we
have to do is just resist him. Halloween isn't something to be frightened of. Because what
we have on the inside of us is bigger than any silly thing that the enemy can bring against
us or our kids. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 12, Paul writes, all things are lawful unto me,
but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought
under the power of any. All things are lawful. That means you can do whatever you want to
do. But I don't do certain things or I don't watch certain things, not out of fear, but
because it's not good for me. I felt the Holy Spirit talking to me this morning, and my
quiet time with him. And he was talking to me about how when he speaks to us, he speaks
to us spirit to spirit. And one of the main things that stops us from hearing God is feeling
bad about ourselves, trying to get over something. Because with that condemnation, it cuts us
off from hearing God's voice. So we don't do things not because we're frightened that
he's going to reject us, not because we're frightened of the thing. But we don't do things
because it's not good for us. We don't go out and get drunk because in the morning,
we're going to feel awful and condemned and ashamed. And then we're going to stop hearing
God. I don't put my children in front of dark things because I don't want them to be afraid.
I don't want them to have nightmares. And ultimately, I don't want them to get to the
point where they watch these horrible, horrific things and it doesn't bother them. I want
them to be sensitive to the things of God. I want their hearts to be soft so that they
can hear God. And until they're old enough to make the decisions for themselves, it's
my job and my husband's job to protect them, to protect their hearts, to protect their
conscience. Someone very wise once told me that the best way to teach your children and
to evangelize is to sprinkle them with the word of God. We don't want to blast them
with the Bible. On these podcasts, I can talk to you in a way that is totally frank. It's
just you and me. But I don't speak to my kids like this. So I would encourage you to take
some of these verses that we've given you today, to sit down and think about ways to
explain them to your children, to give them confidence to walk into dark places, knowing
that they are full of light, that God is always with them, that he will never leave them nor
forsake them, that the God in them is more powerful than any darkness in the world, that
they have angels that are with them, goodness and mercy follow them all the days of their
life. That's Psalm 23. So until we speak again, take care of yourself and each other.
You have been listening to the Follies End podcast. If you'd like to know more information,
get in touch by folliesendtrust.co.uk. Thanks for listening. See you next time.