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Hello and welcome to Folly's End podcast, a podcast created to plant the Word of God

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into your heart, giving you the tools you need to lead a life full of the abundance

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Jesus said, He came to give us all. That's John 10 verse 10. I'm Jessi Cox and today

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we're going to be talking about how to navigate Halloween as a Christian family. But before

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we get into today's topic, I want to remind you that this is not a self-help podcast.

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Self-help never really works because it's based on your own ability to help yourself

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and that never produces anything long term or anything really worth having. Jesus said

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in John 15 verse 5, I am the vine, you are the branches, he that abides in me and I in

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him, the same brings forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing. So before we

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go into today's topic, please remember to take what I'm saying to your own relationship

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with the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit to talk to you and to give your own revelation. Don't

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just take my word for it. Today I want to talk to you about Halloween. Halloween seems

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to be picking up fast pace in the UK. After a little bit of research, I found out that

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it didn't really start to become a commercial thing in shops until 2010, which is when retailers

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started to stock more Halloween items. Now it is considered the third biggest holiday

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celebration in the UK, the other two being Easter and Christmas. When I was a child,

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some 30 years ago, Halloween wasn't that big of a deal. But now if you choose not to

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participate in Halloween, you'll struggle to avoid it. And I guess the same could be

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said about Easter and Christmas. So what's the big deal? Why are we even talking about

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it? When my children were three and under, this was a really easy explanation. We just

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don't celebrate Halloween in our house. Hallow's Eve, or now as we know it, Halloween, was

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actually the day before All Saints Day. And it was a day that was celebrated All Saints

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Day in the Christian calendar. As it's got more commercial, it seems to be a lot more

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sinister than it was some 30, 40 years ago. At no other time of the calendar year would

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any of us consider hanging witches from our tree outside or hanging dead things dripped

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in blood. I honestly think it's getting darker every year. And I believe this is not an accident.

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You might be thinking, well hang on Jess, it's just a bit of harmless fun. We're not

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encouraging the kids to become devil worshippers, it's just a bit of community fun. I believe

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that there is a real battle for our children's innocence and for their minds. And anything

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that influences my children is worth my time and my attention. It's never just a bit of

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harmless fun if it has the power to influence their lives and shape their minds. There are

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things that influence them positively, but even that's worth my time and attention,

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just working out if it is positive. 1 Timothy 4 verse 1 says, Now the Spirit speaks expressly,

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that in the later times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits

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and doctrines of the devil. Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared

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with a hot iron. We can sear our children's conscience with a hot iron through what they

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watch and what they get involved with or what they get involved in. Our children's conscience,

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they're precious and we as Christian parents need to protect that and guard them. This

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is only our family's second academic year with our eldest child. This term she has been

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invited to three Halloween parties outside school and one party inside school. This week

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we've received a birthday invitation for a December party and the party is Harry Potter

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themed. I shared the invite with my daughter and I asked her what she wanted to do as I

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do with all the invitations that come in. We talked about the theme of the party and

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whilst Harry Potter is just a movie, the theme is witches and wizards and she doesn't want

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to go. Now in theory it's a harmless party with maybe a theme or two, but before I found

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out any more about the party, which is relatively easy to do since I know the mum well, I told

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my daughter that she absolutely doesn't have to go and we'd find something else to do after

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school. I don't want my daughter or my son to violate their own conscience or to worry

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about going to an event that she doesn't need to attend. Once I spoke to the mum of the

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little boy who's holding this party, it turns out that my daughter is completely right not

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to attend as there's a real wizard performing. Now the likelihood of this being anything

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more than just smoke and mirrors is very unlikely, but it's my daughter's heart and her imagination

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and her conscience that I'm protecting at this stage. A lot of Christians believe that

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there's dark and then there's light, but there's a whole lot of grey things in the middle,

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that some things are neither bad nor good. But that is totally contradictory to what

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the Bible says. Teuteronomy 30 verse 19 says, I call heaven and earth to record this day

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against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and cursings. Therefore,

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it is life that both you and your seed may live. Everything we watch, everything we go

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to, everything we listen to, everything we speak is either life or death, blessings or

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cursings. There is no grey. God didn't say there's life and death and there's just some

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natural stuff in the middle and it's just harmless fun. It is either life or death.

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And Deuteronomy 30 verse 19 says, therefore choose life that both you and your seed may

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live. We have to make choices for our children that produce life and not death. It's crazy,

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but when you look at even the decorations people hang up outside their house, it's not

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life. It's celebrating death. I think it's so interesting that at Christmas, pretty much

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all my neighbours will put up a Christmas tree inside their homes. Not many people put

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Christmas decorations up outside the house, but when it comes to Halloween, it's all outside.

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We live in a small village with a local school and we're very lucky to be able to walk to

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school in the morning. But in October, it becomes a complete mission to avoid things

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like pictures of demons, witches, skeletons, bloody limbs hanging from trees. My neighbour

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has these little dead heads that she hangs from her trees. It's just weird. But come

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Christmas time, all they have is a little Christmas light plus some house lights, which

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if I'm perfectly honest, my husband put up for them almost five years ago. It's disproportionate

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and I think it's spiritual and it's very intentional. I want my children to be sensitive

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to the Holy Spirit. When God speaks to us, he speaks to our spirit. God does speak in

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an audible voice, but that's the exception and not the rule. In 1 Kings 19 verses 11

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to 13, God is speaking to Elijah in a small and still voice. I'm in the process of teaching

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our children how to hear God for themselves. Of all the life lessons I will teach my children,

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having a personal relationship with God where they can hear him for themselves and not only

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through me is the single most important thing that I can do as their parent. I don't want

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to give them anything else to get over. They're already going to have enough things to get

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over by just living in this world. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 33 says, be not deceived. Evil communications

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corrupt good manners. That means that all my hard work in teaching my children good

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manners, teaching them the ways of God can be completely undone through evil communications.

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And the Bible tells us here not to be deceived. There is a lie in the world that it doesn't

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really matter. It's not a big deal. It's just harmless fun, but we're not to be deceived.

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Evil communications corrupt good manners. Jesus said in Matthew 6 verse 22 to 23, the

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light of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye be single, meaning whole, your whole

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body will be full of light. But if your eye be evil, your whole body will be full of darkness.

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And if therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? What

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our children watch with their eyes has the ability to fill their body with light or darkness.

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Not many Christians believe that. And sadly, one of the reasons the church as a whole is

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so confused is because we're not speaking the truth, because we're scared to offend

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people or be rejected. My daughter is taking quite a stand at the minute that she does

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not want to be part of Halloween, as is my son who's 16 months younger than she is.

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She asked me recently if she would miss out by not going to all these parties. I told

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her that when you give something up because you love God, he sees to it that you don't

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miss out. He gives you something even better. Mark 10, 29 to 30. And Jesus answered and

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said, truly I say to you, there is no man that has left house or brethren or sisters

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or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospels, but he

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shall receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers

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and children and lands with persecution and in the world to come eternal life. There is

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nothing that you can give up that God won't make sure you receive more for giving that

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up. Hopefully I've put forward a good argument as to why we shouldn't be celebrating Halloween.

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So how do we handle this season? How do we equip our children and our teenagers to walk

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through it? Well, firstly, I think it's important to teach them that just because something

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isn't good for them, it's not something to be scared of. One John 4, 1st, 4. You are

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of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than

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he that is in the world. Just quoting this scripture at our kids isn't enough, especially

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when it comes to small children and even teenagers. You have to teach them what this means. You

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have to teach them how to be a good teacher. One of the ways to teach children is to paint

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a picture for them. I think this is one of the reasons why Jesus taught in parables because

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a picture is worth a thousand words. This picture has helped our family and I hope it

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might help your family too. The other morning we were talking about how we don't celebrate

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Halloween. The kids were saying that they were scared. It was quite early in the morning

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and the sun wasn't up. So I asked the children to turn the light of the room off. I said

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to the kids, it's dark. Can you see anything? No, mummy, we can't see anything. I said,

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that's because it's dark, right? Yes, mum, that's because it's dark. Good. Let's turn

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the light on. Once they turn the light on, I asked them, where did the darkness go? And

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they said it's gone. I asked them, is the darkness fighting the light? No, they said,

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because the light is more powerful than the dark. And this is what I said to them. What

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you have on the inside of you is light because God is in you. Everywhere you go, you take

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that light with you and the light is always more powerful than the dark. Perhaps that's

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something that you can do with your smaller children and with your older children you

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can explain to them that the darkness doesn't fight the light when you walk into a room

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and switch the light on. The light fills the room and the darkness is gone. As Christians,

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we can often see ourselves as like a small candle on a table in the middle of the room

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that's barely holding back the darkness. Well, that might be how the devil wants you to see

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yourself, but that is not the truth. You are a powerhouse of light. You have God Almighty

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living on the inside of you. And just like any light bulb expels the darkness, so do

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you. Because what you have on the inside of you is bigger than what is in the world.

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Many years ago, when I was with my dad, we watched Lord of the Rings. And you might be

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familiar with it, you might not be, but there's a scene of Gandalf the Grey standing in this

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big cave and he is fighting this huge demon. And it is massive, bigger than any house that

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you can imagine. And Gandalf is tiny. And he is standing against this huge dark force

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with his tiny little stick in his hand that's kind of pulsating this white light. And he

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screams at the top of his voice, you shall not pass. And of course, this thing isn't

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really paying any attention to him. And this dark force goes to knock him out of the way.

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And Gandalf kind of grabs him and they both fall into this massive hole. Later on in the

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movie, Gandalf appears victorious. But it is interesting that Gandalf is seen as this

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very kind of powerless light pulsating gentle force, where this darkness is absolutely massive

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and towering above him. As Christians, we can often see ourselves like this, that we're

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kind of holding up the cross, pleading the blood, holding on by our fingertips, fighting

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with everything that we've got. But this isn't the truth. We're coming from a victory. What

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Jesus did on the cross was amazing. It defeated the enemy once and for all. And now all we

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have to do is just resist him. Halloween isn't something to be frightened of. Because what

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we have on the inside of us is bigger than any silly thing that the enemy can bring against

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us or our kids. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 12, Paul writes, all things are lawful unto me,

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but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought

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under the power of any. All things are lawful. That means you can do whatever you want to

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do. But I don't do certain things or I don't watch certain things, not out of fear, but

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because it's not good for me. I felt the Holy Spirit talking to me this morning, and my

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quiet time with him. And he was talking to me about how when he speaks to us, he speaks

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to us spirit to spirit. And one of the main things that stops us from hearing God is feeling

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bad about ourselves, trying to get over something. Because with that condemnation, it cuts us

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off from hearing God's voice. So we don't do things not because we're frightened that

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he's going to reject us, not because we're frightened of the thing. But we don't do things

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because it's not good for us. We don't go out and get drunk because in the morning,

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we're going to feel awful and condemned and ashamed. And then we're going to stop hearing

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God. I don't put my children in front of dark things because I don't want them to be afraid.

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I don't want them to have nightmares. And ultimately, I don't want them to get to the

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point where they watch these horrible, horrific things and it doesn't bother them. I want

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them to be sensitive to the things of God. I want their hearts to be soft so that they

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can hear God. And until they're old enough to make the decisions for themselves, it's

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my job and my husband's job to protect them, to protect their hearts, to protect their

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conscience. Someone very wise once told me that the best way to teach your children and

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to evangelize is to sprinkle them with the word of God. We don't want to blast them

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with the Bible. On these podcasts, I can talk to you in a way that is totally frank. It's

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just you and me. But I don't speak to my kids like this. So I would encourage you to take

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some of these verses that we've given you today, to sit down and think about ways to

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explain them to your children, to give them confidence to walk into dark places, knowing

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that they are full of light, that God is always with them, that he will never leave them nor

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forsake them, that the God in them is more powerful than any darkness in the world, that

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they have angels that are with them, goodness and mercy follow them all the days of their

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life. That's Psalm 23. So until we speak again, take care of yourself and each other.

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You have been listening to the Follies End podcast. If you'd like to know more information,

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get in touch by folliesendtrust.co.uk. Thanks for listening. See you next time.