Faith

Christians and Halloween

Should Christians celebrate or be part of Halloween?

I really feel like this is an easy question to answer. I am 100% firm in my opinion..but I highly stress that this is MY opinion. Take it how you want. Agree or disagree all you want.

This post will step on many toes. I’ve already gotten “in trouble” for my opinion.

Before I start, I want to preface all of this with the fact that in the I have been a Halloween-er to the max. Last year I was smacked about as hard as a person can be smacked by the Holy Spirit. Conviction hit and I was so conflicted, but ultimately decided to proceed with Halloween. My church has a Halloween celebration in the gym, in which members set up their own little stations to hand out candy. . .

Now, I want to leave “my story” there for a bit and jump into scripture. I highly encourage you to dive into your own Bible and read these for yourselves.

1 Corinthians 10:21

Ephesians 5:20

1 John 1:5

3 John 1:11

Leviticus 19:31

Deuteronomy 18:9-12

Philippians 4:4-9

Romans 12:1-2

2 Corinthians 6: 14-7:1

Galatians 5:1

So, from where I’m sitting, God’s Word is straight forward about it. These Scriptures, alone, make a solid case. You can either serve one or the other. And friend, if you’re serving your flesh, you’re not serving God.

We really must ask ourselves these simple questions when it comes to everything we do, “Who is this for?” “Who does this serve?” “Who is getting the honor?” “Is this for God or for myself?” “Does this bring me closer to God?” It really is that simple.

Last year, even with all the conviction laid on me by the Holy Spirit, I decided to participate. I told myself, “Well, the kids will already be out, so I might as well try to sneak some Jesus to them.” The sick feeling in the pit of gut and in my soul, led me to realize it was the wrong decision.

I kept my “station” at the church as Biblically based as possible. I even ordered decorations from Oriental Trading! They’re Christian, right? 😏

I settled on Ezekiel 37, Dry Bones Rattling.

Dry Bones Hear the Word of the LORD! A spooky Bible story! Perfect for Halloween. I even had a very simple skeleton costume. (If you haven’t read this part of Scripture, go read it! It’s an incredible account)

I told every kid that came by that there were skeletons that came back to life in the Bible! A whole army of dead men came back to life! They were intrigued, but they grabbed their candy and moved along and I assume most never gave it another thought. I also assume most of them just thought, “oh hey, Miss Katie is handing out candy, SCORE!” if kids even say “score” anymore. It was probably something like, “bet” or whatever 🤣 my point being, they didn’t care that I kept Scripture in it. All they saw was another person, someone who claims the name of Jesus, celebrating this tradition.

I was sick. Those convictions are no joke. The guilt set in. I was incredibly disappointed in my choice to participate (the convictions got easier to live with, and I eventually forgave myself, but they came rushing right back about 2 months later, if you catch my drift 😉)

I’ve heard all of the excuses. “We miss an opportunity to reach people if we don’t do *something* that night.” “Kids are out anyways, so we might as well be out there with them.” “We have to show people you can still do these things AND keep Jesus at the center of it,” so on and so on.

They’re just excuses. Excuses not based upon sound doctrine at that.

I get it, though. I get that dressing up and gathering candy seems harmless. It really does, on the outside, look like a completely innocent. I get it, I really do. That’s why I spent 7 years putting my kids in the cutest costumes, usually handmade, and walking around our quaint little town, happily gathering candy, visiting with all the other families. They really were some great times. But I have now been shown just how wrong it is.

Maybe you keep the “creepy, spooky, evil” things out of it and opt for cutesy costumes and decorations. Maybe you view it as a great time to witness to people, because they show up on your stoop. Great. But the truth is, the day was founded upon darkness. And spare me with the “Samhain isn’t evil” nonsense. It’s not Biblical. It doesn’t remind us of what Messiah has done, nor does it point to what He will do in the future.

The truth is, we cannot separate these things from their apparent evilness, no matter how much Jesus we sprinkle on top of it. God’s Word tells us that we can no longer walk as Gentiles. What do you think that means? Firstly, what does it mean to walk as a Gentile? What do Gentiles do that God finds so offensive? What do we then have to stop doing when we become adopted into God’s family?

It is plain to see, from His Word, that using the ways of Gentiles, heathens, etc, to worship Him is wrong and disgusting to Him. He wants to be praised and worshipped in the ways He commanded, not through traditions of man. Even if you throw aside all the evil, vile, and downright disgusting history of Halloween, it is still a man-made tradition. Disobedience and traditions of man is why Messiah had to come in the first place.

PS – calling it by a different name, but still doing all the same activities is not a good excuse either.

So tell me, friend, are you still walking in way of the Gentiles? Is your love of Halloween more important than doing things that are righteous in the eyes of our Creator? Do you want to do what’s righteous in the eyes of God? Do you care?

We are beings that were made to worship, and worship we will do, whether we know it or not. What you give your time and thoughts to is a form of worship. If you’re spending time indulging in self and man made traditions, you are not worshipping God. Satan is the god of self worship. He wants you to fall for every false doctrine. He wants you to think the path to righteousness is as wide as you want it to be. He wants you desensitized and blind to evil. He wants you to give in to every fleshly desire you have.

I am judging no one. I pray that this message will come across as informative, rather than judgemental, because I have, in the past, been a HUGE participant in this man made tradition. I refuse to call it a holiday, because in no way, shape, or form is it holy, which is what holiday means. . .holy day.

Everyone is on a path (the path is narrow, but I digress). We all have to seek guidance from the Holy Spirit. We all should be praying and seeking wisdom. We all should be stopping and reflecting on the things we do and why we do them. Satan is going to distract and deceive us at every opportunity. And even moreso, he is targeting children. As parents, we are responsible for our children’s spiritual welfare. Are you inviting unnecessary evil into your children’s lives because you’re too proud to put aside your flesh? I sure did for years. And that is something I will stand accountable for when that day comes.

All I am asking you is to evaluate and really search Scripture and ask God if it’s something you should be involved in. Maybe your time isn’t yet come to receive this truth. But I highly encourage you to at least research and study and not just go with the flow, because you just “love” Halloween..

Christians should not participate in Halloween, period. Beyond that, I find it even more atrocious when churches open their doors on this day. They are not teaching people that we can keep Jesus at the center of anything, they’re giving the impression that we can be saved AND still walk as the ungodly. There is no justification for leading people astray. Yes, Jesus met people where they were, but He did NOT join them in their sins. He told them to turn from it.

Brothers and sisters, I pray that you will study for yourself and have eyes that see and ears that hear the truth rather than just siding with your flesh.

Blessed Elohim,

Your ways are higher than our ways. You are the blessed Almighty, the One whom we seek to please. You know exactly the path You plan and desire for us to be one, but we get so sidetracked. We are so easily deceived. I pray that You will open the eyes, hearts, and minds of everyone. We come to You for guidance and discernment. You alone are worthy of our praise, our time, our living sacrifices. You warned us that the things of this world will distract us and hold us captive. Help us to intentionally call out distractions in our own lives so that we may focus on You. Help us see where we are deceived and get us back on the straight and narrow path You laid for us. Help us to rid our hearts and lives of anything dishonoring and displeasing to You.

I pray this in the blessed name Yeshuah, through the power of the Set-apart Holy Spirit,

Amen 🙏

Faith

My Faith

Faith is loaded deal, right? We say we’re one thing, but then disagree with so many who use the same label. Even when we’re sitting in a room or seemingly “like-minded” individuals, we always find something to disagree about.

So, just to get started out, I want to share with you what it is I believe.

I am a Bible believing, Yahuah (God) fearing woman. I believe He sent His Son Yeshuah (Jesus) to be the Messiah to die for ALL man’s sins (John 3:16). I believe that sin is defined in the Bible as lawlessness (1 John 3:4), which means doing anything that breaks anything God told us to do or not to do. This means that the Old Testament is STILL valid. We have to have a strong knowledge of what is in the Old Testament to understand what it is Jesus died for in the New Testament. I believe that should any man, woman, or child confess with their mouth and truly believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, they will be saved (Romans 10:9).

But I do not believe that one can continue in a life of lawlessness and be truly saved. I believe that once a person in indwelt by the Holy Spirit, he or she can’t just go on living a life of chasing the things of this world. I believe that a person should have the desire to live a life of obedience to God’s Teachings. I believe we should give up earthly/ manmade traditions. And I could go down all of the rabbit holes of why we are stepping away from manmade traditions and holidays, but in short, my husband and I simply no longer believe that they are honoring to The Creator. If you celebrate these manmade holidays, that is okay! I am not telling anyone to do what I do, we are just doing what we feel we are called to and what is best for our own family.

My family and I have been on a path to find the actual truth, Yah’s Truth. Man has taken away and added too much for me to be comfortable following any denomination’s doctrine. My goal for my relationship with Yeshuah Messiah is to only seek His Word and throw away all manmade doctrine. I want to ONLY follow what is taught in Yah’s Word (** side note for clarification- I do believe using proper names is important, however, I am still new to it and will probably continue using both. I am trying to be better about using the real names, but at the end of the day, those are hairs I’m not willing to split at this moment in my journey).

When we toss out what man has made of this, it is astonishing to realize just how much we believe that isn’t even in the Bible. There are a ton of deep topics that usually come up with this thought process. And my goal for this blog is not to get that deep, UNLESS someone reaches out to me on a more personal level.

With that said, because of this path we are on, I will mainly be discussing Yah’s Feasts and Sabbath and just good ol’ inspiration. We are still learning these things and what the mean. This year, we kept our first Spring Feasts, and they were so lovely. They truly were a beautiful experience.

Philippians 2:12 tells us that we must each work out our own salvation. It is up to each of us to study this out and find the path we are meant to be on. …and speaking of paths, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. -Matthew 7:13-14 kjv It sounds to me like living a willy-nilly, “do whatever you want” type of life is the broad way, but that’s just me.

Yeshuah (Jesus), Himeself, told us in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

I do not believe our salvation is tied up in commandments and feasts. However, I do believe that Yah’s commandments and His Feasts are the best way to remain obedient and the Feasts are the best way to keep our hearts prepared for the things still yet to come.

May Yahuah keep you and bless you, may He make His face shine upon you!

Family

Hey Yall!

Welcome to my blog! I am Katie, the middle creek mama. I am a stay at home mom of two kiddos. My husband is a project estimator for a construction company. He handles our shenanigans like a champ. We are a Jesus serving, homeschool loving, slightly feral family and we are so glad you stopped by our blog! We aren’t quite a homesteading family, but we hold a lot of the same values near to our hearts. We have critters all over the place and keep our family fed with elk and deer. We value food preservation and homemade meals. We believe in working hard. We try to live as healthy and clean as possible. But most importantly, we put God above all else and give Him all the glory.

So what is Middle Creek? Middle Creek is the creek which flows through our land on which we plan to build our future home. We have been kicking ideas around for a couple of years now and we think we are now in a position to start that transition.

As time goes on, I hope to fill this blog with homeschool advice and encouragement, cooking recipes, Bible encouragement and studies, backyard critter info, and I hope to share the process of building our place up at Middle Creek along the way.

Thanks for joining us!

2022 Deer Harvest