Celebrating darkness

Halloween jack-o-lanterns (pixabay.com)

TODAY’S SPECIAL: John 8:31-47

TO CHEW ON: “‘And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” John 8:32

Today is Halloween. Tonight children dressed up in all kinds of costumes, cute to ghoulish, will knock on doors and expect us to toss candy into their plastic jack-o-lanterns or pillow cases. It’s a lot of fun for the kids. Many consider it the highlight celebration of the year.

Halloween’s roots are not quit as innocent. The Samhain holiday observed by the Celts on this day was a time that spirits of those who had died in the last year were believed to roam. People offered food and drink to ward off these spirits.

When the Romans conquered Britain, the holiday morphed into a harvest celebration honouring the fruit tree goddess Pamona. During the Middle Ages, the day—though officially abandoned—took on religious overtones linked to the Christian belief in evil spirits (info from The Christian Almanac by George Grant & Gregory Wilbur, p. 639).

The modern celebration seems to get bigger each year with store displays for Halloween set up earlier and targeting a wider age range. Though it is mostly lighthearted and fun for the children, the creatures associated with it—skeletons, witches, ghosts, vampires, werewolves etc.—honor death, fear, the occult, the paranormal.

Because of the above, I have always felt uneasy about celebrating Halloween. It seemed contradictory to me to honor forces and beings of darkness when I claimed to belong to the creator and bringer of light. A friend of mine who works in the deliverance ministry recently asked for more prayer covering because she deals with a lot of deep and real darkness rooted in occult involvement.

And so this Halloween day, let’s focus on Jesus who said earlier in John 8: "'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life'" - John 8:12,   “'I am the way, the truth and the life'” - John 14:6 and “'You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.'” - John 8:32.


PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for defeating all the power of the evil one. Your shed blood on the doorposts of my life means he can’t touch me. I pray protection on families, homes and communities tonight when darkness is celebrated as innocent fun. Amen.

MORE: The Vigil for All Saints Day
Some churches celebrate a Vigil for All Saints Day. An article on the Share Faith site describes the vigil and what it means in different denominations:

"All Saints Day begins with a vigil, the observance of which originated with the Antioch Church. The night time hours of All Saints are devoted to prayer and fasting. The Catholic ceremony for the day is a solemn one, and includes the observance of Mass, followed by prayers offered to the Virgin Mary and all the saints. Lutherans and Episcopalians remember the day by giving thanks to God for all saints, living and dead. The Orthodox Churches continue to honor all Christian martyrs on the first Sunday after Pentecost." Read the entire article...

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

How to live free

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 8:23-47

TO CHEW ON: "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'" John 8:31-32

The Bible connects the ability to discern truth with obedience in several places. Paul does it in Romans 1 when he talks about sinful people "who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (or wickedness)" (Romans 1:18). Their refusal to acknowledge God as God and glorify Him (which surely includes obedience), results in foolish darkened hearts and lives that are enslaved to physical lusts, passions and outright rebellion (Romans 1:18-32).

In our focus verse today Jesus states the same idea only coming at it positively, maybe because of the sympathetic crowd ("Those Jews who believed Him"):

"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 

And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

Let's look closely at Jesus' words to see how He connects obedience, to  knowing truth, to freedom.

"If you abide in My word..." Abide (Meno) means to remain as one, not to become another or different. A cross-reference to this verse in my margin is John 14:23-24: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word." The NIV says "If anyone loves Me he will obey My word" (NIV).

"...You are My disciples indeed..." Disciple (Mathetes) comes from the root "math" which means thought with effort. My Bible defines disciple as "a learner, one who follows both the teaching and the teacher" (Word Wealth, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1307).

"...And you shall know the truth..." Know (Ginosko ) means to perceive, understand, recognize, gain knowledge, realize, come to know. "Ginosko is the knowledge that has inception, a progress and an attainment. It is the recognition of truth by personal experience" (Word Wealth - New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1459).

"...and the truth shall make you free." Made free (Eleuthero) means to make free; set at liberty from the dominion of sin.

What does this mean for you and me? We could say that obedience to God and what He tells us of His will in the Bible is key to us being  disciples and to understanding truth in a way that is only possible once we've actually lived it. Oswald Chambers expresses the connection between obedience and understanding truth so well:

"The golden rule for understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience. If a man wants scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity is his guide; but if he wants insight into what Jesus Christ teaches, he can only get it by obedience. If things are dark to me, then I may be sure there is something I will not do. Intellectual darkness comes through ignorance; spiritual darkness comes because of something I do not intend to obey."

- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 27th reading (emphasis added).

A corollary of living this way is that I'm set free from sin being the boss in my life. Ironic, isn't it, that freedom comes through putting oneself under the will of Another.

It sounds great in theory... now to consistently put it into practice!

PRAYER: Dear God, I want to live free. Help me to identify where I am still in bondage because of disobedience that keeps me blind to the truth about You and myself. Amen.

MORE: Halloween

Today is Halloween. It is a secular holiday that has sacred roots. It is still listed in the Lectionary as a holy day: Vigil of All Saints.

An All Saints Vigil Liturgy (found on an ecumenical liturgy site) includes a renewal of Baptism. The leader begins that part of the service with the invitation: "I invite you (to stand) to affirm your commitment to Christ and your rejection of all that is evil."

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.