I dare say, and my heart mourns, I firmly believe the great majority of professing Christians could have this said of them:

“Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:12, 13

Remember, when Jesus spoke the prophetic words of Matthew 7:21-23, it was aimed at those who claim to know Him; furthermore, He means it!

My hope and prayer for you this year is that you would take that time and energy you use to look just like the world, but with a “christian” twist to it, to effectively show your children (especially you fathers) the attributes of God, the realities of what God declares (biblically) to be good and what He declares to be sin, the truth about holidays, the propitiation, love, grace and mercies of Christ. Think about this, why would your children ever want to follow Christ when they are older when you (if your a parent) have spent the majority of their younger years imposing little lies here and there? Why would they ever believe your professions and teaching about God when in the small things you could not be trusted? Do not be deceived, light has nothing to do with darkness and roots of wickedness.

Rise up men, lead your households! Don’t let a foothold for Satan enter near your children. I wonder just how many believers really understands the spiritual warfare we are in? We need to be about the killing of our sin – all sins (Romans 8:13). Just because someone has placed a “christian” tag across a secular practice does not mean we swallow it down to appease our flesh.

“Because the Christian is not his own but bought with a price, he is to aim at glorifying God in every relation… Next to the church of God, his own home should be the sphere of his most manifest devotion to Christ.” – A.W. Pink

I tell my children all the time, our profession of faith means very little compared to Christ’s profession to us. For we must use discernment, wisdom, weigh everything we do in comparison to the full word of God, otherwise we are best not to consider ourselves Christians. Does this mean we are perfect? No. But we can not use this as our excuse to do whatever our wicked heart (Jeremiah 17:9) desires. Either God’s word is sufficient (2 Timothy 3:16-17), or it is not. Grace is not an excuse to indulge ourselves and minimize the truth. Choose who you will serve.

And beware, just because another professing Christian takes part in a certain activity does not mean we use them as the final authoritative reason to take part ourselves. I know many people who smoke a cigar and I do not judge them. Is it best for them, no; but do I judge them, no. They are always quick to point out that Spurgeon did the same thing. But last I knew, Spurgeon was a man like me and definitely not the final authority. I like to listen to classical music sometimes when I study Scripture (not always) and so did Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, so because he did is it right for me, especially since so much of the music is definitely not what I would call godly? I am not trying to make anything that I am convicted of (James 4:17) your conviction, but what I am trying to say is this, is there something better than exposing our children to pagan traditions? Yes. In the end, I will give an account to God of what I have done. As Ravenhill said, (paraphrased) “Do you actually think that when we get to heaven God will say, Ravenhill, you were much to serious and zealous for My name.”?

May the Lord have continued mercy and patience with our lack of understanding, lack of applying His Word, lack of piety and lack of having a holy resolve. May He take us further and further into His grace – His powerful grace that is true and does not leave us as we are, but convicts and transforms us more into the image of Christ Jesus (Titus 2:11-14; [Foothills of True Grace]).

“To my children, never accept any form of religion that is dead to God, not true to Christ, and blasphemies the Holy Spirit. Live with a burning passion for the glory of God, a truly humble walk with Christ, and these under the conviction and power of the Holy Spirit. The style of your life must have reality marks for Jesus upon your body, upon your conscious, and upon your soul. Stay clear of those who merely make a verbal profession to the faith and yet deny the weightier matters such as, obedience, sacrifice, and piety.” (Realities of a True Christian, pg. V.)

Resource Helps

Check out what John Ramirez, a former Satanist, has to say about Halloween.

“I am shocked Christians celebrate Halloween.” – John Ramirez

Warning about Halloween / Testimony / John’s Book FREE / Amazon

Since Halloween is upon us, this book will be so very helpful to many of you.