It's just HALLOWEEN...or is it?

If you follow Christian social media, the hot topic of the day is Halloween. I’m disheartened at the Christian comments following posts that speak out about the holiday, scary movies, and the general demonic nature of entertainment these days.

Don’t get me wrong, I get it and was firmly planted in that camp for a long, looooong time. “It’s entertainment, why are you freaking out about it?” “It’s not real, I think I can distinguish between reality and fantasy.” “That’s a bit fanatical, don’t you think?”

So let me tell you a story. You’ve heard parts of it through this blog, but let me fill in the blanks.

Several months ago, our oldest son left our home and refused to return. It was ugly – he and I had a horrible argument that went way too far, so it was easy to blame the argument for the actions, but he had spent weeks saying he was uncomfortable at home.  I was devastated over the breakdown of our relationship. I was focused on the personal aspects and never once considered the spiritual things that might be at work. It was during this time that God began to open my eyes to the way the enemy operates in this world, and he began honing my spiritual discernment. You can read the post “Define Crazy” for a small picture of how open my eyes became.

A few months later, our younger two (both teenagers) sat in our living room and told us the most hurtful things, including they didn’t want to be in our home anymore. We were broken. Our family was falling apart; our children were separating from us. It didn’t make sense – things were fine, and then things were completely broken – and outside of that one argument that came out of the blue, nothing had changed.

For about a week, we lived in devastation. We talked constantly about what happened and how to fix it. I was reading a book one day when it hit me…this was not normal because this was spiritual.

I asked my oldest son to dinner. We’ve always been open with each other, and I had questions I needed to ask – the first one being, tell me exactly when you started feeling uncomfortable and what changed? Nothing. He didn’t know. He was fine, he left one week, and when he came back it wasn’t fine anymore. My son knows Jesus – but as a typical teenager he’s toeing the line of rebellion right now. I believe he’s gifted to be a powerful advocate for Christ, and I believe that is why the enemy is working incredibly hard right now to separate him from what he knows. Rather than hide the truth from him, I decided to be incredibly open and process through it with him. So I told him – I think demonic spirits have entered our home. I think you felt it before I did, and I think that’s why you were uncomfortable. And then I held my breath.

He looked me dead in the eyes and said he agreed. He began to tell me things like- I had sleep paralysis at your house; I’ve never experienced that before, and it was terrifying. The spiritual energy in our home had changed, and we weren’t tapped into the spiritual tenor of our home so we didn’t notice. But he did.

I began to tell him what I had been learning, that I had been clearing our house of anything that might be opening a door for the enemy to enter, and I had been praying fervently over our home. And I asked him to come back. I wish I could say he agreed immediately, but the damage created is real and it’s taking us time to work through it…at least we’re speaking again. My husband and I went to war to take back our home. I prayed over every room. We claimed our authority in Jesus, and demanded anything not of Christ in our home to leave. Are things magically perfect? No. But the rebellion in our home has settled down, the attitudes of our children, and us, improved drastically, and we are far more aware of the intangibles in our home than we were before.

We believe, falsely, that because we’re believers in Christ we’re protected from the enemy. That would be true if we didn’t spend our time opening doors to give him legal ground to come into our lives. If you aren’t aware of the story of Job, now would be a good time to get familiar. Satan is known as the accuser – who do you think he’s accusing? Us. He is standing before God asking him for permission to sift us like wheat (Luke 22:31). He accuses us of blasphemy and rebellion. He’s the first to go to God and point out every mistake we have made that we failed to repent from…and when he’s right, he gains legal access to our lives and homes. You’re living in this world watching what you can see and ignoring the spiritual warfare going on around you. As a Christian, you weren’t called to Him to be saved and protected and live obliviously in the world until He comes – you were called to battle with the heavenlies “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Let me come back to what started this discussion. What you watch in your home opens doors – to your home, to your children, to you. That innocent entertainment isn’t so innocent. You have to realize that the more the enemy can desensitize us to things like witchcraft, murder, horror and demons, the less likely we are to recognize the real spiritual warfare happening in our environment. Shows like Stranger Things and Hocus Pocus 2 turn demons, witchcraft and blasphemy into entertainment – which means you’re less likely to be offended by it when you’re exposed to it in the real world.

Do you want to tell me now that Hocus Pocus 2 is a children’s movie and shouldn’t be included? “A young Winifred takes delight in the fact that she took the Lord’s name in vain twice. We hear nearly 15 other misuses of God’s name. In one scene, Puritans are scandalized by these outbursts…Someone exclaims “Holy Lucifer!” (www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/hocus-pocus-2-2022/) Sure, it’s couched in a story of friends protecting each other, reconciling, and working together…but you cannot tell me that a storyline with a foundation based in occult practices, that openly blasphemes God, isn’t going to desensitize popular culture to the enemy. 

Spiritual warfare is real. Demons are real. The occult is real (and they know exactly what is happening in the spiritual realm.) The fact that you believe in Jesus is not enough to protect you from doors you choose to open. Can you watch that movie and still be a Christian? That’s between you and God. But I do know that you cannot choose to stand with one foot in Jesus and one foot in the world. It’s time for us to wake up to what is really going on…and it’s time for you to decide whose side you’ll stand on.

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. – Revelation 3:15-16