PROVERBS 22:4-6: “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.

Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward (peevish, disobedient): he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.“

Fear of the Lord being total reverence to his holiness humility being the willingness to submit to his lordship and trust his word for lives.

Not being harpy, arrogant, and disobedient to his word because we are trying to convince ourselves that we know better than he does.

The passage tells us that when we trust God and consider our souls and the souls of others, we keep ourselves from those snares and traps laid by the enemy, traps that the cynical and contrary find themselves in, often much too late.

Children are taught by the actions of their parents and caregivers, actions speak louder than words and it is not the words spoken that often carry the most lasting impact it is the permissible behaviors.

The modern church has fallen, has fallen like the sound of the angel proclaiming the fall of Babylon, falling into the trap of “modernization” and church “growth” and being “accepting” to the point that it is no longer recognizable as a church of the true God but rather a nice meeting place for those who want to live what they believe to be a moral lifestyle.

Having fallen into that trap, many are now running the risk of truly becoming snared and snaring the souls of future generations that have been entrusted to their care and teaching.

I have hit the candy coats and the money preachers and it is now time to have a long talk about mingling paganism and traditions of men with worship and service to God.

I truly understand pastors wanting to grow their flocks and wanting to accommodate people.

But God is holy and preachers, pastors, and teachers were never called to make the church fit into the world, quite the opposite.

We are called to invite the world to repent and come into a relationship with God completely unlike anything this world has to offer.

It seems over the last few years that the church has drifted farther and farther from the true path, many churches choosing not have services on Christmas Eve or Christmas.

Superbowl parties, and the most insidious, year after year, Halloween is more embraced, from trunk or treats to now the option for children to wear their costumes to church.

Seriously? A kid dressed as a witch in a church house and they are expected to differentiate between good and evil when they become adults?

Reminds me of one of the coolest things I heard a pastor say once, a lady had came into the end of a church service angry at her own church over an election of all things. She was eager to share her grievances and invite herself to be a member of that church, the pastor let her finish and he politely, calmly replied, “We will pray for you, but you cannot bring that into our church.”

He responded exactly as a shepherd should.

He sympathized with her emotions but would not allow his flock to be subjected to her anger and opinions.

When we embrace the occult and paganism we are playing with the devil and those are actions that must be denounced, repented of, and put away forever.

It is impossible to be a Christian and play with the occult.

When it comes to the occult it is also impossible to play dress up, it is still alluding praise and idolatry to a pagan being(demonic) or practice.

The argument that it is all in fun doesn’t get it either, there are many other activities that churches could have on days that are not the sabbath and are not rooted in the satanic, there is nothing fun about the devil, death, or sorcery, it all leads to destruction, possession, and hell.

And that should not even have to be said.

DEUTERONOMY 18:9-13: ” And when thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

For all that do these things are an abomination to the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out before thee.

Thou shalt be perfect (blameless) with the LORD thy God.”

God clearly expressing himself here, the sorcery, witchery, divination, in all its forms is an abomination to him, he detests it.

The nations before had given themselves over bit by bit to paganistic practices that they eventually reached to the point that they burned their children alive in sacrifice to pagan demons.

God warned his people to stay blameless by not following that same behavior.

Our society has become indoctrinated with the nonsense of good magic and it is nonsense, there is no such thing.

It is not good, it will never be good because it does not come form the only one who is good.

Terming it white is only part of the bigger deception that does the trapping and then the destruction and possession are the eventual snare.

If people knew the truth behind the boards, the balls, and the physics most would run in the opposite direction.

Once doors are opened to the occult, there are no paranormal hunters, as they like to call themselves or any other human that can close them.

Only the true power of God can break the yoke of that bondage and often by the time someone becomes aware of that their lives are ruined, no one can invite the devil into their lives and expect him to willingly leave.

Now, bearing all that in mind, why would a God who gave us these instructions in his word allow pagan costumes in a church service?

And yeah, I know that kids dress up as Queen Ester for Purim but Purim is not Halloween.

Celebrating the day is honoring that day.

If we have to constantly find loopholes and excuses to make allowances, we are not steadfast in our faith and really need to take spiritual inventory as to where we stand eternally.

When we say that we are followers of Christ, we must truly follow Christ to the best of our abilities and what people to do on their own time is between them and God, but to bring these things into his house is no different than those who were rebuked by Jesus.

MARK 11: 15-17: ” And they came into Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;

And would not suffer (permit) that any man should (would) carry any vessel through the temple.

And he taught them, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves.” 

When we make concession for anything other than the word and service of God in our church services, we are preparing that same den.

Anyone ever question the custom of dressing kids up and sending them out for treats?

Why treats, why not Homework or Tricks, Chores or Tricks, Swab the Deck or Tricks?

Because no one would go for that, just as this is indoctrination, come to the dark side and your rewards await, that is essentially what is being expressed.

Celebrate the macabre, the devilish, and the dead, dress in likeness to impress, and be rewarded for your participation.

Once you bring that into a church, what is really being taught?

It teaches that there are no rules in God’s house, that we are not required to reverence his house by following his rule that we are not have any fellowship with darkness and that paganism can be mixed with Christianity, and not only will we mix mix it, we will bring it for a visit!

Church is for instruction and worship, it is not a country club or community center and if a pastor feels that he or she must work the world into the congregation to keep that congregation, it may just be time to rethink the desicion to be a pastor.

JOHN 4:24: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

We are living in the last days and if we truly want to see salvations then we must seek the old paths as we are taught in his word. There is only one path, it is referred to as old, because we have tried to make our own new ones.

God does not change, his word does not change, his thoughts and expressed commands do not change, yet we continue to try to change them to fit our world, it is time to repent and return to holiness.

If we allow churches to be mingled with paganism it is no longer a church and if we continue to send mixed messages to those around us and our children concerning true worship, we will be held responsible for those actions as God has entrusted us with their care.

Φλογιζω NBJ 2026/ Rev. N Brown Johnson