A few years ago, we noticed an alarming trend in “reality TV.” It seems like when another level of competition is reached, the emphasis should be on the winners and what they did right. The focus should be on giving them the honor and glory due them. Instead, after the unveiling of the results, even the cooking shows followed instead the losers, watching them walk dejectedly out and interviewing them afterward.

“How do you feel?”

“Are you disappointed?”

“What will your family think?”

“How will this affect your business?”

Question after question, zeroing in on and exposing their sadness, their disappointment, their pain. What was that about? Where were the winners?

As we thought about it, another form of entertainment, in another century, came to mind. It was like the Roman Colosseum. The gladiators fought until one was incapacitated. The winner looked up to the Caesar as the crowd went wild, “Kill him! Slay him!” or occasionally, “Spare him!” Finally Caesar would respond - thumbs up or thumbs down – and if down, the defeated gladiator would be slain as the crowd jeered.

Or, worse yet, as the Empire rotted from within, unarmed people, even women and children, would be cast into the arena to devoured by wild beasts. This was considered entertainment and a spectacle for the crowd. Their sinful hearts would enjoy the vicarious thrill of the terror of the victims.

We began to wonder if we are seeing our own culture turning in that unhealthy direction. Instead of leading our own lives and coping with fear, enjoying victory, enduring sadness all our own, we (as a culture) increasingly spend our free time watching other people pretend to have a life for our enjoyment. Just as lust is never satisfied, vicarious emotion isn’t either, requiring an increasingly real experience and increasingly shocking peaks of emotion. So we move from situation comedies and real-life dramas to reality television which is becoming more and more raw, more and more focused on sin and emotion.

This was brought to the fore today by an article on last night’s Super Bowl. We watched it with our extended family and we cheered for the Giants, mainly because none of our favorite teams had been playing and Tom Brady’s recent remarks after their win over the Broncos were cocky and offensive. When I saw an article headlined, “Tom Brady in postgame daze of disappointment after another Super Bowl loss to the Giants” I thought, “What? Why an article about the losers?” When I opened it up and read it, it was even worse than I expected. It seemed written to make sure we could peer into and dissect every moment of misery Tom Brady was feeling. It was almost emotionally indecent, in the way photos can be indecent. Leave the guy some privacy. Give him a little dignity. And I don’t even like him.

Let’s watch out for this. Let’s avoid the temptation to leave the realities of our own lives behind and life vicariously through others. Live your own life, folks!

As I listen to the comments following the State of the Union, the latest debates and the primary voting, there is a lot of harsh rhetoric being hurled around. Last night one of my sons read someone’s comment online, that if Candidate X wasn’t the nominee, he simply wouldn’t vote in November, because there wasn’t a bit of difference between Candidates A, B, C, or Incumbent D.

Really? No difference? None whatsoever? Not in their experience, their policy positions, their personalities, their family life?

It struck me that Jesus had warned, “I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” (Matthew 12:36)

And I thought, You know, I wouldn’t want to try to convince the Lord that that comment was an honest, objective statement to make.

This is what someone dubbed “the silly season,” the time for political grandstanding. It’s like the early stages of the playoffs in stadium sports – everyone is encouraged to pick a favorite and cheer for their hometown celebrity and all that. Most of us guys understand the trash talk and ribbing before and after the game are just the spectators’ share of the competition. All in good fun. Hating the Yankees is a family tradition and all that. Dad went to State so of course we boo for Tech, and so on.

But there is a serious difference in politics, and I’m not talking about the serious aspect of choosing leaders and lawmakers. In sports, you’re cheering or jeering for an institution, the “team.” In a campaign, you’re talking about individual men and women. That’s when you have to beware of blasphemy.

Huh?

It’s just this: When Paul wrote to his associate Titus on the island of Crete, he said,

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

Titus 3:1-2

That term “to speak evil” is the Greek word blasphemeo – “to blaspheme.”  If you consider that the New Testament applies this word to men and angels as well as to God, it means something broader than dishonoring the divine majesty. Compare the other verses where it appears, and you realize that blasphemy means to make a railing accusation that impugns somebody’s reputation – even if he deserves it.

Blaspheming God means you deny His holiness and take away the worship He is due; you falsely accuse Him of being less than He is. Blaspheming a man means you assassinate his character.  It’s the difference between saying a man is acting foolish and saying he’s a fool.

That’s why this conservative Republican turns off some talk radio commentary he otherwise agrees with – because I am tired of slander which parades as analysis. And it’s not a one-sided problem, it comes from all directions of the political compass.

As we pursue the privilege of choosing our own leadership this year, we ought to remember those warnings. There is a real need to consider the character and actions of men and women who want the honor of governing our country. There is a godly and constructive way to compare and contrast the alternatives – at times, to criticize them sharply or even ridicule them (think of Elijah).  But there is a limit, and past that line, we’re blaspheming – and we will give account for it one day.

“Who will be driving you home?”

Our 16 year old had brought me because they hadn’t mentioned someone 18 or older would need to sign the discharge paperwork, so he’d headed home.

“I don’t know. My son went to trade with one of his older brothers.”

The nurse seemed non-plussed, “How many children do you have?”

“Eight and they are all home! We are having a wonderful time. That’s why I don’t know who will come.”

Quite often when we share that we have eight children, folks at first feel sorry for me, though I soon disabuse them of that notion, then worry about the world, “But, what about overpopulation?” so I was delighted to see the topic of the Jeub Family’s blog post today, Global Problems Concerning Fertility. The Jeub Family blog is one of the very few that I have on rss feed and regularly read. It’s worth it.

My background is in the hard sciences, so I have been very interested to see how very far the popular conception of issues like global warming and overpopulation differs from the science available. Today the Jeubs link to and discuss a fascinating and timely article by Mark Steyn, Elizabeth’s Barrenness and Ours. If you have any concerns at all about whether you ought to listen to that still small voice encouraging you to welcome another child, you need to read this article! If you have ever asked a large family, “Well, what about overpopulation?” you need to read this article. If you think I’m crazy, you really need to read this article!

I love the sciences. One thing I have found, though, is that contrary to the post-modern constructivists, truth is not what the current community of scientists agree that it is. If it were, why did the new Ice Age we were threatened with in the 70s so readily morph into the Global Warming of the 2000s? Instead scientists “see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.” Our tools are imperfect, as we are, so our science is only our best understanding of the moment. And our understanding of overpopulation is drastically misunderstood by the majority. Check out Overpopulation is a Myth for short, fun videos explaining the science. Unfortunately much of what we “understand” by listening to the mainstream media is more sensational than science.

How much more reliable is the Word of God that never changes? So, we read “the lack of  people is the downfall of a prince,” and we see it happening around us. We hear,

³ Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
⁵ Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

and believe it and act on it and see it proved true. God’s Word is like that.

“Wonderful, that is just what we love to do.”

Our homeschool history club advisor was glad when the organizers of our town’s tree lighting ceremony finally called. It was someone different this year and we needed to know how long they wanted us to sing. For years, our group had gone caroling in historical costume to the businesses downtown, ending up at the Tree Lighting where we sang favorite Christ-honoring carols. It was a nice contrast to the groups from the local public schools that sang bland and irrelevant songs, like “Winter Nights, Winter Lights,” as if a mention that the lights were actually about celebrating Christmas would cause a Constitutional crisis.

“Do you have any favorites you’d like us to do? “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”? “Joy to the World”?” our dear advisor asked.

“Huh? No, we wanted you to sing traditional carols! Don’t you know any? You know, like “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.”

We weren’t interested. There were any number of groups that could “celebrate” Christmas without reference to the birth of a Savior.

Has it really come to that? Have we let things slide to the point that Frosty and Rudolph are traditional carols and Joy to the World isn’t? May it never be! Here’s an excerpt from our newly released (which you can download), Christ-Centered Christmas, that shares how we preserve the tradition of trolling ancient carols…

Caroling Parties

Christmas is the only time of year that it is not only socially acceptable, but considered a gift to knock on stranger’s doors and sing hymns full of gospel truth to them! We don’t want this tradition to ever die out, so every year we invite like minded families to come caroling with us.

We invite a few families to come each time just after supper and we meet in our front yard so folks don’t have to remove their wraps. We try to have hymnals or the words to the carols we plan to sing copied for everyone. We walk around the neighborhood, knocking wherever we see lights. When people come to the door, we just begin singing. We do sing more than one verse of the carols because it’s often the middle verses that contain the most truth! We keep it to one or two carols per house, though, unless they seem really excited about us singing more. We end with “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and shout, “Merry Christmas!” and leave.

What a blessing to be able to share the words of life with our neighbors so easily! When our voices give out, we return to our house for refreshments. We usually put on a spread like we do for Christmas Eve, but perhaps a little lighter, since folks have already had supper. This is one of our favorite times of the season!

Our local homeschool history club goes caroling downtown every year in historical costumes. Our whole town looks forward to it and talks about it. The past several years, they’ve been asked to do it on the eve of the town’s Christmas tree lighting and to come early and sing at the town’s ceremony and to perform at the Festival of Trees. What a delight to fill the air with praises to our Savior and in the form of songs that people associate with joy and happiness.

Take a look at those old Christmas hymns and read the words of those middle verses. What a privilege to share that with the world!

To find out more about Christ-Centered Christmas: The Ultimate Guide to Celebrating a Christmas Your Family Will Never Forget, click here, or just order below.

The Alamo, 1854

When the outnumbered defenders of the Alamo refused the Mexicans’ demand to surrender, General Santa Anna ordered his buglers to play “El Deguello” – a call meaning “no quarter”, a signal that no prisoners would be taken, and anyone surviving the assault would be put to the sword. As everyone knows, that’s precisely what happened – the entire garrison was killed in the battle or executed afterward, with the possible exception of a woman and a servant who were spared. A second and even more ruthless massacre followed at Goliad.

Fall of the Alamo

I was working on an audiobook dramatization of the story and searched in vain for a useable recording of “El Deguello.” There are plenty of American bugle calls in the public domain, but I thought it was indicative that the American military has no need of such a command. It’s been said of the U.S. Marines, for instance, that there is no worse enemy—and no greater friend—to those they encounter. That character of fair play and mercy are characteristic of our troops.

It is true that in the heat of conflict, sometimes passions run over. When the British dragoons under Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton bayoneted American prisoners and wounded at the Waxhaws during the Revolution, it came back on their comrades a few months later. As the Carolina backwoodsmen surrounded British Major Patrick Ferguson’s men atop Kings Mountain, the battle climaxed with spontaneous cries of “Tarleton’s Quarter!” – meaning, the American militia didn’t intend to stop, either. To their credit, the patriot commanders rushed to restrain their men and were mostly successful. But the desire to punish brutality of Tarleton’s sort runs deep in righteous men … and that’s a far cry from the cold-blooded orders of a Santa Anna.

Checkpoint Charlie

When I briefly lived in Germany during the 1980’s, there were marches and protests against America in West Berlin, Frankfurt, and Bonn, over U.S. plans to deploy certain new weapon systems in Europe. Where I was staying, though, we were just a few miles from the border with Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia. There, even we American college students were wildly popular with older Germans, who welcomed us into their homes and paid our bills in the local inns. See, they were thankful: many of them and their  parents had rushed into the advancing American troops rather than risk the mercies of Stalin’s Red Army approaching from the east. They recognized that occupation, or even capture and imprisonment, under the U.S. Army would be tempered with that quality – mercy.

General George C. Marshall

It does make you think. What other nation has spent billions in dollars and thousands of lives to grind a vicious dictatorship to dust, as we have done several times the past century, and then turned and invested still more to rebuild and restore the survivors of our former enemies? Our “nation building” activities in Iraq and Afghanistan are under criticism right now, and there is certainly room for debate, but who remembers the Marshall Plan? The Berlin Airlift? Who rebuilt post-war Japan? It was Americans, the victors, and our generals led each of those efforts. (True, George Marshall was Secretary of State by that time in 1948, but as Chief of Staff he was General Eisenhower’s superior until August of ’45).

It’s easy to forget sometimes that with the strength of a great nation, or a great army, or a great man, the call is not for revenge but restraint. There is a time to exert great and even overwhelming power to protect the weak and turn back evil – our national anthem says, “Then conquer we must, When our cause it is just” – but it must be conditioned by justice and the desire to reconcile when that becomes possible.

The anthem continues, “And this be our motto: In God Is Our Trust”  That last bit makes the difference.  Jesus said we are to “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36)—and that Father says of Himself, “I am merciful … I will not be angry forever.”(Jeremiah 3:12)

Today, Veteran’s Day, as we express our thanks to our soldiers, sailors and airmen of all ranks and ages, let’s take a minute to point out to our sons than along with their courage, discipline, self-sacrifice, and honor, there is a strong tradition of mercy—proving that it is a sign of strength and not weakness, flying in formation with all these other virtues.

Hal & Melanie

You can hear the complete stories of Kings Mountain and the Alamo in Hal’s dramatic audiobook rendering of
Hero Tales from American History
by Theodore Roosevelt & Henry Cabot Lodge

This post originally published at The M.O.B. Society blog.

Scripture quoted from the English Standard Version.

Joe Paterno spent 46 years coaching football at Penn State University. Last night, the Board of Trustees told him no, you can’t retire in six or eight weeks. You’re fired, as of now.

And he’s not the perpetrator.

Joe’s problem really stems from a former assistant’s decision to disregard a very simple rule many years ago. You can put it in words of a few syllables:

Only do sexual things with your wife.

Very, very simple. It works for old men, it works for single guys, it works for fraternity brothers and teenage jocks and young boys with squeaky voices.

Is that girlfriend your wife? No.

Is that other man your wife? No.

Is that child, that animal, that object, your wife? No.

Are you your own wife? No, you neither.

Then you don’t do sexual things with them. Only do sexual things with your wife.

Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged November 5 with 40 criminal counts, including sexual assault, against boys as young as 11. Reading about it is nauseating. It’s revolting stuff that doesn’t bear repeating, except to say this is not a case of suspicion or testimony by children or other things which arise in abuse allegations. Sandusky was seen by different adult witnesses on separate occasions, performing sexual acts with children in the Penn State locker rooms. It’s not about unwelcome hugs. It’s stuff that got people stoned to death in the Old Testament.

There are a million words coming on this story. Reading them will be like swimming through a sewer with your eyes open. The fact is this man’s perverse desires will put him in prison, where he is likely to experience some abuse from the victim’s perspective. Who can say what he’s done to the lives of these eight boys?  He’s wrecked his own life, too. But the results of his lust have now ended the career of head coach Joe Paterno and the 16-year tenure of university president Graham Spanier. Athletic director Tim Curley and university vice president for finance and business, Gary Schultz, were also arrested November 5 and charged with perjury for their handling of the investigation.

I’m sure that Sandusky never expected to bring down the careers of Paterno and three other men in dishonor and criminal charges. He never imagined he would crush his own family and the wives and children of his colleagues in shame. He never thought his shower-time meetings with boys in his mentoring program would be national headlines.

But I’m sure at some time in the long distant past, Sandusky reached a fork in the road and had to make a decision – do I look at that image, or do I indulge that thought, or follow that fantasy in my mind’s eye … or not? When you reach those intersections, the answer should be, Whoa—Don’t go there. Then you change channels, or get out of the shower, or go for a walk or something. Take the other road.

Sandusky, at some crucial moment which he probably never recognized—probably none of us know at the time when those critical points are reached—at some point, he said to himself, It’s not real. It won’t hurt anyone. And no one will ever know. And from that moment on, he was on a downward road.

He didn’t wake up one morning and decide, out of the blue, Hmm … I think I’ll commit a felony against a child today. Even the crimes that were witnessed show a pattern of progression. It was the fruit of years of small steps on a path he chose to follow. Somewhere, he gave himself permission to take that path.

Oh, there is one other small principle which might have helped him. Jesus taught that God sees the thoughts and intentions of our hearts just like men see the direction and result of our actions. Murder is wrong, and men judge it, He says, but God puts His finger on the unbridled anger which is foundation to the murderous impulse. [1]

Likewise, the act of adultery is sin. So is the longing for it, Jesus says, because even indulging the wish is counted as the sin. [2] Adultery, and all sexual sin, doesn’t start in the bedroom; it starts in the heart, in the imagination, and God says No, don’t go there. Thoughts matter.

Two simple rules, words of just a few syllables. Thoughts matter. Only do sexual things with your wife. Sandusky disregarded them, chose a different path, and here he is now. Could we be near a crossroad in our own lives today? Could our sons?

No matter how fast you flip the dial on the car radio, it’s going to be hard to avoid your children hearing about this. Teens have probably already heard. Sports news travels fast. Maybe we should take this opportunity to talk with our teen and pre-teen sons about the far-reaching consequences of lust, about the importance of coming to an authority when something just doesn’t feel right, and about the huge lie Satan tempts us with, “No one will ever know.”

On the contrary, the events in State College this week demonstrate Paul’s warning, Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. [3] Or Jesus’, “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” [4]

=====
(c) 2011 by Hal and Melanie Young.

Concerned about the images your family may be exposed to? For accountability and filtering, we recommend Covenant Eyes –CLICK HERE for a free 3o-day trial

Wonder where to start when talking to your sons about purity? Listen to our workshop “Shining Armor: Your Son’s Battle for Purity”. Order below or  CLICK HERE to order and check out our other great resources.

=====
Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version.

[1] Matthew 5:21-22
[2] Matthew 5:27-28
[3] Galatians 6:7
[4] Luke 12:2]

Add items to cart, then click check out in the shopping cart in the left sidebar.

But there is a practical question, quite apart from the trick-or-treat and bags-of-candy aspect. If you leave aside the more grown-up temptation to put don a mask and do anonymous mischief, what prompts our kids and particularly our boys to choose certain types of costumes and identities to put on?

“I think I know,” I said, moving into the turn lane. “I wondered the same thing about grown men wearing a hat with a superhero logo on it, and it’s the same as wearing an NFL jersey. Boys, and men, want respect. They want to be associated with the concept of strength, power, and capability, and if they can’t get respect, they’ll settle for being feared.

“I think the spooky costumes are a way of saying, ‘I’m not afraid of ghosts, but you should be afraid of me—Boo!’”

Working along that line of thought, I realized it has some interesting implications in how we parent our boys.

For one thing, how should we respond to that craving for respect in a boy? First, it’s our sons’ duty to learn obedience toward God-ordained authority. Jesus was the Son of God, but as a young man He submitted Himself to being governed by human parents: “And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them … and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man,” the Gospel of Luke says of the twelve-year-old Jesus (2:51-52). Our sons do need to recognize that they have a place, and it’s not one of equality with their parents.

But even while we do that, we the parents can recognize his desire to be respected, even at a young age. Some people laugh about the “fragile male ego,” but it’s not really a laughing matter. A great deal of a man’s self-identity is wrapped up in his reputation. A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches (Proverbs 22:1).

As a practical matter, we try to be careful how we speak to our sons, especially in front of others—even family members. They need correction and even discipline from time to time—if you are left without discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not sons (Hebrews 12:8)—but as much as possible, we try to administer the correction in private. And when we need to just give them verbal direction, we try not to belittle them. Someone said that a small dog is just as big inside as a big one; I think it applies to boys in some ways, too.

That desire to be associated with strong examples is not a bad thing. Paul tells believers to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14) and to “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1 and several other places). So we try to get our boys really good examples to follow. The world and its media recognizes brute strength and the force of will; do your sons have examples of manly gentleness, humility, duty, and moral as well as physical courage?

This time of year, coincidentally, is the birthday of the Reformation. We always take time to talk about Martin Luther and his willingness to lay down his life for the sake of truth. “My conscience is captive to the Word of God,” he told the Emperor, “and to go against conscience is neither right nor safe … I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand; I can do no other; God help me.” There’s a great B&W movie about him that we’ve probably watched twenty times. (You can also get it streaming on Netflix.)

Another example, not so famous, is the American historian Francis Parkman. He had to overcome incredible, painful illness and disability, to carry out his scholarly work documenting the history of the early American West. Theodore Roosevelt, a man of great character himself, dedicated one of his books to Parkman, and tells his story in Hero Tales from American History, a change from the stories of explorers and soldiers. Roosevelt also talked about John Quincy Adams’ long fight against slavery, serving as a Congressmen after he finished his term as president. (You can hear both of these stories on part 3 of our Hero Tales audiobook – see below!)

So as you see the little goblins in the streets this week, take a minute and think about the children underneath the masks. What are they thinking (besides “Who’s got the best candy,” I mean)? Are they looking for someone to follow? Or making a statement about what they’d like to be? Those can be some very interesting openings for you to follow up as a parent.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR HEROES?  THESE RESOURCES CAN HELP!

Where Is Roy Rogers When You Need Him?  is our workshop about our boys’ need for heroes and role models, and ideas about where to find them. $5 on CD, or $4 for mp3 download.

NEW! Hero Tales from American History – Part 3

The next volume of our popular audiobook series from the book by Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge. Hear the dramatized stories of the backwoods general who beat the British army – a former president’s fight against slavery – the suffering scholar of the American West – and the opening battles of the War Between The States!  Introductory price only $5 (Regular price $7) To be released in November!

Or you can order the whole set – from the birth of George Washington to the War Between the States – for just $15 (Save $6 and get free shipping, too!)

Read Part One here and Part Three here of our thoughts on the season.

 She wasn’t talking about little girls dressed like ballerinas and fairies, but folks of any age play-acting the monster variety. Why, indeed, would anyone want to pretend to be a zombie, a vampire, or a ghost for a few hours?

 We’d had this conversation many times before, and we always return to our original answer: because of the symbolism, we don’t do Halloween. I know, and we’ve explained to our kids, 99 out of 100 people don’t give it a second thought, and that may be more like 9999 out of ten thousand. Still, we try to be people who follow the Lord with some conscious thought about what we’re doing and what we’re communicating.

And the usual Halloween routine communicates a couple of ideas which are polar opposites and both wrong. 

The first idea is that there’s nothing to the idea of demons, witches, and all the monstrosities we associate with the holiday. All superstition and ghost stories, they say. Nothing more than play acting at Halloween, all just good clean fun.

There’s a problem with that. Even if that’s true, it’s all just a game, people don’t just assume the fantastic shapes, the Frankensteins and werewolves of old black-and-white movies. They’re dressing in a lot of too-real ideas like victims of domestic violence and survivors of gruesome accidents and criminals of all sorts. Worse yet are the sick sexual fantasies, the pornographic teases of “naughty school girls” and wayward French housemaids and such. You can’t let the kids look at costume catalogs.

Even if these things are not real, there are people who think they are. Joe Leaphorn, the Navaho police detective featured in Tony Hillerman’s mystery stories, often encounters stories of “skin-walkers,” the shape shifters of Navaho legend. Leaphorn says in one of the early novels, “I don’t believe in skin-walkers, but I believe in people who do.” What he meant was that whether such things exist was immaterial; there are unmistakably real people who do believe in them and because of that belief, do things which have a real impact on those around them.

Missionaries encounter this all the time. Whether the local witch doctor or shaman has real spiritual power or not is somewhat beside the point; if the local people believe he has power, they fear him and defer to his will. The missionary has to overcome the social power this figure wields in order to free the people to follow Christ—the real spiritual power. 

On the other hand, we shouldn’t make light of real tragedy and real sin—don’t sugar coat it—as if it’s all a game. R.C. Sproul Jr. observed that erecting toy tombstones in your yard isn’t a laughing matter; death is real, and for many of us, a very, very bad prospect. It’s not a joke.

The second idea is that ghoulies and ghosties are real, but it’s okay to pretend about them. The Bible sort of squelches that for us.

Consider that when God established His people in a formal way, in the national identity of Israel, He explicitly told them to stay away from that stuff and the people that practice it:

There shall not be found among you … anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.  (Deuteronomy 18:10-12 ESV)

In fact, He made it a capital offense to follow these teachings (Leviticus 20:27) or consult with those who do (Leviticus 20:6). It’s one of the reasons He wiped out the ancient Canaanites and gave their land to the Jews.

It’s interesting that He doesn’t suggest that these people are truly powerful—He simply says we have to avoid it all. For them (and us), it’s a prostitution, seeking after forbidden  spirituality when you’ve already met the source of true spiritual power, no different than seeking sexual adventures outside of your marriage—except this time you’re cheating on God, and you can’t sneak around on Him.

It kinda takes the fun out of Harry Potter and Ouija boards.

The other option is that spiritual things are real, both good and bad. And if you believe the Bible and believe what Jesus Himself said, you have to take that as given.

Are there bad spirits in every tree and stone beside the road? I don’t see any evidence of it in Scripture or nature. But it’s plain to me that besides the evil that men do, there are spiritual forces, even personal ones, we need to take seriously. Jesus wasn’t playing make believe or joshing along the cultural superstitions when He confronted demons: there are many incidents in the Gospels where Jesus displayed his power over them, casting out unclean spirits which had oppressed individuals a variety of ways. [1]  Jesus never backed away from correcting misunderstandings and human additions to God’s word, even in the face of mob violence and physical threat to Himself, but He never “corrects” the “mythological” view that evil spirits are at work in some people’s lives. Instead, He defeats them, then teaches His people to understand their nature (see Luke 11:14-26, for example) and how to combat them (Mark 9:28-29, Matthew 17:19-21)  He took it seriously, as did the apostles.

If we believe the Bible, and we believe Jesus, then we need to believe that whatever nonsense and mythologies humans may have created in addition to the truth, there is a fundamental reality—there are beings and powers we need to be aware of and avoid, not toy with. Christ has overcome them on earth, and God overrules them throughout the universe, but we need to keep out of their reach just the same.

And for that reason, well, let’s just say we don’t get into the spirit of Halloween.

(More tomorrow, on why boys in particular may be attracted, and what that suggests about our parenting them!)

King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, John Gilbert (1817-1897)

 King Henry V of England was hopelessly outnumbered by the approaching French Army, but he stood firm and roused his troops, commending them to the hands of God and each other, and led them to a decisive victory that was the beginning of the end of the dominance of the nobility in warfare. For centuries, the heavily armored knights on horseback fielded by the nobility of each land were the overwhelming force of warfare. Henry, instead, placed his English longbowmen in the forefront of battle — and defeated the French horse! Some say the “V for victory” sign descended from the victory salute of the two stringfingers of the longbowmen in response to a French before-battle threat to cut off the string fingers of all the longbowmen after they won.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Henry V, William Shakespeare