Should Christians Fear Halloween?

Hey, Pastor Adriel here, and we want to hear from our podcast audience specifically. Give us a call at 1130 Pacific Time, 833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE, with your question about the Christian faith. I'm Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day.

We pray that you had a wonderful weekend. We have our phone lines open right now, and you can call us with your question at 833, the CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Of course, you can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can watch Adriel in the studio right now on our YouTube channel and send us a message that way. And of course, you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, here's a call we received from one of our listeners named Kimberly. I wanted to ask you a question my husband, or who I call my husband, my boyfriend, asked me. And he asked me, What's some real proof that you know that you have the Holy Spirit? Well, my answer was basically, he's kind of an inside buddy who helps you learn to live, and when you're reading the Bible, interprets it. And I just wanted to get your answer and see, for one, how it lines up, or if you have a better one for him.

Because I thought I wasn't 100% sure, so I'm trying to ask somebody that I think knows. Thank you very much. God bless you.

Bye-bye. Hey, God bless you as well, Kimberly, and thank you for that question. What an important question it is, because there's a lot of confusion about this very question. Some people think the only way that you can know that you're actually filled with the Holy Spirit is if you manifest the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, gifts like the gift of tongues. But that's not what the Bible teaches. I think the best place to go, Kimberly, if you want to know what does it look like to be filled with the Holy Spirit, is what Paul said in Galatians chapter 5, where he described the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He says in verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. And so right there, I think, as he's talking about these various fruits of the Holy Spirit, this is what it looks like to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to have these characteristics, love, joy, peace, patience. It's the Spirit of God bearing that fruit in our hearts through Jesus Christ. Paul, in the book of Ephesians, in Ephesians chapter 5, he gives us this exhortation to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And I think this is another helpful text to look at. So Ephesians chapter 5, verse 17, he says, Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. In other words, all of us as Christians are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. And so I think there, again, you have this beautiful description of what it looks like to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It's joy, it's worship, it's thanksgiving to God for his goodness. And so, you know, each of us, when we read that list, for example, the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians chapter 5, we realize, oh boy, I fall short of that. And I think that's precisely why Paul commands in Ephesians 5 to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We daily need that filling of the Holy Spirit.

Well, how does that come? It comes through the word of Jesus Christ. In the book of Colossians, in Colossians chapter 3, Paul says in verse 16, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. It's sort of parallel to what we read there in Ephesians. And so as the word of the Lord Jesus, as the Bible, Scripture penetrates into your heart and you meditate upon it, the Spirit of God fills you. You were actually right on, Kimberly, when you said that one of the things that the Spirit of God does, he helps us to understand the Scriptures.

We call this illumination. The Spirit of God is illuminating our minds so that we might grasp, understand the teaching of the Scripture. And so those are all things that the Spirit does. But the signs of the Spirit are the fruit of the Spirit. God bless. Amen. Great explanation there, Adriel. And Lord, help us all develop those fruits with his power.

I know I certainly need them in my own life, especially when it comes to dealing with my teenage kids. It really is a work of the Holy Spirit. That's what we need to realize. It's coming before the Lord, receiving his grace. And I think, Bill, of what Jesus said in John chapter 15, where he said, you know, apart from me, you can do nothing.

But if you abide in me, if you abide in the vine, you will bear fruit. And really, it's Christ in us by the grace of the Holy Spirit bearing fruit. And so there actually is, I think, you know, sometimes we hear these things and we just get overwhelmed. We think, oh, boy, this just seems so difficult. Love, joy, patience.

How am I going to have patience? Well, the key is abiding in Jesus and letting the Spirit of God do his work in our hearts. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open right now for the next 15 minutes or so.

If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, Adriel is also happy to tackle questions on theology or Christian doctrine or even how our faith intersects with our daily lives in today's culture. So give us a call. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Julianne. With Halloween approaching, what does the Bible say about Halloween and how a person should handle, you know, if you've got little ones? Thank you.

Hey, Julianne, a very practical question as we are in the month of October now. And, you know, you're not going to get a Bible verse on Halloween. This is obviously something that's come up a lot later. Scripture doesn't address this specifically. But I think there are passages of scripture that speak about these kinds of issues of conscience, if you will, because I know that there are a lot of Christians who think, oh, boy, I can't even touch that with a 10-foot pole. You know, ghouls and goblins and ghosts and no way, you know, I'm not going to let my kids go trick or treating. Then there are other Christians who say, oh, you know, what's the big deal? You know, kids want to dress up and maybe it's an opportunity to get to know your neighbors a little bit and to have conversations with people in your neighborhood and you get some candy.

I mean, I'll just be honest with you and put all my cards on the table. We've done trick or treating the last several years and we have a nice time as a family. I do see it as an opportunity to get to know my neighbors a little bit more and also to collect a hefty candy tax from my children. So they bring it all in and then we just take all the good stuff and leave them with the tootsie rolls. So one of the passages of scripture that I go to is in 1 Corinthians 8 where the apostle Paul talked about meet sacrifice to idols. Now, this is something that we don't struggle with specifically today, but in that day you had people who were coming to Christ from these pagan backgrounds and there was these meat markets essentially where the meat that was sold there had been sacrificed to an idol. It was meat that was offered up to an idol and then was being sold in the market and there were some believers who thought, I'm not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole because of its association with ghouls and goblins and demons and false deities and that kind of a thing.

And so Paul says we need to be sensitive to those people. There were others who said, look, an idol isn't really anything in the world. That meat, regardless of who it was sacrificed to, there's nothing wrong with eating it. I can have a clear conscience because I know that there's only one God. Again, this is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8, therefore, verse 4, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence and that there is no God but one.

For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, Paul said, not all possess this knowledge but some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled. So here Paul's argument is, look, one, be sensitive to one another. There are going to be people within the church who think, I should do this or I shouldn't do this.

Well, we need to be patient with each other, gracious, not putting a stumbling block in front of our brothers and sisters. And two, he says, look, if you can't do it in good faith, if it hurts your conscience to do it, you think, oh, I'm sinning when I do this, well, then don't do it. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 23, whatever is not from faith is sin.

And so this is, I think, a personal question that every Christian family can answer for themselves. And if it's something where you just think, yeah, this is not a big deal, we're certainly not worshiping these things, we're just going around collecting candy, having a nice time as a family, taking a walk. Well, then, yeah, I mean, do that and give thanks to the Lord for, you know, your kind neighbors and for the big candy bars that you might get as you're going around town.

But if it's something that really bothers your conscience, you think, I just couldn't do it, well, then, well, then don't do it. And let's be gracious to one another as we think about these things. You know, a lot of people forget that Halloween is the eve of All Saints Day. And I know one of the things you've done in the past is you've read to your kids the stories about some of the incredible martyrs that have gone before us. And how inspirational could that be at Halloween, huh?

Yeah. You know, maybe we'll do that again this year. We have done that in the past with our children. We got, you know, a couple copies of the Fox's Book of Martyrs, and it is, I think, good to have those kinds of conversations with our children as we expose them to the saints in days past who have really stood up for the truth, stood up for the Lord, and suffered a great deal because of that. And so, I mean, use it as an opportunity to talk about those kinds of things. I think that'd be a wonderful thing, or as an opportunity also to talk about the Protestant Reformation, you know, recovering the faithful teaching of the Word of God, the importance of God's Word, the Gospel.

I think, you know, if you're doing those kinds of things, you're really using it the right way. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And with Halloween coming up just a couple of weeks away, we're offering a really cool resource. It's a classic book written by C.S. Lewis.

You might be familiar with C.S. Lewis from Chronicles of Nardia or from Mere Christianity, but he wrote a fascinating book which really is apropos for this time of year. It's called The Screwtape Letters.

Yeah, maybe that's what you can do on Halloween is just sit down with your family and read The Screwtape Letters. And we're offering it here at Core Christianity. I've mentioned before, one of the things I recently read through this book again, and one of the things that struck me is how relevant it is for a number of the issues that are going on in the world today, questions that people are asking. And so get a hold of this resource over at corechristianity.com. It's yours for a donation of any amount. Just go to our website corechristianity.com forward slash offers and look for The Screwtape Letters from C.S.

Lewis. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Well, one of the ways you can submit a question is by going to our YouTube channel.

We actually have a couple of people that have been watching us today, including Julie, watching from England. Laura is watching as well, and she says this question, If the mark of the beast is not physical, then how can not getting it be used to prevent us from shopping or trading, as it says in Revelation? Hey, great question, Laura, and so it sounds like you're a frequent listener to the broadcast, because when we get questions about the mark of the beast, I do say, look, you go to Revelation chapter 13, and it seems like this is more of a symbol, and especially when we're reading apocalyptic literature like the book of Revelation, we have to realize that a lot of the numbers, a lot of the images that we have, it's prophetic imagery.

They're symbols. You think of the seven golden lampstands earlier in the book of Revelation, which were symbols for the seven churches, or the image that John has of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter 5, a lamb standing as though it had been slain. Well, does that mean that Jesus in heaven is literally a lamb, a wounded lamb?

No, it's this image that he receives, this picture of Christ, the lamb who takes away the sins of the world, standing because he rose again from the dead. And so we have to, one, interpret the book of Revelation according to its genre and according to its context. And when, in Revelation chapter 13, it talks about the mark of the beast, you know, it says that people are marked on their right hand or on their forehead. The number that they're marked with is the number 666. That's what we read in verse 18, which is a very symbolic number in scripture. It is the number of man. Remember, man was created on the sixth day, and it's this idea of the worship of man, of viewing man as ultimate 666. In other words, rejecting God in the true worship of God and worshipping self, idolatry. And what's interesting, as I frequently mention on this show when we get questions about the mark of the beast, is when you get to Revelation chapter 14, it talks about the saints, God's people marked on their foreheads with the name of the true and the living God.

And so that's why I understand this the way that I do. Now, to your question, what is this, you know, how are people not going to be able to buy and sell then with regard to if it's just a symbol? Well, primarily what the symbol is is association with this false, you know, worship, the worship of the beast, the worship of the Antichrist. And so there is this real association that these individuals have with this idolatry, and as a result of that, there's this, you know, inability to buy or sell. We don't have to take this as, you know, it's a microchip or it's a vaccine or it's a tattoo that people get in order to conclude that they're going to, you know, be forbidden from buying or selling.

You can understand it the way that I understand it, and I don't think it poses any problems for our interpretation. And so really appreciate your question, Laura, and thanks for listening to the program. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Here's our phone number. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, give us a buzz, 833-THE-CORE. You can also email us anytime at questions at corechristianity.com. Let's go to Norman, who's calling in from California, Missouri. Norman, what's your question for Adriel?

Hello. My question is, I guess we were in Sunday school yesterday, and I kind of heard a lady's feelings. She believes that you can see back from heaven to earth to see what's happening here once you've gone on, and I don't believe that, I didn't believe that, and I couldn't find anything in Scripture to back up what I believe.

Yeah, Norman. So the question is, can people in heaven look down on earth and see what's going on? Well, in the teaching of the New Testament, it doesn't seem like that's a huge focus. It seems to me like when we get these pictures of heaven, it's the saints who have gone on before us, the people who have died believing in Jesus Christ, are in the presence of the Lord, and their focus is on God himself.

They're focused on Christ, on the worship of the true and the living God together with all the heavenly hosts. You do have this scene in Revelation chapter 6. John says in verse 9, He opened the fifth seal, and I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. So you have this sense of right like there in Revelation chapter 6, the martyrs are calling out to God for justice. They had been killed because of their faith in Jesus, and they're praying to the Lord. They're asking God to bring essentially justice, judgment, and the Lord says wait a little bit longer.

But you don't get the sense that they're preoccupied with everything that's going on on earth. No, actually I think one of the most beautiful pictures that we can get that's painted for us of what's taking place in heaven is in the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 12. This is actually a passage of scripture that a lot of people don't go to when they think about heaven. I think it's unfortunate because it's really talking about what's taking place when we gather together as the people of God to worship God. It's this joining of the heavenly choir around the throne of God to bring Jesus our praise, our thanksgiving. And the author of the Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22, You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels in festal gathering.

This is a party. The festal gathering of the angels around the throne of God. And to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. Those are the same folks that we read about in Revelation 6 just there. And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. So I don't think, you know, sometimes people think we die and we're going to be sort of like guardian angels and, you know, paying attention to all the things that are going on here on earth. You know, I think when we go to be in the presence of the Lord, our time is going to be occupied with worshipping the true and the living God around his throne together with the angels calling out to the Lord. And it's going to be this wonderful thing. And so I think that's the perspective we're given in the New Testament. That's the best answer that we have.

And that's what we're going to be focused on. So thank you, Norman, for your question. May the Lord bless you. Norman, thanks so much for being a regular listener to Core Christianity. We really do appreciate it. By the way, if you're a regular listener, we'd love to invite you to join our inner core. That's a group of people that support us on a monthly basis. If you join the inner core, first of all, you get a copy of Dr. Michael Horton's book, Core Christianity, the book that inspired this program and some special resources just for inner core members, including a monthly video devotional from Pastor Adriel.

So if you want to find out more about the inner core, just go to corechristianity.com forward slash inner core. Well, here's a question that came in from one of our listeners named Savannah. Hey, Pastor Adriel, I'm here in Oklahoma City.

I was driving home and heard your broadcast. I just wanted to know, is it possible for someone to separate after they've been together for so long because they don't agree with the other person's values or morals as far as Christianity goes? Should I be with someone who's more godly, who's a Christian, and if this person that I'm with now is on drugs and won't quit, should I leave?

Hey, Savannah, I'm sorry to hear about this situation. Obviously, it sounds like a very complex issue. The first thing I would say is if you're married and the person that you're with is not a believer, that doesn't necessarily mean you should just separate from them or get a divorce. In fact, the Apostle Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 10. To the married I give this charge, not I but the Lord. The wife should not separate from her husband, but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband, and the husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say, I, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. He goes on to say the reason is because the Lord may use that relationship, your relationship here, to sanctify, that is to draw this person closer to Jesus. He goes on to say in verse 16, how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? I think also of what we read in 1 Peter, in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 1, Peter said, likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, and it sounds like that's where this man is at, he's not obeying the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct. And so those are two passages of scripture that you can look at, but one of the things you mentioned is that your husband, your partner is on drugs, addicted to drugs, so that's a very serious thing. Paul does go on to say in 1 Corinthians 7 that if you're abandoned by an unbelieving spouse, you're not bound to that person if they leave you, if they abandon you. And in 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 8, Paul says if any man doesn't care for his relatives, especially those who are in his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

So this is a really complex issue. I think it sounds like this man needs help, desperately needs help. If you're not married, then I would say you're not bound to this person at all, and yes, you should be with someone who is a Christian, you should pursue a relationship with someone who is godly, who loves Jesus, who is going to help you to love Jesus better. So I think there's a simple answer there if you're not actually married, but if you are married, it might be healthy to get a separation.

I mean, this kind of behavior at times can be abusive, it sounds like this individual is abusing himself, and even you in this relationship, by dragging you and all of these things, sounds like you need some really serious help. And so I want to pray for you right now that the Lord would give you wisdom, and I hope that you're in a solid church. If you're not in a solid church, get into a good Bible-believing church where other believers there can encourage you and walk with you. And so let me pray for you. Father, we lift Savannah up to you. We ask gracious God that you would give her wisdom.

We pray that you would help her to make the right decision, whatever decision, Lord, it is that you would have her make in this situation, trusting in you and wanting to honor you. Would you bring healing, Lord, where there has been pain and hurt, and may Christ be glorified in her life. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, thanks for that question, Savannah. May the Lord bless you. May the Lord bless you.