Regardless of your feelings towards Halloween, there is much to celebrate as we transition into the cooler weather. A bountiful harvest brings warm, fresh foods that come from during only this time of the year. Folks seem a bit chummier as they are brought indoors for a while. Please stop texting that person who is in the same room with you. God gave you a voice. USE IT. Joy abounds even in the face of a seasonal celebration that lends itself to the darker side of this world. But it doesn't have to be that way. And in case you haven't heard, now is the time to scout out the most sincere pumpkin patch in your area!!! #favoritetimeoftheyear!!!
I really think the season around Halloween gets a bad rap from most believers in Jesus. There is much made about the darkness that is prevalent in the lead up to Halloween. But, if your hope is found in nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness, then why should you feel threatened by an enemy who has no power over you? I totally understand why you would be against men, women, boys, and girls dressing up like someone they are not, and going out on a dark evening to solicit candy from strangers. But there is something more important to think about this season than the potential sugar high (let's face it, folks, depending on your neighborhood, you don't always get M&Ms and there are those who still give out rocks for bad costumes...just sayin').
We shouldn't be fearful, but there is cause for great concern during this All Hallows eve time. While those of us who have that joy, joy, joy, joy down in our hearts, not everyone is held in the palm of God's hand. As believers, we should not be fearful of the date October 31, but we should be very concerned about the messages that are prevalent during this season and the delivery systems of such messages. We are a part of a battle and we must make sure we have chosen the side of the victorious. We have a message of light that we need to share to the world. If we don't, our friends, family, and other folks may be taking an unexpected and undesired walk on the dark side, oh yeah, on the dark side, oh yeah....
or for those of you who shout "Eddie lives!!!" every time you hear the opening piano lick...
NO, the song is not by the movie band, Eddie & the Cruisers. In reality, today's featured song is from a band that has been around since 1972. They got their start as a bar band and became relatively well known around the eastern seaboard region of the US. All of that changed in 1983 when they became an international hit by recording the soundtrack for a movie about a bar band, Eddie & the Cruisers.
John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band continue to tour on the strength of today's #7 single and the remainder of the tracks from the top ten soundtrack of Eddie & the Cruisers. Due to continual comparisons to Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band in their early years, Cafferty and his bandmates were ignored by record labels. But because of their local success, they drew the attention of producer Kenny Vance who offered them the opportunity to provide the score for the movie based on the novel of the same name. The soundtrack for Eddie and the Cruisers was the debut album for John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. Initially, neither the movie nor its soundtrack were a huge success. But due to the continual rotation at MTV for the music video and HBO's heavy rotation of the movie, the soundtrack zoomed into the top ten a year after its release. To date, the band has only released 4 studio albums, 3 of which are soundtracks.
A few years after John Cafferty started his band, specifically in 1977, a little movie came out that made the phrase, the dark side, an iconic reference to mean something possessed of evil. Perhaps you have heard of that movie, it was called Star Wars. Since 1977, 8 major motion pictures (Including Rogue One, which your humble blogger thinks is better than ANY of the prequels, # 9 releases December 14, got your tickets yet? ), innumerable books, television shows (if you have some time, check out this little nugget...Star Wars Christmas Holiday Special - 1978 - CBS, isn't the internet great?!!!) and...well, you get the idea, there's been a ton of stuff released under the Star Wars license. In short, you could easily say that Star Wars has really been a big deal in the last 40 years.
Star Wars is the classic story of good vs. evil, whereby good is qualified in the characters of the Jedi and their compatriots and evil is portrayed by those on the dark side and their minions. It is also the classic tale in the fact that there is a continual temptation of the good guys to fall to the Dark Side of the Force. If you've never seen the movies (is that even possible?), we highly recommend viewing them in their chronological order...or if you are a purist in your movie watching, in the order they came to theaters, either way, you'll get the idea...Dark Side - bad, but redeemable, Jedi - good, but face many temptations...
The tale of the battle of good vs. evil is not a new one. It has its origin from before the earth was created. The Bible eludes to the history that existed before the events of Genesis. The Bible makes it very clear that the enemy of mankind does not parade around clothed in red and carrying a pitchfork. "What About Satan and the Origin of Evil?" by Bodie Hodge from October 7, 2014, answersingenesis.com
The Bible also details the fact that for those who believe in Jesus, the battle is already won! We have the incredible power over the enemy since our nature was changed at the moment we chose to believe Jesus was who He said He was and did what the Bible says He did. And He did all of that for you and me to have a new nature.
It is so easy to believe the lie that we do dark side stuff because it is our human nature. According to the Apostle Paul in his letter to a church in Ephesus, (ruins are located on the Meditteranean Sea coast of Turkey) Ephesians 4:17-32 English Standard Version of the Bible/New King James Version of the Bible/The Message Paraphrase of the Bible parallel, when we accept Jesus and His leadership over our lives through the work of Holy Spirit, the sin nature that we inherited from Adam is replaced by a new nature that is centered around what we learn by serving Jesus. In light of this, we have nothing to blame but our own choices when we have our dark side moments. We choose. We slip to the dark side and cross that line...
Our dark side instances damage our relationship with God, but through His grace and mercy and Jesus sacrifice ("Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do" Luke 23:34 covers ALL of the dark side choices for the redeemed). Choosing the new nature means we resist the dark side as much as we can. James 4:1-11 ESV/NKJV/The Message Being a new nature means we put off the things of this world. Romans 12 ESV/NKJV/The Message Living in the new nature means through Holy Spirit's power, we persevere when tempted to slip into the dark side and cross that line...
So, in the season that is coming. Take the opportunity to remind others through the way you live your life, that you are embracing light and not the darkness. And I guarantee you, He will never give you a rock in your candy sack.
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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