Martin Luther with the Bible

On this day in 1517, Martin Luther, a scholarly monk and professor, published his 95 Thesis that would shake the Western World including the Roman Catholic Church. Some say, he used the equivalent of his day’s Twitter by taking a hammer and nail and tweeting, er, posting them on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. He had become increasingly disturbed and agitated by the corruption and immorality of the church’s hierarchy. His 95 Theses were about the selling of indulgences to raise money to build St. Peter’s in Rome. This was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and reclaiming of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)!

This week a few articles have caught my attention that summarize the difference between enjoying and celebrating Halloween. In the United States Halloween is primarily regarded as a children’s day for knocking on doors saying trick or treat for candy. Children can enjoy the evening’s candy and games. And to be honest most parents will enjoy some of the haul as well. However, we celebrate holidays (holiday is a shortened form of holy day) like Christmas and Easter. Christmas is the celebration of the birth our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and Easter is the celebration of the Resurrection!

“God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.” (Colossians 2:15, NCV)

There are some people in the world who are attracted to evil and fascinated with darkness. Just remember the name of Jesus causes all of hell to tremble. Prayer in the name of Jesus according to God’s will shakes the very foundations of hell. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church!

Christianity delivered us long ago from the belief in ghosts, goblins, evil fairies, and such. Becky and I have always abhorred violence, gore and evil. Christ conquered the grave and the dead in Christ will one day arise with new bodies and not they type of stuff seen in Zombie movies and such.

To be honest I’ve always enjoyed our neighbors children coming to our house. A lot of them will pull up their mask saying “Hey Pastor, it’s me.” So whether they are dressed cutely as a Prince or Princess or a vampire or werewolf, I give out the Skittles, the Sour Patch Kids, and whatever else Becky bought. But we also give out a small colorful children’s card with the best News Ever! Jesus!

Tonight however, we are having in place of our mid week service a family fall festival event complete with a Pumpkin Trail, Maze, Obstacle Course, Pumpkin Carving, Movie, Bible Stories, Music, Bon Fire, and of course lots and lots of candy! Each year we welcome hundreds of kids from our community for our Fall Festival. I enjoy greeting them and meeting as many parents as I can. By the way, I personally really like, Almond Mounds, Butter Fingers and Snickers. Just in case you were wondering.

One more thing of interest to me. As a child I watched a movie about a fascinating man, named Harry Houdini. He died on this day in 1926 right here in Detroit.

Peace!