"Beware of false teachers who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are wolves and will tear you apart. You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You need never confuse grapevines with thorn bushes or figs with thistles. Different kinds of fruit trees can quickly be identified by examining their fruit. A variety that produces delicious fruit never produces an inedible kind. And a tree producing an inedible kind can't produce what is good. So the trees having the inedible fruit are chopped down and thrown on the fire. Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit produced. "Not all who sound religious are really godly people. They may refer to me as 'Lord,' but still won't get to heaven. For the decisive question is whether they obey my Father in heaven. At the Judgment many will tell me, 'Lord, Lord, we told others about you and used your name to cast out demons and to do many other great miracles.' But I will reply, 'You have never been mine. Go away, for your deeds are evil.' (TLB, Matthew 7:15-23)
This is the "TLB" teaching of Matthew 7:15-23, and I think it paraphrases the orignal verses well. Here is the KJV.
What do you think God likes? Think about it for a second. Do the words gloomy, dark, vile, corrupt, evil, scary or malevolent come to mind? Of course not! Well, first what are some things God hates? God hates divorce, arrogance (the world tells you the opposite), lying, killing of the innocent, plotting to do evil, perjury, the causing of discord in a family, religious hypocrisy, the desire of violence or evil.
"Abstain from all appearance of evil." (1 Thessalonians 5:22.)
There God said it. If we are Christians, we will love the things God loves, and hate the things God hates..AND we will run from evil. Notice it says "the appearance of evil." What does that mean? Imagine this: You're walking into the bathroom of the church building, and notice something smells really, really weird. As you look around, you notice some of your youth group friends huddled around in one of the stalls. You know what their doing, and you want to be with them...but your not going to smoke anything. So you go in with them. Then, the pastor walks in, and sees what's happening. Have you sinned? Yes, because you were in the "appearance of evil." The best thing to do would be to walk out and tell someone.
Now, what does God love? He loves a cheerful giver, the world, justice, the righteous, those who love Him, those who obey Him, those who pursue godliness, those who fear Him.
When you picture God, do you picture Him in a dark room, with an evil look on His face? Do you picture Him having dinner with vampires? Oh course not! Most of us, when we picture God, first we get a comforting feeling in our hearts, and we see Him sitting on a bright throne, in a place of light and color...Him smiling down at us. (Or at least that's how I picture it.)
What would God think if you participated in what you know is evil? How do you think God feels about Halloween?
I'm not going to tell you what to do this year when it comes to Halloween, but I want you to try to get a picture of what God thinks about it and what He would want you to do about it. Know that when you see a vampire or monster, no matter the excuse you might come up for it, those things are always considered evil. Would God want you to partake in evil?
If you want to know more about why Halloween is considered "evil," look here.
God Bless,
Hannah
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