Monday, October 13 was Columbus Day. It is doubtful many celebrated the day, or even remembered what the significance of that might be.
A systemic concern is the merchandising effort behind every national holiday.
One of the biggies is this month. For six weeks or more this time of year, I field suggestions on stories we can do about Halloween.
When this happens I’ll often smile as I hear veterans on the team offer a response something like, “We don’t do Halloween here.”
They know we don’t give glory to Halloween, but many times I have wondered if I have succeeded in explaining the “why” behind this company policy, or just furthered a notion that the boss is wacked.
Then just last week as I shared my beliefs with a young person, I addressed this from a perspective easy to understand.
Everyone is passionate about something. So what gets your heart racing?
Is it NASCAR? Wrestling? Golf, tennis, baseball? Your alma mater? Are you perhaps a Seahawks fan, a Tar Heel? Or support their rival, N.C. State? Maybe you have a room in your home done up in Atlanta Braves’ colors or some other team. Every Olympic Games we are all enthusiastic team-America fans.
Picture your team, driver, player(s), etc. Now, each of those teams or individuals has a rival or rivals to their success. Picture that rival, be it an individual or team.
The more prominent the individual or team is, the drive to secure victory over their opponent grows. The goal is to kill, steal victory from and destroy the rival. All’s fair in love, war and athletics, right?
We go to games, tournaments, competitions and we cheer, whoop and holler for our “guys” to win. Faces are painted, adorned in the appropriate apparel, the shouting commences. Go team!!
Well, my passion is Jesus Christ.
And His rival is also out to kill, steal your victory and destroy. And this one is a real battle of life vs. death. But in this case what this enemy is out to kill, steal and destroy is you. He is after your soul, your family, your relationship with the Him, and your place in eternity.
It is a big deal, in fact the biggest deal of all time.
My relationship with Jesus is the most important of my life.
So why in the world would I celebrate His enemy? Why would I do anything to glorify His adversary? Why would I celebrate His enemy’s holiday, and deck myself and home or workplace out with images of devils, and demons, ghouls and skeletons, cauldrons of poison, witches, warlocks — all the images of death and evil?
Known as the devil’s birthday, the very highest satanic holy day is Samhain or Halloween.
I want to cheer for my Team — Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I want to glorify my Guy, not do anything to build up His enemy, the very real enemy of our soul, the father of lies.
I shout for victory in Jesus.
I totally get that it is fun to dress up, decorate the house and yard and have a good time. But not when it celebrates the demonic. The roots of this “holiday” are heathenism, paganism, Satanism and the occult. Human sacrifices are still carried out on this night in a community near you.
When it was shared with me years ago just what I was celebrating, the jack-o-lanterns came off my porch, my trick-or-treating ceased.
You don’t need to take my word for it; Google up or ask Siri your own “truth about Halloween” query.
You may think it is all just fun, there is no harm done.
But you’d be dead wrong if you do.
Jesus said, “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me” (Matt. 12:30 & Luke 11:23).
There is no middle ground; you can’t sit on the fence on this one.
To not be for Him is to be with the prince of darkness.
October 31 is a good night to be in church praying for our families and nation.
Now, for some truth about Christopher Columbus and Columbus Day.
We should join Native Americans and other groups in opposition to the celebration of a national holiday that directly and indirectly resulted in the decimation of the indigenous populations in the Americas.
Christopher Columbus as a hero is a lie. First, he didn’t discover America; the Vikings, or possibly the Polynesians, did. How do you “discover” a land that is already populated? Columbus was lost, he was sailing to the Asian continent and landed in the Bahamas; he mistakenly thought he was in India; hence he called the indigenous peoples Indians.
Beginning there and continuing with each successive landing, the explorer and his men’s inhumanities and atrocities against the native peoples is almost beyond belief. Columbus committed genocide. Search this too, but be warned the information is horrific.
Spain’s queen financed him because he returned home with slaves and the promise of gold. Columbus enslaved the natives into forced labor in his gold mines. Disobedience resulted in severing of the hands. One small tidbit in his diaries documents him selling girls aged 9 – 10 as sex slaves, he remarks about what a high price he gets for these little girls. Add to all of this his insatiable quest to steal the indigenous people’s gold, not to mention the death of millions from the infectious diseases the Europeans carried with them to the new world, including smallpox and influenza.
Thankfully, Columbus Day in many places is being replaced with Native American Day. Next year I am joining them.
Wakey-wakey people, it is time to do your homework on whom and what you celebrate.
