You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand. You know, I was
thinking, as we were talking about paganism, there's a game, the college
game, many many years ago, six degrees of separate separation, or six
degrees of Kevin Bacon, where you would you would sit there and you would
name a person, and you try and see how many times you could get,
you know, or name a person if you could get within six tries
or six movies back to Kevin Bacon. So you'd name an actor and you'd
say Tom Cruise, Well, Tom Cruise was in this with so and so,
and that was and then so and so was in this with so and
so, and ultimately, within six tries you'd get back mathematically to a movie
that Kevin Bacon was in. Well, it's almost six degrees of paganism,
because no matter where you go or what direction you run in, you can
be brought back to paganism even in the things you're comfortable with. As we're
limited on time, we can only talk so much, you know, during
during phone calls and stuff like that. But as we're talking and the mention
of Christmas and goes, well, that's Christmas, and they celebrated and the
wise men. Unfortunately we had to go to a break. But you think
about the concept of the wise men. The wise men were the magi,
they were pagan astrologers, and yet people have those on cards and everything like
that, and during the holidays and even see shirts saying wise men still follow
him today with a picture of me on it, you know, either on
the cross or something like that, and things like this. You'd be surprised
how much it is it has infiltrated, not on its own, but willingly
buy different groups or leaders like Constantine and the like that had shaved off as
much of it as they could and then applied the others so that there was
comfort level in its growth. As a matter of fact, Christianity can be
argued by historians at least I might have a different thought, but that a
lot of that is what propelled Christianity, you know, Rome, Constantine changing
Rome and their national religion and belief system. Or first it was opening it
up to all beliefs, and it was more of a okay, listen,
you're not going to be persecuted for being Christian anymore. That's the first thing.
And then slowly he started opening that up and then he started saying,
well, no, paganism's a problem, and we're going to start not just
allowing everything, but now putting paganism down. And through the process of the
years and so on, came to a point where he says, now Christianity's
mandatory in ways. And then you've got people going, okay, well,
I'm just gonna take this with me, or this with me, or this
with me. Does that always work? Absolutely not. Are there systems that
are polluted and perverted because they've brought things into Christianity. Absolutely, But that's
where discernment comes from. And my purpose for bringing these things up and pointing
them out is even the word holy day has been muted to holiday, and
there are things like blessings and the term holy itself that really date very far
back, pre dating Christianity. And if you start just throwing the baby out
with the bathwater, you have problems. The bath water is dirty, the
baby is clean, and you need to look around and see how these things
are interacting in your life. If they are neutral or can be neutralized,
then that's fine. If they're infiltrating by way of someone an agenda or something
or these types of things, then yes, you are to defend yourself and
your faith against those kinds of interruptions. But many of these things from thousands
of years of filtering have become benign. You know, the practices that these
things once held have nothing to do with it. A child is not running
around in a costume of their favorite superhero thinking that they are warding off demons
and spirits and ghosts as they dance around a bonfire. It's simply them trying
to get candy and dressing up. When it says in scripture that you are
created in the image of God, some argue that that is that you have
intellect, will, and emotion. Others would say that your very creativity,
of the desire to be creative or create and to build in any way,
shape or form, is antithetical to the devil himself, who wishes to destroy.
So when you find children having a desire to create or be creative,
it is something that should be encouraged. Others will look at Halloween and the
concept of death in Mayhem and say, oh, well, it deals with
the death or death or skeletons. And I've always appreciated the look of our
brothers and sisters that have cultures rooted in in Mexico, and they are understanding
or they're at peace with the concept of death, and they celebrate the Day
of the Dead, not as something that worships the dead, but as something
it's kind of like All Saints Day, where it's a time to look back
on those from your family that have passed on and to celebrate their life.
But it's done with imageries, the imagery of skulls, and you know,
people get confused, what is this about? And is it looks dark and
sinister, and really it's not. It's about life. Even the place where
I died, Golgatha, is the place of the skull. Christians are taught
not to fear he who can kill the flesh, but he who can kill
the spirit, or both, and so the concept of combating the fear of
death is a scriptural one. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I show fear no evil, and that kind of attitude can
be healthy and productive. Now, as an adult, you need to have
discernment in all things and apply it to your life and the life of your
children absolutely and find where that line is for you and how you would want
to practice something like this but I will tell you that when you when you
kind of sequester a child from something that's going on in the world and it's
not explained properly, or it's just well that has demonic roots, a kid
doesn't even know what a pagan is or any of those things, then you
end up cutting off much more than you think you are because environmentalism. Yes,
on one side, you can say I'm being a good steward with the
world that God has given. But on the other side, early pagans were
worshiping and taking care of the world. So is it about taking care of
the world that's good or bad? Or is it about why you're taking care
of the world and to who that glory goes? These are the things that
I think are lost in these battles of well, it's just bad or it's
just good. God is just good. And there are a lot of Christian
liberties and a lot of battling that went on in the Church of Corinth,
and oh, should I eat this if it was given to idols or sacrifice
to idols? Should I do this? And in many cases it's like,
eat what you want. If it glorifies God, you're fine. And then
on some cases, if there's somebody who's going to stumble by the very fact
that you're doing that. You don't want to cause the lesser minded, as
Scripture says, or those that know less to fall, but you also want
to educate them. In educating them, then they won't stumble on the smaller
stones. They'll see the bigger picture. And that's my only hope here.
It's not to champion a particular holiday or to tear another holiday down. It's
to be reasonable, partially because if when you're reasonable, others will see you're
reasonable and they'll believe what you say about your faith and about God if they're
non believers, if you're unreasonable, they will reject what you say and what
you do and your belief in God. Rebecca, Welcome to the Jesus Christ
Show. Hi, I was wondering if you're tell me what your thoughts are
on the way man seems to be destroying the earth and the skies and the
oceans. Well, make no mistake about it. I know it gets politicized
and it seems wrongly so that to become a political issue. And I know
that there's different pundits from different sides going, oh, well, you know
such and such wants this, or so and so wants that. But Scripture
is very clear. Scripture talks about the importance and the beauty of creation and
how humans have stewartship over it. And the term stewartship is very specific in
the sense that you're there to take care of it. And so does that
mean that you should cease doing anything that deals with production or anything. No,
it's not about that there. But taking care of the earth is is
part of the commission of God throughout the entirety of Scripture, and the balance
there you have to understand as to how to do that in a way to
leave the smallest print and damage on the earth as you exist on it,
so that others can exist on it as well. And both sides politicize it
in a way that I think is vulgar and upsetting. One group plays the
heartstrings and manipulate science to get their point, and the other does the same
thing in the other direction. So if you scrape all the politics off it,
God says you should take care of the animals. That doesn't mean that
you can't eat them. Strangely enough, so likewise, God says to be
a good steward or take care of the planet doesn't mean that you can't use
its resources, but you have to be reasonable in doing those things. And
I think the Bible is very clear in that, Rebecca, And there's a
balance there. A lot of the pollution that comes from greed and people wanting
to make something cheaper and faster and all this stuff. That's a problem.
That's a problem, But in a capitalistic society, the United States is governed
by the Constitution, not by the Bible. So I think the individual Christian
should be governed by a scripture and know that as an individual, if they
own companies or if they go out and use products, that they should be
aware of how these products are, the things they're doing affect the world around
them, and if it may lay harm to someone else, and these types
of things. You've got to keep it all in balance. And unfortunately politics
doesn't bring much balance, So steer away from the political talk about it and
just know that you've got to be sensible. You're not going to throw trash
or garbage on the ground, don't put it into the air, don't put
it into the water. James, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Yes,
hi, James, I'm well, sir, quickly, we only have
it a moment a moment or so here, okay, help, Yes,
I was just wondering, why should we, you know, promote those evil
holidays and give it a bad example to the kids. Okay, well,
I think that's a legitimate question. What would you say about the Halloween holiday,
which really is a derivative of a Christian holiday, All Saints Day,
and not necessarily sow in the Celtic festival which preceded them, But it is
more mutation of All Saints Day and All Hallows Eve, which came from the
Christians. So what part of Halloween do you find to be evil? Well,
that's in the night, and everybody studies who whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. Why would why would be in the
night? Why would something be in the night be evil? Because that's when
evil people celebrate, you know, So if you not necessarily, there were
many pagan rituals that were in the morning. So if you go to church
at night, that's evil, no necessarily, okay, So anything you do
at night is evil, not necessarily okay, So why is it evil in
this case? Because of all this evil masks and Okay, So what would
be an evil mask? Well, they got you could go out there and
see yourself all these evil masks they're worrying you know. Okay, are there
not some non evil masks? Very few? Okay, but there are some
few. Okay. So you're saying if they wear an evil mask and maybe
go out at dusk before it gets too dark, it's okay. No,
But the whole point is that pretty much we're following, you know, taking
holidays. No, actually, it's not anymore. That's that's the true point,
is that it's not in anymore. And if anything, if you could
imagine an old, decayed building that was used as a you know, selling
crack or something James, that has been repainted and refixed up to be something
that is more productive and better, then that should be honored. It's not
about what it used to be, it's about what it can become. And
that that really is on the shoulders of the Christian parent to direct their children
in a proper way. But really saying because that night is silly or because
they're evil masks, you can change the evil mask things, and certainly not
everything at night is evil. Dennis, Welcome to Jesus. Christ Show.
Hi, Dennis, how can I help you? I'll just listen to them
other two callers there about Halloween there, Yes, sir, I wouldn't think
that anybody would really think of it as being evil unless they worship it as
evil. I look at it as fictional and characters just like anything else,
and fun for the kids. I mean, unless you worship them and them
evil if they think they're evil to mask and whatever that would like say,
ghost in goblins. I don't believe in ghosts and goblins and whiches and stuff
like that. Anyway, Well, no, he worshiped them and put them
before God. It's just a holiday for the kids. I think that is
well said. I think there's a lot of people that see it for something
that it's not, or that it was once, but it doesn't involve those
things. And truly it lands on the parents to make the decision in the
life of their child. But be careful. There are things we say on
the program often that there are wounds you bandage and wounds you amputate so it
doesn't pervert the rest of the body. And there are some things you want
to cut from your life possibly and say, well, we don't want this,
we don't want that. But there's also things that you can rebrand or
structure in a way that are fun and healthy and it can have a good
time. And I speak to many many Christians and inevitably you ask them and
they say, well, I just don't want to do them a child,
And I say, well, were you brought up in a Christian household?
Yes, but my parents let us celebrate it, And how long have you
been worshiping the devil? Now, it's not necessarily the way the path goes,
and you want to protect your children to the best of your ability,
but also keep in mind that if you're over sensitive on things that are benign
or neutral, or that you can you can put an understanding of Christianity on
it, then sometimes it confuses and causes great rebellion. And that's not to
say to be lukewarm and wishy washy without bringing because you don't want the kids
to rebel. It's not my point. The point is that make sure that
the things that you're trying to cut from their life, that you make a
good case for it, and that it's understood across the board. Otherwise,
truly, as they get older and start doing their own research search and seeing
that there's all kinds of things in your home that have pagan origin and customs
and things like that. Then and then I'll start turning it back on you,
and of course that'll be a problem. Paul, Welcome to the Jesus
Christ Show. Hello. I I live in rural West Virginia and my neighbors
down the down the road for me, or kind of like my second family.
And it's a married couple with two dis beautiful young girls eight and ten.
And the wife left I guess about six or seven weeks ago, and
I've kind of been his third year and you know, his support. And
I'm I had a lot of time down there now. And the other day
there there are two dogs killed one of their cats, and and and and
my friend and his girls are just just getting devastated. I'm like, I
mean, I said, man, evil is just coming in and ripping his
family apart. And and I offered to give me your gun and I'll put
the two dogs down. Now, I mean, I wouldn't do it in
front of his girls, but you know I would put the dogs down because
I mean, they're they just destroyed something that they loved. And on top
of that they lost their mom, and I was wondering if you give me
any words of encouragement that I could share with the people and bring love back
into their their heart. Well, i'll tell you what. Won't do it?
Causing more destruction will not. And I know that when you see people
in pain, that the desire, Paul is is to defend them in that
sense. And this is not the type of pain that you can defend.
This is the type of pain that you work through. Proverbs twelve twenty five
says anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but an encouraging word makes
it glad. And that doesn't mean going out and killing things or destroying You
know, God's creatures is going to bring beauty just because there was pain that
was brought by them. And the dogs didn't know they were bringing pain on
anyone. And in this particular case, what these people need is time to
express themselves, time to feel their pain, and somebody who cares. And
you seem to be that person. You seem to be someone who genuinely loves
I can hear it in your voice and cares for them. And right now
they need that, They need somebody just to love them and be with them.
Bring beauty, not destruction. Make a meal, share a meal,
spend time. Listen above all, listen and let them speak. Because people
run from people who've gone through tragedy. Don't run. Charlie, Welcome to
the Jesus Christ Show. Hi, Hi, Charlie. How can I help
you? I I just had a question about, like, how do I
give glory to God in the like everyday simple things in life, like going
to a movie with friends or mowing the grass or everything like that. You
know, well, there's it really comes down to. If you hear a
child talk about their parents and you ask that child, you know, would
you give your life for your parents? They'd say yes. But you asked
that same child if they'll mow the lawn or do the dishes, and they'll
go, ah, I don't want to. And Christians do this sometimes too.
It's like you would lay down your life for your God if necessary,
but you won't live your life for God. And that means every little boring
thing your parents don't want to be you to be at their foot every ten
seconds, going Gosh, you're the greatest parents in the whole white world.
I love you. They want you expressing that in the things that you do,
showing them that the life they've given you will be a life that's productive
and righteous and filled with purpose. And God wants the same thing. Yes,
God wants you to worship him. God wants you in church. God
wants you to pray. God wants you to do all those things that have
become religious in nature. But truly, God wants you to live a life
that is filled every single day with creativity, with exploration, with curiosity.
And for instance, it says in Scripture to pray without ceasing, and truly
it's It doesn't mean NonStop like a mantra. It means kind of like an
incessant cough. It means always be in that state of knowing that God is
there and that you're thinking about God. And that's kind of what you do
with everything. And if you partake in something Charlie where you feel like how
can I bring God into this and it doesn't quite work, then maybe that's
something that you want to not do in your life. Yeah, yes,
I had a question about like what about like going to see like scary movies,
Like to me, it doesn't affect me, like I don't think it's
bad, But like, is it not giving glory to God? Like if
I were to go see like a scary movie, well, it's what the
purpose is. There are many scary parts to scripture, and I know that
movies depict you know, angels and demons as particular types of creatures, but
if you saw a good angel, it would creep you out at first.
The concept it's not the single pair of wings. Some angels have multiple pairs
of wings on their feet, on their shoulders, on their backs, and
there are things that would be quite frightening. As a matter of fact,
there are times in scripture where people were frightened of good angels or godly experiences.
If you put scripture on camera and on film in a very articulate and
legitimate way, there would be horrible sex scenes, there would be horrible scenes
of violence, there would be scary things, there would be exciting things.
So really it's not about those things. In general. There's a whole psychology
that surrounds the concept of fear and why people like to be afraid and get
scared when that's why they go on roller coasters. A scary movie, within
reason, is no different than going on a roller coaster or experiencing something else
that would give you a thrill, but it's the context of what's being done.
And the divider really is if something's prescribing you to do something bad,
then you're not a part of it. But if something is describing something bad,
then that's just a description of things that are taking place, or something
that is causing you to think about the way the world works, or things
like that. So different people go see them for different reasons. Some people
see them because they're movie buffs and they're fascinated by the concept of special effects
or the storyline, or they like the thrill of not knowing what's coming next.
But you could say that about a lot of things that, you know,
some people would think are benign. You know, some people think a
Stephen King novels okay, but a Freddy Krueger movie is not, or you
know, and go back and forth in these concepts. Having said that,
Charlie, there are some things that really focus and are done by people with
dark intent and really focus on evil things. And in that case, I
would use great discernment as to whether you were bringing those images or those thoughts
or those concepts into your life. You have to decide where that line is
for you, Because like many things, there are specific commandments and admonitions by
God that are for everyone. Don't murder, don't steal, these types of
things, and then there are ones that are specifically for you. For the
alcoholic, they can't drink period. That becomes a new commandment in their life,
because any drinking becomes a sin, whereas someone who's having wine with dinner
or something, it's not necessarily a sin. So with you, you may
have a tolerance for certain films is because you like the genre, whereas for
someone else it could be a problem because of tendencies in their life or things
that excite them in a way that shouldn't or things like that. And you
have to just be honest with yourself as to why why you explore those things
or why you're curious about them. Are you a horror fan? Buff I
am? I? I just I like to watch them with my friends and
we like to laugh at some of the scenes, and it's just it's just
kind of amusing. It's not I don't ever really get scared by them,
But I have a friend who thinks that it's it's glorifying satan, and I
just don't know. If that's not well, some may be, and that's
that's a decision you're gonna have to make as you look at them. There
have been some. Now I don't think they're going to throw you into the
arms of the devil if you're a Christian and that is that is your faith,
and on the contrary, it may make you run closer to God.
But these things are our judgment calls on your own to say all things that
deal with violence or ugliness or different spirituality or are bad would really put you
know, everything aside. Think about the Christian police officer who is in crime
scene investigations that ask to come on actual scenes of these things every day or
see even ritualistic killings or things like that. Does that mean that that that
they would cut that out of their job and say I can't go on those.
It depends what the purpose of these things are and as to where they
are and if you're using them for good and how you're applying them. If
you think that it's something that's become to you know, it's kind of a
rite of passage. Passage for men. A lot of them see these things
and kind of a lot of gallows humor and laugh at the things that are
they're not. Sen's to build a thick skin and to establish yourself into manhood
and things like that kind of the part of the warrior process. And that
can be fine. If it becomes an infatuation or something, you know that
you're the that you're getting just totally caught up into Macob, then you got
to check yourself a little bit. Fair enough. Yeah, you're very welcome.
It doesn't mean that every single thing that deals with the macab or oh
my gosh, I'm throwing out all my Tim Burton stuff, or any of
these things. It's just it's not fair to the concept of of different types
of literature and art and filmmaking. There is many types of art, paintings
or otherwise that could be considered Macob that are quite brilliant and wonderful and insightful.
And that goes for movies as well. But you have to use the
discernment. If it starts to become a thing, then maybe you should check
check yourself every once in a while, being prospective about it, prey on
it and think that way, ah, discernment, Isn't it just easier to
just say no to everything. One of my pet peeves if you will.
Is the concept of zero tolerance. You see this a lot in schools,
so that a child that brings an aspirin to school is considered as big of
a problem as someone who brings illicit drugs marijuana, whatever, it might be,
cocaine, but they're all drugs. Even though it's aspirin, everyone gets
expelled. So that kind of concept of all or nothing that it really points
to laziness then it does anything else. And if you're going to be lazy
in your faith and not use discernment, then why did God put you here
and give you the tools like scripture and prayer and say things like there is
wisdom in a multitude of council so the people around you to get insight if
you're just supposed to go, okay, not doing this ever? Are there
not doing this ever? Type things? Sure there are. But even the
Ten commandments you talk about thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not kill,
because if you're in law enforcement or military or things like that, that could
become an issue. And you know, not bear false witness. However,
if you are a Christian in nineteen forties Germany and the Naziss comes to your
door and asks if there's Jews in your floorboard being hidden? You say no.
So the context is very important and the purpose in which you do things,
and that has to be part of your decision making. If you just
throw out all your skills of decision making, it's that just becomes spiritually lazy.
You're just looking for a reason not to have to practice your faith,
not to have to apply your your understanding and scripture. Well, you know
what I if I don't just cut it out now, I have to read
scripture and really understand things and know whether this is right or wrong in this
context, and it just takes too much effort. I'm just going to say
no. And that kind of spiritual laziness is permeating the church in a way
that the concept of being a sheep becomes the negative or the pejorative of being
a sheep and just stupid and doing whatever. Whoever in front of you says,
that's not the purpose. The concept of sheeps in scripture is to show
the purity and the kindness and the simplicity of following your Master. But doesn't
mean you do that in everything you do at church and all of those things.
And I want you to be able to think through things and use that
brain in the top of your body. Kf I AM six forty on demand