Abba: "The Visitors"

What a song this is. People with anxiety sure relate to the fear of somebody at their door. I certainly feel anxious at Halloween as I don't want to promote evil through celebrating it.

Listen to this song here.

Halloween, for many, is just for fun. But spiritism is a dangerous thing to mess with. As Isaiah 8:19 (Bible in Basic English) reminds us, "And when they say to you, 'Make request for us to those who have control of spirits, and to those wise in secret arts, who make hollow bird-like sounds;' is it not right for a people to make request to their gods, to make request for the living to the dead?"

We ought to pray for the salvation of such deluded people who want to lead us astray. Look at what Proverbs 28:10 (BBE) says about their fait. "Anyone causing the upright to go wandering in an evil way, will himself go down into the hole he has made; but the upright will have good things for their heritage."

xFurthermore, it's for our protection that we mustn't play with wicked spirits through the Ouija board, tarot cards, and by visiting fortune tellers. As God told his people through Moses in Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (BBE), "Let there not be seen among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, or anyone using secret arts, or a maker of strange sounds, or a reader of signs, or any wonder-worker, Or anyone using secret force on people, or putting questions to a spirit, or having secret knowledge, or going to the dead for directions. For all who do such things are disgusting to the Lord; and because of these disgusting things the Lord your God is driving them out before you."

But some folks will say that playing with the Ouija board is just a game. Oh? Look at Leviticus 19:31 (BBE). "Do not go after those who make use of spirits, or wonder-workers; do not go in their ways or become unclean through them: I am the Lord your God."

Let our visitors be those beloved siblings in Christ who follow him. We read this in 1 John 1:6 and 7 (BBE). "If we say we are joined to him, and are walking still in the dark, our words are false and our acts are untrue: But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, we are all united with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son makes us clean from all sin."

If our beloved Master hasn't visited us by Monday, I hope to post about a science fiction song from a group not known for that genre of music.

Redbone: "The Witch Queen of New Orleans"

This native American group had their first international hit with this song. It was the start of their rise to fame during the early seventies. Hear the song here:

Halloween is thought of by many as a time to dress up as witches, monsters, and other frightening things. What many folks fail to realize is that the Devil and his demons are real.

We see in Scripture how Christ healed physical ailments as well as casting out demons. Luke 8:1-3 (Bible in Basic English) tells us, "And it came about, after a short time, that he went through town and country giving the good news of the kingdom of God, and with him were the twelve, And certain women who had been made free from evil spirits and diseases, Mary named Magdalene, from whom seven evil spirits had gone out, And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's chief house-servant, and Susanna and a number of others, who gave him of their wealth for his needs."

But along with Christ's kindness, we see how serious God was about witchcraft. Exodus 22:18 (BBE) bluntly states, "Any woman using unnatural powers or secret arts is to be put to death."

Furthermore, God gives his reason for such an extreme sentence in Leviticus 20:6 (BBE). "And whoever goes after those who make use of spirits and wonder-workers, doing evil with them, against him will my face be turned, and he will be cut off from among his people."

Notice too that whenever Israel forsook the Lord, they worshipped demons who pretended to be gods. As Deuteronomy 32:17 (BBE) states plainly, "They made offerings to evil spirits which were not God, to gods who were strange to them, which had newly come up, not feared by your fathers."

Is it any wonder then that God hates such monstrous wickedness? As Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 (BBE), "Keep from every form of evil."

If Christ hasn't come by Thursday, I'll feature a spooky spoken-word piece based on a psychiatrist's report.

THE GREAT CANDY CONTEST OF 1967.

Now that all the trick-or-treating is over, children across North America have an ample supply of goodies. Even so, parents usually dole out candies, peanuts, and other snacks to their children during the first weeks of this month. Though kids would rather eat as much of their halloween swag as they want, they understand that this rationing is for their own good.

In this excerpt from Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School), my fellow dorm mates and I received the rare privilege of keeping all of our halloween stash. This is what we wisely decided to do with our windfall.

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Those of us who were new to the dorm felt pleasantly surprised when no supervisor confiscated our goodies. For the first time at Jericho, the authorities actually trusted us with our Halloween treats. I stashed mine in my locker and rejoiced that my candies were not seized "for my own good."

"I don't know about you guys but I'm going to try and make my candies last," I announced the next evening.

"Yeah, let's have a contest to see who can make theirs last the longest," Geoffrey encouraged. All four of us roommates agreed and carefully hoarded our bootie. Though we had a monumental struggle to resist the siren call of the treats in our lockers, I felt proud of myself for being one of the last to run out of candy.

I grudgingly ate the apples first to prevent them from going bad, remembering all those "starving children in India" lectures from grownups. Apples weren't much of a treat compared to chocolates, popcorn balls, peanuts, caramel kisses, and other sweets but they were better than nothing.

This process of sorting and hoarding taught me to conserve my candy and make it last for a couple of weeks. Every single one of us prized the privilege of being trusted with our treats and did not want to lose it by becoming ill from overeating.

We did, however, yield to temptation in another matter. Weeks passed as we waited impatiently for someone to collect the UNICEF money boxes. I felt no qualms when I spent those pennies since I rationalized we were needy children too and deserved the cash. The other boys shamelessly spent their UNICEF donations as well.

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Deliverance from Jericho is filled with many more vignettes of what life was like in that government-run institution. These range from poignant experiences of homesickness to hilarious incidents of mischief. Read more about Deliverance from Jericho here. Please feel free to contact me directly as well.

A tribute to a caring supervisor.

Life in a boarding school can be painfully lonely. Because of this, little gestures of thoughtfulness by the staff matter greatly to those children forced to live there. Whenever kind-hearted employees buck the trend of being disinterested minders, they make life bearable for the institution's students. From my Deliverance From Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School) memoir, here's an excerpt that relates one man's generosity toward us inmates.
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Our supervisor pleased us all with an outing on the evening before Halloween. "We're going to have a bonfire. Everyone come and follow me," he announced at the door to each bedroom. We eagerly grabbed our coats, put our shoes on, and followed him to the brow of the hill overlooking the school.

Mr. Cooper collected branches and bits of scrap lumber to fuel the bonfire. Then he lit it. The flames roared up, warming our faces. Mr. Cooper placed more wood on the fire when it began to burn low. A shower of sparks rose into the twilight sky.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. "I never saw that before."

"Haven't you ever seen that?" our supervisor asked. "Fires do that, you know. Watch this," he said and poked the bonfire with a stick. Another cloud of red hot ashes soared upwards. All the boys who had sight gasped at the spectacle.

"I want to show you boys something real exciting," our supervisor announced. "These are horse chestnuts. When I throw them into the fire, they'll pop." A minute after he tossed a handful into the flames, we gasped in unison at the small explosions. Even those who were totally blind relished that, as well as the loud pops the wood made as it burned.

After a while, Mr. Cooper led us in a few songs. I did not care for that activity but I enjoyed the ghost stories he told afterwards. They suited the darkening gloom and the mood of the evening well. We had not had that much fun around Halloween in years. Mr. Cooper made the night memorable because of his bonfire and his genuine love for us.
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Deliverance from Jericho contains many more vignettes of what life was like in that government-run institution. These range from poignant examples of homesickness to hilarious incidents of mischief. This 196-page paperback sells for $25.00 through the PayPal-equipped Inscribe writers group website. It also contains 6 black and white photographs.