Jesus saith, "Thou shalt not Trick-or-Treat."

"Jesus doesn't want us to Trick-or-Treat." This from a four year old in my Sunday School class. He of course is speaking of Christ's words in Luke 24:49 when he is about to ascend into Heaven. The New International Version of the Bible says in v. 45, "Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures." Jesus goes on to point out how he has fulfilled prophecy once and for all and commissions those present to go out and bear witness to what they have seen, but he admonishes them, ".... stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high....and avoid the Easter Bunny, Halloween, Santa Claus, and public schools at all costs."

This last phrase is only available to those with REALLY open minds because JESUS NEVER SAID IT!

You see, that's how those Christians with REALLY open minds are able to sort themselves from the rest of us. If they can find new menacing and evil aspects to those things that used to be innocuous and, at the very least, just fun, then they have managed to somehow elevate themselves above that level ground at the base of the cross.

The Easter Bunny, ghosts, and Santa are not real. It is not until you turn them into minions of the devil (who is real) that YOU turn them into something scary for children.

"But Halloween is a pagan holiday!!!!" They were all pagan holidays! Read a book instead of getting your history lesson from the pulpit! During the first millennium, pagan rulers converted to Christianity (Catholicism). In order to receive the much sought after blessing and protection of the pope (already very powerful) those rulers had to convert their people to Christianity and acknowledge the Catholic church as the official church of their kingdom. Instead of disallowing pagan holidays, the kings and church leaders simply proclaimed those holidays to be in honor of God, Christ, or some saint and the people, accustomed to celebrating at these prescribed times of the year allowed old beliefs to slip away and replaced them with the new.

And where in the Bible does it say that public schools are evil and I need to make a stink when the Ten Commandments aren't posted. Don't practicing Jews revere the Ten Commandments? Why aren't they in there with us Evangelicals stirring the pot? Because their kids have the commandments memorized! They do not need them posted on the wall!

It feels good sometimes to stir the pot for God. Only problem is He didn't ask us to do that. He said, Teach them to your children (you, not the school), talk about them all the time (live them, not post them).

I have been invited into public schools to read the Christmas story by Christian teachers because that story is accepted as a piece of cultural literature. That Christian teacher took that opportunity to share the greatest story ever told with her students.

I have been present in a classroom where one student asked another "What does WWJD mean on your bracelet?" The Christian teacher called the student with the bracelet to the front of the room where she was allowed to tell the whole class what the bracelet meant and why she wore it.

God has not abandoned public schools, Christians have. Jesus never said a child going door-to-door in a superman costume is evil, Christians said it. God does talk a lot about unity. Nobody is protesting a lack of that. He mentions "love" more than several times. Let's open our minds to that rather than condemning harmless children's' activities.