Celebrating the Fear of the Lord at Halloween 🎃 (Proverbs 3:5-10)

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By Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, All Saints Community Church, Crescent Beach

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”

Proverbs 3:5-10 NIV

I want to ask you this morning: What does it mean to fear the Lord and shun evil at Halloween? I don’t believe in the so-called health & wealth prosperity gospel, but neither do I believe in the sickness and poverty gospel. In a complicated, mysterious way, as today’s passage tell us, the fear and wisdom of the Lord is connected to breakthroughs in our finances and health. How many of you would not be offended if God helped you out in your current health or financial challenges? Sometimes Christians forget that God often blesses us financially not so that we can hoard our wealth but so that we can be more generous to others. How many of you would be willing to be more generous if God increased your financial seed during this Halloween season?

As you may know, the term Halloween actually means Holy or Hallowed evening, the evening of All Saint’s Day. How might the fear of the Lord transform the current unholy evening into a holy, Christ-centered evening? Dr. Derek Prince said that whatever you fear is your god. What do many people fear at Halloween? In a recent Surrey Now newspaper article, a “new ‘blackout’ Halloween haunt in Surrey promises ‘horrific tactile scares’ with blindfolds and rope.” Have you noticed in our culture that certain events go from being a day to a week to a month and even to a season. Halloween, originally just an evening, has become an overwhelming, virtually unstoppable season covering Sept 1st to Oct 31st. Halloween is deeply linked to our battle as God’s baptized soldiers against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Because Bishop Peter & Jenny came from Australia which wasn’t obsessed with Halloween, he was initially shocked by how focused our Canadian culture is on death during Halloween rather than on life. John 10 tells us that Jesus came to bring abundant life where the devil brings death and destruction. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. Have you noticed how woke culture loves to offer death as the solution for suffering, whether it is MAID being offered to the mentally ill, to seniors with health issues, to veterans with PTSD, or abortion until the time of birth, or free hard drugs for the addicted? Death is the only solution of our current woke culture.

1 Corinthians 15:56 tells us that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that Jesus shared in our humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Halloween is so huge because many Canadians are slaves to the fear of death. Many Canadians no longer have funerals or celebrations of life. We have forgotten how to weep with those who weep, how to grieve as those who have hope. Jesus and his powerful resurrection helps us be less deathaphobic. Is that a word? 😉

For many older people, the fear of the Lord relates primarily to the fear of hell and damnation. I remember surprising someone who then told me that I scared the hell out of them. Probably not a bad thing to do.

Many people, like those who belong to the Hells Angels, falsely believe that they have sinned their way past the point of any forgiveness. You can tell what people fear and are anxious about by what they swear about. Hardcore swearing, like in the construction world, is a psychological vaccine to temporarily suppress the fear of damnation and even worse sexual abstinence. Have you noticed that Canadian swearing is usually about Christ and sex. Is our Canadian culture somewhat Christophobic? Has the name of Jesus become the new taboo, the socially unacceptable naughty word no longer welcome in business, politics, education, or even in funerals or Remembrance Day services?

GK Chesterton said that many people say that you should never talk in public about politics and religion. He went on to say that there is nothing else worth taking about. If Canadians were really consistent about what they are anxious about these days, they might start using financial swearing like “Oh bank account” or “Oh Visa or Mastercard”.

In 1930, the Soviet Union became so Christophobic that they officially banned clergy from being invited into private homes, and all donations to churches were forbidden. There was an actual governmental five-year plan designed to crush the gods of all Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, & Islam. Under Stalin, nearly all clergy were shot or sent to prison. More than 85,000 Russian clergy were shot in the 1937 purge. That was the famous year where if you did not betray five other often innocent people, you yourself would be shot or sent to the Gulag. The official government and media stance was that there was no religious persecution. It was only anti-Soviet lawbreaking that was being punished . As a result, by 1940, only 1.7% of all Russian churches (that’s 500) were still open. Many clergy wives had to officially divorce their husbands in order to qualify for any employment. Russian clergy, being cast out of their churches, often disguised themselves as wandering repairmen, secretly preaching the gospel, baptizing people, taking illegal weddings, and funerals. If things get worse in Canada, I know what Bishop Peter could easily do for his next career: wandering repairman evangelist. Have you noticed that Bishop Peter with his German heritage can fix virtually anything?

Being recently in post-Christian Quebec City, I noticed that many church buildings were converted to secular purposes. Have you noticed that we are the only church still open in our very secular Crescent Beach culture? That is why our radical generosity to the Oikos project is so vital.

Don’t you love it when our governments tax us more for our own good? I personally believe that the solution to all life’s problems, whether health problems, racism, violent crime, or climate change is higher taxes. 😉 Do I hear an amen?

The Soviet taxation rate during Stalin was up to 81% of personal income. As Bishop Peter jokes, what we need in our lives is more government overreach.

How many of you have heard of the federal government’s recent banning of prayer at Remembrance Day service by chaplains of Abrahamic faith? I am praying that the significant pushback will cause the bureaucrats to back off, even if only temporarily, on banning prayer by military chaplains on Nov 11th. Our local MP Kerry Lynne Findlay informed 300 of us at the recent South Surrey White Rock Leadership Prayer Breakfast that God and religion are no longer to be mentioned in public by these military chaplains. Instead the new government directive says that chaplains are to just give reflections on Canadian values, whatever that might mean to a bureaucrat. The official government rationale is that Abrahamic prayer might offend some people, causing “suffering and generational trauma.” These military chaplains are also now forbidden to wear crosses or star of Davids because of DEI inclusiveness regulations. There was even an official report last year questioning the hiring of Catholic or evangelical chaplains because they are not diverse, equitable, and inclusive enough on matters of sexuality and polytheism. It is amazing how good terms like inclusion and diversity get weaponized into excluding others Canadians who are not viewed as being inclusive and diverse enough. The old phrase ‘Holy than Thou’ has now become ‘More Inclusive than Thou’ in Canada. Have we become inclusivephobic, the fear of being excluded?

“Proverbs 1:7 and also 9:10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. If you dare to question Halloween nowadays, you may be despised or mocked as a party-pooper: “Lighten up. Where is your sense of humour? You religious people are so narrow and judgmental. It’s just harmless fun. Kids deserve their candy.”

The greek philosopher Aristotle said that philosophy (literally the love of wisdom) begins with wonder. So too the fear and wisdom of the Lord begin with a growing awareness of how wonderful God is. Many people don’t realize that the fear of the Lord is actually the beauty of holiness. It’s not about being frightened or spooked by God. Beauty draws us, whether a painting, a mountain, or the beauty of one’s spouse. Have you noticed however that Halloween typically glorifies ugliness rather than beauty, and darkness over light? The smiles of the Halloween ghosts, demons, ghouls, and witches are almost always ugly and twisted.

My question to you in this Halloween season is “do you fear God?” How many of you fear God? We hear nowadays of endless categories of phobias such as Islamophobia or transphobia. As a child, I feared my food items like corn or peas touching each other, a condition they call Brumotactillophobia. Did any one else have that phobia?

Now Theophobia or the fear of the Lord offers amazing blessings to each of us. When is the last time that you heard the media talk about Theophobia? Theophobia is one of the few healthy phobias.

The fear of the Lord actually leads to abundant and even extended life, according to Proverbs 10:27 and 19:23. The early Gentiles like Cornelius in Acts 11th who attended synagogues were called God-fearers. Many of these Godfearers became Jesus followers.

Proverbs 2:1-5 tells us that if we treat the Bible like precious hidden treasure, then we will understand the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord cannot be separated from holiness or Hallowedness. There will be little holiness in your life without the fear of the Lord. Holy Fear is rooted in God’s perfect love that casts out all carnal, fleshly fear. Charles Spurgeon said that he who fears the Lord has nothing else to fear.

1 Timothy 1:7 says that God has not given us a spirit of fear. 1 John 4:17 says that there is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear, for fear has torment. Tormenting fear is from the devil. Halloween loves to play on people’s residual fears. Sometimes people intentionally expose themselves to fearful things at Halloween to try to prove how brave and strong they are, almost like cliff jumpers. The remedy for this tormenting fear is the true fear of the Lord, not Halloween fear.

Biblical fear is a healthy, respectful fear. Holy fear is grounded in a passion for the glory of God, the good of his Kingdom, and the honouring of his name. Acts 19:17 commented that fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified . How many of you want to magnify Jesus’ name, especially in the Halloween season? When we are overwhelmed and consumed with God’s holy fear, we will not be as overwhelmed or consumed with fleshly, carnal things. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to notice that Halloween desensitizes us to carnality and evil. Many Halloween movies nowadays are a wild cocktail of violence, occult, and pornographic imagery.

Revelation 15:2-4 tells us that people in heaven were holding harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

You will notice that the fear of the Lord is deeply connected with worship, symbolized by heavenly harps, and a focus on holiness and righteousness.

My walking group buddy Rev Dr Gordon Dirks gave me this helpful acronym for the Fear of the Lord:

F. Follow

E. Each : no one is exempt

A. Always: in all circumstances, trust

R. Run to God

Colin Urquhart said that those like Abraham, who have the fear of the Lord, will honour and obey God no matter what it costs. Could God be testing our fear of the Lord in the final phase of the Oikos III Project? Are we really willing to put our Isaacs on the altar? Halloween so often involves the counterfeit holiness, counterfeit reverence, counterfeit fear. An prehalloween ad on TV promoted the Exorcist movie which they said has terrified people for decades. Why do so many people want to be terrified at Halloween, even looking forward to it? Why does Playland make so much money during Halloween month targeting young people with their fright nights? Is it because we live in such a jaded bored hedonistic culture?

Colin Urqhuart said: “The Christian’s biggest enemy is fear, fear that God might not provide”. So we, even as Christ followers, are tempted to do things in the flesh and not really rely on Jehovah Jireh our Provider who has the cattle on a thousand hills. We are tempted to look to our bank accounts rather than to God as our source. Dr. E. Stanley Jones said, “Learn the art of prayer, for fears dissolve in an atmosphere of prayer.” What might happen if we put the Oikos Prayer Vigil first in our schedule on Oct 31st? How many of you are willing to make a special effort to join us for prayer at the church at 7pm on Oct 31st?

Corrie Ten Boom said that worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a centre of fear. Have you noticed that the twelve-billion dollar Halloween industrial complex likes to make mega-money by frightening us with monsters, even at our local malls? Leonard Ravenhill commented that one of the greatest monsters today is the fear of man, or the fear of human disapproval. The fear of man causes people at Halloween to pretend, put on a show, and conform to the herd instinct. Could the fear of the Lord be a key during this Halloween season in breaking the stronghold of fleshly worry and fear? Could holy fear break the strongholds of what ifs, should haves, would haves, could haves, and if onlys? How many of you have heard the moving song “No Longer Slaves” with the lyrics “I’m no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God.” Knowing our true identity as God-fearing children of God breaks the power of carnal fear.

That is why Psalm 27 says “The Lord is my might and my salvation…Whom shall I fear?….Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.” (Even though an army of smiling Halloween ghosts, demons, ghouls, and witches encamp against me) I shall not fear.

Now compare for a moment Psalm 34:11 which says, “Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” VS Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not for I am with you.” Elizabeth Eliot said “Fear arises when we imagine that everything depends on us.” As Bishop Peter often teaches, the Bible is full of true paradoxes, which we do not want to reduce to rationalist simplicity. For example, is Jesus either fully human or fully divine? The answer is Yes. Are we chosen or do we have free will? The answer is Yes. Similarly, we need both dynamic biblical imperatives ‘fear not’ and ‘fear the Lord’. The fear of the Lord is not about being scared of God. The fear of the Lord combines elements of holy fear, awe, and reverence. Most people don’t realize that awesome and awful are the same concept. The fear of the Lord is not so much over the fear of consequences or punishment but rather over hurting the one we most love. Our sins nailed Jesus to the cross. My prayer is that our All Saints worship service today will be a truly awesome, awful fearful experience, full of awe, full of the fear and reverence of the Lord.

You will notice that we celebrity-driven North Americans are not here at All Saints to be entertained. As Bishop Peter often says, God is the only audience. We are here, especially in the Halloween season, to give our holy, awesome God all the glory and honour and praise and worship.

I am convinced that a key to preparing our hearts for the coming revivals is recovering a healthy holy fear of the Lord.

Proverbs 14:26 tells us that “In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence”. It doesn’t make you timid or weak. Holy fear gives you strength, especially during Halloween.

Proverbs 16:6 teaches that “Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord ,evil is avoided.”

The fear of the Lord helps us more accurately hear the Lord’s voice, and therefore avoid evil especially around the very tricky Halloween season. Sometimes it seems that there is no way to properly navigate the Halloween booby traps and land mines.

Proverbs 22:4 teaches that “Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.” Derek Prince said that there is no fear of the Lord in us when we are proud, high handed and arrogant. Bu the more we esteem God’s greatness, the more we grow in the holy fear of our awesome God. By contrast, when we shrink God’s greatness, we lose sight of the fear of the Lord. How might our lives be filled with more humility during the Halloween season? Bishop Peter’s teaching about the tall poppy syndrome has inspired me to do more personal work in this area. Could radical humility defeat the stronghold of the spirit of death at Halloween?

Proverbs 23:17 teaches: “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.” How zealous are we for the fear of the Lord this Halloween?

Psalm 2:11 teaches “Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling” Derek Prince said “That doesn’t make sense to the carnal mind. Let me ask you: Have you ever experienced fearfully rejoicing and trembling simultaneously?

Psalm 19:9 teaches that “the fear of the Lord is pure (kosher and clean), enduring forever.” Do we need more of that in Canada with so much growing political and business corruption? The fear of the Lord cleanses us, making us more Christ-like and holy. The fear of the Lord arrests your attention. The fear of the Lord is about a fresh awareness of open heavens. Whatever grabs your attention is what is most awesome in your life. Let me ask you a honest question: What preoccupies you when you are stressed or worried? What is grabbing your attention in this Halloween season?

The fear of the Lord is all about a deepening love for Jesus. If your spouse suddenly uses your full name, what do you know for sure? You better pay attention. Spouses can both bless us and hurt us in a way that few other people can do. In a distracted culture, the fear of the Lord undistracts you, because it quickens your awareness of how holy and large that God is.

Joni Taeda Erickson said: “I want to stay in the habit of glancing at my problems and gazing at my Lord.”

Psalm 27:4 says: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

How many of you remember the final scene it in the ET movie when they saw the awesome UFO space ship descending? That’s a secular equivalent of the fear of the Lord.

Psalm 25:14 says that “the secret of the Lord is with those who fear him, and He will show them his covenant.” What if we intentionally became more fearfully covenantal in this Halloween season? Derek Prince commented that “The whole Bible revolves around covenant. Covenant is the theme of scripture. Only those who fear the Lord understand covenant. That is why, said Derek Prince, there are so many covenant breakers in churches.” We want God on our own terms.

Many Canadians have no idea that marriage is a sacred covenant, not something to be casually discarded when times are tough. Derek Prince commented: “the fear of the Lord is an essential ingredient for a successful happy marriage. Without it, a marriage can never function as it should.” That is why Ephesians 5:21 calls us to submit to one another in the fear of the Lord.

But nowadays nobody wants to submit to anyone else. It’s become a dirty word that only Theophobia can redeem. The miracle of Theophobia can actually cause strong independent spouses to mutually submit to each other, even when they have different views about how to navigate the Halloween season. I often recommend to those involved in the Halloween-obsessed public school system that they avoid dressing up their children as ghosts, demons, ghouls or witches. If you and your children are going to dress up, what if you chose positive life-giving costumes? And be sure to respect those who in good conscience don’t want to dress up at all. As Bishop Peter keeps reminding us, we may disagree of many things like how to navigate Halloween but as followers of Jesus, we focus on prayer and community.

Psalm 34:7 teaches that the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (a circle of protection MSG) How many of you want a circle of protection around yourself and your family, both blood and church family? Wouldn’t that be helpful at Halloween?

Psalms 86:11 says, “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

What might happen if we had an undivided heart in this Halloween season, saying no to death and yes to abundant life, Only undivided hearts fear the Lord. Double minded people receive nothing. Could theophobia be a key to breakthrough in the Oikos III Project? Might double mindedness and divided hearts be holding back a blessing? Might a total surrender of our opinions and wills be a key to keeping this building?

Psalm 102:15 teaches that “the nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the Kings of the earth will revere your glory.” Could the fear of the Lord trump the Halloween fear industry throughout America and the nations?

Isaiah 33:6 says that “there shall be stability in your times… The fear of the Lord is his treasure.” Do we need stability in this time of rampant inflation and conflict in Ukraine and Israel? Might the fear of the Lord be a key to inner stability in a topsy-turvy world?

Isaiah 59:19 teaches that “From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along.” How many of us need the breath of the Lord flooding upon us this Halloween as we prayerfully fear the Lord?

Acts 9:31 says that “the churches of the Lord through Galilee, Judea and Samaria had peace and were built up, and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, were multiplied.” Derek Prince said that the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit is the key to church growth. How many of us would be willing to welcome new people drawn to All Saints by the fear of the Lord?

“Hebrews 12:28-29 teaches that “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe (godly fear KJV), for our “God is a consuming fire.” May God consume the spirit of death this Halloween as we worship God with godly fear. How many of you want the spirit of death to be broken off of you in this Halloween season? Let us pray together. In Jesus’ name. Amen.