Should Christians Watch Horror Movies? (repost)

I visited a Christian blog recently where the author shared a list of her favorite scary movies to watch on Halloween.  And they were some of the worst of the worst.  Violent, demonic, evil.  And she said that she's happy her kids are old enough to watch them now so that they can watch the movies together.  (I'm not sure how old her kids are, but she is not an old, grandma-aged mom.)

I was horrified.  And I told her in the comment section that I was shocked that a Christian website would encourage those kinds of movies.  I told her that I didn't think it's right to encourage things that are clearly contrary to God.  (For the record, I used to love scary movies ... until I found myself home alone, remembering the terrifying images of these movies.)  

Pray for Meghan and Harry

I am.  

This interview with Meghan (at least the tiny segment I saw in this clip) absolutely broke my heart.  

You can tell that the little bit of emotion she revealed is only a tiny speck of what she's really feeling inside.  And when you've been in that kind of pain before, you can't help but be heartbroken when you see others who are hurting that badly too.  And so I am praying for them.  Please pray for them too.  

God can reach into places that no one else can and heal the pain that no one else sees.

(And I give her enormous credit for being honest and vulnerable.  Takes a strong person to do that!)


(For others who are hurting, click here for some ideas that might help.)

Orwell's 1984 and America

The difference between conservatives and liberals:

Orwell's 1984 and America 

Some Carman Songs For Halloween

Yes, these are older songs and a bit campy, but they are fun and full of truth.  And they're blasts from the past for me, taking me back to my youth!  (I didn't mean to make it rhyme.)  

A Witch's Invitation - Love this one!


No Monsters - See, Carman knows the power of Jesus's name!

Satan, Bite The Dust - I wouldn't go around challenging Satan, but Carman's making a good, important point here about the power of God compared to the power of the devil.

God's Got An Army - with a little Narnia thrown in

Revival in the land  - Are you on your knees in prayer for our country? 

The Courtroom - I just watched this one for the first time.  Interesting.

The Champion - this will always be one of his best!

Radically Saved (Live) - the whole hour-plus show.  This is one of the first albums I got of his.  And it's still one of my favorites.

Radically Saved - just the song

This Blood is for You - A powerful song

Three Guidelines For Christians Regarding Halloween (repost)

Halloween is coming up.  And of course the question for Christians is "How much should we participate in Halloween, if at all"?

Truthfully, I don't know.

My personal choice would be to have nothing to do with Halloween, except for eating candy.  (Thankfully, my boys never wanted to dress up in costumes.)  I don't feel comfortable participating in anything that "celebrates" death, violence, demons, witches, the occult, etc.  Those kinds of things are very real in the world and shouldn't be encouraged, laughed at, or glorified at all.

But I also don't think there's anything wrong with meeting with friends, having some good clean fun, eating candy, enjoying God's wonderful Autumn blessings, etc.  Even dressing up just for fun isn't inherently wrong.    

But is that too close to "celebrating Halloween"?  

Hypocritical Liberals! A Fundamental Problem In America!

So ... when it comes to prayer in schools, we have to abide by the "separation of church and state" thing:  "Kentucky School Removes 'Prayer Locker' After Anti-Religion Group Complains"  (So it doesn't matter if the students wanted it or were helped by it, does it!?!  All that matters is that the anti-religion group gets their way!)  

When someone chooses, out of love and compassion, to give their Bible to a hurting person who's at the end of their rope, the liberals cry "Separation of church and state!":  "Left-Wing Group Files Complaint Against Christian Judge Who Hugged, Gave Bible To Remorseful Killer"  (So it's not enough that the Left-Wingers lack compassion and love and would rather see broken people stay broken, but now they have to force others to be just like them too!  To stop others from showing compassion and love and from helping hurting people!)

Christians want to help tutor struggling students?  "Unconstitutional," cry the liberals: "Anti-Religion Group Says Public School Mentoring By Christians Is Unconstitutional".  (They'd rather let kids struggle than have them helped by Christians!)




But ... when it comes to pushing your LGBTQ-agendas on others, well ... no "separation of church and state" now, huh!?!

What's Happened To America?

Is this what's become of America?

"Watch Woman Get Punched In Face By Anti-Trump Protestors"

So sad and distressing!

And how can we ever get back to civility, decency, and commonsense?

In "Honor" of Halloween: My Story of Demonic Harassment (repost)

(Reposted from last year and retold in various other posts.  I may just repost this one yearly at this time of year.)

In “honor” of Halloween (a day that deserves no honor), I’m gonna share with you why we don’t celebrate Halloween.  (We take our kids to a movie instead, or buy a movie they’ve been wanting and have a “family movie night” with candy and popcorn.  So no need to feel sorry for them; they are not deprived.)  

I don’t expect anyone to believe me, but I’m going to share my story.  (And for the longer version of this story on my other blog, click here.)  It’s my story about how I came to fully trust in Jesus’s name and to passionately cling to Him, to never be able to doubt the existence of a spirit world, to place such a high priority on prayer and God’s Word, and to always remember my need for spiritual armor.  And once again, you don’t have to believe me.  (But don’t say I never warned you.  And if you are a skeptic and get nothing from this whole section, just remember this: “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave.”  In case you ever need it.)

It started on a dark night in the middle of nowhere, in the bluffs of Iowa, where there are virtually no neighbors, no sounds, no cars going by at night.  Pitch black, silent darkness.

When The Volcano Blows

I was listening to Jimmy Buffet's Volcano earlier as I was driving, and I was thinking, "Wow, this kinda feels like life right now.  The grounds are shaking, the waters are churning, smoke's starting to rise ... and I know that one of these days the 'volcano' is gonna blow.  And when it does, I don't know how I'll handle it."

I can't explain yet what the "volcano" is, but maybe someday.  

"Bring me pain, Lord, if it brings You glory!"

(Reposted from a couple years ago from my other blog, but updated for me for today.  Because I need it.  Note to self: Remember 10/2/19, the day the "tsunami" hit.) 


I’ve always found the statements of “I want the Lord to do whatever He wants in my life to bring Him the most glory possible, even if it means bringing me pain” to be inspirational …

and a bit “off.”

When I was 21 (half my lifetime ago), I went to Papua New Guinea for a summer on a mission trip.  And I told my mom that I picked PNG over any other place because it was so remote and primitive.  I said that I wanted to have everything taken away to really challenge me, to grow my faith in new ways.  And I meant it.  I really did.  My heart was in the right place.

But my mom said something wise, something that stuck.  She said, “Don’t ask for that!  Never ask for that!  Because He could take away everything – your legs, your eyesight, your health, your home, etc.”

Wow!  So true.

As I thought about it, I realized that I didn’t really want God to do “whatever.”  I didn’t want Him to take away all my comforts, just the ones I could do without for a summer.  I didn’t want to be broken into pieces, just smooth off a couple rough edges.  I didn’t want to be tried like Job was; I just wanted a little adventure that would grow my faith in fun, exciting, safe ways.