Monday, October 22, 2012

Trying to be like Jesus - a Halloween Costume Guide

While the other 5 year olds were trick or treating around the neighbourhood dressed as sluts the Lord was pleased with little Sadie, of Arizona, because she had picked out a Halloween costume that covered her body. 
Her shining example was highlighted in an article entitled “Trying to Be Like Jesus” where Sadie reported that, “When it was time to pick out a Halloween costume, I told my mom that I would choose a costume that was modest. I found one that I really liked, and it covered my body. I know that Heavenly Father is happy when I choose the right.”

Avoiding the pitfalls that can occur as a result of Halloween is something that every latter day saint parent should prayerfully consider. 
The Ensign magazine warns that what can start out as a seemingly innocent and cute witches costume can, in later years, result in occult rather than temple wedding ceremonies.
The article speaks of how before joining the Church a family dressed their daughter up as a witch but afterwards, in order to not grieve the spirit, they chose more righteous costumes.  They did not want to "personalize evil by encouraging our children to identify with witches, even cute ones."
One way I help the neighbourhood children consider the feelings of Jesus when choosing their costumes is to put a sign on my lawn stating that only those dressed appropriately will receive candy.  I further specify that children dressed as witches and wizards and those dressed immodestly are welcome to come back when they have changed.  In this way I know that I am doing my part to promote the sacred standards of the restored gospel.
Those with teenagers need to be extra careful to ensure their children are discouraged from attending events where fortune telling and other satanic practices take place, even if such activities seem like harmless fun.  President Boyd K. Packer warned of such activities when he told young men and women "In a moment of curiosity or reckless bravado some teenagers have been tempted to toy with Satan worship. Don’t you ever do that! Don’t associate with those who do!"
James E. Faust warned that "The mischief of devil worship, sorcery, casting spells, witchcraft, voodooism, black magic, and all other forms of demonism should be avoided like the plague.”
With this prophetic warning in mind to avoid casting spells just as one would avoid the plague I have counseled and will take this opportunity to raise my voice again against the dangers of the infamous Harry Potter series.  Please discourage your children from dressing as characters of this popular book. 
Sister McCullough wrote to me reporting that she always goes to the shop a few weeks before Halloween to buy up all the Harry Potter costumes so that the children will be obliged to pick more appropriate clothing.  We can learn much from her example. 
As always there will be those who mock the counsel given by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on matters such as this.  Those who mock should take careful note of the following Ensign report of what happened to those who did not take this counsel to heart, "Friends of ours recently were shocked and saddened when they arrived at a garden wedding to find that it was an occult ceremony. Their beloved grandson’s experimentations with “the dark side to spiritual things” were no longer mere Halloween curiosities."
Consider yourselves warned.

27 comments:

  1. Fear-based promotion is a means of controlling people. Satan is something created to do just that and is much more debilitating than selling fear, intimidation, guilt, authoritarianism, judgment and any other impure, unholy or unnatural invisible substance.

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  2. This is so true. Some people think that ghosts, spells, witches, wizards, etc. are nothing but make believe fun for children. Somehow, they forget that evil spirits are truly among us trying to inhabit our bodies, rob us of our free agency, and inflict us with mental illness.

    Joseph Smith visited with several ghosts. He had very real experiences with spells and evil spirits. Through Joesph, the Lord revealed the way to tell a heavenly messenger from an evil one.

    This is not something to treat as harmless fun for kids on Halloween.

    When a ghost comes to my door on Halloween, I ask him to shake my hand. When he does, if I feel no physical substance, I know that he is of the devil and is trying to deceive me. If I feel his hand, I know he is a just man made perfect, a resurrected being.

    This far, I have only run into legitimate spirits among those who visit me on Halloween. If I detect one without physical substance, I don't think I am going to give it candy.

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  3. I must correct what Mahonri has said.

    A Just Man Made Perfect will not shake you hand.

    Otherwise, you are correct, if the spirit is a resurrected being you will feel his hand, an evil spirit will shake your hand but you will feel nothing.

    SECTION 129 Doctrine and Covenants [One of 4 Mormon books of scripture]
    Instructions given by Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Nauvoo, Illinois, February 9, 1843, making known three grand keys by which the correct nature of ministering angels and spirits may be distinguished. HC 5: 267.

    1�3, There are both resurrected and spirit bodies in heaven; 4�9, Keys are given whereby messengers from beyond the veil may be identified.

    1 THERE are two kinds of beings in heaven, namely: Angels, who are resurrected personages, having bodies� of flesh and bones�

    2 For instance, Jesus said: Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh� and bones, as ye see me have.

    3 Secondly: the spirits of just� men made perfect, they who are not resurrected, but inherit the same glory.

    4 When a messenger comes saying he has a message from God, offer him your hand and request him to shake hands with you.

    5 If he be an angel he will do so, and you will feel his hand.

    6 If he be the spirit of a just man made perfect he will come in his glory; for that is the only way he can appear�

    7 Ask him to shake hands with you, but he will not move, because it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will still deliver his message.

    8 If it be the devil� as an angel of light, when you ask him to shake hands he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel� anything; you may therefore detect him.

    9 These are three grand keys� whereby you may know whether any administration is from Go

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  4. So true, President. It is important that we teach our youth at a young age not to involve themselves in the occult. Halloween is a slippery slope. We wouldn't want them to start using peep stones or diving rods and such. God only knows what sorts of evil spirits they could conjure up.

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  5. This site is a fraud...

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  6. Why are you using A picture of Ed Madden? Clearly this site is a fraud.

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  7. *** NOTE TO THE READER OF THIS BLOG ***

    This is NOT a website sanctioned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    "President Paternoster" is not a stake president within the Church.

    Rather, the content of this site varies from farce to pointed criticism [which is, at times, painfully accurate].

    Many, but not necessarily all, of the posts are written in mockery of those who are sincerely striving, albeit imperfectly, to follow Jesus.

    Caveat utilitor.

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  8. *** NOTE TO THE READER OF THIS BLOG ***

    Advice: If you want to take a Mormon deer hunting, always remember to invite at least TWO of them. If you only bring one Mormon, he'll drink all of your beer. True story!

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  9. I thought we already dealt with this issue. Like I explained at the time, I just assumed it was root beer.

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  10. I have a question, Stake Pres.

    Obviously even within evil there is a spectrum - that is, some practices and representations are even worse than others. For instance, within Harry Potter, surely it would be more evil to dress as Voldemort or as Dumbledore than to dress as the comparatively innocent Luna Lovegood?

    I have an aquaintaince who loves Harry Potter and wishes to dress as a Sytherin, a member of the most evil Hogwarts house, for Halloween. (How awful!) Unfortunately she is, I fear, much too enamoured with the Harry Potter series to give up the idea entirely, so I have been trying to persuade her to dress as a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff instead.

    I hope that by small steps I might help her see the light and have her someday see the error of the evil in these books. Is this a worthy endeavour?

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  11. nonforbiddencokedrinkerOctober 23, 2012 at 4:53 PM

    The garden ceremony wedding was particularly frightening. A similar thing happened to a close friend of mine. Their child had converted to a Satanic cult, and the parent, upon going to the wedding had been confronted by a lot of bizarre rituals. It was reported that the day of the bride's wedding, she was taken off alone, stripped naked, then had several members of the cult touch her naked body as they cast spells upon her flesh.

    Then before the ceremony itself, everyone was made to dress into robes with occult markings on them, and several members then stood in a circle and started chanting.

    We can all agree we do not want our children exposed to such ungodlike idolatry.

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  12. Wow Nonforbiddencokedrinker! What a coincidence! I too was one of those naked women. Funny thing is, it was Halloween when I went to my ceremony!! 31st October 1992. Strangely i don't like to think about it anymore...
    President Paternoster, Thank you for this blog. I've been a regular reader for some weeks now and I just love it. You are a wise man and I'm so very grateful for all of your sage advice.
    Please pray for my husband (the one I went to the ceremony with on Halloween 1992) to be able to see the further light and knowledge that you share.
    I'm worried that your prayers might be in vain though...I've always worried that prayers are in vain...perhaps you could direct me further in this area?

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  13. After reading your words of insipiration and feeling the promptings of the the holy spirit of truth I decided to return the Darth Maul and Harry Potter costumes I purchased this week. Yes, the very appearance of evil invites that into the hearts of man. I am sure my neighbors would be appalled that the mormon family in the neighborhood associated in any way with the occult. I've decided, after much prayer that my 8 year son will be dressed as Brother Joseph (I am retro-fitting the most darling Smurf costume)and his three younger sisters will be Emma, Helen Mar and Eliza. And if the blessings just don't stop....I was given an abundance of pass along cards from our ward mission leader last week (they were supposed to be passed out for "invitation Sunday"). So now we have a missionary opportunity in our neighborhood. I feel that this has been a personal revelation from above.....but I would not be offended if you used my idea in your neighborhoods. Of course we live outside of the Wasatch front so I am sure that the questions will come. The golden questions of course!

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  14. I was very touched by the ensign article you featured at the beginning of your blog. I don't think I even knew what modesty meant when I was 5 yrs old. I've noticed that over the years there has been much more effort put into keeping our young girls covered up. I never thought too much about Halloween costumes being a concern as I live some place where we naturally stay covered up just to keep warm.
    Halloween is all about acting and we all know how in order to act we need to create a relationship with our "character". From the age of 18 months we actively teach our children to develop a relationship with things righteous and wholesome why should we throw that away even for one night?

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  15. Today's children and teens know more than the children of previous generations and are more spiritual and just more special and outstanding and everything else because we were saved until the very last day. I know previous generations thought the same thing about themselves, but they were and still are, like, obviously wrong about that, or WE wouldn't be here. (It's OUR turn, Ann Romney.)

    Anyway, I need advice. I was going to be Lady Godiva this year. I have long hair. I have a flesh-tone body suit. It covers my skin, but it doesn't look like it covers my skin, if you get my drift. Can I wear this costume and still be my righteous and special self, or will doing such fall under that nebulous heading of The Appearance of Evil?

    Sincerely,
    Alexis Anne

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  16. Sister Anne, please forward me a photo so I can verify the appropriateness thereof.

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  17. Sister Anne,
    Are you going as Lady Godiva to the ward halloween party?

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  18. I've been banned from all ward costume parties as of eleven years ago, when I went to trunk-or-treat as Trailer Trash Barbie.

    Alexis Anne

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  19. On Hallowe'en night I always keeps a good supply of twenty-pound notes by the door (that's about $30 to anyone over the other side) to hand out to every little perisher who turns up. To each one I say 'I've just got two words for you, Sunshine, 'Investment Banking'. I like to think it could determine their whole futures.

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  20. Our most kind and gracious Stakely President,
    Thank you for your brave and inspiring words! I used to enjoy Halloween until I realized that participating in this most evil of all holidays made me nothing more than a servant of the great deceiver himself even Satan. I have now begun to use it as a missionary tool so that I will always have an eye single to the Lord. I choose to celebrate the Halloween by having my family dress up as someone we have learned about in Sunday School that year. This year being the BOM I am going to be Enos. I love the years when we dress up as BOM characters because I don’t have to have my wife make new costumes for her and our Daughter because there are only like 3 women named in the BOM and one of them is a harlot that they cannot dress as lest they become handmaidens of Lucifer . Anyway, we then watch legacy over and over again and hand out for the strength of youth pamphlets to the trick or treaters. Halloween has become 3rd in my holiest of days behind Easter and Christmas since beginning this tradition.

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  21. I love seeing the looks on the children's faces when they come to my house and I make them sing or do some other kind of "trick" and then reward them with the best treat they could ever ask for, a pass along card.

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  22. I'm so thankful for the gift or divine revelation from a living oracle such as the prophet. I was picking out my halloween costume yesterday and was having such difficulty chosing the appropriate look. I suddenly noticed that one of the costumes had 2 earrings included...well.... you know the rest of the story. When you live your life in such a way that obedience take precedent to thought...the decision is automatic. I praise the man and thank thee O God for a profit.

    In the holy name of Jesus,

    Amen

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  23. President, I notice that your blog no longer lists recent comments, except under the respective titles of your distinguished weekly utterances. I hope you will forgive me, therefore, if I raise a matter related to a previous letter, on the subject of adoption. You kindly gave us a link to the Priesthood Handbook in which it says 'When a man and woman conceive a child outside of marriage, every effort should be made to encourage them to marry. When the probability of a successful marriage is unlikely due to age, or other circumstances, the unmarried parents should be counselled to work with LDS family services to place the child for adoption'. Now I am thinking of a case where the 'other circumstances' were that the father of the child-to-be had in the intervening period died. Would the mother, in those circumstances be expected to place the baby for adoption? Surely not, would she? Yet if it were the case that there were a large age difference between mother and father e.g the mother was 21 and the father, let's say was 95, but still alive; the handbook makes it clear that, in the absence of marriage, they should consider placing for adoption. But the 95-year-old chap might soon die anyway! What is it that makes a dead father more eligible than a nearly-dead one?

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  24. Though I enjoy some of your wonderful thoughts, publishing this blog as coming from a stake president insinuates that the words spoken hear carry some sort of authority outside your stake. Perhaps altering the blogs title, to eliminate "Stake President", may be wise.

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  25. This Blog is a joke right?

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  26. To members of the LDS church:

    Please use extreme caution when reading this blog, as well as other related blogs. Many teachings of the church have been twisted to be negatively and inaccurately portrayed.

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