In this solo podcast episode, M.t. Clark opens with a personal story about proposing to his fiancée Tammy Lynn after a symbolic crossing of the Buskirk Bridge, framing his life’s turning point as guided by God. He then moves to the perennial Christian debate over celebrating Halloween, arguing that while the holiday’s origins are contested, Christians should consider personal conviction, biblical discernment, and the potential for occult influence. Clark asserts that demons seek to exploit Halloween’s permissive atmosphere, leading to sinful habits that can become addictions—particularly to food, candy, horror media, and other fleshly pleasures. He confesses his own struggles with secretive candy consumption and horror‑movie watching, describing these as manifestations of addiction and spiritual darkness. He supports his stance with several Scripture passages (Ephesians 5:11‑12, Philippians 4:8, Proverbs 27:17, Revelation 10:9) and references a blog post by Lauren Rosskilli that echoes these verses. Clark then offers practical counsel: confession, accountability, and reliance on the Holy Spirit. He promotes several recovery and discipleship resources—Starpoint Church’s Celebrate Freedom support group, an online “Grace for the Holidays” teaching series, a men‑only “Freedom in Christ” program, and his own YouTube channel’s playlists. The episode concludes with a prayer for forgiveness, healing, and divine guidance for listeners.
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Good morning, welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark and this is today's photo. Uh, this, uh, let's see, today's— whoa, uh, today's photo of the fog-shrouded landscape of a pumpkin patch comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene while driving along, on Johnson Road in Johnsonville, New York on October 7th, 2021. While things were unclear in the morning, the day did clear up in more ways than one, as the Lord later revealed to me that this was the day that I was to ask Tammy Lynn Seguin to be my wife. Well, it's Tuesday and— well, let's see, it is Tuesday and I have shared the story before that the line of demarcation and the decision of what I— and how I was I would ask my girlfriend of 2 weeks to become my bride seemed to be the Buskirk Bridge as I received the news that the engagement ring I had purchased was going to be delivered later that day after having crossed that bridge to get to my work assignment. At the time, I reflected on how everything in my life would be— would change after crossing that bridge on the way back home. As I made the decision to surprise Tammy Lynn, uh, later that evening as we were going to see each other, uh, see one another for the class I was teaching, and pop the question. She said yes, and the rest is Christian podcast history, as the Lord used my faithfulness to spread the Freedom in Christ message and with a podcast, and Tammy Lynn's faithfulness to follow him, to bring us together as man and wife. Uh, God is good. And it is very good. It's a very good thing that God is good, because so often it is proven to us that we are not good. That's why we need a savior and God's continual grace in our lives. Um, you know, this is the time of year, that pumpkin patch, um, that nearly every Christian ministry, podcast, or blog does the seemingly obligatory message on whether Christians should celebrate Halloween or not. Unfortunately, if Christians are looking for one thing they can agree on, the topic of Halloween celebrations, yay or nay, is not going to be it. Uh, beyond the questions of whether or not Christians dress up in costumes, decorate their homes, have Halloween parties, or to participate in trick-or-treating, even the historical pagan or occult associations or origins of Halloween seem to be a matter of debate. Or controversy depending on the different articles you read. Ultimately, while Christians should probably not be associated with anything that may have occult or pagan origins, as with most things in the expression of our faith as Christians, our decisions to participate or not will come down to our personal choices and convictions, and those choices will be based on your knowledge, experience, and preferences. Our faith should never be reduced to a list of dos and don'ts, any more than we should blindly follow orders without knowledge, discernment, and trust. While I would never seek to open up a can of worms by suggesting questions of morality lie on a relativistic scale for our interpretation, we, we have to realize that sin and the conviction of sin often have a lot to do with the individual's knowledge and maturity in, in the faith. Some people don't know better. Uh, they haven't studied the Bible and they haven't been exposed to good Christian teaching and or haven't been convinced that there are spiritual forces of darkness that influence us. So while it may seem clear to me how the enemy delights over the celebration of Halloween and the darker, dark things that come into the light at the end of October each year, it may not be clear to other Christians who don't know the things I know or who have not experienced the things I have. Um, from my studies of the Bible and spiritual warfare and through my experiences personally and as a freedom prayer minister, I know that Satan is real and that demons can and do seek to steal, kill, and destroy us. However, any warnings about ancient pagan or occult rituals behind Halloween or warnings of the demonic influence fall on deaf ears for the secular Christian. Um, they see those things as ancient history or superstition. Uh, they don't believe in ghosts, the devil, or demons, and consider Halloween a time to have fun. Unfortunately, exorcists, deliverance ministers, and freedom prayer ministers like myself know that the involvement with the occult and the sins that are encouraged at Halloween can give demons access and permission to afflict and torment those seeking to indulge the flesh or to partake in some dark delights. The Bible warns about giving the enemy a foothold in our lives for a reason. Indulging in the sins of the flesh can turn into a stronghold or an addiction, and what was just harmless fun can easily turn into a habit that becomes a bondage of addiction. Halloween activities, uh, invite people to let loose with food, alcohol, drugs, sex, deception, and destruction, as vandalism and pranks are evil done in the name of fun. Anyone— any one of these things can turn into a habit or an addiction. Me, I can admit to participation in all the above in the spirit of Halloween in the past. And unfortunately, I have to admit that the spirit of Halloween has grabbed a hold of me once, once again. I had a lost weekend of sorts as I was tempted to celebrate Halloween early when box loads of candy were donated to my wife. And I felt the inexplicable call to secretly watch Halloween-themed horror movies and ended up stealing and devouring handfuls of candy bars. So much for my food plan and trying to stay in the light. As an addict, or former addict I should say, I know when you start hiding things, you're in trouble. So I'm confessing my failures again and do so publicly so I can stop the insanity. While I know that eating candy and watching horror movies may seem like harmless fun, for me, it's sin. Because of the way it activates those addictive and secretive tendencies. Hiding things is lying, and indulging the flesh with food in the uncontrolled manner that I do is addiction. And the only way to be free is to come into light by confessing what I've done and by making the decision to not do these things again. Um, Lauren Rosskilli of Mindful of Christ shared a blog post on the topic of whether or not Christians should celebrate Halloween, and I'm sharing the link, uh, to it on the blog today because it shared a few Bible verses that really hit at the heart of the matter for me. Lauren's blog shared Ephesians 5:11-12, which tells us, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. And Philippians 4:8, this says, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Now, this, this tells us clearly that we as Christians are to think and seek after true, noble, pure, lovely, virtuous, and praiseworthy things. And to avoid all works of darkness and the things done in secret. If I feel I have to hide my activities from others, regardless of how benign or seemingly harmless they may be to others, it clues me into the fact that I'm walking in darkness and I should stop. So I'm throwing myself under the bus again as a food addict and a former occult horror genre enthusiast. I confess that these things are works of darkness and steal the peace and joy from walking in the light. So I turn from them today and choose not to celebrate Halloween. No decorations, no parties, no horror movies, and no indulging the flesh. Because I not only know that the spiritual forces of darkness love to be worshiped through it, I know they love to see people use any excuse to give in to sin and to be trapped by it. So let the Lord and his word and be your guide through life, and listen to what the Holy Spirit says and— or is telling you, rather than the spirit of Halloween. Today's Bible verses come from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on friendships, and the— today's verse is Proverbs 27:17, which says, iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another. Today's verse is the second of two passages that fall under the seventh point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on friendships. And that seventh point is: A godly friend can be of great help. Today's Bible verse is the quintessential verse for Christian accountability and discipleship relationships. Together we make ourselves sharper when we come together in fellowship to obey the word of God, and encourage each other to follow the Lord only. So you should do that. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mp4christ.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with our walk. And today we're sharing from Recording Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alpert. And in Alpert's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture Today's chapter is Revelation 10, and from that chapter he shares a portion of verse 9, which says, Take and eat, eat it, the little book, and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth. And Stephen Alford writes, the word of God is very often sweet to the spiritual taste, but very bitter to the flesh. How often one speaks of a promise being sweet, but how different it is to enter into the experiential knowledge of it. For very often, to experience such a promise, the flesh has to be drastically dealt with. Faith is the soul's taste, while the belly speaks of that which is carnal and very often intemperate. It was said of some that their god is their belly. But bitter or not, the command to John and to me is to take it up and eat it. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, oh, that I may withstand the bitter in order to fully appreciate the sweetness of your promises. We say amen. Yeah, their God is their belly, you know. Um, that's, that's right at the, that's right at the food addict, you know. That's, that's totally right there. So if you're into Halloween candy and can't say no and eat the whole bag when you could just have a piece or two, yeah, you're a food addict, my friend, and just like me. And you definitely hide— if you hide eating food, definitely a food addict, you know, because why would you hide anything? Because you know it's wrong. That's why. Um, you're overeating shows your addiction. Your, your secretive eating shows your addiction. Your obese nature shows your addiction. Ask me how I know. Um, yeah, 320 to 2-whatever I am now. So, you know, I've been there and I've done that, and I'm still fighting the fight. You know, all those candy bars came into my wife's house this weekend. I couldn't help but, you know, jump in and take some. And I didn't want to get caught by my wife, so I did it in secret. That's not right, you know. And, um, you know, the horror movie, the same thing. She knows I shouldn't watch that stuff, and so I watched it in secret. You know, these are sins. This is how the enemy operates. He separates us and divides us. He tempts us and keeps it in secret, keeps us in the dark. And when we give into it, we know we're not walking right. So When that happens, we just stop the insanity, confess our sin, and come into the light by confessing it all. So, um, yeah, anyway, um, and that's why we asked the question, have you fully surrendered to God? Uh, if you're hiding things, you haven't. And but guess what? There's the freedom available, freedom by confessing it. I don't want to do these things anymore. I know they're wrong. And I want to stop, and I know the Lord can help me. And if you don't know the Lord can help you, I'm here to tell you he can help you. He can help you to overcome anything that the enemy throws at you or the flesh, you know, calls you to do. God gives you power to overcome, and when he calls you, he helps you. And he might just help you into ministry. And that's where he's helped me. He's basically led me to Starpoint Church, where I now lead the Celebrate Freedom support group for Christian recovery and discipleship. Anyone in Upstate New York can come out and join us tomorrow night at 6:30 in the K-3rd grade classroom at Starpoint for Christian recovery and discipleship fellowship and support. Um, we teach you how to walk in the Spirit and overcome the lust of the flesh. Um, let's see, and, uh, as for anyone who can't make it to the meeting and wants to be encouraged, we're having a Grace for the Holidays online teaching and support group that we'll be doing on Mondays starting on November 11th. You can go to mtforchrist.com and look for the support group events link to get to that page to sign up and send me your information. Um, let's see, and beyond that, we'll be doing Freedom in Christ in the new year on January 7th. The reason why we're telling you about it now is registration's open. The spots are limited. Um, so if you want in, man, It's for men only. Um, sign up now. Um, let's see. And finally, we, um, we, we, we encourage people to go to the website— well, to our YouTube channel, M.t. for Christ 24/7, where we, uh, provide playlists of all our teachings in the past. Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our Celebrate Freedom discipleship course are all available there, along with a lot of other playlists, uh, of Christian material. So we encourage you to check those out. We're sort of at a rush, uh, whenever we write independently, we, uh, you know, go around in circles, and, uh, there might be some typos into the blog today. So we, we ask for your forgiveness, and we're going to pray. Um, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all you've done for us, Lord. We pray for you to be with us today as we seek to do your will only. We thank you for your forgiveness and the healing that you bring when we confess our faults. And Lord, we just, uh, pray for anyone who's reading or just listening to today's message, um, that you come alongside them and help them as well. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
