Halloween for Christians: How to Respond to It

Halloween has become one of the largest, most influential holidays in America, and is gaining ground in other countries as well. It is a day filled with costuming, horror images, candy, and community openness. That combination seems strangely out of synch with sensibility at first glance, but those issues may not be as far apart as we might assume.

If you come from the conservative to fundamentalist spectrum of Evangelical Christianity, you may have been raised with a fear of Halloween. You have heard stories of its supposed Pagan beginnings, and the dark sinister things occurring on Samhain (pronounced Sow-en). The Fundamentalist mind runs rampant with human and kitten sacrifices on October 31st. Churches hold Harvest Fairs, or 24-hour prayer vigils to combat the dark intentions of the Evil One on this night.

Meanwhile, families are getting dressed up in costumes ranging from bloody zombies to Disney Princesses, and they are traveling the neighborhood knocking door-to-door like vacuum cleaner salesman looking for candy for their children. The neighbors open their doors, cheerily accept a "Trick-or-Treat!" shout, give out candy, and close the doors to declare how cute the kids look. To these neighbors, your concern about keeping your kitty indoor on Halloween, or avoiding a demonic intrusion into your child's soul seems as distant as Pluto.

Now, I will be so bold as to declare, that I know a bit more about Halloween and its intersection with Christianity than just about anybody reading this blog post. You see, I am a Christian Pastor. But not only that, I am a Christian Pastor who lives and pastors in Salem, Massachusetts, and in our little city, Halloween is a one-month-long experience. But, not only that, I have been running an outreach on the streets of Salem for nearly an entire month each year during our month-long Halloween season. And not only that, our city has real live practicing Witches, and I know many of them well. So, here goes my take on Halloween. I will not give you the supposed history of the event. You can find that elsewhere on the internet, and some of it is sensationalist (stay away from that stuff - it's just dumb and wrong), and some of it is honest enough to say that we do not really know the origins or activities on this night back in early Pagan history.

Here are some suggestions I have for you:

1) Don't get freaked out by the gory aspects of Halloween. Yes, some people go overboard, but then again so did Grimm's Fairy Tales, and so did some of the descriptions of war, sickness, depravity and suicide in the Bible. There is a strong connection between death and apocalyptic scenarios in literature and film, and these connections carry spiritual meaning. From stories of zombies to vampires to monsters to antichrists we find interesting correlations to finding safety in God during apocalyptic crisis in literature and film, and social commentary is ripe in story lines like The Walking Dead.

2) Take advantage of the community openness. What other day of the year will people happily open their doors to a knock from a strangely dressed stranger saying funny things to them? In fact, they will be so happy to see you, they will give you a gift of candy. How often does that happen? You couldn't get that to happen on Christmas Day while everyone is excitedly opening packages under the decorated piney tree.

3) Don't get all caught up in the supposed dark intentions of the night. How many Witches do you actually know? My guess is that most people reading this will answer "none." I know hundreds - literally hundreds. That is because I live in Salem Massachusetts, and have friends from the Neo-Pagan Witchcraft community from around the world. I have yet to encounter any dead kitty cats, or sacrificed babies. I have found very few examples of curses upon churches or individual Christians. I am not saying that there are not any examples of curses by Witches, but the Witches I know are generally kind people who want the world to be a better, more peaceful place. For this reason, I do not have to hide on Halloween to pray the darkness away.

4) Join someone doing something both fun and redemptive, if you can. Because I am in Salem, and 500,000 to a million people will visit our city in October, we will provide live music on the streets, give away free hot cocoa, free hugs, and will set up booths to offer a variety of spiritual counseling. This is our way of connecting to a searching world during a searching season.

I believe that Halloween is the most open and community oriented holiday in our culture. It is filled with wild creativity, and offers Christianity the best moment in the year to shine with its own creativity, love and giving. Don't let that moment pass you by, because you are afraid of some bogey man of urban myth in fundamentalist garb.

I've decided I want to be a Fundamentalist. Who's in? It's easier and gentler than you might think.

Join me on my website and find out why --> Why I want to be a Fundamentalist.

I think you will want to be a Fundamentalist too. (snicker, snicker)

A Question Following the Article in Relevant Magazine Online

The following letter was sent with a touch of concern. It was sent by e-mail after the writer read the article "Beyond the Pall", which was published in Relevant Magazine. The concerns listed in the article are not uncommon for people who are reading about someone who is actively making friends with the Neo-Pagan community, and sharing the love of Christ. I asked if I could respond to the e-mail openly on my blog, and he said yes. The writer will remain anonymous, because I offered to post it that way, and it was accepted on those terms.

The questioning e-mail will be in italics, and my response in plain text.


hi pastor phil,

my name is P... and i just finished reading your article on relevant magazine's website. i also looked at some of the stuff you wrote on your blog, but not much.

first, to begin, i just want to let you know that i am not writing this email out of judgement or contempt or anything, and i really really hope that i don't appear that way. really, i just want to share my thoughts and hear yours, nothing more.

i've just been really confused by what you wrote about. i understand your point, about how self-seeking pastors and corrupt leaders of super duper churches are not men of God (I also read what you wrote about redefining "heresy," and i would agree to an extent.) I'm just a bit confused cause the article does seem to lean another way also... that the practicing Satanist, was, well, respected by God.

Again, I do not want to be on the offensive or anything, I just want to understand your view better (not to make judgements, but just for my own understanding). I completely agree with you about your criticism of the really selfish and corrupt church leaders who everybody naively admires, yet, the article also offers praise to the Satanist.

This is what I have been struggling with in my personal search for truth. And this has been very troubling for me: the overwhelming message of love of Jesus vs. the nature of God. I mean, yes, Jesus said lots of things about loving people nomatter what, yet, he was also surprisingly ascerbic when dealing with the devil and evil. I mean, the first and greatest commandment is to love God, and I'm just very confused as to how a "selfish" God would honor a man who practiced voodoo and followed Satan.


The point of the article was not to say that one person was respected by God, and another disrespected, but rather to show the strange contrast from our human perspective. A dark individual who was respected by other people for the help he offered them was contrasted with a supposedly good man who has a growing evil reputation for hurting those around him. I simply ended the article with a question asking what God, Who sees into the heart, might see which we do not.

The same man who died was far more complex than could be described by the short story. I had known him for many years. We sat up late at night and discussed Heaven and Hell, we saw The Passion together, his story of being abused by Christian churches was outlined by a letter in this post. I have heard him describe himself as someone who loved Jesus, and disliked Christianity.

I understand the concern you have about God respecting, or honoring someone who lives in disobedience to Him, but I suppose I might look at the issue from a different angle than you are seeing it. I do not think that God respects one person over any other person, for the simple fact that all of us are messed-up, broken individuals.

Now I am not quite sure what you mean by a "selfish God," but it seems to me that the God I serve would give His Son for those who had rejected Him. It also seems that He loves that person as much as He loves anyone else. I would expect that He would want me to do the same. This would be the fulfillment of the command at the end of Matthew 5, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you...."

I see the anger of Jesus focused on hypocritical religious leaders. Do you think perhaps that He might feel the same way today? I tend to think so, and the reason I believe this is because our lack of compassion and understanding gives creedance to people's biases against Christianity. They see Jesus as loving toward the sinner, the sick, and the broken; and angry toward the hypocrites who thought that they could define righteousness by their own terms. I sometimes wonder if perhaps the non-Christian world understands the anger of God better than the Christian world does. They are mad at hypocrites, and accepting of sinners. Whereas we often are mad at sinners, and accepting of hypocrites.

By the way, it may be of interest for you to know that LeVeyan Satanism is most often a form of atheistic hedonism, and Satan is viewed as a personification of self, or the natural forces of the universe, and not as a literal being to be worshiped.

I mean, paul and other new testament writers also say a lot about Satan and pagans and they are definitely not supportive. I don't think I'm sayiing that you were "supportive" of Satanists, but it seems as if you are saying that the Satanist priest was a better man than the selfish pastor. Like, yes, the pastor is hypocritical and everything, but again, I just don't see how God would tolerate honoring a Satanist. The Old Testament is all about how God hates evil and the drastic measures that he goes to. There are many really serious passages in the New Testament about those that reject Christ and follow Satan. I just feel like, in a sense, you are saying that it's ok.

The New Testament writers did say a lot about Pagans. In fact, all the Gentile world was Pagan. Paul became "as a Jew" when with the Jews, and "as without the law" when he was with those who were without the law (i.e. Pagans). What the New Testament has to say about Pagans is found in Paul's advice on eating meat offered to idols, and the celebrating of holydays. Otherwise, it was a fact of life that Christians were sitting down with good old fashioned Pagans at meals, and even during Pagan celebrations, because that was the way of life in the Roman Empire.

or maybe there is a really fine line between showing unconditional love to whomever seeks it and actually approving of an alternate world view?

Now this I think highlights the difference in how we think. I do not believe that there is a fine line between showing unconditional love, and approving of an alternate worldview. I must love unconditionally, and I must desire truth fully. It is not either/or. When I love unconditionally, I do not assume that every moment requires that I rebuke someone for their sin. I do not think that loving unconditionally allows me to disrespect anyone, and for heaven's sake not after they have died! The post written by another Christian friend of my Witch friend who died, outlines the unbelievable abuse which many Pagans have received at the hands of the church. I will not be another abuser, but I choose to be an outreached hand of love to a group of people who are often feared, and miosunderstood by the church.

What many people do not realize is that while they sit on the sidelines critiquing my relationships with the Pagan community, I have shared the love of Jesus, and the beliefs of Christendom thousands of times to a people group which most Christians will never do anything more than rebuke - and that's only if they are exceptionally bold.


thanks in advance for your response, i've sent way too many emails that have not been responded too.

- P...

You're welcome. I am hoping that there will be a growing number of people who overcome their fear of those in the occult, and just learn to treat them with the same respect which we give to every other person.

gwyn dy fyd,
Phil

Witches in Ditches: Superstition continuing even with Christian influence

In Papua New Guinea fear concerning wtichcraft has been around for centuries. People have lost their lives for being involved with Witchcraft and/or allegedly cursing people. Curses from Witches are blamed for the occurence of HIV, and other diseases.

4 women were found in a ditch, and had been there for awhile. Their death was attributed to murder for the crime of being Witches. Supposedly they were blamed for a vehicle running off the road. Why have the old and powerless been the individuals persecuted for crimes such as this? Is the fact that they behave a little differently, and do things which may not make sense to others. Is it because they have more time on their hands, and appear to be gathering in their familiar little cliques, or is it that our superstitions simply find the easiest to blame?

I am not sure we are significantly different in America today. I think that perhaps we simply have laws which keep us from killing people we are afraid of.

I still wonder why we pick upon the poor, the old, the physically and mentally disabled, and the socially inept to direct our fear towards. This seems to be the opposite of Kingdom living, and loving.

Related News Story

Pagans, Witches, and Spiritual Warfare

Today is SynchroBlog 2 Day. There are thirteen of us who are blogging on the subject of spiritual warfare. Whoa - maybe I should have found another person. Thirteen is the complete number of a coven, and it is a demonically empowered evil number. Okay I'm being silly, and I am pressing your superstition buttons, so let's forget that and move on to the real blog.

I developed, and run a discussion list between Born-again Christians and Pagans of various types called Circle and Cross Talk.

In preparation for SynchroBlog 2 I asked the list what they thought about the subject of spiritual warfare. I wondered whether it was a subject they were familiar with, and if so what they thought that it was. Some of the Neo-Pagans on the list (these are people who are Witches, Druids, Shaman, and such) responded, and I wanted to let you see what Witches think of when they hear the term "spiritual warfare."

Before passing these thoughts from my Pagan friends on to you I should give you a definition of Spiritual Warfare. Spiritual Warfare is a term which has its primary Biblical source from Ephesians 6, where reference is made to a battle "not against flesh and blood...but against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places." There are other verses which are used to create the theology which swirls around the subject, but here are some basic thoughts: Spiritual Warfare is occuring because demonic forces are battling for control of human hearts. Temptation is a primary tool of Satan and His hordes, and the thought life is a place where the battle is waged. There are other views of Spiritual Warfare which consider issues such as demonic possession, and this possession is sometimes even considered to be something Christians and non-Christians might experience. This last view is held by more extreme groups. Often those involved in the occult are viewed as pawns of these dark forces, and it is believed by many that they do his bidding to call curses upon Christians. Praying against the forces of darkness is a common practice in many Pentecostal Circles. Most often this is benign toward individuals, but sometimes it becomes more aggressive, and people doing things which do not fit Christian ethical and moral views are prayed against. Generally the more aggressive views of Spiritual Warfare are rejected, but these practices can rise up due to fear and superstition among well meaning Christians. Spiritual Warfare is traditionally understood to be a battle against unseen forces. The Twentieth Century has seen a rise in this terminology greatly due to the influence of Jesse Penn Lewis' book War on the Saints, by the fictional work of Frank Peretti This Present Darkness, and by the influence of C. Peter Wagner.

Having set the stage, here is how my friends from another worldview see this topic Spiritual Warfare, and its impact upon their own lives, or society at large:

It was seen as a political rallying point for Paula a Jewish Wiccan:

"Interesting you should ask because I was doing research on this all day yesterday. I was researching something I read about "fear based persuasion"....Terminology like "spiritual warfare" and others like that seem to originate with the evangelical Christian movement. Ralph Reed (who took a big fall from grace for his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal) was known to have used just this sort of terminology in his political lobbying."

Furthermore she stated:

"American political leaders with religious agendas who promote theocracy emotionally stoke the fires with rhetoric that uses fear based persuation in order to get the American public to suspend their disbelief. And then one by one, for our own good, they take away constitutional rights in the name of a "war" on whatever they want to declare war on. Terror, abortion, illegal immigration....In order for there to be a war on anything there has to be an enemy. This is how leaders create a mob mentality. This is how Hitler managed to murder 6 million Jews.

At another point she questions the rhetoric "spiritual warfare" and asks:

"Look at the two words together.

Spiritual
Warfare

Thinking critically, what do the two words have in common? How does one word change the context of the other word? Do these words really belong together? Why would anyone want you to connect the two words and what contexct are they wanting you to see those two words together for? If rhetoric is the art of persuation, what might the creator of the term "spiritual warfare" be wanting to persuade you to believe or think? And is there another way to convey the message without combining two rhetoical and emotionally charged words?"

Mike a Shaman weighed in with some experiences, and a balanced approach to Christians who had not been kind to him:

"Well undoubtedly I have been the target of some peoples idea of spiritual warfare. Needless to say (or IS IT?) I took the opportunity to explore Ephesians 6 with those who were engaged in said activity. Sadly, without any success in some cases. :( I also have no doubt that there are some Christians who pray that I will be freed of the demons that keep me from meeting Christ. I don't actually have a problem with that. If that is what they believe and they're not attacking me then that's ok."

Mike also referred to Christians who take actions against professional Pagan leaders:

"But there are other activities some 'Christians' feel come under the heading of spiritual warfare. Activities that include interfering with peoples capacity to obtain a livelihood because those 'Christians' deem the spiritual path others are on to be demonically inspired."

Joseph chimed in with concerns which made him nervous:

" I was listening to National Public Radio last week, and there was a journalist who had been speaking with fundamentalist Christian groups who believed that "demons could jump into your body" if you went to places like New York City - regardless of "how good" one was, this was the justification used to explain Ted Haggard's sexual activities - this brought home the whole idea of how much fear, intolerance and hate, in my opinion, drive this idea that one is surrounded by forces of evil that are malevolent and set on doing harm to human beings. This whole concept is so strange to me - I understand that not all Christians invest in this philosophy - but I can't help but feel very anxious when I hear people talking about spiritual warfare - I find myself conjuring images of intense human suffering such as the Salem Witch Trials, The Holocaust, Pogroms, ethnic cleansing, persecution of different faith systems by other faiths, The Crusades and profound social injustice - all justified under that banner of God, all justified by the claim that the "causes" were a manifestation of "spiritual warfare"."

I hope these three views from some friends of mine in the Neo-Pagan world give you an insight to how the term, and practices of spiritual warfare look to those looking in at Christianity from the outside. It causes me to rethink the terminology I use, and the prayers I make for other people. Hearing what those outside the church think of what we do gives us a new perspective, and hopefully one we can learn from.

May God grant you peace my peacemakers.

Pastor Phil


Below are my fellow SynchroBloggers who are discussing the topic today. We are not a group who all believe the same thing, we are simply a group who are challenging conventional church life, and looking for a better way to live like Jesus. The opinions below may vary, and that's part of the fun.


John Smulo - Portraits of Spiritual Warfare
Mike Crockett - Sufism: How the Inner Jihad relates to Christian Spiritual Warfare
Steve Hayes - Thoughts on Spiritual Warfare
Marieke Schwartz - Grace in War
Cindy Harvey - Spiritual Warfare. (?)
Jenelle D'Alessandro (with one L!)- The Militancy of Worship
Mike Bursell - Spiritual Warfare: a liberal looking inwards
David Fisher - Spiritual Warfare: Does it have to be loud and wacky?
Brian Heasley - Something from Ibiza via Ireland
Webb Kline - Webb Kline's Blog
Sally Coleman - Sally Coleman's Blog
Mike Murrow - Mike Murrow's Blog

John MacArthur and the Emergent Critique Won't Go Away For a Long Time

Dave Moorhead (Shiloh Guy) made me consider John MacArthur the other day in a response to the post on synchro-blogging.

For a couple weeks now one of the things which comes up on my Emergent Village RSS updates through Bloglines is the question of whether the Emergent conversation should respond to John MacArthur's critiques of the Emergent Church/conversation/movement/whatever the involved parties call themselves.

Having been Foursquare until recently, and having been involved with Vineyard people over the years, and having lived only about an hour away from John MacArthur most of my life, and through 14 years of my pastoral ministry, I thought, "darn, I guess I'll weigh in. John boy has had something to say about every group I've been connected with."

To put this connection in perspective - I am not sure how emergent I am. I have been reconsidering church life, and mission for 20 years. Many things in the emergent conversation fit my worldview and my missional framework. Some things do not fit my theological framework, and many things do not fit my politics. I tend to see the emergent conversation as a fairly large tent, and hope that it is large enough for a fairly conservative Republican raised in Southern California to find shelter under. I hope that my leanings away from reformed theology, and toward a theology of freedom (or is that free-will-dom?) still make me okay, and I think I'm okay being a Pentecostal/New Mystic kind of guy in the Emergent circles.

My involvement with Emergent is based around my passion for mission in the First World where I live.

So getting back to John MacArthur: Should I/we respond? If so, how? and why? and what are the missional parameters by which we determine the need for responding to these developing critiques. This is not going away. His book is not yet on the shelves. We are not yet smelling the popular response which will occur when we face the fan.

My thoughts are simple. I will throw them out there for consideration, and dialogue. I will not beat around the bush. You may find one of my comments to be quite strong. So get ready. I hope your laptop came with seatbelts.

1. (the easy one to swallow) I believe that our critiques should be based around missional considerations. I follow Jesus as my model in this. His stiffest comments and deepest critiques were against a group of people with whom he had perhaps the closest theological identity. His beliefs were more like those of the Pharisees, than they were the tax collectors and prostitutes. Because this is so, I must believe that there was other criteria besides theology for the stand He took against their system.

Jesus said to them, "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in [yourselves], neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." I make the assumption from this and other sayings that Jesus' primary beef with the Pharisees was an evangelistic consideration. They developed a culture, and with it specific detail around their theological construction which kept people from experiencing God. If I should find this problem in the church today, I believe I am called to respond. I also see this issue as a primary reason for the emergence of the Emergent conversation. Many of us have seen good people turned away from Christianity, because of the restrictions or offenses created by peculiar behavior, or hateful theology.

Is this a valid point of view? Does this apply to John MacArthur's attack upon the Emergent movement. Has he developed a far too narrow theology, and a Christian culture which is keeping many people (though certainly not all) from a legitimate experience with God? I'm not sure yet, but this is the first point which would give me freedom to respond critically to his critique - perhaps even necessitate my response.

2. (seatbelt time) As a preface to this point - remember, although I have never identified with popular Pentecostalism, some form of Pentecostal theology has been mine for over 20 years.

Greed, deception, and taking advantage of good, God-loving, church people are reasons for responding, and critiquing ministers today. On that I believe we can just about unanimously agree.

John MacArthur's books have often been critical examinations of significant church developments. The writings are popular rants against popular or growing groups, and theologies - from his critique of decisional regeneration through Lordship Salvation theology in The Gospel According to Jesus, or his blast on Charismatics in Charismatic Chaos. Could it be that good Christians have been led down the path of dissension against other believers, and that they have purchased books and tapes by the millions to learn how to dissent better?

If so, how dare we make fun of Benny Hinn, or Pat Robertson and not do the same toward John MacArthur! I do not often critique these Charismatic famous fellows myself - maybe because I am too whimpy having been considered someone who was theologically in bed with them (though my theology is not much like theirs). But if we can berate Benny's money dealings which are made off the sweat of hopeful individuals desiring healing from Jesus, why do we not berate a man whose writings gravitate toward dissecting, and perhaps hoping to destroy popular and growing church movements? and doing so at the expense of good Christians whose sole desire is to please God, and find fulfillment in serving him with sound doctrine?

If taking advantage of God's people is part of my grid for determining when I can get mad, is this time to get mad? For me the jury is still out, but the consideration is being made.


Well, that was long. So I will leave off with links to more sensible discussions on this subject, but let me know what you think, and rebuke me in capital letters if you like. ;-)

Emergent Village asks us how we should respond.

Michael Touhey wonders why more don't respond, and has all the links to MacArthur's blogs on the subject.

Steven Shields weighs in too.

Tall Skinny Kiwi has some thoughts on this, and his thoughts are always good.

Shiloh Guy Dave Moorhead responds

to this post.

Befriending witches is a problem in Salem, Mass.

For those of you who have not read this article from the front page of the Wall Street Journal on October 31st, 2006 I am posting it here. Tomorrow I will post an article written by the Salem News.

Befriending witches is a problem in Salem, Mass.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

By Suzanne Sataline, The Wall Street Journal

SALEM, Mass. -- The Rev. Phil Wyman presides over a small evangelical church here that befriends local pagans and folks who call themselves witches. It's an odd mission, even in Salem, a city where tourism capitalizes on infamy -- the mass hysteria of 1692 in which 20 men and women were executed for practicing witchcraft.

Salem (pop. 40,000) is home to hundreds of professed witches, psychic readers, potion brewers, mystics and Wiccans, a group that practices a nature-based faith. In 1999, Mr. Wyman, his wife and two friends set out to minister to them, hoping to convert some to Christianity.

Last year, local ministers began saying that Mr. Wyman was getting too close to the witches. They pointed to his friendships, his Web site's links to pagan sites, and a photograph that seemed to show him kissing a witch's hand. Mr. Wyman's denomination accused him of aberrance, revoked his ordination and expelled him. One letter to him said he had strayed from Christian teachings and was disobedient.

In recent days, as tens of thousands of tourists have flocked to Salem's leafy streets in anticipation of Halloween, Mr. Wyman has been hustling to keep his 35-member church going. He denies violating Christian precepts and says he himself is the victim of a witch hunt.

"I can imagine the Salem witch trials were not much different from this: It starts with a rumor and escalates to a trial," says Mr. Wyman.

Mr. Wyman's fans say he has helped bridge divides. "He's actively changed the dynamic between witches and Christians in this town," says Christian Day, a member of the witch community. But some pastors say Mr. Wyman's alliances have tainted him. "There's a fear mentality, if you hang out with members of the witchcraft community, you will come under the influence of the darkness," says Scott Smith, a minister for the Assemblies of God.

Mr. Wyman, 47, and his wife, Beverly, were members of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a Pentecostal Christian denomination whose adherents speak in tongues and believe in miracles. Foursquare, based in Los Angeles, was founded by famed revivalist Aimee Semple McPherson in 1927. It claims 4.5 million members world-wide.

Mr. Wyman joined Foursquare in his 20s when he was playing guitar in Southern California. Yet he liked the intellectual challenge of talking with nonbelievers. He was drawn, he says, to those following pre-Christian traditions. Once in Salem, he volunteered to work with the city's biggest event, the annual Halloween festival.

Many evangelicals consider Halloween and witchcraft to be Satan's work and have persuaded some schools around the country to drop Halloween parties. Many Pentecostals believe that angels and demons are waging an active spiritual battle, and Halloween is a sign of Satan, says Matthew Sutton, professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., who has written about Ms. McPherson.

Mr. Wyman, hoping to get Salem's pagans to open up to him, tried neighborliness. Christians and witches debated the difference between magic and miracles at his Thursday night Circle and Cross Talk. He chatted with people at Salem's witchcraft shops, and he was shown how tarot cards are read. Some witches sought him out for counseling. Eva Porcello, a potion mixer, joined his church, saying Mr. Wyman didn't dictate beliefs. "He lets people figure out their own spirituality," she says.

Despite his friendships, Mr. Wyman says he has always been careful to observe, not join, pagan rituals. "It's their worship, not mine," he says.

On October weekends, Salem's Essex Street teems with folk musicians, candy-apple sellers, and caped tour guides. Mr. Wyman's church, called the Gathering, provides a stage, sound equipment, live music and hot chocolate.

He also provides Christian-tinged theater. Near the stage, people lined up this year for dream interpretations and "psalm readings," in which volunteers proffered their advice through scriptural passages. In another tent, redolent of incense, James Wilcox, a friend of Mr. Wyman's, was dressed in a monk's cowl as he confessed the "sins of the church," dating all the way back to the Crusades. Mr. Day said some of his witch friends were moved when they heard a Christian admit the church has wronged people. "Sure, he wants to convert people," he says about Mr. Wyman. "But he does it in a way that respects you."

At first, Mr. Wyman's supervisors seemed pleased with his work in Salem, according to other Foursquare pastors and leaders. Mr. Wyman's district supervisor, John Hatcher, lauded him at a convention last fall before dozens of ministers, two pastors said.

Jack Hayford, Foursquare's president, didn't return phone calls, and other church leaders declined to comment. Mr. Hatcher said only: "Phil had a strategy and methodology that was significantly different from how we perceive church life."

In September 2005, four local evangelical clergymen told Mr. Wyman they were concerned about a picture on a witch's Web site of Mr. Wyman bending as if to kiss the hand of Melantha Blackthorne, a Canadian horror-movie actress who appears at the Salem vampire ball as Countess Bathoria.

Mr. Wyman appeared "too familiar, too cozy, too amicable with that community," said the Rev. Kenneth Steigler, a United Methodist Church pastor.

Mr. Wyman said he was playacting, didn't kiss Ms. Blackthorne's hand, and didn't know that Mr. Day had posted the photo online. The photo was removed right away. But Mr. Wyman's superior, Mr. Hatcher, wrote to him several days later saying he was discomfited by local pastors' concerns and Web links connecting the Gathering's Internet site to those run by pagans -- people whose views oppose that of Christians, he wrote.

"I feel you are not seeing the vulnerability you are opening up to regarding demonic activity," Mr. Hatcher wrote. "It is my judgment ... that you are crossing the line into the aberrant."

Mr. Wyman, his associate pastor, Jeff Menasco, and their wives were summoned to a hearing in October last year at Mr. Hatcher's church in Weymouth, Mass., before several Foursquare leaders. They grilled the two couples as to how a Christian could be friends with witches.

A few weeks before the meeting, Mr. Wyman got word that an application he had made for a grant from the church-funded Foursquare Foundation had been approved, awarding him $84,000 to teach evangelizing techniques. Mr. Wyman pressed Mr. Hatcher for another meeting, saying he had not been given a fair hearing. Mr. Hatcher refused. In March, Foursquare's board expelled Mr. Wyman.

Mr. Wyman has been using some of the grant money to pay church rent and bills. Once it's gone, Mr. Wyman says he may weld or give guitar lessons to keep his church afloat.

Those Who Pray Together Slay Together

I am convinced that the manner in which we pray has a significant impact upon the manner in which we speak to, and about the people of our prayers. If we pray in grace, and gentleness, then I am convinced it will spill out into our vocabulary about the situations, and individuals who fill up our prayers. If we pray with aggression this too will spill out.

Haven't we learned this same lesson from watching fundamentalists in the middle east? Their speech has reached their actions, and it has been the death of their enemies, and sometimes themselves.

Could it be that a form of spiritual warfare which identifies people as servants of the devil, and curses their actions, also causes the Christian praying in that manner to see people as their enemies at worst, and unwitting pawns of evil at best?

This concerns me in regards to the mission of the church. How can I expect to see the movement of the hand of the God of love with the prayers of Hell? Our task is not the curse, but it is the blessing. Hatred, fear, superstition, and estrangement are not our method; but love, acceptance, peace, and joy are.

So I would anticipate that the prayers which have spiritual power, and overcome the works of the wicked one are prayers which model the heart of God for humanity. Prayers of grace, love, and blessing. These kinds of prayer drive the devils out of me, and call for the hand of God to move in blessing upon others.

"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

I have seen the attitudes of aggressive spiritual warfare kill relationships, and drive people away from Christianity.

Of course, the natural point of debate to what I have seen is that those who are driven away are servants of the devil, and until they repent, or the devil is driven from them they will continue to reject Christianity. I am not convinced that is the answer. Instead I believe that as long as we pray with aggression those who pray together will slay together, and people we should be developing redemptive relationships with will be the victims.

JJ the Smu (aka John Smulo) is blogging about this topic as well here

Christmas: The Uncomfortable Alliance with Ancient Pagan Gods

Winter Solstice Lantern Festival
Originally uploaded by SqueakyMarmot.

Christians all over the globe celebrate Christmas. Most celebrate with great joy and anticipation, but there are some who struggle with the origins, and the activities of the season.

Fundamentalist Christians from Pentecostal and non-Charismatic backgrounds look to the history of this holiday, and consider its Pagan origins. They consider the ongoing practices of Christmas and wonder which ones have their source in Pagan worship.

Meanwhile they often continue to purchase gifts, decorate their Christmas Trees, and tell their children stories of an old white bearded gentleman magically flying around the globe, and sneaking down chimneys each December 24th to give gifts.

Many of these same people believe that the origins of the celebration of the birth of the Son of God stem from the attempt to reinvent the Roman Pagan festival Saturnalia during the time the Emperors and Popes were Christianizing Western culture. Saturnalia commemorated the birth of the sun.

Further evidences of the pagan influence are feared in evergreen trees, wreaths, and caroling in their connection to frightening away evil spirits, commemorating the Pagan wheel of the year, and a celebration in fertility rites respectively.

None of these Pagan connections are solidly proven in history. The origins are shrouded in the same dark cloak of unknowing as the uncomfortable fears which they generate. So it seems to me that for a religion which prides itself in bringing new birth to individuals, and redeeming culture, that even a celebration once possibly having Pagan origins now bearing a Christian message is a statement of its adaptive, and redemptive power. The joy of Christmas giving illustrates God's giving of salvation in the birth of the Messiah, and is evidence that whatever Pagan beginnings Christmas had, they are long lost to most of our culture in the message of this Christian Gospel.

Not all the followers of the Bethlehem born Son of God feel this way, and instead uncomfortably wonder if they might be overly compromising their faith with alliances to ancient Pagan gods.

Of course, as capitalism continues to run a greedy course in the human heart, we all uncomfortably wonder if every redemptive message is getting lost in a bustle of commercialism, but that readjustment challenges Pagan and Christian alike.


I was asked to write this short piece by my goodliest buddy Mike (aka Cern) for the soon coming website --> Tapestry of Faiths