2020 and the Passover - Have You Marked Your Home?

2020 has been a year where we have seen the world grow increasingly darker. I have so much been looking forward to September, a time when we pull out all of our harvest décor and reflect on what the Lord has blessed us with. A time when we bottle our bounty through endless days and late nights of canning down the last apple and tomato. With the events of this year and the nationwide canning shortage that sprung upon us this month, I have really been reflecting on light and the harvest. First let me share about the harvest. 

During their 40-year exodus, the children of Israel were only to gather enough manna to sustain their families for a day. They could not put some aside and store it for later, or it would spoil, and they’d lose it all. This taught them to rely 100% on the Lord for their sustenance. As we found ourselves this week unable to preserve all that the Lord has blessed us with, I felt a peaceful yet powerful assurance from the Spirit, that we are approaching a time when we too will need to learn to rely 100% upon the Lord for our daily sustenance both spiritually and physically. Through experiences that are meant to humble us and bring us to our knees, 2020 and the months to come will certainly bring us closer to our Savior. Will help us rely on him, and him alone. As I think about the gratitude I have for my harvest, I can’t help but be grateful for 2020’s catastrophes that have brought me closer to the Lord and have caused me to turn to him for answers and peace that only he can provide. For years, we have prepared all that we can for this prophesied time in history, and after doing our part and heeding the counsel of the prophets, the Lord 

Now let’s talk about the light. Prior to their exodus out of Egypt, the children of Israel survived a very dark night filled with great fear and terror for some. The Lord told Moses that the destroying angel would come into Egypt that night, and those who marked their doors and homes with lamb’s blood (symbolizing the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ), would be spared the death that awaited every firstborn son as a punishment to the stubbornness and pride of the hardened Pharaoh. Sure enough, that night, the angel of death descended upon the streets of Egypt, approaching every home in the land and bringing with him certain death. As he approached homes with the blood of the Lamb marked on the doors, he passed over and left those families unharmed. This event known as “the Passover” is overserved every year by the Jewish people to remind them of how the Lord protected and liberated his people. 

COVID-19 has had such stark similarities to the night of the Passover. Just like the destroying angel, it has brought with it a sort of death and destruction of the way things used to be. It has brought with it much anger, fear, and anxiety to people all over the world. However, just like the Israelites, those who have chosen to fill and mark their homes with the mark of the Lamb, the Light of Christ, have been spared the destruction that we are seeing play out in cities and homes all over the world. 

A few years ago, as this time of year was fast approaching, I had a sort of light-bulb moment. As I looked at my décor stacked in mountains of totes in our storage room, something didn’t feel quite right. Normally this time of year, I would be super excited to get out my wreathes and figurines of witches, gravestones, skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, and ghosts, and spread them throughout my house and yard from top to bottom. Afterall, October was my favorite month of the year. It was the one time where we as saints, Christians, and disciples of Christ could mark our homes, doors, yards, and children, with these symbols of darkness all in the name of fun for our children. Symbols of death, darkness, and evil, were sugar coated or “cute-ified” into what we had always considered harmless fun. From sugar cookies, to dinner place mats, to the toys in children’s kids meals; it was engrained in our culture and were passing down these traditions to our Heavenly Father’s precious children. 

No, we would never dream of participating in witchcraft, or digging up the deceased and using their corpses or bones as front porch décor. Nor would we even consider inviting ghosts/spirits into our homes to hang out in our entry way or summon the demonic such as vampires and ghouls to sit on our mantles and windowpanes. But during this one month out of the year we were teaching our children that these things were okay when just for the sake of entertainment. Yes, we were teaching them that it’s okay to entertain darkness. 

Have we forgotten what's written in the word? 

 Abstain from all appearance of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22

Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.

Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil. Moroni 7:12,14

And just like what Nephi pleaded to us when he said, 

And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind. Wherefore, he said unto Eve, yea, even that old serpent, who is the devil, who is the father of all lies, wherefore he said: Partake of the forbidden fruit, and ye shall not die, but ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. 2 Nephi 2:18

I could hear Satan saying to the children of Adam and Eve today, “Go ahead! Partake of Halloween. You shall not be harmed in doing so, but shall create wonderful experiences with your families, friends, and neighbors. It’s harmless fun for your children.”

What was I doing? Eleven months out of the year, I was teaching my children according to the prophets and the scriptures, that we should avoid the very appearance of evil. We should not entertain darkness. And that sorcery and witchcraft was an abomination to the Lord. But every October I was being a hypocrite. I was sending a mixed message that during these 30 days out of the year this was okay. I looked around at our Latter-day Saint culture and saw how we dressed our children as witches, vampires, zombies, and devils. We watched movies that glorified the gore and darkness. Our kids sang songs and chanted spells in their classrooms all in name of “harmless fun” and tradition. They put on masks, disguised their identities as children of God, hid their light ,and went out into the dark of the night. We attended festivals and baked cakes that glorified the dark side. For one month out of the year we were trying to serve two masters. Yes, we had forgotten the words of our Savior when he said;

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16:13

We had forgotten that our Lord and Savior is returning soon. We are to forsake the world. Walk away from Babylon and it’s traditions and prepare the earth for the Lord to rule and reign. It occurred to me that during the millennium there will be no Halloween. If we are to prepare the earth now for his millennial reign, we have to learn to give up Babylon and walk away from darkness. 

I remember looking at my totes, and remembering the words of modern prophets and apostles who urged us to make our homes like the temple. I thought to myself, “I would never put witches and skeletons on the walls of the temple. Why am I putting it in my home? What do these things symbolize? The spirit certainly recognizes what they symbolize. The spirit cannot dwell where darkness dwells. What am I doing?” How could I justify putting witch potion bottles and cauldrons next to the portrait of Christ on my mantle? How did that ever seem right?  I thought about how if a day ever came where we would need to have church in our homes, how would I feel about taking the sacrament in a room filled with spider webs, witches and goblins? Yet, we were having parties in our church meeting houses, the very buildings where we participate in the sacred ordinance of the holy sacrament. We were bringing witches, gravestones, zombies, and devils into the church all in the name of entertainment for the children. We were calling evil good! 

COVID-19 brought with it “home church”. My thoughts from a few year ago, were now becoming reality. Our homes truly needed to be like a holy temple more than ever. I began to wonder how the saints would feel taking the sacrament in a room decorated with devils, witches, jack-o-lanterns, and ghosts. Maybe it would take this blessing of home church, to help us all recognize the double standard of inviting in Christ’s spirit while also inviting in darkness. Maybe COVID-19 would be a tender mercy to keep the children home on Halloween night, as trick-or-treating is being banned in many cities and states. 

Again, I am reminded of the Israelites who stayed safe in their homes on that fateful dark night when the destroying angel went from street to street, home to home, and took the lives of the unprotected. Those who were out an about were vulnerable, and those who marked their homes with the symbol of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, His blood, showed the enemy they were shielded in His power from death and destruction. Satan had no power over them, and he moved on to the next house. They were spared. 

In that moment, as the light bulb lit up. Marking my home with darkness and death, created a breach in our home and was an open door, an invitation, a welcome mat that read, "Darkness is welcome here." It gave the destroyer, power over me and my family. Yes, the power to destroy. Destroy what? Marriages, relationships, identity, testimonies, faith, health, and even life itself. I knew what I needed to do. I sacrificed these deceitful traditions that I had loved for so long, in honor of the greater sacrifice – the blood of the Lamb. I put it all on the alter for Him, and let it burn. I threw away every decoration, pencil eraser, t-shirt, pillowcase, and story book that promoted Halloween. I was no longer going to serve two masters, and send mixed messages to my children. On the darkest day of the year, we were going to flood our home with light. For the last three years that is exactly what we have done, and we have been greatly blessed for doing so. It’s a night and day difference in our home, especially in the days and months that follow Halloween.

Today and forevermore, our fall decor reflects beauty, gratitude, and an invitation of the presence of the Lord. On the front of my door and in every room of our home, hangs a portrait of Christ. All who approach and pass by our home, know who we serve. We have marked our door with the Lamb. He holds up a lantern, inviting all who approach, to come to him. 

As we see how closely the Book of Mormon has paralleled 2020 in our Come Follow Me study,t his scripture we have yet to study stands out: 

And it came to pass that there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was wrought upon all the face of the land, even unto the fulfilling of all the words of Abinadi, and also Samuel the Lamanite. Mormon 1:19

Again, we see ourselves as the inhabitants of this land, following the same pattern. We glorify magic, witchcraft, sorcery, and the powers of darkness in books, movies, music, and entertainment. And as it was heavy in the land before the Savior came the first time, it is again heavy in the land prior to his coming the second time. History repeats itself. 

Just like that fateful night in Egypt, when the Israelites experienced what felt like the darkest day of the year, we too are soon approaching the literal darkest day of the year, October 31st. This day in 2020, will feature a unique full moon known as the “Hunter’s moon” which will also be a blue moon (meaning the second full moon to appear in the same month). The Hunter’s moon follows the Harvest moon of October 1st. As we participate in the final end-time harvest, let’s not forget that it was prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah that during these last days we (the Gentiles) would participate as “hunters” in gathering in the scattered children of Israel.

…and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

…I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The Lord. (Jeremiah 16) 

It will be our light, the Light of Christ, that will shine through the darkness of these end times and help us find His children in the “holes of the rocks”. It will be His light within us and in our homes that will shine in the darkness and draw them to us. It will be His Light that gathers, protects, and heals us from our afflictions. Light overcomes darkness and the powers of the destroyer. So, what are we doing to fill ourselves and our homes with His light? 

Here's the video of my story: