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Reclaiming Halloween, No Mixture | The Jesus People Podcast Episode 42 | Tailah Scroggins
00:47:06
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- [00:00]
A
We're going to give the devil the biggest headache ever. If on his night, what he thinks is his night. We're gathering, we're praying, we're reaching the loss, we're preaching the gospel. That's how that's revival and that's how we take over and push back and push out the darkness.
- [00:33]
B
Guys, welcome to the Jesus People Podcast. We have the honor of having Taylor Scroggins on today, which been a long time coming. Taylor, we've, we've tried this, but the Lord's timing's perfect. So thank you for being here.
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A
It is. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to get into today's conversation. It's an honor to be here.
- [00:53]
B
Yeah, well, I. The honor is all ours because we've been having so many people coming out of the occult, coming out of being a witch, coming out of darkness on the podcast recently. And I think the Lord's doing something in that, especially around this kind of, you know, Halloween season. And you're kind of a, you're a major thought leader in the church on the occult and on everything to do with witchcraft and all these things. I've seen you on stages, I've seen you at the Think events. And so you come at this from a very intellectual standpoint, but also from a very practical level. And so it's great to have you on here because, you know, we launched the podcast with Rion talking about Halloween. And it's so funny how it's like nobody who's come out of the occult or come out of Satanism or witchcraft is like, stoked on Halloween. They're all like, no, this is not good. And then people are like, wait, wait, wait. It's like, wait, if the Christians, it's like if all of them are saying it, maybe you should listen. But I want to get into some of the reasons why some of the backstory, some of the history, and kind of dive in from a, from a theological standpoint, but a really practical level as well about how we guard our families, how we can engage with Halloween, what is appropriate, what's not appropriate. But first, you've got such a fascinating story. Could you just kind of start there? Like, I'd love to hear a little bit about your upbringing and what brought you to the Lord.
- [02:18]
A
Yeah, absolutely. I think the theme of this whole talk today for me is don't be in mixture. Like I was. So my testimony, I wasn't this full blown witch that was raised in witchcraft. I was raised Christian in a Christian home. And from the age of 3 and 4 and 5 years old, I'm watching movies and kid shows and there's magic and there's witchcraft and there's all this supernatural stuff being glorified while I'm in kids church. And this is how I'm growing up. I'm reading horoscopes and magazines at 10, 11 and 12 years old. And this is all priming me, right? And so by the age of around 13, 14, I start really struggling with body image. I develop anorexia, I start going to youth group. I'm going through a lot at this time. And when you're a young teenager, you're starving for identity. You don't know who you are. And so when I was 15, my dad comes home with an astrology book right after I have my first encounter with God. At the age of like right before the this happen, I'm 14. God miraculously delivers me from the eating disorder. I feel a spirit leave me and I never starved myself ever again. I never had an issue with the weight thing. And I'm like, Jesus is real. This Jesus I've grown up and I've heard about my whole life. He's real, he loves me, he healed me. And so I'm on fire for God. And then bam, my dad comes home with an astrology book. Someone gave it to him somewhere, I have no idea where it came from. And he started telling me about astrology. And you know, in our Christian household, I'm like, is this allowed? Like where? How is this true? How is this real? He's telling me about it and it is resonating so deeply, so deeply. And I think that's one of the first lies of the occult is it works. That doesn't mean the power is from God. But a psychic can read your mail. That's happened to people before. And astrology can resonate with you, but that doesn't mean it's from the Lord. And so I thought we thought that because it felt accurate. Well, God must have created it. Even though the Bible says don't do it. I didn't know the word of God. And so I become an astrologer. While I'm in church, I start doing yoga, which is worshiping pagan gods and goddesses with your body. There's a mass deception in the west, in America, in the church, that yoga means stretching and yoga means communion and binding and attaching yourself to gods and goddesses that the Bible calls demons. Every pose is a worship pose, inviting a pagan demon into your body. That's the Point of yoga. So I start doing yoga. I think I'm exercising. I'm doing astrology.
- [04:59]
B
Question. So even if I'm unintentionally doing a pose and my heart is right, say I'm listening to worship music, say, like, I'm praying while I'm doing these poses, you still believe that that could negatively influence me.
- [05:13]
A
That's what I was doing. And I got demons. I. I had to get deliverance and demons cast out of me. I would pray to God while I was doing yoga. And in my high school, I took this class, and the teacher, she would chant in a different language. And it felt weird. It felt. The energy in the room felt electric. But not like Jesus, not like in church. And so I would pray under my breath, and I'd be like, I cancel everything. Jesus, protect me. And I still was opening things up. Because when you're opening these doors and you're sitting and you're doing the poses and you are opening yourself up, the devil doesn't care about your intentions. It's like your heart can be in the right place. But when you're participating in a ritual, and we'll talk about this with Halloween, you are opening doors. And sometimes when we open doors, cockroaches can come into the house, little critters can come into the house. And so that's what happened to me. And I was doing yoga, and I started getting more and more oppressed. I was doing astrology and I was going to church. And so I lived like this. I didn't know I had one foot in the church and one foot literally in witchcraft. I would read fortunes, I would read horoscopes, and I would take on this identity that God didn't give me and all. Ultimately, when I graduated high school, I got into college. At that point, I just turned my back on God. You know, I had a moment where I was praying and believing for something in my life, and it didn't happen. And I got mad at God. And I think a lot of people can relate to that. And in my immaturity, I was like, well, God doesn't love me. He doesn't have my best interests at heart. I started believing the lie of the devil. And because I already had one foot open to witchcraft, I was doing fortune telling and divinations and channeling spirits and yoga, unknowingly, praying. I would even put on worship music sometimes. But I. Because I had opened those doors, it was so easy for the devil to deceive me with those lies and for me to believe them. I didn't have a close, intimate relationship with Jesus. I knew about him. I loved him. I would feel him at church and I loved him and I would tell my friends about him. But there wasn't an intimate, deep relationship where I knew him. Because if I knew him, I would have never believed those lies that he doesn't love you, all of that junk. So at that point, I turn my back on God, I order crystals. I'm turning deeper into astrology. I'm trying to open my third eye, doing transcendental meditations. I'm thinking, maybe I'm a clairvoyant, maybe I have some psychic stuff because I can pick up on the energy in a room. And I had the gift of discernment. But the devil was telling me all these crazy things to get me deeper into the occult, deeper in witchcraft. I start partying and getting drunk every weekend. I start smoking weed. I start, like, trying to just fill the void with relationships and dating and everything. I'm trying to heal my own heart at this point. And it's just leading me deeper into depression, anxiety. I'm having panic attacks every day. I'm crying for two hours every day because I was so demonized. I knew God's love, even though I was in mixture. And now I had turned my whole entire life away from him. And that was the emptiest I've ever been. So in that low place, God sent someone who, she's an amazing woman of God, sent her to my house one day and she was like, God told me to come over and pray for you today. Today is the day of your freedom. And she prayed these freedom deliverance prayers over me, cast the spirit of death and depression out. I felt those spirits leaving and I started going to church again. I started, you know, just pursuing a relationship with God. And after I started doing that, he started leading me through the Bible. He started giving me books and teachings and sermons, talking about all of the questions I had about witchcraft, the occult. Why do these things work? Why are they wrong? I actually started learning this in the Bible and I got so free and, and the anxiety gone, the depression gone. Everything in my life that was just twisted and broken and. And an upside down. The Lord restored it and redeemed it. And, you know, now I'm really passionate about helping get other people out of that. I never want anyone to go through what I went through. And God's transformed my life, you know, and I have a husband, I have a daughter, a beautiful family. And our whole family is serving the Lord now like Even my sisters, my parents, everybody. And he's totally, totally changed my life.
- [09:35]
B
Amen. So cool. Thanks for sharing that, Taylor. That's. That's such. It's. It's such a different story than we've heard on a Jesus people podcast. It's so much more relatable than, you know, I was a Satanist, or I went full blown into witchcraft, where I'm, you know, like, doing these satanic rituals every single day. And it's like, no, this is what people find themselves into is the astrology, the. The tarot cards. And it's like, oh, this is fine. I have these feelings inside myself. Maybe I'm a clairvoyant, maybe I'm a psychic. I've got these giftings. And it's what I've noticed in all of my conversations with people who have come out of the occult. There's two things that happen. There's your giftings get weaponized because of your woundedness, because you find yourself in a wounded situation. And the enemy loves wounded people. So does Jesus. But the enemy is already always taking things a quarter turn off. And he's saying, it's a wounded person. I can manipulate that person. Jesus is saying, that's a wounded person. I can heal that person. But one of the most clear examples of this is Beelzebub in the Bible, the demon Beelzebub. It's that original language. It means, like, king of the flies or something like that, where it's basically like, and what does a fly do? It finds wounds, and it lands on wounds. And so that demon finds its way in through woundedness. And that's just such a common story I've heard. Is. Is. I was in a. I was in a dark spot. I was in a hurting spot. My parents got divorced. Yeah. Yeah. My boyfriend broke up with me. And so I went into this thing that then eventually ruined my life, and I had to find Jesus again. So now you found yourself in this ministry. You've got a daughter, you've got a husband. What does your ministry look like? I know you've written your book. I'd love to hear more about your book. And then I'd love to get into the practicals, I think. You know, I almost like to push back on you a little bit with, you know, I've got so many buddies right now that are pushing back on the anti Halloween stuff. They're like, no, Halloween's fine. And so I almost want to, like, channel those dudes and be like, you know, like, how can I give the pushback how can I give the opposite thoughts here? But, yeah, what does your look like? And then let's get into some practicals.
- [11:45]
A
Yeah. Asking the hard questions. I'm excited for it. So just wrote a book. That's the big thing. The Lord put this on my heart, literally. The night I laid down the astrology and the New age and the new age boyfriend I had and everything, I laid everything down and I had a vision of. I didn't know it was a book. This. I just saw this. It was the same picture and I saw it sitting on a shelf in Target and I thought, oh, this is an album. The night I left New Age, like, you can't make this stuff up. God is so good. And I didn't know what it was. And just a couple months ago in August, it. The book came out, Breaking Demonic Chains. And it's just about my journey out of the occult, how I was deceived, what the Lord showed me. And then every chapter is step by step crystals, you know, Reiki, false healing, astrology, all of the big things that everyone in our culture is into, tarot cards and these things that are trying to creep in and lead people astray. So it breaks it down. And then there's freedom prayers at the end because there's so many people that have dabbled in this and they need to get free. They've opened up doors to things. And like me, I didn't know I had an issue with anger or unforgiveness or bitterness that was tied to me doing yoga. So there's stuff that people are struggling with and they don't know it's because they went to a psychic five years ago. And so that's really the heart behind it. So people can get free and then so Christians can equip themselves and know how to minister to people in the occult. So that's the big thing. And I'm doing podcasts and I get to preach about this and pray for people. Love doing deliverance ministry and just seeing people be set free. Because, man, when the Lord has done that for you, there is nothing like, you know, seeing him do that for other people. It is the most beautiful thing.
- [13:29]
B
Amen. Amen. And yeah, going back to mixture, I've done yoga at church retreats. I've studied an Enneagram. We did a whole. We had a whole church retreat about the Enneagram.
- [13:43]
A
No.
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B
And so I'm telling you, if, you know, 10 years ago, Ryan would have seen me doing podcasts now, talking about yoga, talking about the Enneagram. Talking about Halloween, I would have been like, you're a freaking Looney Tune. Like, how did you go so far that direction? But I've seen too much now. I've learned too much now. So why has the church adopted practices like the Enneagram? And then can you just kind of blow the lid on that for us?
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A
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I have a whole chapter about the Enneagram. I love this question. So any. So the church is. I think, ignorance is bliss, right? So if we don't know the roots of something, how will we even know if the root is rotten and demonic? The fruit is rotten and demonic, and it doesn't matter how much you dress it up or say, well, we've redeemed it. This is kind of. When we talk about Halloween, is kind of going to talk about that, too. There are certain things that are redeemable, and there's certain things that aren't. And you. You need to check the fruit. So with the Enneagram, there is a. There is a clip on YouTube of the man. His name is Claudio Naranco, and he's a Chilean psychologist, spiritualist. He created the nine Enneagram personality types to all of them. And he literally is stating, anyone can pull this up. I got the nine personality types through automatic writing, which is channeling spirits, channeling demons. So he said, I channeled the spirit, and it began writing through me. And that's how I developed type 1, 2, 3, all the way to 9. So if you're. There's no way to redeem that. This is something that completely came from channeling a demon. So that's what I always tell people. You got to learn the roots, right? And I. I love studying this stuff. I'm just a nerd. And so these are things that I've learned. Halloween, the Enneagram, it's like, where did this come from? Who created that? And all the people who created the Enneagram were warlocks, they were occultists, and they did really, really crazy demonic rituals to develop it.
- [15:41]
B
What about Halloween, though? Because the roots of Halloween is. Is Christian in nature, right?
- [15:48]
A
I've heard people say that. So the roots of Halloween is from Samhain, which is over 2000 years ago. Ancient Celts, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Europe. And they celebrated this festival that it was. It's their new year. So at. So the year was divided in two. And so on October 31st to November 1st, that was the end of the year. And then they go into the dark months. And so they believe that the veil between the physical World and the spiritual world was the thinnest on October 31st. And so bonfires, right, they would make these fires as ways to ward off these evil spirits and also to worship the sun God. So they would do. And I don't think there's anything wrong with bonfires, but I'm just saying, like, think about the costumes, the bonfires, the creepy ghosts, the goblins. We're going to paint the whole picture so everyone can see clear. And this is stuff anyone can research and find. They would wear masks and animal skins. They would disguise themselves. They wanted to. They believe that demons were roaming the earth on that night because the veil is thin. So they would wear costumes and disguise themselves so the demons could harass them or torment them. And then their priests would do divination, fortune telling, sacrifice rituals. They would sacrifice animals and even humans sometimes to appease these gods. And so from the beginning, this celebration of Samhain, you have this pagan festival around death, divination and demonic sacrifices and altars. So what happened when the church started spreading, they tried to redeem this holiday. And so they said, well, we're going to replace it with All Saints Day. We're going to just honor the saints and the Christian martyrs and all of these wonderful people. And that became All Hallows Eve. Halloween. So they're trying to replace pagan rituals with, with a Christian holiday.
- [17:42]
B
Yeah.
- [17:43]
A
When. That's a nice thought. And it's. I don't think there's anything wrong with. They wanted to take over and replace it, but nothing about Halloween, at least here in the west, in our culture. I've never seen anybody honoring saints and praying and going to, you know, church and doing these wonderful things. I see people dressing up as ghosts and witches and goblins. I look in people's yards and I see demonic, horrific things that children shouldn't even be seeing in their front yards. And horror movies, demonic movies. I mean, there is such a celebration of the darkness. And so I think it's important to look at that fruit. So then, then it, then it became mixture. Right. So after the church tried to take over, the people began mixing. So then soling, they would go door to door, they would offer prayers to the dead for soul cake. So that evolved into trick or treating. Why are we praying for dead people? That's not even biblical. When people pass away, they're on into eternity. So number one, that's, that's not even biblical. Why are we praying for the dead? Going door to door doing these weird mixture things, superstition and stories about witches and Demons grew stronger. And so now we're getting into the time of mixture. And so then even like Jack O Lantern, the Jack O' lantern is when I was. I was actually reading up on the history of that, and that was a spirit that was a. They believed that there was a man who was this evil man, and he made a deal with the devil. And, you know, he didn't want the devil to take his soul. And so when he died, he didn't go to heaven because he was an evil man, but the devil didn't take his soul because he made a deal with him. And so the devil cursed Jack, this, who became the Jack O Lantern to be a spirit that roams the earth. And so people would carve pumpkins and. And car and turnips and put demon faces onto them and put lights inside to represent, like, the souls of. Of demons and spirits and the deceased and put it on their porches. And so this Jack O Lantern is a. Is a roaming demon from this folklore in this story. And we think it's cute. We don't know the background behind it. And the thing about rituals, okay, when I was reading up on all this, I'm like, if I take my American lens off and I. And I pretend like I'm looking at this from another culture.
- [20:06]
B
Yeah.
- [20:06]
A
Because we're so desensitized and we are dressing up like demons. We believe that there's spirits roaming around. We're carving demonic faces into food offerings and leaving it out. We're putting up lights to guide spirits and demons, and we're dressing up like demonic spirits to blend in with them. If I was in another country and I heard that people were doing this, no doubt in my mind I'd be like, this is pagan. This is wild. No way I'm going to take a part in that. And initiate yourself into rituals. When you start leaving food offerings out and carving things and participating, doesn't matter. Like the yoga. Your heart can be so pure, but you're mixing, you're dabbling. These are the roots. I don't see any. Any kind of way that honoring saints and the church and wonderful people of God has lasted. I see all of the pagan traditions and how they've evolved. And actually, I think the fruit has gotten even worse because witches, warlocks, the uptick in the occult in like the 1900s until now. Now we have Satanists doing rituals on purpose on Halloween. We have witches doing things because it's this heightened night. Just like, you know, we celebrate Easter and Christmas. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, people can say, well, those are pagan too. But I see and I celebrate the life of Jesus. When I think about Christmas, I think about Jesus in a manger. When I think about Easter, I think about the Resurrection. And some people like to call it Resurrection Sunday. When I look at Halloween, I don't see the same. And so for me, that's where it's very clear that I don't want to be participating in any of this. And as an ex witch, right, And I wouldn't have called myself that, but I was doing the rituals and divination type of stuff and things that I wasn't necessarily a Satanist, but I was doing the things that the Bible said are witchcraft and not to do. And I see people dressing up like witches and watching movies about possession and entertaining this. And it breaks my heart because when I was in astrology, when I was doing the fortune readings and all of that, it destroyed my life. It left me so empty. And I see people. And when I had demons, oh, my gosh, I was so tormented until the Lord set me free. And then I see people playing with this stuff and they like to watch movies about exorcisms. And, oh, it breaks my heart because I'm like, man, we shouldn't, as Christians, we shouldn't want anything to do with the kingdom of darkness. It should turn us off. We should be disgusted. And I think the best thing to do is to turn it into a night of evangelism. Hand out Bibles. Hand out little Jesus. Hand out scriptures stickers. I mean, we can be a light.
- [22:47]
B
I want to take a quick break, and I want to tell you about a ministry that my family personally supports. It's called Global Christian Relief. And you may not know this, but there are more persecuted Christians around the world than ever before. And Global Christian Relief sends medical aid. They send Bibles to persecuted countries that don't have access to them. They're providing shelter. They're taking care of the least of these in the name of Jesus. And if you want to support them, you can click the link in the show notes. You can read stories of what God's doing in the persecuted church. And know this. Jesus says that what you've done for the least of these, you've done for him. But also that when we love each other as a body of Christ, the rest of the world will see him. So go check it out. Amen. Yeah. And it's. It's a command. Take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. So what I'M hearing you say, what was the original, the original holiday, the occult holiday of Halloween, that then Hallowed Eve took over. What was that called again? Samhain. So Halloween started as Samhain. The Christians tried to take it over with Hallowed Eve and then there was this weird mixture that got taken place. And now we've gotten so accustomed to it in the west that we are literally carving pumpkins that were used for demon worship and thinking it's cute and thinking there's nothing wrong with it. But the same call remains to the Christian, which is take back the darkness. So everyone that's like, oh no, we can celebrate Halloween. This is fine. It's like, no, no, no, don't celebrate Samhain. Celebrate Hallows Eve, which was what? Which was to shine the light of the King of the universe, which was to celebrate All Saints Day. So yes, share the gospel on Halloween. So people have been saying like, well, should I celebrate Halloween? Should I not celebrate Halloween? It depends on your definition of Halloween.
- [24:33]
A
That's true.
- [24:35]
B
By Halloween, you know, I think there needs to be a complete cultural revolution in the West. I think we need to get back to celebrating Hell was Eve, which is to say we're going to shine the light. We're going to reclaim what the enemy's stolen. That's kingdom. But you can't be having a demon out front. You can't be hanging skeletons and celebrating the dead in your front yard and then having a little Bible study and calling it good. That's called mixture.
- [25:01]
A
I mean, yeah, I, I don't know if that's not mixture. I don't know what is. And I've never really heard that perspective of let's take it back. Because the name Halloween Hallow, that's, that's just the name. They just tried to replace it. And I think we just get so attached to Halloween equals witches and skeletons and no, you know, I've never heard anyone say it like that. And I think that's fine. I think that's a wonderful thing. We should be pushing back and taking back. And what if we share the gospel on Halloween? What if we take over social media and we preach the gospel and we. And we speak those prayers and we share the light of Jesus and we decorate our houses and we put a cross out front. I mean, there's so many things that we could do. But yeah, as far as participating in our family doesn't do the jack O Lanterns, we don't do the costumes. We don't do, obviously Halloween parties in the sense of like you know what I mean? All the stuff honoring the scary things and the demonic things and all of that. We like fall festivals and fall parties, and we love pumpkins and all of the good things. It's such a beautiful time of year. But like you said, all of the things that come from Samhain and paganism, do not practice them in your home, right?
- [26:12]
B
We've got almost 100 people coming here on Halloween to worship. We've got worship artists coming in. We're doing, like, a full worship set. I'm giving a sermon. I'll have to talk about this in a sermon about reclaiming what the enemy's stolen, I think where there's lack of knowledge that people perish. And so I think once you recognize, once you have the humility to come into repentance and be like, we should not be celebrating Samhain Halloween. We should be reclaiming that. And then you can decide what to do about it now. Then you can ask the Holy Spirit, what now should we do about this? My wife was very, very convicted that we need to be worshiping on Halloween. So it turned into this big thing. Now we've got, you know, dozens and dozens of people coming over to worship. And so I would just encourage you, listening, pray, ask the Holy Spirit, how can we reclaim this dark holiday? Because The Lord owns 365 days of the year. There's no place for fear. The enemy has no authority over Halloween. However, we should not be celebrating what was intended to worship the dead. And then the saints tried to reclaim it, and now we've somehow forgotten that. We need to have the same effort that they did in creating Hallows Eve. We need to have that same intentionality towards Halloween and make it a night of worship, make it a night of prayer, make it a night of evangelism. It's the one night a year where people come up to your door, like in people who are hungry and desperate for the gospel. So I think there's. It's. It's. We cannot throw the baby out with the bath water here. We can't just be like, oh, it's a dark holiday, so we're gonna run from it, right? Jesus never told us to completely run from the darkness. He said to shine your light, to take your. The basket off your lamp and let it shine. So we have a night of the year where people are showing up to our houses. Let's go back to Hallows Eve. Let's reject the Samhain demonic festival, and let's get back to what the saints intended with Hallows Eve, which is, let's shine the light on a dark holiday. And so, yes, rip the cobwebs off. Rip the demon and the skeletons off of your door and put a big cross up there and then share the gospel with people. Give them the biggest candy in the neighborhood. Bless them. And then. And then, you know, share Jesus with them. Ask how you can pray for them. Hand them a little no, go old school with it, like, you know, 70s. Hand them a track that talks about Jesus. There's ways that we can engage with this day and recognize that this is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. And we're not going to operate in fear because Halloween, October 31st, belongs to Jesus. It doesn't belong. And I think, what if the church just caught wind of that? What if there was a movement like you said on social media? What if everyone listening to this decided to share their testimony on October 30th?
- [29:04]
A
Come on.
- [29:04]
B
I think let's do it. Let's do it. Why not? Let's start sharing Jesus on Halloween and let's tear down these old pagan structures and. And put up a big fat cross where there was a, you know, a pumpkin, you know, a, A jack o lantern, you know, like. And you can only do that once you recognize that. Oh, a jack O lantern is, is fundamentally demonic. Like, people might laugh at that. Well, it's like, well, look at the roots. Like you said, when you look at the. The root, you can understand the fruit. And it's just so obvious. Like, my, my, my son, yesterday, we're walking through the neighborhood, and he just looks at me, goes, daddy, that's scary. And I'm like, I know, but we've become so desensitized to it. And just like you said, if you go to a different culture and you look at, like, I don't know, like in Mexico, the Day of the Dead, you're like, that's kind of weird, but that's because you have some distance to see it clearly.
- [29:57]
A
Exactly. Yeah, Yeah. I, I am part Mexican, and our family has no, no part in that. But I love what your wife said, that this needs to be a night of worship because this is the night of year where witches and warlocks, people are gathering and they're intentionally doing demonic rituals. Worship and prayer is our weapon. So if we are gathering, we're pushing back. We're going to give the devil the biggest headache ever. If on his night, what he thinks is his night. We're gathering, we're Praying we're reaching the loss. We're preaching the gospel. That's how. That's revival, and that's how we take over and push back and push out the darkness.
- [30:37]
B
Totally. And I think one thing that Rion, the former head of the Church of Satan, said is, is the enemy first attacks with fear. First, he's going to attack you with fear, and then second, he's going to get you to question your authority. So if you're scared, if you think, oh, this is the devil's night, and I'm just going to, like, run from this, first of all, you're falling right into his playbook. Like, you've been given the same spirit that rose Jesus from the dead. You've been given the same spirit to trample the serpent, just like Christ did. And so the call to the Christian is not to stay in our little holy huddles in the church, but it's to engage with the culture. It's to. It's to go out and to shine that light in dark. In dark spaces, in dark places. And it's like he's teeing us up. The Lord's teeing us up with Halloween and saying, here, what are you going to do about it? And I think that their first had to be that, you know, even with, you know, force posting about this as well, seems like there's a lot more people that have been posting about Halloween this year and waking up to it. That's step one, because where there's lack of knowledge, people perish. So now the world's waking up. Step two, implement things. Implement rhythms in your family. Implement rhythms in your neighborhood where you say, I am taking back October 31 for the Kingdom of God. So here's what we're doing. We're gonna. I don't know, we're gonna fast all day. We're gonna have a. We're gonna do communion as a family. We're gonna do a devotional day. We're gonna invite people over for a Bible study. We're gonna have a worship night, whatever it might be. Spend time with the Holy Spirit and think about it. And then there's no room for fear. Perfect love has cast out fear. The Devil doesn't own October 31st, but we have an opportunity to step into the darkness and to shine the light. And I think that that's. That's not just like, ethereal. That's very practical.
- [32:24]
A
Amen. Yeah, it is. It is very practical. You know, like you said, the Halloween decorations, obviously, taking out anything from your house that is demonic. That is glorifying the darkness. Like we were talking about, get rid of the pumpkin carving and the jack o lanterns. Look, why don't you paint a pumpkin? There's nothing from Samhain about painting a pumpkin. There's. You can do arts, you can do crafts, you can do hayrides. There's so many fun things about fall that we can do with our families that are not tied to pagan worship.
- [32:53]
B
Yeah. And I think so many people in our culture, we. We don't have. We don't have a good lens of what these rituals look like. Like, we've never, for most of us, we've never participated in a demonic ritual before.
- [33:09]
A
Right.
- [33:10]
B
But if you saw something in a demonic ritual and you realize that, oh, I do this every year on October 31, wouldn't you stop doing that thing? You know, not like. And. And people that are like, well, you know, I. That thing doesn't have power over me, so I'm going to continue to do it. It's like, wait, wait, no, no. What is a ritual? Maybe speak to that a little bit more. Like, what is a ritual? And why is it so important that we don't decorate our homes and carve the pumpkins during Halloween?
- [33:35]
A
Yeah. A ritual is any kind of practice really where you are trying to invoke some sort of spiritual outcome. So if you think about, well, why do. Why do people pray to the crystals and they wear the crystals and they. Well, they're trying to manipulate. They're trying to do something. So they're believing that this object has power now. And the reason that they would carve these jack o lanterns and they would carve these, these. They would leave food offerings out. Number one, that's a ritual. You're leaving an offering out for a spirit that. We don't do that in Christianity. So that is a pagan ritual in itself. You're leaving an offering. So that's where they would hand out the cakes and like, all of that stuff. And. And then carving these turnips, carving these pumpkins, these demonic faces. They're believing that by engaging at this, they will protect them. So it's really like a protection ritual if you think about it. They're carving these demon faces, lighting candles to represent spirits and souls, and they're putting it out to protect their home. Okay. And so it doesn't really matter if you think it's fun or if it's cute. You're still doing this ritual that on this night has been done for thousands of years as a protection ritual and spell. So I think that's really why it's like, man, I don't want to do that. And I loved carving pumpkins growing up. I thought it was so fun. But when I learned about it, I was like, oh, no, I don't want anything to do with that.
- [34:58]
B
Yeah. Yeah. And so. And what I heard you say earlier is your intention doesn't really matter as much, because if you're participating in the ritual, which Rion talked about this. How your neighborhood essentially becomes a ritual that you either choose to participate in or not.
- [35:14]
A
Yeah. I mean, by. If. By what we've talked about and hearing that, I mean, it's. It's two plus two equals four. I mean, how can it not be right if we're putting up all this demonic stuff everywhere and we're engaging in it and we're partaking? That is one big ritual.
- [35:29]
B
Right? Right. Let's talk about things that you should get out of your home. Yeah, I've heard you talk about this before. It's not just, you know, on Halloween, but there are certain things that can invite demons into your home. How do we. As parents, and I guess even beyond just being a parent, if. Even if you're, you know, in college, how do you protect your dorm room? How do you protect your house? What are things that you need to. To purge from your home?
- [35:57]
A
Yeah. Well, Halloween decorations that are the. The tombstones, the witches, the demons. I mean, if you're putting that all over your house, you're. You are telling the spirit of witchcraft or death or whatever, you are welcome here. This is. This is territory for you. Like, we're honoring you here. But other than that, like, obviously, anything involving the occult and so things like tarot cards, oracle decks, all of these things. Artwork with, you know, occultic things on it. Anything to do with astrology, Even things like horror movies and horror books. I even go as far as to tell people, if you have books about vampires and werewolves and occultic things and scary stories, get those out of your house. I promise you. It might seem crazy or weird, but I promise you, if you throw those things away, you will feel your. The atmosphere of your house get lighter. I have done this in my life. I've done it with my friends and help them clean stuff out of their homes. You will notice a difference. Anything with numerologies, Any kind of altars and statues to any, like, all of these pagan gods or goddesses. Even little Buddha. Little Buddha things that maybe a souvenir somebody brought you from another country. Those things. Oh, my goodness. Those things from Mexico and the Caribbean. Those little animals that they paint and they sell, you know, I'm talking about. They're like little turtles or little alligators, and they paint them. Those are spirit guides. Those are literally demonic spirits that they paint and they believe that they protect you. It's. It's demons. There are little things like this that we might have in our house, and we have no idea where they come from. Anything to do with chakras, Chinese zodiacs, crystals. I've got a whole list of this in my book. So it just is helping me. I'm. I'm seeing all this stuff. Evil eye. I see this one so much. The little blue eyeball, the little blue dot. That is witchcraft. You're believing a little charm is going to protect you, and that's demonic. So get those out of your house. Good luck charms. Anything to do with Freemasonry, obviously. Drugs, any drugs. That stuff invites spirits into your home. New age demonic music. Music that is just glorifying the darkness. If you have CDs or records or just in your phone, clean that stuff out. Clean it out. Reiki. Any Reiki stones? Reiki healing, Santeria. Yeah, a lot of those things. Tapestries. A lot of tapestries have zodiac wheels on it and demonic hamsa hands and these things on it. Those are pagan ritualistic signs, and they're on a lot of different tapestries. So if you have tapestries, look into what's on them. Obviously, you know, things that have to do with yoga as well. And I think those are really the big things. And then not just throwing those things away, but then praying over your home and anointing your home. Get the oil and pray over the door posts, the. The four corners of your property, your windows, wherever your bed, your computer. Like, just pray and break off anything demonic because people are coming and going and things are coming through the TV screens, the computer screens. Just pray and break off any demonic unclean thing and say, this house belongs to the Lord. Holy Spirit, come and fill my home. Come and fill my family. Set us apart. And, you know, you will notice the entire atmosphere shift and change when you do this.
- [39:28]
B
Amen. Yeah. What do you do with. With your. Do you have a daughter or son?
- [39:33]
A
I have a daughter.
- [39:34]
B
Got her? Okay, so what do you do? Do you have any sort of prayer that you pray over her at night? How do you. How do you protect her? How do you protect your home?
- [39:44]
A
Yeah, I. I love to pray over her, you know, wherever, whatever the Lord is leading. But I pray for her protection. I plead the blood of Jesus. Plead the blood of Jesus over your children, over your home, over your pets, over your marriage, over everything. Just plead the blood of the Lamb. His blood is. It protects us, it purifies us, it keeps us clean and safe. And so we just. We plead the blood of Jesus. Always. I pray for protection. I ask that the Lord would just send his angels around my baby, around my husband, when he goes to work, around our home, around, you know, when we're coming and when we're going, we read Psalm 91. That's a big thing. When we feel like there's an attack coming, we read Psalm 91 over everybody in the family over at the home and believe it. You know, we. We can rest and sleep easy. And when you feel the attacks coming on, we just rebuke the devil. And taking communion especially, too, when you feel the attacks coming, take communion with your family, and that will shift things, too. The other night, I got attacked, a demonic attack in my sleep, and my neck was hurting really bad, and I did all those things and I took communion and my neck was healed. So, I mean, there's power in the blood.
- [40:56]
B
Amen. Amen. Well, this has been so good because I think this has given some practical resources and some ideas. I would just encourage anyone listening right now. Man, this is an opportunity to, one, change the culture of your family. Two, create a new culture of worship, of prayer, of evangelism, and then, number three, have an opportunity to see souls get saved. There are so many people in your neighborhood that are desperate for the love of Jesus. And I think we've gotten so safe in our culture to share our faith. But the reality is, nobody's offended by your story. So the ability to share your story, the ability to share what Jesus has done for you, the ability to, like I said, shine that light on such a dark day and use Halloween to kick the devil in the teeth and proclaim the name of Jesus far and wide. And the other thing Rion said is just pray when you're in your neighborhood and you drive by Halloween decorations, pray for that family. Pray for their protection. Rebuke it in the name of Jesus. Pray for the blood of Jesus and his spirit to cover your neighborhood. And know that we have that authority to be able to call upon the Lord for these things. We are his children, and he loves to give good gifts to his children. Anything else, Taylor, before we wrap up, that you would say we want to. We're going to put a link for your book in the show notes. Thank you. You'll get your book Breaking demonic chains. Right? Yeah.
- [42:24]
A
Yeah, that'd be awesome.
- [42:26]
B
Yeah. Tell us a little bit more about that and then any. Anything else that you would kind of share as it pertains to Halloween.
- [42:31]
A
Yeah, I mean, if you want to learn more about this and how to expose the darkness and the roots of things, I mean, that's something that every chapter, we talk about the roots, the roots of the Enneagram, the roots of astrology, so we can know and do better. And so, yeah, if you want to learn more, you like this episode, I think the book will bless you. But, yeah, I just. I just think that this is such an important conversation, and I'm really excited that the culture and mainstream Christianity is finally talking about this, because we've been saying this for so long, but, you know, the fact that it's. It's getting into the mainstream is so exciting, because now we can actually take it back. If enough Christians get on board, we can totally take over. And I just hear the Lord saying, this is revival. This is what revival looks like when we start to take these things back for the kingdom of God and change the world and change the culture. And so thank you for having me and. And talking about this, Ryan, because now we're actually. We're making a difference when we choose to talk about these things and implement them.
- [43:36]
B
Amazing, Tayla, thanks for being on. God bless you. We'll put a link for your book in the show notes. Any specific ways we can be praying.
- [43:44]
A
For you and your family protection this time of year? We're exposing a lot of witchcraft and darkness. And so if y' all could just pray that the Lord would just continue to have his arms surrounding us and protecting us because we're kicking the devil in the teeth and he doesn't like it. And so that would be awesome. Thank you for asking.
- [44:02]
B
Yeah, of course. Let me pray for you now. And then, guys, as you're listening, please pray for Tayla as well. And then, Taylor, could you close us in prayer? Could you pray for the same thing for the listener, just spiritual protection over them?
- [44:12]
A
I'd love to. Yeah.
- [44:14]
B
Lord, we're just so thankful for Tayla. Thank you for her ministry. Thank you for her life. We just pray the blood of Jesus over her children, over her husband, over her home. We just thank you for the ministry that she has. Lord, we ask that you would continue to advance the kingdom forcefully through her God. Just surround her home with your angels. Give her more wisdom, give her more opportunities, give her more podcasts, to go on stages, to preach on people, to Expose the works of the enemy to, and not just to focus on the darkness, but to shine the light. And so thank you that she is such a light in our culture. In Jesus name.
- [44:51]
A
Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for every person watching. God. Thank you for Ryan, thank you for the show. Thank you for raising it up in an hour where we need to, we need to be talking about these things. Thank you that Lord, you've chosen him to help shift and change the culture. God, you don't take that lightly, Lord. And I thank you that you are just so proud of, of him and his heart for this. Father. I pray for every person watching right now, Lord, I ask that you would bless them in the name of Jesus if there's any areas in their life where they are in pain and where the enemy has been trying to pursue them or harm them, that, that those attacks would stop now in the name of Jesus. That those, those wounds would be healed, that all open doors to darkness would be shut. Father God. And we pray specifically against a spirit of guilt or shame or condemnation or fear because they said, oh, I've been doing these things and they feel so bad. No, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And now we know better. Thank you, God, for exposing these things so that we can make the changes, so we can set our families free and so that we can be a light. God. That's your heart. And so we pray against any, any fear, guilt or shame, Lord. And I just pray that you would protect every person watching right now that we just plead the blood of Jesus over them, over their families, over their home, their children, their marriages, Father God, that you would just strengthen them in every way. And Holy Spirit, I ask that you would even begin to speak to them right now and show them things that you want them to change about what they do on October 31st. What do you want them to do tonight, God? What word do you have for them? What are some of the objects that they need to get rid of in their home? You know, God, you see everything and you search our hearts. And so I, I just, I just sense the Lord saying, let's take this introspective now and let's just listen and let's wait and let's ask him. Lord, what do you want me to do on this day? I give it to you. And I leave my traditions and the things that I love. I lay them at the cross. No cultural thing is more important than honoring you, Jesus. And so whatever you tell me to do on this day, Lord, I will do it in Jesus name. Amen.
- [46:59]
B
Amen. Tayla, thank you so much for being with us guys. God bless you. Thanks for being with the Jesus people today. We will see you guys next week.