This post is about what some Christian families do with celebrations relating to October 31st. It provides ideas with a few links.
Reformation Day celebrates the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door in his community, proclaiming the truths that he had discovered by reading the Bible. This historical and world-changing event is sometimes presented as a small unit study around the end of October with various resources; some people also celebrate this day by participating in a history-related dress-up party with their friends.
Here are three places (links) you might like to check if you are interested in learning more about Reformation Day, its message and its significance:
- Bible Visuals International (BVI) is a non-profit ministry in USA for which we have distributed for. However the link shared in this post is not an affiliate link meaning that we do not receive any compensation for sharing this link to you. We do recommend their resources to you. Due to higher shipping costs and our limited space to store stock in our home-based business, we encourage you to purchase their resources directly from them however we are happy to assist you if you wish to purchase them through us instead. BVI generally produces paper flashcard books – providing real-life style of visuals for Christian biographies, stories, and hymns. In recent years, these often are also available in disc format to present on screens. They print the texts of their materials in several different languages so that they can be used in many countries around the world. Using the following link, you can watch and listen to BVI’s illustrated story about Martin Luther presented on YouTube.
FREE presentation of “The Refuge: A Gospel Story of Martin Luther”. You can also access this presentation through BVI’s website along with a free download of a tract about Reformation Day here: http://biblevisuals.org/free-resources/
- Danika Cooley is a Christian homeschooling mom who blogs a fair amount about the Reformation and has written a few unit studies relating to it. You can find advertisements for these studies and other ideas on her website such as https://www.thinkingkidsblog.org/reformation-day-snacks/ and https://www.thinkingkidsblog.org/5-solas/ (These are not affiliate links. We do not receive any compensation for telling you about her website or products.)
- Jennifer Flanders, another Christian homeschooling mom also wrote about Reformation Day in her blogs and artfully created free downloadable pages such as a colouring page about the “5 Solas”. You can see these things at her website here: https://www.flandersfamily.info/web/2012/10/31/rememberig-reformation-day/ and https://www.flandersfamily.info/web/2017/10/28/more-reformation-day-resources/ (These are not affiliate links. We do not receive any compensation for telling you about her/their website or products.)
“He who is in you [Jesus Christ] is greater than he who is in the world.”
1 John 4:4b NKJV
“For I know that the LORD is great, And our Lord is above all gods.”
Psalms 135:5 NKJV
Halloween is a pagan (non-Judeo-Christian) holiday in origin. As an example of a website explaining it, you can see a concise summary of its background along with a brief analysis from a Christian perspective if you go to the website for “Watchman Fellowship – Bringing Real Hope to Real People Through Christ” then go to “Profiles” to show a list, then click on the word “Halloween” for a pdf article. (Again, this is not an affiliate link.)
A number of years ago when our children were asking more about “why” there were such horrible decorations in stores, etc., our family made a book to help explain Halloween to them which they really have appreciated since. Some of these pages are shared below to provide ideas of how you could do a similar book (for this or any other day). I chose to use a few simple drawings and some “artistic printing” to help non-readers to understand the basics. For this topic, I also chose to focus on the CONTRAST of ideas and the COMFORT of God through anything intended to frighten.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
Most of the gospel tracts which we taped into our book as we discussed one of the options for “what to do on Oct. 31” came from Good News Publishers which now seem to be joined in with Crossway at this link (again, this is not an affiliate link): https://www.crossway.org/tracts/?category=HA
The other tracts came from Keys for Kids Ministries (the link takes you to the ABC’s of Salvation page on their website but the colourful tracts appear to be no longer available – we used to offer these in our shop) and CEF Ministries (not an affiliate link) has newer versions of the former ones pictured on my photo.
We realize that not everyone who reads our website or looks at our materials at conferences are believers in Jesus Christ. If you are desiring spiritual help, please understand that our God and His love is greater and stronger than anyone or anything. If you are truly searching for answers for your own life, call out to Him from your heart and He will show you His truth. He still changes lives today and transforms them with His peace. You can click here for “About our Faith” to learn more about the true God Who loves you so much! ♥
There are 2 songs (performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and of 2 different music styles) which our family listened to recently (found around Thanksgiving). I’m including the (“non-affiliate”) links to them below because they fit the theme of our deliverance from fear and the encouragement to put our trust in the all-powerful God Who made the heavens and the earth.
This song is based on these words of Psalm 34:1, 3-9. (I’m quoting these verses from NASB. The square brackets are my insertion and refer to words translators could have used from the original Hebrew meaning and I’ve put them here to bring clarity to readers of my blog.) Interestingly, this was a psalm of praise to the Lord, written by David after his experience of pretending to be a fool in front of a king! I think it really fits to be
3 “O magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears [frights].
5 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
9 O fear [highly revere] the Lord, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want” [lack of anything really needed].
“I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1)
These song words are essentially word-for-word from the KJV:
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”
May you also be able to sing – “My help comes from the LORD”! ♥
