"Open rebuke is better than secret love."

Proverbs 27:5

It's almost the end of October and the representation of Breast Cancer Awareness; however, ladies and men, please don't neglect checking your breasts for any unusual symptoms, especially for the symptoms of a new breast cancer called Paget's disease. Those symptoms are:

1. A persistent redness, oozing, and crusting of the nipple causing it to itch and burn. Sometimes, it may not itch or burn, but has a crust along the outer edge on one side.

2. A sore on your nipple that will not heal. (Could be a whitish thick looking area in the center of the nipple).

3. Usually only one nipple is affected. Your doctor will do a physical exam and should suggest having a mammogram of both breasts done immediately. Your doctor should suspect cancer if the sore is only on one breast.

He should order a biopsy of the sore. Remember, early detection is the best prevention. I write this to you in memory of my baby sister, Barbara Ann Barr Evans, and all women and men who have lost their lives to breast cancer.

October 31st is a date that we are all very familiar with. That date is known as Halloween. It is a time of trick or treat, costumes, masks, candy and carved out pumpkins. I celebrated it when I was a child and celebrated it with my children. I didn't find any fault with Halloween until I was grown up and found out the true meaning of Halloween.

From that time on, I have sought to tell others the true meaning of the holiday and to let them go from there:

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1st.

This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death.

Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.

On the night of October 31st, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic gods.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes consisting of animal heads and skins and attempted to tell each other's fortunes.

As Christianity spread throughout the world, pagan holidays were either Christianized or forgotten, and Samhain was absorbed into Halloween.

The real meaning of Halloween is honoring the dead as living spirits and inviting these spirits into your homes, your activities, your trick or treating or whatever your celebration of Halloween may consist of.

A demon is a fallen angel. When Satan, who was the very highest angel, rebelled against God, he took a large number of the angels with him in rebellion. When their rebellion failed, they were cast out of heaven.

Those angels are now demons. In the same way that angels can reach the very heights of spirituality, demons have the ability to reach down into great depths of hatred, bitterness, and perversion.

Demons seem to be interested in tormenting people, possessing them, and leading them away from God and His truth.

Although lust, homosexuality, drunkenness, glutton, and witchcraft are expressions of sinful flesh, these things can be expressions of demonic activity in the lives of people.

Many grossly perverted sexual practices, such as sadomasochism and sexual preference for children (pedophilia) probably have demonic roots. In a similar manner, schizophrenia (split personality) can be a mental disease, but it can also be caused by demon possession. Just as angels have archangels and higher powers, demons have what are called "principalities and powers."

God uses the prayers of His people to restrain demonic activity and to direct the action of angelic powers to control demons.

Please remember to pray for the sick and shut in, the bereaved, the depressed, those in nursing homes and hospitals, those in Hospice homes, the mentally challenged, the homeless, the hungry, our men and women on the battlefield in Iraq and for each other.

Please don't forget to join me on Saturday afternoon at 12:30 P.M. for Afternoon Blessings on 1470 AM WLMC. This entire article is dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Loretta Smalls Jones, an angel among the stars.

God bless you and give you many blessings as He keeps you safe and bestows His love upon you and yours.