Halloween

Today is a big day for many children across the country. When I was younger, halloween was a big treat; but the most fun I had was when the kids were little. The kids were dressed in customized costumes each year. They had a unique edge on the other kids at school – their Mama was a professional clown and had all the cool theatrical make up and gadgets! One year Eric wanted to be the wolfman. It took HOURS to paste the hair all over his face, neck and hands. What was worse was that it took even longer to get that stuff off. That wouldn’t have been too bad, except it was a school night. What a mess that was!

Then in the late 1980’s the occult came to West Texas. One year pentagrams were discovered in underpasses and various locations around Abilene. Word got out that they were performing human sacrifices and other rituals. Things started to get a little creepy. Then rumor got around that they were looking for blonde-haired kids to use in their rituals. My older brother and his wife had four and lived in that area. The innocence of the holiday was stolen. The more I looked into the practices of the occult, the more uncomfortable I became with celebrating a holiday that had such strong roots in the Celtic beliefs. For awhile we did the ‘Christian alternative’ thing … but that still didn’t feel right to me. Later on, when Honey and I got married, we discussed the halloween practices and he had already come to the belief that halloween should be completely ignored by God’s people. Being raised in an area that has such strong ties to devil worshipping and the occult, I can understand why he felt the way he did.

Each year I hear discussions, debates, and a lot of criticism among the Saints concerning halloween. Some still allow their children to celebrate the holiday because it’s just kids dressing up and having fun. Others maintain that Christians can celebrate it, but should have a ‘Christian-themed’ alternative. And there are the staunch ‘thou shalt not’ types who go around smacking other Christians and everyone else with their Bibles for even mentioning the word halloween. I believe that each person needs to seek God on this issue and follow His leading. For us, people know that we just aren’t interested in celebrating this day and the lights stay off.

Tonight in our part of the world, there are many who will celebrate today with almost obsessive glee. This is their ‘Christmas’ … their day to worship whatever false god(s) they have chosen to follow. In knowing this, I have grown to dread this day; and I catch myself looking back to when this was simple a fun day for cute little kids to dress up and have some fun. Was this day ‘stolen’ from our children or has God finally gotten through to us about being ‘in the world’ but not being ‘part of the world’? I guess it’s something to think about.

Walk with God as you sort out this thing called life, and may the Lord bless you.