Consider the 31st...
15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites,
I don’t know if you’re social media feed is flooded with Halloween stuff, but mine is. Anywhere from secular companies to car dealerships, to churches, yes, churches. And yes, I am about to comment on “Halloween” from a Christian perspective.
Ok, here me out…for a second. If you know my 5-year-old, you know he loves Spider-Man. In fact, he has about two Spider-Man costumes at home, and you may have even seen him running around the church wearing one of them. For some of you, you’re thinking, what’s the problem with that? Answer, nothing — it is harmless. Im not promoting and neither is he that we celebrate darkness, rather, when he wears it, sometimes, albeit in the summertime, we’re encouraging him to be a kid. If you have a daughter, you want them to express their girly side by playing dress up and having tea, to which we encourage; otherwise, we wouldn’t buy the Spider-Man costumes or the princess costumes.
Using your imagination compared to promoting the agenda of Satan through ghouls, goblins, and other dark things is a big difference!
When I was growing up, my family and I would go trick-or-treating throughout the neighborhood; however, I don’t think we really understood, at least I didn’t, that there was another message being pointed right at me. As I went into high school, at our local Knotts Berry Farm, during this time of year, they had what they called “Knotts Scary Farm,” and as I look back and realize the darkness and demonic influence scattered throughout October, I am appalled to say I participated in that. However, I was a young Christian and really did not understand the separation between darkness and light. Now…it’s a different story. What changed for me?
Now, before you accuse me of being anti-fun, please understand, I actually like having fun!
However, I do not believe that having “fun” should come at the expense of compromising in our walks with the Lord. If you can dress up as the grim reaper who promotes murder and proceed to chase kids around with a fake chainsaw (true story) is opposite of how a disciple of Christ is called to live, and then show up to church the next Sunday and justify it by saying, “It was all in fun”, friend, I think you need revisit your definition of fun and possibly check to see if hypocrisy lies within the caverns of your heart.
Let me take it another step further…a few years back, I was the pastor promoting a “harvest fest” at our church, I was the one showing up to other churches making cotton candy and encouraging families to make this a tradition every year. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with trying to reach the community; however, there are 365 days in a year and we choose one day to be relevant to the world in the sense of “meeting them where there at?”. In the words of my kids, “bro…” that’s not what Paul meant when he said, “I have become all things to all men”.
How can we, as Christians who are no longer tied to darkness, promote the holiday of the enemy? Now I know what you’re thinking…maybe…you’re being legalistic, you need to lighten up a bit and have some fun…friend, Im not being legalistic…my desire is, and I hope yours is as well, to do what Paul said…
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, (Ephesians 5:11-13).
The enemy wants us to think that it is harmless, and we need to loosen up. Friend, it is the minute we decide to drop our guard that the enemy comes in and starts messing with our mind, heart, and soul. When we leave ourselves open in such a way, we are ultimately saying, “I can have darkness and light”.
So…let’s expose Halloween for what it really is…it is celebrating darkness…it is condoning the grim reapers, ghouls, and goblins. It is creating within our families a “free ticket” to celebrate a day that is straight up dark.
Halloween is rooted in 100% pagan rituals…it was originally celebrated on Nov. 1st, where it was believed that the veil between the dead and living was thinned, therefore causing the people of the day to do all sorts of evils. For example, sacrificing animals and wearing their heads and skins to disguise themselves so the spirit of death wouldn’t come get them…hence where we get bloody demonic costumes from. Yet also, it was a day where sexual immorality ran rampant, where, upon sacrificing, people would do all sorts of ungodly acts. I’ll stop here, but the history of Halloween is dark, and the current Halloween day celebration is dark.
When we as Christians decide to run with Halloween, we are subtly saying, I support the roots.
No ma'am. No sir. Rather… let’s do what Joshua declared:
15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
God is good. Jesus is real. Facts.