Halloween Spooks

Here's a little something I submitted to a local newspaper. Enjoy the read, and feel free to let me know any reactions you may have.

Halloween is a day we’re raised to love. Costumes, candy, caramel apples, witches, monsters, ghosts, goblins, carnivals, haunted houses, jack-o-lanterns, scary stories—it’s enough to make children (and adults) go wild.

I can still remember my first trick-or-treating experience. My older brother and I walked from house to house on our block, knocked on each door, shouted “Trick or Treat!” and filled our pails with tons of delicious loot.

While my childhood Halloween memories are enjoyable and tasty, I gradually grew up and learned the true meaning of Halloween. It’s a holiday of evil.

Not everyone celebrates Halloween for evil, just like not everyone celebrates Christmas for Jesus; and while Halloween is close to a couple of other holidays intended to be Christian events, the core of Halloween is clearly non-Christian.

Throughout our society, in big cities and small towns, in cemeteries, under bridges, in forests, and in private homes, people gather to make sacrifices, drink blood, participate in black magic (not that there’s any such thing as “white magic”), and worship the devil.

Now, this may sound strong to some of us because we don’t see it happen. It’s done in hiding. But those of us who have seen this kind of darkness know the frightful reality that we prefer to make fun of with costumes and candy.

By now you should be able to understand when I say that October 31 is my least favorite day of the year. It genuinely scares me.

But as this dark day nears, I am reminded of the darkness Jesus faced in those frightful days of his persecution and crucifixion; and I’m encouraged by the way he dealt with that evil.

Jesus did not run and hide, nor did he pretend the evil did not exist. No, he confronted wickedness head-on. He stood his ground while Satan’s ambassadors beat him and insulted him and nailed him to a cross. He met evil with divine courage. He maintained control of the situation. Finally, he was raised from the grave, conquering death and defeating evil.

And it thrills me that I get to preach his resurrection this Halloween morning. Jesus died for you and me, but he didn’t stay dead. He was the Light that broke the darkness.

That same Light lives and works in me and in everyone else who follows him, and that is how I survive October 31.