Screams were heard outside the house. It couldn’t be missed. Anyone in the neighborhood could hear it. A lingering feeling of dread and despair pervaded the house. Walking or driving past the home, neighbors couldn’t help but feel a shiver, too curious to NOT look at the house, to try and see in the windows; after all, who lived in a house that seemed to be almost haunted? To make it worse there were other hints at spiritual oppression- an ill-kempt lawn, junk hanging from the trees, a general distraction with destruction.
Pretty soon the malaise spread- other homes and even businesses caught the virus. The citizens of the town were under the deception that everything was normal- business as usual. Not one person called the police or talked to the manager at the local ice cream shop when decapitated corpses showed up in a hearse parked out front. One store prided itself on the blood that dripped down the front door. And yet, this is all just good fun. Surely, I was just missing the point- Halloween is just good fun for kids. Right?
We don’t participate in Halloween. The darkness that has always been an integral part of Halloween but downplayed in such things as trick-or-treating and primary school parties has gotten much too dark- and sexualized. Try and find an innocent costume outside of the toddler ages in the costume shops and you will be frightened by what you see. “Naughty” angel costumes replete with crosses and super short skirt and breast hugging bodices, devil costumes with a low décolleté (for size 7 children- approximately 5-8 year olds). Truly the holiday dabbles in things other than the occult. Following suit with contemporary ready-to wear clothes, Halloween costumes are another opportunity for children to be exploited.
One of the main reasons we don’t participate in Halloween is that it is counterintuitive to living a life that glorifies Christ. If we are to emulate Christ (the light of the world, the living water, bright shining stars in the universe) than putting severed heads, glorifying death, and placing flying wraiths in your front yard is not the way to do it.
Our children rightly call it the devil’s holiday. Our neighbors and even some of our church friends think we are crazy or at the least a bit extreme. I think they are either too lazy to look into the real deal about Halloween, or too afraid of being a people set apart and taking a stand for the light and truth of Christ.
Halloween night is no joke for those involved with the occult and Satanism. To borrow from a website that says it best (link below) “Those who oppose Christ are known to organize on Halloween to observe satanic rituals, to cast spells, to oppose churches and families, to perform sacrilegious acts, and to even offer blood sacrifices to Satan. While some may say, "But we only do this in fun...we don't practice witchcraft," those things that represent Satan and his domain cannot be handled or emulated "for fun". Such participation places you in enemy and forbidden territory and that is dangerous ground…It (Halloween) does not have even one single redeeming virtue. It is custom born out of pagan superstition. It is a demon-inspired, devil-glorifying, occult festival. It is an evening holy unto evil, death, and divination. The Scriptures tells us to "Abstain from all appearance of evil." [1Thess. 5:22] “ How can we who call ourselves Christians dare to dabble in a festival based on evil?
http://www.jeremiahproject.com/culture/halloween.html
No comments:
Post a Comment