Trick or Truth

Alright guys. The day is here. Halloween. Hollows end. Day of the Hallows. Whatever name it is given, it amounts to the same thing: free candy if you dress up. So, to give a little key info on this topic, here is a devotion from dare2share.org. Hopefully this devotion will help you put Christ in Halloween.

During the years that I served as a Pastor of Student Ministries, I had a definite love/hate relationship with October. On the one hand, students were back in the swing of things, and attendance usually was much more consistent. Yet football, other sports, homecomings, and a host of other activities made it very tough to keep the momentum going. The hardest thing for me to decide each fall was what to do with this mysterious 'holiday' called Halloween.

The Apostle Paul said:

"I try to find common ground with everyone so that I might bring them to Christ." (I Corinthians 9:22)

My purpose in this devotion is not to make a statement about how you should or shouldn't feel about Halloween, rather to equip and resource you with information so that you can find 'common ground' with unbelievers and use October 31st as a way to help bring people to Christ, because this season typically brings a greater openness on the part of people to discuss spiritual issues- so why not take advantage of these two factors to get the Message to the lost?

One of the biggest problems we face is the enormous amount of misinformation put out by well meaning believers who have 'researched' this topic at an elementary school level or below. So first off, let's try and make some sense out of the loony tunes literature floating around regarding the history behind Halloween.

In North America, the yearly observance of Halloween amounts to a multi-billion-dollar industry, second only to Christmas...selling costumes, candy and food items, party supplies, greeting cards, tours of so-called haunted houses, and other forms of entertainment. But what is the history of this particular day? The story may surprise you.

• FACT: It's Old
  More than two thousand years ago, a people called the Celts lived in what are now Ireland, Great Britain, and France. Among the Celtic people was an elite intellectual class known as the Druids, who served as religious priests, judges, lawmakers, and scientists. They had an elaborate pagan religious festival, along with certain rituals. Chief among these was the Fire Festival called Samhain (pronounced sow-en), observed at harvest time to mark the Celtic New Year.
  The Celts believed that on this night the barrier between the natural world and the supernatural was removed, and the spirits of the dead were able to move freely among human beings. Samhain was the most solemn and important night in the Celtic year.
• FACT: Christians had a Part
  After the Roman Catholic Church brought Christianity to the Celtic peoples in the seventh century, some of their traditional folk customs were Christianized. In 835 A.D. Pope Gregory IV moved the church's "Feast of All Saints" from the spring to November 1st to replace the observance of Samhain. All Saint's Day, still observed today by many Christians, honored believers who had died. The night before, which featured a sacred vigil in church, became known as "All Hallow's Eve," or Halloween. But the old practices of the Druids died hard and were denounced by the church as witchcraft. This is how Halloween became known as a witch's holiday.

• FACT: Today's Customs are Different
  Dressing in costumes and going door-to-door comes from a much later tradition in the British Isles, a practice not restricted to Halloween. Masked players would go from house-to-house, putting on a simple drama or musical performance in return for food and drink. Often these performances had Christian themes.
  The "trick-or-treat" custom we know today is thoroughly American in origin. In the nineteenth century, when Irish and Scotch immigrants brought their Halloween traditions to North America, the night became an occasion for pranks and mischief. Vandals would go through the night, soaping windows, overturning outhouses, and pulling gates from their hinges. These pranks were playfully said to be the work of witches and ghosts, but by the 1920s the joke wasn't funny anymore. The damage to neighborhoods was mounting.
  To counteract Halloween vandalism, community clubs like the Boy Scouts began to organize alternatives that are safe and fun. Children were encouraged to go door-to-door and receive treats from homeowners and merchants, keeping the troublemakers away. By the 1930s, the practice was popular nationwide, and young voices crying, "Trick or treat!" were echoing through neighborhood streets.
  In this way, a combination of pagan, Christian, and civic elements formed the Halloween celebration we know today. In recent decades, however, a renewed interest in the old pagan beliefs has blossomed in North America. Popular entertainment, including television shows like "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer," and even "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," make occult themes and witchcraft seem fun and acceptable. The result is that Halloween today has become strongly associated with the occult and a preoccupation with the dead—two influences that Scripture and the church have always warned against. (source:http://www.october31st.org/)

So now that you know the skinny on this scary day, how can we use this odd celebration to introduce people to the Savior? Here are three suggestions:

1. Meet your neighbors. One of the ideas behind Halloween was to give communities a chance to meet each other. It's kinda tough to 'love your neighbor' when you don't even know his/her name- don't you think? I know you're probably too old to trick or treat, so why not go door to door and pass out 'community service' coupons (like raking leaves, washing cars etc.). This will probably blow folks away, but what an awesome way to show that believers actually care about showing the love of God!
2. Try to turn conversations to spiritual themes. Hello...this is Halloween! Can you think of a better time to bring up things like life after death, heaven and hell, good vs. evil, etc.? You could even use some of the above mentioned history to show what a smart cookie you are, then make a smooth transition to the gospel.
3. Pass out a tasteful tract with your candy. Be careful with this one, because there is Christian literature out there that quite possibly drives people further from God. However, there are many great tracts out there that convey the incredible message of God's grace in a way that children can understand. Before you give a tract out, you should read it thoroughly from the perspective of an unbeliever. In other words, if you weren't saved, what would you think of what you were reading?

Above all, use this day as a reminder that your eternal destiny is secure- and evil cannot touch you. The Apostle Paul informs us that:

"God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ." (Colossians 2:14)

To me, all the wacky symbols and gory costumes are visible evidences that one day Jesus is coming back to make things right. In heaven we will be treated to a universe free from all pain and suffering- and that's no trick.

Questions:

1. How can you use Halloween to help bring people closer to God?
2. How big of a threat do you think you are to Satan's Kingdom?
3. What is one change you want to make this year?