That dreaded time is upon us.  The time all true believers hold their breath in anticipation; what will we do this year?  No, I am not talking about gas prices or even the elections, I am talking about how and what to do on Halloween.

 When I was young, we lived in the country, we dressed up and went to our grandparents’ house and a few of the neighbors and we were done, no harm, no foul.  We didn’t think twice about what would happen on October 31^st.    Everyone celebrated the same; we were just kids wanting free candy.  No one had the slightest clue to put up decorations, there were no commercials on TV that had anything at all to do with this sleepy little “holiday”.

Fast forward twenty years, I am raising my own boys and not considering changing traditions until I hear a sermon about Halloween, explaining the roots in paganism and how it promotes witchcraft and Satanism.  I certainly did not want to do anything that would be seen in anyway shape or form as witchcraft.  Halloween was off! 

Every year, depending on our friends and church affiliations, Halloween might or might not be celebrated.  Most often it was celebrated as a “fall festival” at the church.  I was young and easily persuaded; I was just learning about spiritual warfare and how outside influences will affect our children; I didn’t want to open any doors in their lives that would bring them harm in the future.  I was young, but so were my boys, and my flip-flopping every year was not only bad parenting it was just plain stupid!  All they wanted was candy ~ I was double-minded and consequently, not stable in any of my Halloween decisions!  I was in religious bondage and didn’t even know it.

Please, do not get me wrong, in my opinion Halloween has gone more to the dark side every year.  Commercials are out of control when it comes to promoting fear.  Decorations are getting scarier and scarier, blood on door posts, massacre scenes in front yards, all meant to ‘celebrate’ a day when the kids just want free candy.  It has gotten out of control.  But, what can us as parents and to a large part we, as clergy, do about this epidemic of evil?  How can we be in the world and yet not a part of the world?  That is the question that has plagued the church for 20 years.  I would like to humbly submit what I believe to be the answer to this age old problem.

For years I thought our enemy was those horrid devil costumes or the evil witch costumes. I finally realized this year as I prepared a craft for our children’s church that the real root of our rejection of Halloween should be against the spirit of fear.

The Bible says over sixty times: “Fear Not” ~ we are taught from Genesis to Revelations that we should put our faith and trust in God and not fear anything.  That’s when the light came on…Halloween is really about fear.  Every movie that comes out specifically for Halloween is for one purpose only…. fear.  That, my dear friends should be our enemy…not the silly plastic costumes, not the fake cemeteries in people’s yards, not the candy that looks like eyeballs…fear.

Our weapon is the Word and education.  Instead of teaching our children that Halloween is bad, let’s teach them why they should never fear.  Let’s teach them never to watch movies that promote fear, let’s teach them that haunted houses are not the place to go because they cause fear.  Let’s teach them about the faith that overcomes fear. Let’s teach them they’re victorious.

1 John 5:4 says, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”  In my opinion we need to spend less time worrying about October 31^st. and more time teaching our children that we can overcome anything that comes our way when we have unwavering faith in God.

I did a craft for our children’s church on Sunday that had a black house, a bat, a pumpkin and a ghost, and over the top we put in bright purple, yellow and orange letters…Faith Overcomes Fear.  I did a lesson on why we should not fear and why fear is our enemy.  We talked about staying away on purpose anything that promotes fear.  But, mostly we talked about how God is large and in charge and we have a confidence that if our faith is in Him, we need not fear.

Finally, let’s quit fearing the word: Halloween.  Let’s quit being double minded about all things Halloween.   Let’s be clear….if it causes fear- it is wrong and against the Word of God.   Scary movies, witches, the devil, evil in all shapes and forms all cause people to fear and lose faith in God.  Pumpkins, candy, caramel apples, and games even in the name of Halloween do not cause fear, let’s quit splitting hairs and get the root of our problem, remove it and teach our children that God loves us and wants us to have fun, but He does not want us to fear ANYTHING.

Why don’t we as believers use this time of year to educate people on the spirit of fear and the power of faith in God.

So, bring on the candy and apples and fun….let’s leave the fear in Hell where it belongs.