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OK let me just say, I am not a fan of Halloween. I find it creepy. I hate horror movies. They give me nightmares and our family has purposely avoided those movies. I never understood the benefit of giving my kids nightmare material.
Personally, I have researched the Celtic origins of Halloween. Knowing it has to do with sacrifices to summer gods in Druidic tradition simply makes me uncomfortable. More poignant, knowing that Wiccans view this day as a sacred day to actively engage in the dark side of the spiritual world, sends me to prayer.
Thus, we have talked to our children about the reality of evil spirits. They are not some Harry Potter fantasy, but real. People engage in the occult. The devil is real and destructive. He prowls the earth to kill, steal and destroy. This is what the Bible tells us and so we don’t want to promote the darkness as fun. However, Jesus overcame all evil so we don’t have to fear. He overcame the darkness (1 John 4:4). It is important to know that Jesus triumphed over death and evil. And every day His overcoming power works in us when we are one of His. So we let our kids know that they are covered by that precious blood of Christ (not scary but comforting).
We don’t do ghosts, vampires and dark spirits. We don’t try to scare each other because fear is not our friend (I Timothy 1:7). We opt for the power of love and a sound mind.
And we are part of our culture so we don’t hide out and get mad at people who celebrate Halloween. We engage with our neighbors. When my kids were young, they dressed up in fun costumes and scoured the neighborhood for candy. We had many conversations about spiritual things with them and decided this was an opportunity to talk about the spiritual world with others. Most times, the kids opted for church alternatives and we hung out with the neighbors and discussed our various views.
So tonight, I will hand out the candy, thank God for being powerful and pray for those who need to know Him. And my kids will be reminded that evil exists, the devil deceives and wants people to believe nothing much happens tonight. But all around the world, there are those who will meet and celebrate spirits.So tonight is a reminder that evil exists, but we have nothing to fear.
