Halloween: A Christian Response

I don't believe in being involved in the things of the devil so I try to stay away from any involvement with celebrations that involve his work. There are some that consider all holidays of the devil. I don't want to get into that discussion. But there is one holiday that I believe is impossible to say is not devilish. That is Halloween. We didn't personally celebrate it except a few years we bowed to community pressure and gave out candy. Recently I have seen other Christians do that and use it as a ministry opportunity. I am not sure how effective this is, I am waiting to see fruit, if it comes, I will be joining them.

I will seem inconsistent in this, for several years the church I attended put a float in the York Halloween parade and I helped with it. Remember; city tax money gets spent here to promote the world of darkness. We need to be there and use that opportunity to represent God. Guess, what, our floats didn't win any prizes. We were told our float did not have the theme of the parade (Praise God for that).

One year we were the last unit in line. At first we complained about that placement, but part way through the parade route (which runs over 2 miles) we saw God's hand in the placement. (Sometimes we need to wait long enough to see God's plan before we get our back up with people.) We were followed by the street sweeper that always follows the parade. We both cleaned up. The street sweeper the physical dung, us the spiritual dung.

That year we had started to have a float with the children on it signing a song medley which included the songs "Jesus is Lord" and "Amazing Grace". The color scheme of the float was white, blue, red and yellow. No orange, no black. (Not the usual Halloween fare.)

About a week before the parade someone got concerned about the parade environment and the safety of the children, we prayed and decided to put a ground unit in too, a group of mature saints that would walk the route surrounding the float. There were about 10 of us, we all got black trousers (I think the only black in the unit other than the rubber tires) and white sweat-shirts. We have been careful to obey the city requirements, they said we had to be in some costume. We had no time to practice but we learned the signs of the songs in the first couple of blocks, well before we got to the larger crowds.

But the results were amazing. We got no prize from the parade committee. They pretty well thumbed their nose at us. But the community responded. People sitting on the side stood as we passed, cheered, and many sang with us. Even weeks later I was being asked if that was my church. People we worked with saw us different than they did before. We were different. Some commented it was nice to see something different.

As we went through the bar district there were many standing on the edge of the sidewalk, many holding cans of beer. Walking along the float I was close enough to see the people individually. One started to yell about the float in derision. The man next to him put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Be quiet." As he did the narrator on the tape we were playing said, "let's all sing out that old song we all know, Amazing Grace." As the music broke into the passage "A-a-mazing Grace How sweet the sound" the man who had silenced the other started singing with the music. "That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost..."

I don't know if that made any difference to him, but that man was once more touched by the gospel. Remember the scripture says that some sow, some reap, but God gives the increase. That night we were broadcasting the seed. Note that word "broadcast" is the word farmers once used to describe scattering seed over a large area by just throwing it out. They tried to prepare the ground first, then they spread the seed. That night we were spreading the seed. We were hoping that someone else would have prepared the ground and someone later would water it.

I have been posting a letter to the newspaper about a month before Halloween most years. It talks about why Christians shouldn't observe Halloween. If you don't use a form letter and you change it each year they publish. Don't believe the rubbish that people tell you that the newspapers don't publish well written, well thought out, reasonable, proper length, signed, letters from Christians. They do. I've had over 50 letters published, including ones on abortion and school prayer.

Newspapers love controversy. It is their life blood. They also like things that are news, like the church web page we did in 1996 when only a few churches had web pages. That isn't news any more, don't bother calling them about it now, but it was in 96. They connected us, I gave an interview and it was a great article. They even published our tenets of faith which includes a statement on salvation.

If you do write, follow their rules of length and sign the letter, they will almost certainly publish it. Use this outlet where you can. It is free and it is one more way to get the message out. I missed this year, but by next year I am going to hit the 14 local school districts and as many of the municipalities as possible to protest spending tax money on a state sponsored religion, i.e. the Halloween celebrations to Satan. I just didn't get enough of the background to do it this year and if you do it, do it right. No calling the city fathers mindless trolls, tell them they are probably not aware that they are in fact supporting a religion.

PS. If anyone wants a letter reviewed before it is sent to a newspaper for all that stuff you should have and didn't learn in English class, I know some people who might look them over. I have most of my writings read by someone else. Just letting it lay a day or two and reading it again before mailing helps too...