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While many Christians correctly see Halloween as a time of occult dangers - when Satan is out in force trying to corrupt our society - they overlook the fact that all things are created by the Lord for a purpose. So what is the purpose of this dark time of the year?
Consider this: At what other time of the year do throngs of unsaved children come to your door, begging for you to give them a treat? Why not use this unique opportunity to give these deprived children the best treat of all - the treat of Christ's Love and eternal Salvation?
Jesus Himself preached to the whores and money changers, the very people most in need of his Love. These unsaved trick-or-treaters - innocent children tricked by secular society and their non-Christian parents into participating in occult rituals - are exactly the ones in need of the Good News of Christ. And there they are, right on your door step!
Clearly the Lord has created Halloween for the purpose of bringing the would-be-damned to us, His loyal followers, at an early age so that we may help them on the way to Salvation. So, in fact, this is not merely an unexpected opportunity, it is an obligation that we as Christians must rise to. Halloween isn't the witching season, it's the witnessing season!
We as Christians can learn from the dentists: instead of seeing Halloween as a time awash in tooth-decaying decadence, dentists have used it to promote proper dental hygiene by handing out toothbrushes, floss, and sugar-free candy to children. They have taken a frown and turned it upside down.
It is important that we acknowledge that there are certainly lots of anti-Christian activities that go on during Halloween, including obvious and blatant things such as the reveling in demonology but also subtly subversive things such as "bobbing for apples", which is really a symbolic re-enactment of the Fall. These things are dangerous and need to be opposed by all good Christians. However, some of the traditional trappings of Halloween are not really occult. Bats, black cats, and spiders are all God's creatures too and skeletons are God's way of supporting your body; do not let ancient superstitions - whose origins are actually Pagan - keep you in fear of His creations.
Whether real occult dangers or misappropriated trappings, we must not let these put us off and cause us to retreat into our homes, turn off the lights, and pretend we are not home when the doorbell rings. No, we must face the anti-Christian challenges and vanquish them with the help of the Lord. We must take the fright and set it aright!
Just as the winter solstice - which was created by God, not demons - was reclaimed from the villanous grip of the Pagans in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we as Christians must reclaim Halloween. We must proclaim that Halloween is now Christ's holiday. From now on it shall be used to witness to the wicked and ignorant. What was once used by Satan as a recruitment program, shall now be used against him. Satan's tricks shall be turned into the Lord's treats!
This Halloween, what you as a Christian need to do is HalloWitness.
What is HalloWitnessing? I define HalloWitnessing as using the tools of Satan against him; taking the trappings of Halloween - the things the kids enjoy about it - and using them to show the kids the Truth of Christ.
Some examples of HalloWitnessing techniques are:
Everyone loves candy, but it doesn't really provide nourishment - for the body or the soul. Instead of handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters, why not give them something a little meatier? Why not give them Bible tracts! Bible tracts can be gotten for modest donations from many Christian publishers. You can also download them off the Internet for free and print them out. Or, If you are really inspired, you can make your own, individually personalized for each child in your neighborhood! This is a good way to address the individual spiritual needs of your neighbor's kids.
Bible promoting literature can come in many forms besides just tracts. Some forms will actually work better with today's short-attention-spanned secular youth. One of the best HalloWitnessing tools you can use is candy with Scripture or pro-Jesus messages printed on the wrappers. These work great because they give the child what they expect from Halloween - sweet candy - while also providing them with a dose of Christ. This will help create in the child a positive association with Christianity, countering the anti-Christian indoctrination rampant in secular society. It can also be less threatening to the Christ-adverse child. For instance, "Bazooka Jesus" brand chewing gum (available at finer Christian supply stores) looks outwardly like popular secular candy, however on the inside of the wrapper are Bible inspired cartoons that open the secularized or occultified child's mind to the Lord. Also, don't underestimate the spirit raising power of simple symbolic candies, such as candy crosses or chocolate Jesus fish.
Sources for hand outs:
The unsaved youths today with their Power Rangers and Peekachoos and other secular heroes they see on TV are very enamored with "make believe" and "role playing". This is one of the reasons that Halloween keeps getting more popular every year since it allows them to dress up as their heros. Satan uses these seemingly innocent secular costumes (often cheaply purchased in local retail stores) as gate-way costumes for the more blatantly occult garb: witches, monsters, demons, Darth Mauls, and the like.
Often, secular and pagan adults who hand out candy participate in this costume ritual as a way of further indoctrinating the children into the occult world-view. The principle of HalloWitnessing tells us that we Christians should do this too. However, instead of dressing up in occult costumes, we should dress up as historical persons from the Bible. When the children ask you who you are supposed to be, you can use that as an opening to teach them about the Lord. You can involve your whole family by creating costumed plays dramatizing the historical events in the Bible that you can perform for the unsaved children at your door, or perhaps just simple monologues given in-character as Moses or John the Baptist.
(However, while dressing up as Biblical individuals is a good way to teach about the true history of the Bible, common sense and moderation should be heeded. For instance, it would be inappropriate to appear at your door as pre-Fall Adam or Eve or as a Sodomite.)
Another option is to appropriate traditional costumes. For instance, a white sheet with eye-holes worn over one's head isn't an occult spirit, it's the Holy Ghost. Write "HG" on the front and when the kids ask what that means, explain to them the subtle mystery of the Trinity; it will "blow their minds".
Even if you decide you do not want to wear costumes, remember: the forces of the occult may put on rubber masks and polyvinyl smocks, but when we Christians teach about the Lord, we put our full armor on!
Sources for Biblical costumes:
However you decide to HalloWitness, make sure you tell the kids to pass it on. Give them extra copies of Bible tracts to trade with their friends at school (that's one way to beat the prohibition on God!). Make a point to suggest to the kids that they tell their friends what great stuff you are handing out. Many kids today carry cellphones and pagers so they may contact their buddies right away!
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Peggy Miller has made this delightful mask of her famous Lambuel character, perfect for your children to wear when greeting trick-or-treaters together as a family. It can also be used as an inexpensive handout for the trick-or-treaters you've converted who wish to replace their evil masks before going back out into the streets to spread the Good News to their friends and neighbors. |
Don't try to reclaim Halloween all on your own! It will be much easier and more spiritually rewarding to do it working with your fellow Christian neighbors. Work together to come up with a game plan so that you aren't all handing out the same Bible tracts or confusing the unsaved with unintended mixed messages. If you do this you can really maximize the impact of the HalloWitness experience for the unsaved.
With today's hectic schedules, it may be impossible to set up a planning meeting with your Christian neighbors, but you still want them to know that you are HalloWitnessing. What can you do? One way to let your fellow Christians know that you are offering a Christ-friendly Halloween experience by displaying a Jesus O'Lantern (a hollowed pumpkin carved with a cross or image of Jesus.) Not only will your neighbors see it, but any Christians visiting your neighborhood with their kids on Halloween will know that your house is a safe one to let their children go to.
It's all about getting the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ out to the unsaved children in your neighborhood, so pull out all the stops and make it a Halloween they'll remember for an eternity!
Some of my fellow Christians have questioned whether HalloWitnessing is a good idea. Their main concerns are that some Christians might mistakenly embrace the darkness of Halloween in their attempts to reclaim it. While there is always a danger of Satan tricking us mere mortals into buying into his lies, that is why the Lord gave us the community of Christianity so that we may help one another stay the course of righteousness. If we as Christians stand together we can win this war against the dark forces of Halloween and reclaim the night in the name of Jesus.
The people who will most oppose the concept of Halloween reclamation and HalloWitnessing are those who are not Christian, and especially those who are in active allegiance with the occult and Satan.
For instance, some atheist or pagan parents may object that you are trying to tell their children the Truth about the Lord Jesus Christ and His offer of Salvation. They wish to hide the Truth from their children, not only by banishing God from their own homes, but from our nation's schools as well. While most of these parents are merely ignorant of the Truth and wish to keep it from their children due to their misunderstandings of what it really is, some know and understand it but are actively trying to suppress it anyways due to the evilness in their hearts. The children of these latter parents need your help. You must get the Truth to them so that they may escape the clutches of their Satan-infested households.
This is why HalloWitnessing is so important. These are the children we need to reach, and since they won't be coming to our churches and we can't currently reach them through the secular school system, Halloween represents our only - and, praise!, our best - chance to bring them over to Christ.
If any children in your neighborhood are being spiritually abused in this manner, you may have to be stealthy to get the Good News to them. Consider not doing any overt HalloWitnessing such as costume dramas or putting out a Jesus-o-lantern, but instead focus on targeted distributing of Bible tracts to children who won't come in contact with the the abused child or his parents. Also consider putting up more secular Halloween decorations - such as cardboard articulated skeletons - so as to make your house seem non-threatening to those brain-washed by the occult. When the abused child comes, have prepared a special handout for him or her with hidden Bible tracts. These can be written on the inside of candy wrappers, but avoid using any prepackaged Bible tract candy such as Bazooka Jesus as those would just be thrown out by the parent. Also be sure to include a personalized note and the phone number of your church so that the child knows he or she can contact someone on the outside world to get help.
It is our duty as Christians to oppose the forces of darkness, and by reclaiming Halloween from the Pagans, secularists, and practitioners of the occult we will be doing just that. I hope that this information helps you all in our righteous cause. God bless and have a Holy Halloween!
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