October is almost over, and for many it is a favorite month. Summer’s heat has diminished, the leaves are changing to beautiful red and golden hues, and families prepare for the busyness of the holiday season. But the very end of October seems to be overshadowed by a specter that, for some, is a herald of evil.
Today, the ties between the pagan festival of Samhain and the modern holiday of Halloween are hardly more than historical, but the Church is still ambivalent on the topic. Is Halloween truly a stronghold of evil and a festival of death? Or is it a harmless celebration of costumes, candy, and innocent fun?
There may be no clear answer. There is no verse in the Bible that explicitly says whether or not skeletons and pumpkins are appropriate for Christians, except that God made them both and called them good (Genesis 1:31). But one thing is certain – God does not fall asleep on October 31. No day belongs to the Devil.
A Half Gospel
It is a rare occurrence that the world lays an evangelistic opportunity in our laps such as Halloween. We find ourselves surrounded by grisly demonstrations of horror and the influence of sin, even if our friends and neighbors have innocent intentions. What we have here is a half gospel, the half that expounds upon the reality of sin without redemption, the inevitability of eternal death without a Savior, and the hopelessness of lost souls who do not know our God. It can be a temptation to lock the doors, draw the curtains, and turn out the lights, but the Lord of Hosts never orders His armies to retreat.
There is no reason to fear Halloween. There is not one thing in Halloween that does not fall under God’s dominion. Halloween offers one half of the gospel story – and it is up to us to finish it with the grand finale of redemption, the death of death, and the rise of an eternal dawn over the vast fields of God, ready for harvest.
The True Lord of Halloween
Satan is nothing if not a lair. And on Halloween, as he boasts how strong he is and parades his horde through our streets, reveling in his own deception, we can be the ones to cry out “The emperor has no clothes!” He can be revealed for who he truly is – a failure, a wannabe, a pretender to the throne – if we let the gospel light shine.
The true Lord of Halloween is the one who holds Satan on a leash – Christ Jesus. “By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16).
Halloween does not belong to the Devil. It is the property of Christ and an opportunity, when so many are caught up in the symbolism and glorification of death, for the Church to shine like a beacon.
