Saturday is the one “holiday” I hate.
I have hated Halloween for decades. In my younger years, although the candy was fine, I had no interest in watching horror films or scary movies. They just don’t appeal. Action flicks do.
After my spiritual awakening more than 20 years ago, I have come to understand that there is a very active unseen world in addition to what we see around us. I believe and have seen God’s love demonstrated in miraculous ways.
For instance, several years ago, two women prayed for me and restored strength and freedom of motion to my right shoulder that was injured when I tried to hold myself up after sipping on outdoor stairs. God used me in prayer to restore a family pet that had been poisoned with gopher pellets. We had brought him home from the vet to die at peace in our home. Instead he lived six more years in good health.
I have been blessed to see many people healed as God used his Holy Spirit to touch them supernaturally.
I have also seen the evil side—look no farther than the Middle East and ISIS to see the definition of evil or the whacko young man who shot and killed nine churchgoers in Charlotte.
As author John Eldredge observes, we ignore the unseen spiritual world at our peril. It is tough for us modern, scientifically oriented folks to realize there is a world we do not see with our eyes or feel with our hands.
When our culture goes about celebrating with “Happy Halloween” and calling up all sorts of goblins, witches and the like, we know not where we tread. Sure, there’s good fun in kids dressing up as princesses or super heroes and collecting candy in the early evening, but when it slips into graveyards, goblins and ghosts, it is on the dark side.
Just as God is real to me, so are demons. About twenty years ago, I had a pastor and a friend pray for me and they called out a voice from me that I had never heard and cannot make. They cast out that demon. So I write with personal experience on both sides.
It would be one thing if this day was truly about the harvest and fall and did not “celebrate” dark things like evil spirits, witches, etc.
So call me a Grinch when it comes to Halloween. I will happily celebrate All Saints Day on Sunday.
Incidentally, the National Retail Federation estimates that $6.9 billion will be spent on costumes, candy, parties and decorations for Halloween.
