Halloween: Harmless treat, or trick with darkness at its heart?

Its estimated that 59 per cent of Brits and over 77 per cent of 18-24 year-olds celebrate Halloween. That’s a lot of people buying into the ‘fun’ of halloween. I think we who walk in the light should be proactive tonight and pierce the darkness with light!

While for most people there is no intention to enter pagan worship or occultist activity, you don’t have to look far to see darker elements to this celebration…like the sale of bottled blood!

The celebration on October 31 goes back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain the festival which celebrated harvest and ushered in the winter, when time stood still and the door between the spirit world and humanity was briefly left ajar.

The boundary between this world and the world of the dead was thought to disappear on the eve of November 1.

This was the day on which the old year died and so it was seen as an appropriate time to honour death. On this day, it was believed that the souls of those who died during the year revisited their homes and so we see the preoccupation with death, spirits, ghosts and demons.

As Christians, we have no problem celebrating harvest or the end of the year; we’re thankful for God’s gifts and blessings. We also embrace death in a counter-cultural way through Christ’s eternal life.

We believe that evil spirits do exist in the world but we live in the daily reality that the spirit of Christ dwells in us and is greater than any other.

We also believe that he destroyed the boundaries and power of death, not just for one night, but for eternity for those who accept his gift of eternal life.

So let your light shine tonight!

Put a light in your front window.   I’ve put some of my Christmas ‘PEACE’ lights in my front window.

The light shines brightest in darkness. Let’s pierce the darkness and redeem this festival for the death buster.