Halloween: Is Evil a Red Herring?
Scott Maze
Mark 5:1-20
According to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend a projected $8.8 billion dollars on the holiday called Halloween in 2019. Almost 30 million will dress up and the average person will spend over $86 to celebrate.
In fact, I have a neighbor who decorates more for Halloween than any of us for Christmas on my street. My family and I celebrated Halloween. Our kids have dressed up as Star Wars characters and pumpkins throughout the years. We have nearly always celebrated the day with some kind of Fall Festival or Trunk or Treat. As a child, I ''trick or treated'' my way throughout the neighboring streets in my little town in western Kentucky. So I am not about to demonize all the fun surrounding Halloween.
Yes, the roots of Halloween have to do with pagan rituals but today, it's more a night to celebrate. No, not everything connected with the modern celebration is all fun and games. Any believer who is sensitive to the Holy Spirit will pull back on a number of elements associated with this celebration.
While many believers, refrain from any celebration of the holiday, I want to pause to consider this: Is There Such a Thing as Real Evil? In a time where we fantasize about goblins, witches, and zombies, there is a real supernatural evil and I want you to be aware of its presence.
I want you to meet the man whom history has called the Gadarene.
Today's Scripture
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying ou ...
Scott Maze
Mark 5:1-20
According to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend a projected $8.8 billion dollars on the holiday called Halloween in 2019. Almost 30 million will dress up and the average person will spend over $86 to celebrate.
In fact, I have a neighbor who decorates more for Halloween than any of us for Christmas on my street. My family and I celebrated Halloween. Our kids have dressed up as Star Wars characters and pumpkins throughout the years. We have nearly always celebrated the day with some kind of Fall Festival or Trunk or Treat. As a child, I ''trick or treated'' my way throughout the neighboring streets in my little town in western Kentucky. So I am not about to demonize all the fun surrounding Halloween.
Yes, the roots of Halloween have to do with pagan rituals but today, it's more a night to celebrate. No, not everything connected with the modern celebration is all fun and games. Any believer who is sensitive to the Holy Spirit will pull back on a number of elements associated with this celebration.
While many believers, refrain from any celebration of the holiday, I want to pause to consider this: Is There Such a Thing as Real Evil? In a time where we fantasize about goblins, witches, and zombies, there is a real supernatural evil and I want you to be aware of its presence.
I want you to meet the man whom history has called the Gadarene.
Today's Scripture
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying ou ...
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