How to Scare the Devil
Roger Thomas
James 4:7-10; 1 Peter 4:6-11
October 31, 2004
Introduction: Halloween is a strange holiday. Part of it is innocent enough. Some of us gray beards can remember the way it was when we were kids. We would dress up in homemade costumes and paper sack masks. It was fun surprising our next-door neighbors and good friends with our secret identity. We would go from house to house with huge grocery bags collecting candy from almost every house in town. We would bring home a huge cache of home made candy, apples, popcorn balls, and tons of other stuff. No one worried about the dangers. Some of the more ornery teenagers might tip over an outhouse or soap a few windows. Most of it was innocent enough.
Our small town church got into the act too. I remember costume parties, scary stories, and games with peeled grapes, bowls of raw liver, and fists full of spaghetti which we were told were various items of human anatomy. Our youth group even developed a haunted house in the church basement one year. I'll bet some of you can remember this church doing similar things way back when.
But times have changed! I hope you understand that. I wish we lived in a world where some of that innocent stuff could still be done. But we don't. We live in a very different world. Sadly, we have to protect our young from a lot of malicious people who will do most anything. We also live in a world where the occult is very, very real. You may not take all the talk of witchcraft and satanic worship seriously. But there are many who do. We dare not nonchalantly play pretend games about such things with our young anymore.
A school district in Washington state recently announced they are banning the observance of Halloween at school. That might be a good decision if it were for the right reasons. However, they have decided to prohibit the practice for fear of offending those who practice Wicca. Wicca is the modern expression o ...
Roger Thomas
James 4:7-10; 1 Peter 4:6-11
October 31, 2004
Introduction: Halloween is a strange holiday. Part of it is innocent enough. Some of us gray beards can remember the way it was when we were kids. We would dress up in homemade costumes and paper sack masks. It was fun surprising our next-door neighbors and good friends with our secret identity. We would go from house to house with huge grocery bags collecting candy from almost every house in town. We would bring home a huge cache of home made candy, apples, popcorn balls, and tons of other stuff. No one worried about the dangers. Some of the more ornery teenagers might tip over an outhouse or soap a few windows. Most of it was innocent enough.
Our small town church got into the act too. I remember costume parties, scary stories, and games with peeled grapes, bowls of raw liver, and fists full of spaghetti which we were told were various items of human anatomy. Our youth group even developed a haunted house in the church basement one year. I'll bet some of you can remember this church doing similar things way back when.
But times have changed! I hope you understand that. I wish we lived in a world where some of that innocent stuff could still be done. But we don't. We live in a very different world. Sadly, we have to protect our young from a lot of malicious people who will do most anything. We also live in a world where the occult is very, very real. You may not take all the talk of witchcraft and satanic worship seriously. But there are many who do. We dare not nonchalantly play pretend games about such things with our young anymore.
A school district in Washington state recently announced they are banning the observance of Halloween at school. That might be a good decision if it were for the right reasons. However, they have decided to prohibit the practice for fear of offending those who practice Wicca. Wicca is the modern expression o ...
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