Controlled Fear

I really do love the progression of fall.  The weather is cool.  Sleeping is comfortable.  The leaves are beautiful in their many stages of changing.  All of the fruits and veggies from the garden are in.  The vividness of pumpkins and crisp blue skies and the colorful trees is amazing.  I love Thanksgiving--a time set aside to thank God for His many blessings and usually to enjoy family. 

The one "dark" area of fall which I wish weren't a part of the beauty of harvest is Halloween--and I just can't stand Halloween.  There is absolutely nothing about the celebration that is good, pure, or right.  Everything that Halloween is and all that it represents is evil.  I cannot understand why people who say they love God at any level regard Halloween.  All that Halloween is and stands for is the total and direct opposite of God and the Bible.

 "...and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:19

It is a day dedicated to death, evil, and fear.  It is a day full of witches, devils, creepy things, and spirits.  People like that things are scary and even violent--but THEY control the fear, so it's okay.  If people were to really consider a gruesome death, someone horribly disfigured coming at them, a real witch, a real devil, some one coming at them ax in hand, a violent event, etc.--it wouldn't be so much fun (and, yes, witches, devils, spirits, and the like ARE real).  Halloween is where the fear factor is controlled--giddily laughing at horrible things--never thinking of the reality of the terrible things that actually DO exist.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." II Timothy 1:7

People make "cute" jack-o-lanterns and "sweet" witches.  I received a JC Penney portrait studio ad with an adorable child dressed up as a devil.  This isn't funny, cute, or sweet.  Making evil and wickedness "cute" and "sweet" is an oxymoron.  There is nothing good about these things and all are directly spoken against in the Bible.  So our children miss out on trick-or-treating...they miss out on selfishly holding open their bags to all of our neighbors to be given all the candy they can get.  There are plenty of other more important things in life for them to do.  I'm not even going to go on about the drunkenness that goes on, the excuses people have via Halloween to dress up provocatively (yes, I've seen very young girls dress up as prostitutes), and the very real evil events that DO go on on this day.  No, the Bible and God are for me every day and will not be put aside for Halloween.

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."  Ephesians 5:11