SCARY

Like a good comedy-musical-fantasy movie?  Then you might set aside December, 2014 when "Into the Woods" opens.

Meryl Streep plays the witch who teaches lessons to assorted characters from children's stories (such as The Wolf from "Little Red Riding Hood", played by Johnny Depp).  The movie says it breaks the witch stereotype and Ms. Strep's character is portrayed as "normal" in a family setting.  There's a mainstreaming leap.

British Professor Owen Davies studies social history and has authored AMERICA BEWITCHED: THE STORY OF WITCHCRAFT AFTER SALEM.  He says in his book "witches and ghosts speak to something fundamental and innate in our psyche.  It's an emotional connection."

If that is so, then Halloween is a windfall of emotional connections.
The marketplace is flooded now with characters associated with manipulating supernatural forces.

Even going to WalMart is like going to that grotesque bar in Star Wars.  Many moms with young kids avoid those aisles.

Yes, Virginia, there is a media blitz (movies, TV, and video games) camping out on the themes of DEATH and the SUPERNATURAL.  Why?  Do people identify because they're in need of an "emotional connection"?

Let's first set aside the fun that kids and adults can have as they creatively dress up.  Adults become like children at this opportunity.  This little boy's Mom gets the prize for her work with 8 Solo cups and an old box.  Except for the redistribution of sugar, Halloween does give the family something fun and creative to do together.

The perennial Halloween favorite may be witches, but these days a zombie outbreak takes center stage.  Maybe you are a fan of the TV program "The Walking Dead".

We do seem to have a magnetic draw to the hellish and hideous.  Let's explore these characters from the dark side.

ZOMBIE.  In Creole culture, a zombie is a dead person thought to be raised by a witch's magical powers to a hypnotized state.  Then Hollywood took the zombie a step farther to have them feed on human flesh, and in particular, brains.  Nice...

This cartoon takes some thought.

ZOMBIE TRUTH.  Nothing comes back from the dead except by the hand of the Nazarene.  Zombies mock God's power and plan.  The "sucking your brains out" is another way to say "mindless" and it is mindless to live without considering truth.

WITCH:  A person with power to cause the natural world to react at their command.

WITCH TRUTH.  The power over the universe belongs to God, but the devil is a wannabe.  We read about the priests of Pharoah making the river run red and turning rods into snakes as Satan did battle with God.  The imitator can be flashy, but God has the final say.  Remember Elijah brought fire down from heaven and made a bonfire with wet wood... while the priests of Baal gave up their efforts to do the same.

So there ARE two sources for supernatural power and Satan is called the ruler of this world.  That's why this statement is comforting: "The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."  1John 4:4

GHOST.  The spirit of a dead person.

GHOST TRUTH.  We are made of body, soul, and spirit.  Ecclesiastes 12:7 says when someone dies, the body returns to the earth as it was (dust to dust), but the spirit will go back to God who gave it.  The part called "soul" is our mind, emotion, and will...and is the part in the believer that has been progressively sanctified unto God while on earth.

Believers may have trepidation about how their death may occur, but God's friends long to see and be with the One whose goodness and mercy followed them.  The unbeliever's spirit is dead to God (by their choice) and lacks confidence about the future.

If you need a ghost buster, don't call Dan Aykroyd because heaven has already sent help.

SO WHY IS THERE ALL THIS DARKNESS?

Most know the origins of Halloween.  Christendom long celebrated the saints on November first, a day called "All Hallows Day" (later, All Saint's Day).  The night before became "All Hallows Eve" (say that fast and it's "Halloween"), a time for the dark side to prance around before the saints were honored.

That prancing is on the rise; last year we spent an average of $79 per person on Halloween.  So tonight, what will God look down and think? Perhaps He will say "I was clear on this issue."  We willingly step into the danger zone when we dabble in His prohibition.

"There must never be found among you anyone who... 

practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, 

one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner 

of the occult, or one who calls up the dead.  Whoever does these things
 is abhorrent (detestable) to the Lord."  Deuteronomy 18:10-12

"You may not make use of strange arts (witchcraft) 

or go in search of signs and wonders (fortune-telling)."  Leviticus 19:26

"I will put an end to all witchcraft; 

there will be no more fortune-tellers to consult."  Micah 5:12

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:

sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft;

hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,

dissentions, factions.  Galatians 5:20

"But those who are full of fear and without faith, the unclean and 

takers of life, those who do the sins of the flesh, and those who make use of 

evil powers or who give worship to images, and all those who are false, 

will have their part in the sea of ever-burning fire which is the second death."

Revelation 21:8

NOW WHAT?

Now some might think this is much adoo about nothing because they're just having fun, not endorsing darkness.  But those words (above)...what do we do with His words?  

This power feud has ancient beginnings and we surmise the "home" team doesn't wear the sweatshirt of the "away" team.  God holds blood to be precious, but Halloween is blood-soaked, making blood common.  God said it is appointed for all men to die once and then face judgment (for unbelievers, the second death, the Lake of Fire...which could have been avoided with pre-arrangement); Halloween makes light of that certainty by raising zombies and ghosts and skeletons at will.  

The British professor who says America is bewitched may be right because we do have a fascination with the things that go bump in the night.  But the people in search of an emotional connection might take notice that the ghoulish Halloween is just an adrenaline apparition.  The true emotional connection is with the Lover of your soul.  HIS IS THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER.

"Despite the fact that they knew the one true God, they have failed to show the love, honor, and appreciation due to the One who created them!  Instead, their lives are consumed by vain thoughts that poison (darken) their foolish hearts."  Romans 1:21 The Voice