GHOSTS, GOBLINS AND GHOULS

For the past few weeks, we have all seen Halloween decorations in stores and perhaps recipes for “witches brew” and various scary looking cookies and treats in magazines. Our neighborhoods have taken on a more macabre appearance as yards are decorated with spider webs, tombstones and zombies. Schools, and even some churches, have hosted Halloween parties. Many work places have gotten into the swing of things as employees are encouraged to wear costumes.

This will all culminate on the evening of Friday, October 31 as young children make their way through their neighborhoods dressed in costume and asking for treats. It seems like innocent fun, but is it?

What does this custom teach our youth? That the “dark side” is enticing, exciting and something to take an interest in? What is really behind the mask of Halloween? Perhaps you would like to read the article “Halloween: Behind the Mask”.

More and more we see movies (Scary Movie, The Exorcist, A Nightmare on Elm Street), books (The Shining, Amityville Horror, The Ruins and Stephen King books) and television shows (American Horror Story, The Walking Dead, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil)  talking about demons, spirits, werewolves and  shape-shifting phenomena. As a result, there seems to be an ever-increasing trend to believing that ghosts are real. The Bible, in  Ecclesiastes:9:5For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten., tells that the dead know nothing. Thus, they do not live on as ghosts or phantoms. However, the Bible also reveals that there is a Devil and that he and his demons are actively working to deceive and to mislead human beings.

There are powers that want us to believe that dabbling with the occult is perfectly harmless. Now would be a good time to review our booklet Is There Really a Devil?  You may also want to watch the Beyond Today television program entitled “Are Demons Real?”

Anthony Wasilkoff