Halloween? This holiday in current society is nothing more than celebrating and encouraging children to dabble in the occult. What may seem innocent is truly evil. If you really think about it, what worship is given on this day? What types of movies and shows are all geared to Halloween? What good can come out of the world when celebrating such an evil holiday as it stands today? As Christians how can we teach our kids what is important. How do we protect our future generation from being intrigued with such wicked behavior? Our God warns us about these things. You can try and push it off as harmless no one will be harmed by a little haunted hay ride, haunted house, séance, playing with a Ouija board, tarot cards etc. There is absolutely nothing good from any of this. God tells us in scripture about this:

Leviticus 19:31 Stay away from mediums and familiar spirits.

Leviticus 20:6 God will separate himself from those who go after mediums and familiar spirits.

1 Chronicles 10:13 One reason King Saul died was because he asked a medium for help.

1^st Samuel 15:23 Witchcraft is a sin like rebellion

2^nd Chronicles 33:6 King Manasseh angered God by practicing witchcraft, sorcery, using mediums etc.

I strongly caution that anyone intrigued by death, spirits, vampires, witchcraft, haunted stories etc. to stay away! It is just like the evil one to be subtle in his approach. Be on guard and don’t be a tool for the wicked.

How can we use this holiday to bring glory to Christ? I was given a story to use when carving a pumpkin and how you can relate this story to being a Christian. I don’t know who came up with this but I thought it was a great opportunity to share.

How a Pumpkin is like a Christian

1. Take a pumpkin. “You are not a pumpkin, but all of us are something like one. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off you that you may have gotten from the other pumpkins.” Talk about how a pumpkin is like us: it has an outside and an inside. The outside is what people see. The inside is like our soul or our heart. A pumpkin left to itself will soon rot and die. We all will die someday too.
2. Carve out eyes and a small “o” shaped mouth. As you make the holes and pull out the pieces of rind, ask people what they see inside (yucky stuff). This is what we look like to others and what we are like when are hearts are not changed. The hearts of men are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live (Ecclesiastes 9:3). How can we get rid of this yucky stuff?
3. God is the only one who can change our heart. But in order for God to change our heart we must become open to him. Carve an opening in the top of the pumpkin big enough to put your hand thru. You might want to quote Revelation 3:20: Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
4. Put in your hand and pull out the insides. God scoops out all the yucky stuff inside of us. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, impurity, and greed. Talk about the cross and how Jesus was willing to become messy for us, so that we might be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:25b-27).
5. But if we leave a pumpkin with just the insides taken out, then it’s just hollow. We need to have a light inside that will truly make us alive! Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Add a light to the inside of the pumpkin. When Jesus lives inside of you, you can glow! You will want to be kind and honest. You will want please God, to help others, and to tell other people about your Friend and Lord.
6. At this point you might want to carve the mouth into a smile! God carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for the entire world to see.