ALL SAINT'S EVE

Today is Halloween. When I was a child it was one of my absolutely most favorite days. I loved dressing up. Loved getting to go door-to-door to collect the generously given treats. Loved bobbing for apples, pulling taffy, eating caramels plain as well as on popcorn or apples. I loved the fun of it. The joy of it. All of it.

That feeling continued with our kids. It was pure fun - - until it suddenly wasn't. I don't remember the exact year - but someone put pieces of razor blades in the candies children collected in the neighboring town - and suddenly everything became suspect. The risk of having something injected through the wrappers also became an issue. The need for vigilant caution became apparent. We cautiously went only to houses of people we knew well, and even then, we inspected each piece of candy to be certain it hadn't been tampered with.

My first response to the new dangers was to offer a safe alternative: a carnival at church that kids could come to and have fun in a safe environment. A cake walk, musical chairs, walking a 'plank', (a narrow board suspended about 6 inches off the ground), along with several other games, including guessing games. Lots of treats, even dry ice in the punch for the effect. It was a safe alternative.

We billed it as an All Saint's Eve party and asked kids to dress up as their favorite Bible character. It was a ton of fun - and a great way to get kids from the community into the church for a peek: to find out we could have a lot of fun with appropriate balance. And, it felt a bit like we were taking the holiday back. After all, my limited understanding was that All Hallow's Eve, the night before All Saint's Day, was a night that they put lights in pumpkins to scare off evil spirits - - a little superstitious, certainly, but I just didn't analyze it or try to gather further information on the night's history.

Then came the death of Halloween for me: the ritual killing of a kidnapped horse in a nearby town by Satan-worshippers. That was soon followed by hearing of people who actually adopted children to use them for their occult worship practices. I was done. What had once been 'fun' was destroyed by the awareness that it was a night of unparalleled evil among those who worship the devil - and, right or wrong, I didn't want to be even remotely associated with it any longer.

In our former town, we'd get 100 trick-or-treaters in a night. Now, out in the woods, we don't get anyone but the grandkids. I didn't even buy candy this year, so it is easy to bow out.

Still, kids love to dress up and have fun sometime. So - - with that in mind, I still favor the idea of the safe church party, with a twist on the focus. I like the idea of celebrating All Saint's Eve!

The reminder brings several very special people to mind: people who deserve to be on my 'cloud of witnesses' list.

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In quite a different vein, something I read in Ezekiel 9 a couple of days ago keeps coming back to me. We know that during the tribulation, it is prophesied that people will have to take the number of the mark of the beast to be able to buy or sell. So - with that in mind, the words in Ezekiel 9 leap out at me - that prior to the destruction of Israel, God instructed 'the man clothed in linen' to go through the City of Jerusalem "and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it."

What strikes me about that is the reality that Satan has a substitute for everything God does. God used His mark to protect. Satan's mark (of the beast) will be alleged to protect - - but it will become people's seal of eternal death, doom and destruction.

What a contrast!