Inappropriate Conversations

October 31st is an excellent example of how some Christians who use spiritual warfare to oppose Satan actually act as his allies.  Forces of evil need only suggest that Christians react to something and many of us Christians immediately over-react. Is Halloween evil, inherently? No more than Easter or Christmas, if you only regard roots in pagan ceremony. Do ancient Halloween rituals represent a flawed understanding of science and spirituality? Of course, as did many decisions by Christian leaders in the Middle Ages -- just from astronomy alone! Should we take an essentially harmless social ritual and up the devil's ante by "making it evil"?  OK, evil deeds are done on this day. Evil deeds are done on every other of the 364.25 days, too, and that evil does not involve kids in costumes collecting candy. Why deny them? Here is the point: will Satan shed a tear if we ban all storytelling or performance involving zombies, cannibalism, vampires, ghosts and spirits, or other tales of supernatural forces intervening in our world in ways that expose our human frailty?  Tears of joy, perhaps. Censorship has consequences.  If you know Satan is a schemer, then why fall into this trap?  It's one thing to speak truth into the mockery that the evil one attempts to make of the gospel.  It's either naive or sinister for so-called Christian leaders to pave the way for future laws or judicial rulings that absolutely ban sharing the gospel as "occult." After all, as a Christian I believe that a man has risen from death and walked among us, that rituals involving ceremonially eating his body are a means of experiencing God's grace, not to mention drinking his blood, that a symbolic simulation of drowning (coming out of the water) is a sign of inviting the Holy Spirit to live within our hearts and guide us, until Christ comes again in supernatural power called "glory" to assume control of this fallen world. These concepts -- zombies, cannibalism, vampire feedings, ghostly possessions, supernatural activity -- don't have to be scary if we share the good news boldly and properly.  The most evil thing about Halloween today may be conservative efforts to ban it.  You want to stand up to the devil's lies and mockery of our Lord? Just tell the story and let the truth set things right.