Can You Have A Happy Halloween?

I remember way back when I was a child, Halloween was one of my all-time favorite holidays. I didn’t know nor cared where Halloween came from or anything- I just liked the idea of knocking on doors, yelling really loud “TRICK- OR- TREAT” and get bags full of candy. See to me, that’s what Halloween was all about- trying to scare gullible kids, receive lots of candy and having fun!

But it was actually during Halloween when I decided what type of Christian I was going to be. Even though it took me years to become a Christian and even longer to be dedicated to the Faith, it was during some encounters that I’ve experienced while trick-or-treating one year that influences me to this day. So let me begin:

Now when we trick-or-treated, it was a huge community undertaking. See, adults would be out walking around randomly making sure that the teenagers wouldn’t be out snatching the bags of the little kids. The older kids (4th-6th Graders mostly) would trick-or-treat together in huge packs. I mean, we would be in packs of 12-15 kids at a time! Plus, we would grade the houses to see who had the best candy and what houses gave out either the worse or the least candy. Oh, and when we met up with other packs, we would give out and receive advice on where to go. I mean, trick-or-treating was a serious enterprise!

So we all went out on our trick-or-treating route and we saw a house that had no lights on, no sounds coming from the house and no trick-or-treating visitors. We were going to walk pass the house, but we noticed some movement coming from one of the windows and realized that people were actually in the house, but for some reason, they had turned off all their lights! In our minds, we thought that they were hoarding candy. Perhaps they had the best candy, but only the bravest and boldest would dare knock on the door!

So it was with that attitude that we decided to approach the house. We knocked loudly on the door. We heard folks whispering. This confirmed our suspicions that people were inside. We knocked harder and yelled “We know y’all are in there!” Trick-or-Treat! C’mon!!!

Then we saw a kid our age come to his window. And then the front door opened…

The child’s mother politely informed us that due to her religion, her family doesn’t participate in Halloween. But that didn’t compute! I mean- why would a loving God want to hinder children from getting candy?! Now if she said that she was a dentist or something, we would have understood. But to say that God didn’t want us to have candy didn’t make sense. We asked her what religion would actually prevent her from giving kids candy. I mean, we wanted to know this so we can stay clear away from that particular religion. She said that she was Jehovah’s Witness and we made the sincere promise to NEVER, EVER become a Jehovah’s Witness- right in front of her and her child… who looked like he really wanted to come outside and trick-or-treat with the rest of the kids!

So we kept trick-or-treating as usual and were having a good time. We did run into other families that didn’t participate because they were Christians and that Halloween didn’t mesh well with their beliefs. And that was that! Except for one family that changed my life:

See, we didn’t know much about this family except that everyone was super nice. Their kids were really smart and graduated from high school. The parents would leave for months at a time. They were Christian missionaries, even though we had no clue what that meant. All I knew was that they knew a great deal about Africa- which was weird because they were the only white family in the neighborhood!

So we went to their house for Halloween. And it was packed! See, they were having some really cool Halloween party that the entire neighborhood was invited to. They had soda and pizza. They all dressed up like angels. They had a Devil that we beat up with these sticks (which was really some guy in a padded suit!)

But what really was the big hit was the Halloween candy- They actually would give out whole candy bars! Not those bite-sized pieces: Real WHOLE Candy Bars! And more than one!!!

I’m telling you: it was the best Halloween ever! When we left their house, we all wanted to be THOSE kinds of Christians- not those Christians who were against giving kids candy because they were scared of witchcraft. (See, that’s what we thought back then.) We wanted to be cool Christians- the kind that gave out whole candy bars, fed everyone pizza and soda and let us beat up that Devil-dude. We all wanted to go to their church that Sunday and I was angry because I had to go to my own boring church. (BTW, I found out from my friends that the church the missionaries attended was boring too.)

Now fast-forward to 2005: I’m an adult and I have two of my own kids. And it’s Halloween. As a Christian and a minister, I have researched Halloween over and over again. I can tell you the histories of Halloween, trick-or-treating and everything. But my sons wanted to go trick-or-treating with their friends. And I let them. I even went out and got the best candy we could afford. And we handed out the best candy and Christian tracts to the kids and adults who knocked on my door. And they all had a great time!

But at the end of that evening, my sons wanted me to read the tract. And I did. They asked questions about it. I answered their questions to the best of my ability. Then they asked us to help them become Christians. And we prayed for them and they became Christians. And they were joyous and ate their candy.

So today is actually their 8th anniversary of becoming Christians and they celebrate every year eating candy and having fun. So Happy Halloween, everyone! And remember, there are souls knocking on your door- will you answer?

Mo Walker