BOO! It is Halloween again. I am going to jump into the midst of the great pumpkin controversy and prove what many have suspected . . . that I am just one of those flaming liberals. Halloween has been sparked with controversy and lawsuits. Keep the ghosts out of the schools and for goodness sake do not allow anyone to be seen dressed up as a witch, not even a good witch. Somehow great and lasting damage will be done to the psyche of the little ones as we send mixed messages of good and evil.

I am reminded of the family that had taken in the husband's reprobate brother. One day when the head of the house came home, he was met at the door by his irate spouse telling him that his brother had to do. "I won't have him in this house one more day," she said. "You should have more respect for the children than to have him around with his evil ways."

"What has he done?" the poor fellow asked, expecting some horrible tale of degradation and evil behavior.

"What has he done?!!" exclaimed the wife. "He goes around the house all day whistling dirty songs!"

Like the dirty songs, the evils of Halloween, I suggest, are largely in the mind of the beholder. Most of us grew up with Halloween and trick or treat. It has always been a fun time of the year. Some of my most precious memories of my time as pastor of Martindale Baptist Church were our Halloween parties. For example, there was the time Clay Purswell came dressed as a basketball goal, Paula was a ball player, and Katie Beth was the cutest basketball you ever saw. I did not get nor do I believe I have ever given mixed messages. Evil is evil, but I believe that fun becomes evil when, in our mind, we make it so. To go to court to kill the fun of Halloween is giving the devil too much due. I had much rather make fun of him than to dignify him with some righteous protest that turns clean fun into a satanic ritual. Please do not get me wrong. I believe that Satan is real. I believe that witchcraft and satanism are to be abhorred as an abomination before the Lord, but I do not believe that the traditional Halloween observance in this country is either witchcraft or satanism nor does it send that message until self-righteousness makes it so.

We won, folks! The devil is defeated! When Jesus said on Calvary, "It is finished," Satan was defeated unconditionally. We who know Jesus as Savior have no need to fear Satan, and to make fun of him is a very appropriate thing to do. So, I believe Halloween should be approached in the same manner--not as a time to worship Satan but to rebuke him through our ridicule. Rebuke him, the scriptures say, and he will flee from you.

I read about a church once that was so fearful of Satan's encroachment that they spent more time in their worship services praying him away than they did praising the Almighty God. One would have to ask who was really being worshipped. Parents, do your job of teaching your children about God's love and His victory over Satan. The world is full of mixed messages; we can never keep our children from exposure to them. We can give them the right attitudes and values and understandings to keep them safe from harm. Fear, the scriptures say, is of Satan. Let's not fall into the trap of playing into Satan's hands by dignifying him instead of using even Halloween to teach Christian values.