I love this time of year. The colors are changing, there is a crispness in the air and there is just a sense of change. It is also the season of caramel apples, hayrides, bonfires and haunted houses - Halloween.
I used to look forward to Halloween years ago, before I found Christ. It was a time to whip out my make-up and woochies (latex prosthetics) and see how gruesome and demonic I can make myself. To give you an idea of my life before Christ some of the things I dressed up as was - Reagen from the Exorcist and Matt dressed up as the priest, another year I wore a noose with a carved in "x" on my forehead with a shirt that read "God's busy, can I help you?" with a picture of the devil, one year Matt went as the devil....well, you get the idea.
Then as Halloween approached the year I got saved, I was conflicted. It always meant something evil for me. I had dabbled in black magick and yes, they do hold 'all hallows eve' in high regards like Christians do with Christmas. However, I thought we are given such a tool to minister because this is the only time of the year that the world comes to us!
So the year we were saved, a local church hosted "Final Exit". It was a 'haunted house' that took you through the life of a teenager starting with her death and how she ended up in the casket. It showed how Satan and demonic forces had their hands in every aspect of her life. It was so phenomenal we went numerous times and they finally said we didn't have to pay the $8 admission any more - "Just keep bringing people", they said. We wanted everyone to experience this. Then at the end you witnessed hell, Jesus crucified then people are there praying for you. It is a scare the 'hell out of you' experience, literally.
So I began to think how Halloween can be an asset to the Christian community.
A lot of Christians frown on this day. They say it is 'the devil's day' or that it is evil. While Halloween does originate from pagan and Celtic cultures (as does Christmas and Easter, but no one frowns on the warm fuzzies those give us), it has never been a 'devil's day'. It isn't like Satan is sitting back and waiting for October 31st to unleash his wrath on humanity - he has done that since the Garden of Eden. So as the Christian community we want to shut our lights off and pretend to not be home as people come to our doors looking for a goody treat. They come to....OUR DOOR. Do you see the opportunity we have to minister?
In Psalms it says "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." It doesn't say yesterday, tomorrow, Easter, Christmas, Halloween....it says THIS is the day.....we should wake up and say THIS is the day, everyday! Why do we want to give the devil more than he deserves? Why do we just hand over a day and say "here ya go, it's your day."? The devil doesn't own ANY days......they are all a gift from God.
The Bible says we are to be the light to a dark world. So then why do we shut off our lights and cower in our homes afraid someone is going to ring our doorbell expecting candy? Why aren't we turning on all our lights, getting the best candy, printing out some tracts about our church and our God and sitting on our steps with a smile and a hand-out? Why aren't we being a light on a day that the world has perverted??? Why are we hiding when the world needs us the most?
Our church has been doing our annual "Fear Factory and Maze of Darkness" this week. Wednesday was youth night and we had well over 100 youths and adults go through our production in a 3 hour time frame. We had 45 salvations. Did you hear me....45 new souls are going to celebrate heaven with us. Yesterday we had 26 salvations and we anticipate even more tonight and tomorrow.
There have been some controversy about what we do. They say we are celebrating an evil holiday and we are running a haunted house. Yet, those people are the ones that won't even come check it out before making their assumptions. Ours is NOT a haunted house. Will you get scared? Oh most definitely. First you enter an over 1200 square foot maze that is complete darkness - representing your life without Christ, walking in darkness. Then you enter our Fear Factory where you are submerged into an interactive experience of a post-rapture world. In other words, you get to witness our interpretation of a world after Christ has come and raptured his church. Everything is taken directly from scripture and we even give educational material showing where it can be found. We are ministering to a world in a way they relate to. It is Halloween...they want to be scared. We scare them, however we do it in a way that shakes them up and makes them think about their relationship with Jesus Christ. Is it radical? Perhaps. Although, some of us need a radical shake-up to realize that we need Christ. I know I did.
Do I judge or condemn those that choose to not participate in Halloween activities? Absolutely not. However, do not judge me because I do.
Two nights left -tonight and tomorrow. First Assembly of God, Rensselaer Indiana, $6 to go through both (this is not a fundraising event! all proceeds go into next year's production!). Let us scare the hell right out of you - literally.
And you, my blog readers, get a sneak peak of one of our first pictures from the inside of Fear Factory! Yes, it is me because it is my blog after all. haha! Let's just say many come into the Fear Factory laughing and joking to mask their nervousness but when they get to where our station is - there is no more laughter, only fear.
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4
