HALLOWEEN

Halloween. It’s celebrated every October 31st. We all have our opinions of the so called holiday. For me, growing up in New Jersey then moving to New York, I looked forward to it. I had so many great costumes. A clown, a football player, a television! In New Jersey it was a nightly event. My brother and sister and I went house to house on North Hillside Avenue in Chatham, NJ receiving tons of candy. (We never did like that old man who gave out scooter pies!) In New Jersey, the night before Halloween was called "Mischief Night" when "those teenagers" would put toilet papers in trees, spray shaving cream all over the place and try to cause "innocent havoc" so to speak. Halloween was fun as a kid. When my family moved to Long Island when I was 9, it had a different feel. I remember asking my fellow 4th graders if they went trick or treating at night. They all had the look of horror. "Are you crazy Harff? Do you want to die? You will have eggs thrown at you!!" they said. Sure enough even going out in the afternoon after school I did have a kid chase me down the block trying to throw an egg at me. Ahh, the memories of growing up in Smithtown, NY. Instead of enjoying that day, it always confused me why kids had to be destructive. I remember when a kid in Jr. High told me that he and his brother would go out on Halloween and knock down mailboxes with a pole. That’s supposed to be fun?

I would have to say during High school and college I didn’t think much about October 31st. I know one year in Bible College we all did get dressed up in costume and even some jobs I have had for fun we wore costumes. This year at Chick Fil-A I dressed up as Ed Norton from the Honeymooners! In 1988, a group of ladies in my church asked me if I would help them plan an alternative to Halloween. We called it the Praise Fest. It ran for two years and involved food, crafts, candy and I was asked to put on a puppet show. I don’t remember if kids wore costumes or not but I remember one particular lady telling us how evil Halloween was and how she would let her kids even go to school that day. She even said she always prays for a rain downpour every year. I was always oblivious to the history behind Halloween until I watched a video about the history of it. It was created as a Satanic Holy day and I will not get into specifics because it is very disturbing. Even a simple thing like a Jack O Lantern has an evil meaning. I am amazed how many people decorate for this holiday. Tombstones are on front lawns next to dragons, ghosts, vampires, bats and orange and black lights all over.

When I was hired at Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle in 1991, one of my goals was to offer to our community an alternative to Halloween. A year later in 1992, the Fall Fun Fest was born. That year it was on a Saturday and crazy me had it planned from 12 noon to 6pm! We had carnival games, food, face painting, spin art, free candy for kids, a bible character costume contest, a program in the Auditorium we called "Walk Thru the Bible (it turned out to be a disaster) and we gave out door prizes. Admission was 2 cans of non perishable food for the needy. I did however get some opposition not from the townspeople but some church people. They were upset we were even recognizing the day, that we even called it a carnival and felt we should just ignore that day altogether. I will never forget when some big guy walked into our Fun Fest wearing a real pumpkin on his head with a black cape. People raced over to me telling me we should ask him to leave. I said "No way. He and his family are exactly who we want here and they are welcome." Our Fall Fun Fest was held every year from 1992 to 2011 from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 pm. The vision I had for it was to be not only an alternative to Halloween but a very safe place where parents can bring their kids. At the end of the night we would assemble either in the auditorium or the sanctuary and present a gospel program either by myself or a special guest. I felt not only was this event very important, what was more important was it needed to have the gospel presented to children and parents in a creative way without a doubt. One year we did a Puppet Musical! It was a tremendous success.

So what is my opinion of Halloween? I am not opposed to kids wearing costumes and truthfully see no harm in Trick or Treating. I will say it is definitely a very evil holiday and is a great opportunity to educate your children about it. Truthfully, my children have never gone Trick or Treating simply because they we always at church on that day! I will say as a Christian man and as a pastor I do sense a lot of evil during the month of October especially here on Long Island. I know there are Satanic Churches in Stony Brook, NY and I can remember one time at my church we knew that a couple sat in our balcony who were witches praying against what the church was doing for the Lord. I truthfully look forward to November 1st and love it when the Halloween decorations come down. But I do see a great opportunity for Christians to be a "Light in the darkness" on a very dark day. Instead of boycotting the day, use it to share the Good News with parents and their kids! I know one children’s pastor in Pennsylvania who does a mini carnival on his front lawn every year! He is truly spreading God’s love to his neighborhood.

Be safe everyone and hopefully no one will chase you down the block with an egg