"Trick or Treat?"

At this time of year we recall Halloween celebrations of by-gone years. Like a party in the home of the Wilson sisters not far from us on Stroup Street in Danville, IL. Those were Depression days, so "masking" was simple, if at all, and "Trick or Treat" was not yet invented. But, moving to Wallace, IN, in the mid-thirties brought a new understanding of Halloween for my sisters and me. We had a few parties around, some at school or in church youth groups, with bobbing for apples, games, etc. It was the outside action that amazed us former city kids -- like overturning outhouses (sometimes with residents inside); "tick-tacking" houses with ingenious home-made devices; throwing shelled corn on porches after poor souls inside had gone to bed; and soaping windows on houses and cars (worse, using parafin which required razor blade to remove); or (for older ruffians) putting farmers' wagons on top of their barns! My father made a big mistake early on (and who can blame him?) by getting angry with the Halloweeners who heckled him yearly by driving around the street corner by our house in the wee hours with tires and passengers screaming. But the crowning "trick" was piling junk and trash, one time even a billygoat, in front of Dad's store -- almost a declaration of "war" because one corner of the store was also the town Post Office and as such under U.S. government protection! All in all, we kids came to hate the "celebration," but we always thought Dad somehow enjoyed the excitement! No one then, and very few now, seem to connect the religious origin of Halloween to All Saints and All Souls days in Europe, and so it is a time when the occult reigns with witches, goblins, etc. and, of course, "Trick or Treat" encouraged some years ago by UNESCO. God's Word warns us

to avoid "an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer (communicating with the dead)" (Deuteronomy 18:10,11); and that "in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils (demons)!" (I Timothy 4:1). In spite of tough times, we see folks paying big money for costumes, etc., and we wonder if it would make more sense (cents) to just bob for apples!