The answer is not quite that simple.
“I have the right to do anything,” you say — but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” — but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. (1 Cor. 10:23-24 NIV)
Halloween is right around the corner.
I used to love this time of year — back in the days when I was into dark, gritty, moody things like the game Silent Hill, ultra-violent action movies like Kill Bill, and most things Tim Burton.
The Nightmare Before Christmas was one of my all-time faves. I watched this animated film dozens of times. Memorized the dialogue. Collected memorabilia. Sang along to its soundtrack.
Then one day, when I started to pay attention to the lyrics, the following line, sung by the main character, gave me pause:
“I’m a master of fright and a demon of light, and I’ll scare you right out of your pants.”
What? Did he say, “Demon of light?”
In 2 Corinthians 11:14, we see that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
What does it mean that the main character of this story — the protagonist, the “hero,” whom the audience sympathizes with — outright professes to be a “demon of light?”
Yes, I know it’s just a movie and that Jack Skellington is nothing more than an animated puppet.
Or is he?
Jack Skellington, with his big, expressive eye sockets, is a cute, sympathetic Disney character who is a self-professed “demon of light” trying to take over Christmas.
Christmas. The day we celebrate the first coming of Jesus Christ.
To quote Jack Skellington: “What does it mean? What does it mean?”
1. Not everything is good for you
When I was pastor of prayer ministries, I would often be asked if it’s all right for Christians to participate in Halloween — or listen to certain types of music, watch certain movies, read certain books, play certain games, etc.
I didn’t always answer with a simple “yes” or “no.”
There’s freedom in Christ and everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial (1 Cor. 6:12).
It’s not necessarily a sin to enjoy certain songs, movies, books, games, etc., but they might not always be the best thing for you.
It’s like eating the novelty food that you often find at county fairs — deep-fried Twinkies, fried chicken sandwiched between two halves of a Krispy Kreme donut, even deep-fried sticks of butter. Though it might not be against the law to eat any of these things, they’re not very nutritious, and while having an occasional bite might be harmless fun, consuming too much could be detrimental in the long run.
Before getting married, I spent a lot of my time playing video games. They used to be fairly innocuous, like Super Mario or Donkey Kong, but one day, I bought a Star Wars game in which you could join the dark side of the force by doing things like killing innocent bystanders.
I was deeply disturbed the first time I struck down an unarmed bystander with a lightsaber, but before I knew it, I was into games like Grand Theft Auto, gleefully performing armed robbery, stealing cars, and beating random people to death with a baseball bat.
This was shocking at first, but after playing it for a while, the shock wore off and these heinous acts simply became objectives to complete in the course of the game.
I had become desensitized.
2. Desensitization is the real problem
Desensitization serves the enemy’s purposes, as it dulls the sharpness of discernment needed to test the spirits (1 John 4: 1-6).
Jesus warned that there would be false prophets who perform signs and wonders in order to deceive even the elect (Matt. 24:24). This will be done by the work of Satan, who “will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing“ (2 Thess. 2:9-10).
Keeping our discernment sharp helps guard us against deception.
It’s easy to grow numb to the forces around us. Our lives are so saturated in media these days, especially with smart phones delivering it all right into the palms of our hands, that we might not even notice some of the images, words, and themes that waft through our eyes, ears, and minds throughout the day.
When we no longer recognize the subtle influence of the enemy, we aren’t as vigilant in guarding ourselves against it.
1 Kings 11:4 says that “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.”
Solomon, the wisest man who ever was (1 Kings 3), didn’t make a sudden decision to turn away from God and begin to worship other gods: it was a gradual process. One pagan wife after another influenced him over time and opened him up to their own spiritual practices, nudging him further and further away from God.
So does this mean I’ve banned games, movies, and Halloween costumes from my home?
Not quite.
We can’t avoid everything “bad” and live in a bubble. We were born into a fallen world and it’s impossible this side of eternity to completely avoid the consequences of sin and the work of the devil.
Besides, Jesus says that it’s not external factors that defile us, but rather the evil thoughts of our own hearts (Matt. 15:17-20).
3. What’s important: guard your heart
When I was into dark movies and games, the on-screen horror gave me a perverse sense of joy deep in the darkness of my own heart. That’s why I got rid of those movies and games when I chose to follow Jesus.
No one told me to give them up. It was the Holy Spirit in me that made me no longer find satisfaction in those things.
Delighting in this stuff was bad for my heart. Like eating deep-fried butter.
I gave up a lot of things I used to enjoy, yet, I haven‘t completely isolated myself or my family from the culture around us.
My kids will dress up this Halloween, although not as anything ghoulish, bloody, or demonic. No zombies — the living dead are a mockery of The Resurrection. We will not decorate the house with anything like skulls, ghosts, or anything else that celebrates death — the wages of sin that Jesus came to conquer.
I won’t stop my kids from playing Fortnite, although I do remind them that the premise of this game is to kill or be killed by your peers, and while I won’t watch The Nightmare Before Christmas anymore, I will still watch some Tim Burton movies like Edward Scissorhands — a character that resonates with me, being forced to fit in with everyone else but feeling like he never will.
I’ll save that for a future post. Until then, have a happy harvest festival weekend.
Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.(Proverbs 4: 23–27 NIV)
