I passed seven or eight demons when I was driving home from the supermarket last night. And as I arrived home, I noticed that there were three or four witches hanging out in the children's playground in front of my house. I even saw an eleven month old vampire!!
All of this is a sad sign that Halloween has had a huge rise in popularity here in Spain over the past few years. People used to refer to this holiday as "Todos los Santos" (All Saints.) Now it's quite common to hear people speaking about the "Halloween holiday." It's quite disconcerting to see so many Spanish children dressed up as the devil or as zombies…. and I couldn't help wondering what would prompt a mother to dress her baby as a vampire. But the truth is that people simply don't know any better. They see Halloween being celebrated on Disney channel or in other TV programmes from America, and they join in the "fun" - not realising that there truly
is a spiritual dimension behind the "innocent" yet ugly exterior of Halloween.
It's yet another symptom of the fact that we live in a generation where many, especially here in Spain, have never been exposed to true and healthy spirituality, or to the spiritual truth that can be found in the Word of God. Many will never read the sort of stories that are found in this month's "Challenge 2013" Bible reading booklets - stories about children and teenagers in the Bible who experienced the true spiritual presence and power of the living God. The booklets can be downloaded from:
www.biblechallenge2013.blogspot.com
