This coming Thursday marks 507 years since a German monk by the name of Martin Luther began what would come to be known as The Protestant Reformation. Having witnessed a great deal of abuse, corruption, and theological distortion within the Roman Catholic Church, Luther took his concerns and nailed his “95 Theses” the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31st, 1517.

As a side note – I told our church this past Sunday how thankful I am that we no longer do business this way in 2024 America. You should not take your complaints about the church and try to nail them to the front door of your church. “Someone sat in my seat this morning!” “Why is there no small group for cat-lovers in this church?” “Too many short, red-bearded pastors!”

But for many years now, I’ve found it quite interesting, even providential, that the celebration of Reformation Day falls on the same day as our cultural celebration of Halloween. Cards on the table, our family loves halloween. The Broadhursts debate and deliberate all year long on what we’re going to be each year, and my wife does an incredibly creative job on our costumes. (This year, we decided to go with a “circus” theme owing to the fact that our life does – in fact – feel like a circus most days!)

Now, many Christians in our world today oppose Halloween on account of how they view it as rooted in witchcraft, the occult, demons etc., claiming it hast roots in a Celtic pagan festival known as Samhain. If that were true, then perhaps Christian parents ought to shield their children from Halloween-associated practices. But it isn’t. (Here’s a great link to an article on the Christian roots of Halloween over at Reformation21.) Of course, many pagans DO try to utilize Halloween in such a way, and so if your children are tempted to practice animal sacrifice or occult rituals, or you find them drawing pentagrams on the bathroom floor – probably a good time to reel things in! Yet there’s some other things for us to consider in relation to this yearly event.

So, on the one hand you have Reformation Day – which gives us the opportunity to remember what are often called “The Five Solas of the Reformation” and on the other hand you have Halloween. The word ‘sola/solus/soli’ here, by the way, represents the Latin for “only” or “alone”. What makes us Protestant is our belief in Scripture Alone (Sola Scripture) as the authority of Christian faith and practice as well as how we are saved by Grace Alone (Sola Gratia) through Faith Alone (Sola Fide) in Christ Alone (Solus Christus) all for the Glory of God Alone (Soli Deo Gloria).

But what does all that have to do with Halloween? Well, Ephesians 2:1-2a says that apart from Christ “you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked…” So spiritually-speaking, we are walking dead zombies by our nature. Which is precisely WHY we can’t be saved by our works, but only by the grace of God. It’s also why even the faith we need to be saved is a gift from Him (see Ephesians 2:8-9). So as those who celebrate our victory over death in Jesus, I actually believe Halloween is the perfect time for Christians:

1) to be reminded of the reality of death, darkness, sin, and shame; AND

2) to freely dress up as, laugh at, and mock death, darkness, and demons because Christ has defeated and disarmed them all at the Cross. For he nailed the record of our sin debt to that Cross, while also putting all of our spiritual enemies to open shame (see Colossians 2:13-15).

In light of this reality, I would argue that we are the only ones that can truly scorn death and darkness in this way because of the power of the Gospel! You and I can join the Apostle Paul as he mockingly declares in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Of course, there’s no requirement to participate in the cultural celebration of Halloween. Your conscience is clean if you do or if you don’t. But what a great chance for those of us who have Gospel hope to be reminded of the spiritual warfare around us, and yet the strength and victory we have in Christ according to His Word. As the Reformer Martin Luther wrote in his classic hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.

This particular hymn of Luther’s gets sung in many Protestant churches all over the world this time of year in remembrance of Reformation Day, but how appropriate is it in light of some of the things that come to mind around Halloween as well. Singing “A Mighty Fortress” is powerful and inspiring for us in the midst of our fight against spiritual forces and the Accuser of the brethren – Satan himself. But I recently heard a story from one of our church members about this hymn that made it all the more meaningful to me.

We have an older brother in our congregation who who comes from a Dutch family who were involved in the resistance against the Nazis back in World War 2. His family were not soldiers; they were farmers. But they were involved in helping the British hide weapons for an upcoming invasion as well helping to hide Jewish refugees before eventually getting caught. And so, when this brother was only 6 months old, his father and uncle were lined up with a bunch of others who had resisted, and they were executed by the Germans.

Yet, as the Nazis were preparing to kill them all, apparently this group of men sang out in unison in the face of their death. And you know what the song was on their lips in that final moment?

Luther’s A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.

I have thought about that over and over again this past week, being brought to tears each time. Because I can think of no more vivid image of stalwart faith and mocking of death than these men singing the last verse of that hymn.

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;

The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still;

His kingdom is forever!

Brothers and sisters, for all of us who are in Christ, we have been “delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). And so the combination of Reformation Day and Halloween this October 31st can actually serve to remind us that whatever we may face in life, or in death, the victory is ours in Jesus.

So I don’t care if you put on a Halloween costume this year, but you absolutely must “put on the whole armor of God… that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11).