Don't Fear the Dark: Part 5

When "Treats" Turns into Tricks

About 46% of Americans will dress up for Halloween and 20% will dress up their pets. 0% of pets will enjoy it. (There’s even a study: dogs hate costumes—check those eyes.)

A seven-year-old told his dad, “I want to be you for Halloween.”
“Aww. How will you dress?”
“Easy. I’ll just look tired all the time.”
And that kid earned the coal of Halloween: candy-corn cookies.

James 1:15 says desire conceives, then gives birth to sin, and sin—when full-grown—gives birth to death. Translation: sin shows up like a fun-size candy bar and leaves like a horror movie. It disguises itself.

Ask my son. He bought “naked” kale to be healthy (red flag already). Three bites later: allergic reaction—because it had cashews. EpiPen, ER, meds—he’s fine now. Lesson: sin is like kale. It promises to cleanse you…and then tries to kale you.

Here’s how to treat your “monster” (temptation/habit/fear):

1. Don’t ignore it. Hiding under a blanket only works if you’re five and the monster respects cotton.

2. Don’t feed it. The more yeses you give, the bigger it gets. Baby monster, medium monster, Godzilla.

3. Don’t fight it alone. “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Order matters: submit, then resist.

Halloween line: “Trick or treat.” Nobody expects a trick in the bag—ketchup packets, dentist coupons. But that’s sin’s playbook. It starts as a treat and ends as a trick.

So start at the source: your thoughts.
“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Your mind is the front door; Scripture is the bouncer.

Don’t fear the dark. Flip on the light. Name the monster, starve it, bring it to Jesus—and watch it shrink faster than a polyester costume in the dryer.