One of my preaching buddies just stepped in to give me tomorrow off from preaching. Thank God for the community of fellow servants where I labor. I can get some rest and hope this throat calms down.

I am simply too tired to answer the challenge that Tom laid down this morning. I’ll say something about Mike Warnke, however. Though people like Walter Martin and others were anti-Halloween before Warnke, it was Warnke’s tape “A Christian perspective on Halloween” that went through evangelical subculture like fire on dry leaves. He popularized the anti-Halloween stance and brought it to corners of evangelicalism that would never have considered it otherwise. Warnke’s crediblity with his lying autobiography, The Satan Seller, made him a person evangelicals listened to and believed. This wasn’t a fuddy duddy. It was the coolest, funniest guy in evangelicalism. As the book Selling Satan reveals, Warnke used this reputation to raise millions for a home for children abused by Satanists…..a home that didn’t exist. But the damage was done. Tens of thousands of evangelicals took Warnke’s cue, and began reading with open minds the anti-halloween material that was now multiplying everywhere. Occult specialists arose in evangelicalism, warning evangelicals about not only Halloween, but rock music, back masking, Satan worship in their communities, etc. A person like Bob Larson spread this sensationalist message with no regard for truth or authenticity. Hundreds of clones appeared, and here we are. Unable to distinquish between trick or treat and Satanic worship.

No…no one became a serial killer. They did become Marilyn Manson and a lot of other dark-side obsessed former Christian kids who were manipulated by the apostles of scare tactic evangelism. Combined with the end times obsession of the 70’s, this potent mix dominated the mindset of a whole generation of “Jesus People.” It was “Apocalypse Now” in every youth group and at every concert. Today, millions of disillusioned Christians and millions of wasted missions dollars later, we are still stuck in Warnke’s lies.