One Halloween when Eric about two, he had to have his tonsils removed. The hospital staff delighted in calling him, "Casper" and for months thereafter the poor child thought that was his name. It seems like at least a hundred years later, I owned a lovely Spanish home on 5 acres when I lived in Wickenburg, Arizona. There were rather imposing gates to the property upon which I installed a sign that read "Casa de la Fantasma". Translated this literally means, House of the Ghost or (drumroll).... The Haunted House.

 

As I've grown older I've realized what a pagan holiday Halloween really is. Actually I've done extensive research on ghosts (not my relatives, but the spooky variety). I was shocked to find that there are no such things. They are actually "familiar spirits" who impersonate people who have died! They're described as "familiar" because they are demonic spirits who, of course, have known every aspect of that person's life and personality from birth to death. The Bible even cautions against spiritualism and says it's an "abomination to God" in Deuteronomy 18: 10-12. Let me recommend the book, "The Challenging Counterfeit" by Raphael Gasson, a former spiritualist medium who held seances. It's available at Amazon.com.

 

For this reason I prefer to think of "Ghost" more in terms of "Holy Ghost". But I still like to say upon meeting people, "You can forget my first name, but not my last or it'll come back to haunt you."

 

Have a safe one and watch out for the little trick or treaters

from a real, live Ghost!