YEA Lesson Library

Objectives

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

1. State that Halloween is an evil celebration, even if someone doesn't do bad on that night.

2. State that celebrating Halloween does not please God.

3. Retell the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and apply it to Halloween.

Topics & Themes

Evil
God’s Protection
Halloween
Holidays, Halloween
Light
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
Sharing the Gospel

Materials Needed

Bible, YEA Students' and Teacher's books, attendance and memory verse charts, stars, songbook, CD and player, large index cards, copies of full armor of God and paper people (see pattern page), fresh fruit, white and black construction paper, small reading lamp, crayons, puppet

Preparation

Children love to play dress-up and they love candy. Something in human nature is repelled and attracted to evil, ugly, and danger. This combination makes Halloween attractive to children. But, when they understand that it is an evil celebration, they are willing to let it go. Primaries are very black and white. If it is bad, it's all bad, and they don't want anything to do with it. But it is a good idea to give them a substitute. They shouldn't want to dress up and emulate anything or anyone but God (see Activity).

Most children will be as happy with fresh fruit as with candy. Bring fresh, cut-up fruit for them to eat. Make copies of the full armor of God and a paper person for each student. Dexterity for cutting is not fully developed, so cut out the pieces of armor for them to glue on the person. Write each of the items from the Students’ Activity on an index card. Using a puppet in the lesson can focus students' attention. Think through the lesson using the puppet a few times.

How to Teach This Lesson

After opening with prayer, teach the lesson.

Puppet: (Lay a blank piece of black construction paper in front of the children, then a white piece. Grunt and make straining noises.) What do these colors make you think of, children?

Teacher: If your room was black, would you want to go in it?

Puppet: No way, no way! That would be so scary!

Teacher: What makes it scary?

Puppet: I don't know what's in there! There could be a lion under my bed.

Teacher: I don't think so. Our imaginations can make us think so. So we turn on the light.

Puppet: (turn on the small reading lamp) Oh! That's much better.

Teacher: Halloween is a celebration at night, when darkness covers bad things people do. Do all people do bad things on Halloween? (Wait for answers.) Even though some don't do bad things, why isn't this celebration okay for Christians?

Puppet: (Hang head and act as if the puppet is repeating a much-heard lecture.) Because kids get all this candy that is bad for the teeth, and I don’t want to take another trip to the dentist.

Teacher: Candy can be a problem, but that’s not the main problem with Halloween.

Puppet: (Pull out some candy.) Oh boy! Help me out. What's the problem with Halloween?

Teacher: It points us to bad things and it's all about self, not about God. It's dressing up as something you're not. Many times God told His people not to include pagan ways in worship of Him.

Puppet: That reminds me of three young men in Babylon. Let's see, their names were Richard, Michael, and Andrew, I think. (Let students correct the puppet; if not, the teacher should.)

Teacher: What did these men do when asked to do things that wouldn't please God?

Puppet: They hid in their rooms. They turned off the light (turn off the small reading lamp) and said no one was home when anyone knocked on the door. (Hide the puppet's head.)

Teacher: Not exactly. Do you know, children? (Wait for answers.) They told King Nebuchadnezzer they wouldn't bow down to his idol and God could save them. But even if God didn't, they still wouldn't do the wrong thing. We do not want to be involved in something that doesn't have anything to do with God.

Dealing with good and bad: Using index cards (see Preparation) ask students whether it’s good or bad. If it's good, tape it up for everyone to see. If it's bad, tear it into pieces and put it in the trash can. Have the puppet make a big deal out throwing some away. Tell students their actions will be seen, just as they see the cards that you tape up. Inappropriate actions should be thrown away.

Review Questions

1. Why don't we celebrate Halloween?

2. Does Halloween please God? Why or why not?

3. What happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they wouldn't worship the idol?

4. What did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say to the king about worshiping the idol?

5. What can we say to people who want to know why we are not celebrating Halloween?

Teacher-Directed Activity

Rather than dressing up as something dark, evil, silly, or cute, Romans 13:14 tells us to clothe ourselves with Jesus. Give each student a paper person to glue the full armor of God in place and then color it.

Pattern Page

NEED!!!

REACH Activity

1. Do a sword drill with the daily devotionals. Depending on how many children you are involved, you can either have them compete against each other to see who can get to the scripture first or you can have a child time himself (or herself) and try to better his time each successive scripture.

2. Sing: In Kids Classics Collection, “O Be Careful Little Eyes” on page 39, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” on page 23, and “Wonderful Words of Life” on page 78;
In the CEM Hymnal, “Be Thou My Vision” on page 120, “Give of Your Best to the Master” on page 147, “Shine, Jesus, Shine” on page 154;
In The Group Songbook, “Shut De Do” on page 72, “Be Not Afraid” on page 86, and “Give Me Oil in My Lamp” on page 59.

3. Song Application. Choose one of the songs from REACH Activity #2. How does it relate to the non-observance of Halloween? One way you can depict this is to divide a piece of notebook paper vertically in the middle. One the left side, write the song lyrics. On the right side, make notes about how it applies to not keeping Halloween. Include scripture references, if applicable.

4. Continue the story. After reading your lesson, write part two of the story. Who does Kyle meet at school? What does he tell them about Halloween? What does he say when he doesn’t stay for the Halloween party? How does he explain why he isn’t dressing up in a costume? Write out the story. Include dialogue.

5. Planting seeds. You never know when what you say or what you do can be used by God. Talk with people at church. There’s likely someone who said or did something which was the spark to get someone else thinking about God and wanting to have a relationship with Him. Listen to their story. Then write about it in your Bible notebook.

6. Planting Seeds, Part 2. Imagine that 10 years down the road, Kyle (from the lesson) meets his friend (REACH activity #4). His friend is now not celebrating Halloween and is, instead, keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. Write the dialogue.

7. Role Play. Ask your parents and family members to help you practice what to say if someone asks you why you don’t celebrate Halloween. Sometimes just thinking through what you might say can help you be prepared. But don’t be overly concerned about it; God will give you the words to say at the right time. (Mark 13:11) If God doesn’t give you the words to speak, maybe it’s not the right time to plant those seeds. Regardless, you resolve to do what’s right.

8. Activity Discussion. Read the list of actions on the activity page of your lesson. Talk about with your family why God likes some of them and why God doesn’t like the others. Try to find scriptures to support your belief. Is it always wrong to dress up like an animal? Is it always wrong to play tricks on people? Is it always wrong to play a mean joke on your brother? Talk about each one of the items on the list. Then write your thoughts about this activity in your Bible notebook.

9. He Understands Essay. Sometimes people will excuse their celebration of Halloween, saying that God knows their heart. In other words, they are telling you that they don’t want to obey God, but God knows that they are basically a good person and so He won’t be upset about their disobedience. Is that the way it works? Let’s consider it in human terms: If your mom and dad tell you not to do something. They don’t like that particular action and it doesn’t honor them. But you decide to do it anyway. What will their response be? Will they accept your statement that they should know your heart and give you a pass on your disobedience? If they apply a consequence to your disobedience, why would you ever obey them? Our God is a God of justice. There is a penalty that is required for sin - the transgression of His law. When God says not to do something, that’s a law or commandment. If you decide to disobey, you are going to suffer consequences. After you have thought about this subject, write your thoughts in an essay to share with your family.

10. Pros and Cons. Make a list of all the reasons why you should celebrate Halloween and then list all the reasons why you shouldn’t celebrate Halloween. Which list is longer? Could you think of any good reasons to celebrate Halloween. Make a poster. Title it “Pros and Cons of Celebrating Halloween.” Under Cons, list all of the reasons why we don’t celebrate Halloween. Under Pros, leave it completely blank. This will be a powerful poster! Display at church.

11. Slogans. Brainstorm with you family some catchy slogans that you could turn into bumper stickers. Your theme is the non-observance of Halloween. Here are a couple of examples:
*Trick or Treating for Halloween? No, not me. I’m too busy worshiping God.
*Think your haunted house is scary? Try falling into the hands of the Living God.
*My costume for Halloween? The same one I put on every day: the full armor of God.

12. Bumper Stickers. Take the slogans you created in REACH #11 and put each one on a 2 x 8 inch piece of paper in your neatest handwriting. Add color. Ask your Sabbath school teacher if you can put them up on the walls in your classroom for the two weeks leading up to Halloween.

13. Role Models. Who do you know that you would most like to be like? Why do you want to be like that person? Write down your answers to these questions. Then come back for the next set.
Sometimes people dress up like historical figures - George Washington or Thomas Edison. Perhaps it’s for a play or to accent a school report. Is there anything wrong with dressing up as another person? Would it be bad to dress up as another person on Halloween? Why or why not? Is it about dressing up as someone else or is it really about celebrating Halloween with all of its pagan customs and traditions?
When you dress up as a witch or baseball player or PBJ sandwich, you are putting on some of the characteristics of that character. What is it that you really want to be like? Do you want to be like a witch? Is that what you want to tell everyone your goal in life is? Or do you want to be like Jesus? Putting on the full armor of God is something we should be doing every day? Why would we want to mess around with anything else?
Write about this in your Bible notebook.

14. Not For Me. In your Bible notebook, answer the question: Why is Halloween not for me?

Song

"Dare to Be a Daniel" is on page 9 of Kids Classics Collection.

Closing Prayer

Lead the students in prayer thanking God for the examples of the three Hebrew children, for giving us the holy days, and for godly wisdom that shows us when to participate and when not to. Also ask for protection from people who would harm us because we love God.