Halloween is just around the corner. It brings back memories of “trick or treat,” of coats turned inside out, of flour-filled stockings used with gusto to whiten the hair of whom ever felt their squishy impact. Eventually boyish days gave way to adulthood, and education brought with it knowledge of the deeper significance of the season made memorable by the imperishable names of Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Zwingli.
Three and a half centuries after its inception the Reformation falters in our time, and once again amid worldwide convulsions men and nations stand in need of what it brought—the good news that men are justified by faith in Jesus Christ. For multiplied millions the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and they are not saved (Jer. 8:20). In this issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY we are reminded that the Reformation was an evangelistic movement that brought thousands to Christ and led ultimately to the great nineteenth-century missionary outreach and the founding of Christian churches in almost every land.
The biggest “treat” we can give to those who ring our doorbells is not candy or money but the knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world. Halloween may bring hungrier people to us than we ever dreamed possible.
