Allen Steadham's Blog: From Allen - Write Away!, page 3

What Halloween Means To Me (And Why I Don't Celebrate It)

I know that for most of its history, Halloween has been a popular "holiday-that’s-not-an-official-holiday." It is recognized for many reasons, not least of which is children (of all ages) dressing up as whatever they desire and associating a sense of fun with varying degrees of dark, horror and even macabre themes. Little of it is meant to be taken seriously. I remember it well, as I celebrated Halloween from childhood through my late teens.

Before I proceed, I want to make it clear that I have nothing against anyone who engages in Halloween festivities. That is an individual decision and it means different things to different people. Consider the rest of what I’ve written here food for thought.

I stopped participating in Halloween when I became a Christian in 1996. I know that some believers still do celebrate the occasion; that’s their choice. However, I did not change my mind about it just because of my faith. As time has passed, I’ve come to better comprehend what Halloween accomplishes: it gives people a reason to play with something that many of them either do not truly believe in or understand -- the Spirit World.

Imagery of and costumes evoking ghosts, goblins, vampires, werewolves and murdering ghouls (whether zombies or deranged psychopaths) are fair game for a day. Far from angels, these things actually represent demons. But since people see them as fictitious, they’re harmless, right? Isn’t it just make-believe?

And what about people who dress up as superheroes, other heroic characters or some cartoon character? Is it okay to dress up as a TV/movie character that has nothing to do with horror? Where’s the harm?

​If one is celebrating Halloween in any form, it is giving silent acceptance to all of Halloween, including the harmful and evil representations.

Presently, many people do not believe in spirits -- or anything they can’t identify with their five senses. That’s understandable from the society we live in. We are used to instant access to plenty of things we can experience through our mobile devices, computers or in-person.

But we all have faith. I’m not talking about religious or spiritual faith. I’m talking about believing in something. It could be family, friends, education, politics, science, entertainment, social justice or any number of other areas. One has to have faith to trust in anything. And we can’t see faith, we only experience it.

There’s literally a universe worth of things we don’t know, realize or understand yet. No matter how long we live, as individuals or as humanity itself, we will always be learning. We cannot see gravity but it’s what keeps us from floating away into the cosmos. With rare exceptions, we can’t see the wind; we can only see its effects.

All that said, I will state that we live in a dual universe: one physical and one spiritual - both inhabiting the same reality. We are alive both biologically and because we have living souls. When we are conceived, our bodies are biologically created and our souls enter in to occupy them. When we die, our bodies cease to function and our souls leave them.

Likewise, as we walk this Earth, we see people, animals, vegetation, land, water, sky and all things constructed. But occupying the same space are other things, spiritual in nature. There are angels and demons, incredible wonders and unspeakable terrors. Most of it is beyond our ability to comprehend. Still, it exists.

As a teen, I walked between both worlds in ignorance. It’s something I’m not ready to expound on, as such matters are not easily shared. Most would probably find it unbelievable. But it occurred. I’m grateful that the Lord Himself had mercy on me. He allowed me to break free of that ordeal. Someday, I will properly write or speak of it.

Today, I see Halloween as linked with all the darkness and wickedness I left behind. I truly believe that most people don’t see the fullness of what they’re associating with in Halloween. They think it’s harmless fun. I saw its true face and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

By 1996, the Lord led me down a path to Salvation. My own changed life is a witness to God’s power. As an adult, I have seen and experienced miracles.

​There is no comparison between the Dark and the Light. The Dark can seem attractive. It has things to offer and there’s a power behind it. But the Light has already conquered it. There is hope and peace in God’s perfect light through His Son, Jesus Christ.

No matter how you feel about the opinions I’ve expressed here, I thank you for reading this.

How I Got Started

I started writing at the age of ten. Back then, I created my own comics, almost entirely superhero-related. I grew up on DC and Marvel comics. I read Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and the Avengers. But when I found the Uncanny X-Men, I found a new muse. I related to the brooding Scott Summers (aka Cyclops - long before he became the unlikable dude he is today). I created my own original superhero team and forged stories around them, their powers, their foes, the battles with those foes. Then I developed their character and relationships. They even became a generational superhero team. I wrote and drew them for twenty years, they became like family in a way.

But my own life changed and my need for drawing superhero scenarios dwindled. I got married, got a "real" job, became a father and became a Christian.

My wife had always been my "editor" for my comics, I trusted her (and still do) implicitly. So I wanted to create a new comic with her, a Christian comic. We took our time and prayed over it and eventually, Due East was born. Due East was more of a slice-of-life comic. It was about a multiracial family with a mixed-race (Chinese and Caucasian) man who married and African-American woman and they had two daughters. But conflicts arose, they separated and divorced. Still, they stayed in touch regarding their children (the oldest daughter lived with the father who moved to Canada for his job and her sister lived with her mother in Texas) and their love re-kindled, prompting him to move back with plans to re-marry. The spiritual aspect of the comic involved the younger daughter's best friend, who was a Christian. The series debuted online as a webcomic in 2007 on The Duck Webcomics and won Best Spiritual Comic and Most Profound Comic at The Duck Webcomics Awards in 2008. Due East ran from 2007 to 2009.

By 2008, my wife and I got used to scripting Due East's pages before I drew them. This became instrumental in ironing out plot details and dialogue.

A few years after Due East ended, I started a new webcomic called Super Chibi Girl (SCG) about a mixed-race (Caucasian father and African-American mother) young woman who gets involved in an extraterrestrial civil conflict that breaks out on Earth. I scripted the pages of SCG the same as we did Due East. SCG ran from 2012 to 2014.

In November 2013, I challenged myself to participate in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) and write a 50000 word first draft for a book. I had a simple premise: take characters and story elements from my first superhero team comic (which was called "The AR-MEN," no relation to the X-Men), modernize those elements and make a Christian novel with superhero characters -- without actually making it a superhero story!

I named the novel Mindfire , after its lead protagonist, a young woman named Leia Hamilton. She had superhuman powers of telekinesis (moving objects with her mind) and pyrokinesis (the ability to set objects on fire). I revised plot elements so Leia did not know that her father had been a superhero once and her mother had been a supervillain.

Mindfire quickly turned into two stories in one, each affecting the other in unforeseen ways. It became a mystery which gradually unfolded. The characters with more-than-human abilities were tragically human and flawed. No one was perfect but all were striving to be something more than they were. It became a story about love and redemption.

I self-published Mindfire on Amazon in June 2016. It is 286 pages long and geared towards teens and older.

Since then I have been working on a trilogy of science-fantasy books with a young woman as the protagonist. And they have spiritual and Christian elements as well. I hope to release "Jordan's World" this year.

Thanks for reading this!