Is Pumpkin Spice the Mark of the Beast?

Alecia Stanley

Est Reading Time: 2 mins

Pumpkin Spice: mark of the season or mark of the beast? Everyone has a side, none are neutral (just as with spiritual destinies): to Pumpkin Spice or not to Pumpkin Spice?

Like clockwork, the cool winds of September split our communities with a fervor usually reserved for disputes over infant or believer’s baptism. But could this divide be more than it seems? Could, as some have postulated, a love of Pumpkin Spice really be the mark of the beast?! For those in the camp of ‘nays,’ pumpkin spicing every food (including your pot roast!) is a step too far, one that any true believer of Jesus would never dare attempt. And one that everyone knows is a slippery slope towards the fire-brimmed eternity awaiting partakers of Satan’s favorite holiday: Halloween. For those on the side of the ‘yays,’ it is just a fun way to mark the changing of seasons, to spice things up a little (pun intended), and to forego the usual coffee creamer for something reminiscent of the joyful memories of seasons past.

Signs and Wonders

The signs are all around us. Leaves are falling, bonfires waft in the breeze, and every end-cap of the grocery store is ladened with the most-beloved and most-hated of flavors: Pumpkin Spice! Every cup and every conversation are dually speckled with it. And even if it’s not your favorite flavor or scent, it is difficult to avoid the temptation of novelty. Who doesn’t love a new version of their favorite cereal or a new twist to their makeup palette? Unlike many other fads, this is one variation that yields itself to every product on the shelves: from air fresheners, to yogurt flavors, to drain cleaner (haven’t seen it yet? it’s probably on its way!).

And so we ask:

Is Pumpkin Spice the mark of the beast?

We may never know. Or we may not know until it is too late and we realize that the path toward destruction was actually, as an elder once warned, littered with candy wrappers. Not to heap sin upon sin, but this seems to be the season for it: sugar, late nights, spooky movies, cinnamon on everything, haunts in every corner, pumpkin in the crockpot, the earth dying slowly before our eyes. It is a season of darkness. However, it is also a season of anticipation, of hope. Hoping for Christmas to hurry up and get here. Hoping for the rebirth Spring promises. But mostly, hoping for all things to be made new when Jesus returns, maybe with a spiced latte in His hand (too far?).

And so, in this season of juxtapositions, we pray that the firelight finds you warm. We pray that the early evenings find you rested. And we pray that, whatever is in your cup, your bellies and hearts will be full of anticipation as we anxiously await restoration to find us once again.

* Photo by Theo Crazzolara on Unsplash