In the seventh month of the lunar calendar, people throughout Taiwan prepare to receive wandering spirits released into the world during Ghost Month. Households may place a light in the open area before the doorway to guide the spirits, known euphemistically as the “Good Brothers,” and then present food and other provisions to them at the entrance of the home.
Though the seventh lunar month is commonly known as "Ghost Month", practitioners customarily refer to these wandering spirits not simply as “ghosts,” but as “Good Brothers.” The table prepared for them is more than a cultural display. It serves as a means of appeasement. Taiwan Historica explains that the offerings are made in part “to prevent the Good Brothers from causing trouble,” while also seeking protection and peace for the household.
Spirits are invited near the household.
The spirits are invited near the household to receive the offerings rather than welcomed into the home itself. It is therefore customary to prepare food, incense, and other gifts for them. A Taiwanese Ministry of Education entry explaining the festival records the traditional belief that if the offerings are too few or the meal insufficiently abundant, the Good Brothers may retaliate.
“How does Jesus help me sell noodles?”
My friend’s noodle shop near our apartment represents a common attitude toward religion in Taiwan. Though my friend would identify with a particular religion, he also has a place for the "Land God" in his shop. I remember one attempt to explain the gospel of Christ to him. He cut me short and asked directly, “How does Jesus help me sell noodles?”
Taken together, these things reveal a common religious instinct. Though Taiwanese people take religion to varying degrees of seriousness, there is a widespread assumption that religion, if it has any use at all, should benefit our present circumstances.
How, then, do we present Christ...?
How, then, do we present Christ, not as a substitute for the Land God, not as another source of prosperity, or merely as a protective charm against ghosts?
Realistically, a few moments with my friend in his busy noodle shop will not allow me time to reframe his worldview completely. Even if time allowed, he has shown little interest in the whole affair, much less in allowing me to begin with Genesis 1 and explain the difference between the Land God and the Creator of the universe.
We... begin with the problem.
Still, the transactional aspect of his belief gives me somewhere to begin. The same transactional logic appears during Ghost Month. The Good Brothers are invited to dine and are appeased so that they may pass on without causing trouble. Rather than beginning by correcting every foundation of traditional folk religion, we can begin with the problem already sitting on the table and show what Christ has done.
The gospel frames both the situation and its outcome differently. In Colossians 1:12–14, the believer stands in relationship to God as Father. From this relationship everything else follows. God has made believers partakers of “the inheritance of the saints in light,” and part of that inheritance is already theirs from the moment of conversion: He “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (vv. 12–13 KJV).
Believers have been removed from the dominion of darkness.
The gospel therefore offers much more than another means of protection. Rather than needing to appease restless or hostile spirits, believers have been removed from the dominion of darkness and brought under Christ’s rule. This is not simply a promise about what happens after death. It is a change of kingdom and belonging that begins now.
But how is such deliverance possible? Paul continues: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14 KLV).
Christ Himself (is) offered on the believer’s behalf... once for all.
Both Ghost Month and the gospel place an offering before us, but the contrast could hardly be greater. One is an offering prepared by the worshiper to appease often unknown and potentially hostile spirits. The other is Christ Himself offered on the believer’s behalf. One must be presented year after year. The other was offered “once for all” (Hebrews 10:10 KJV).
We are sinners before a holy God.
For someone who has understood religion primarily through transactions with individual spirits, however, forgiveness of sins may not immediately sound like an answer to the practical fears addressed during Ghost Month. This is where the gospel reframes the human problem without ignoring the fear that brought the person to the conversation. Our deepest problem is not that we have failed to satisfy every unseen power. It is that we are sinners before a holy God.
Deliverance is possible because of who Christ is.
Christ’s blood answers that deeper problem. His redemption purchases the sinner’s freedom, and His sacrifice provides the forgiveness that no table of offerings could obtain. Yet Paul does not leave this redemption disconnected from the believer’s fear of unseen powers. In the same passage, the one redeemed through Christ’s blood is also the one delivered from the power of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God’s Son. Such deliverance is possible because of who Christ is.
Paul describes Christ as “the image of the invisible God.” Then he declares, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,” including “thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers” (Colossians 1:15–16 KJV).
Christ is therefore not merely another spirit among many, nor a Christian replacement for the Land God or any lesser lord approached transactionally. He does not occupy the highest place within the hierarchy of unseen powers. He stands above that entire order as its Creator. Every visible and invisible power owes its existence to Him.
The very powers that might otherwise produce fear are themselves beneath the authority of Christ.
That changes the nature of the question my noodle-shop friend asked. Jesus does not merely offer a better boon. His authority is categorically different from the spirits a worshiper might seek to satisfy. The very powers that might otherwise produce fear are themselves beneath the authority of Christ.
I have personally known Taiwanese Christians who came from traditional religious backgrounds and learned to appreciate this contrast between Christ’s offering and the offerings they once made. They could compare not only the offerings themselves, but also their outcomes.
Jesus... no longer merely another ritual.
Jesus was no longer merely another ritual or a replacement for the Land God. Trusting Him meant reorienting life around a new relationship of belonging and allegiance. They had been “translated into the kingdom of his dear Son.”
Just as a change of citizenship should not be considered lightly, how much more seriously should we consider the confession that Jesus is Lord? The gospel conversation must eventually call the hearer to faith in Christ, but we should not assume that every hearer begins with the same categories we do. Sometimes, before someone can understand why the forgiveness of sins is good news, we must listen carefully enough to understand the problem he thinks religion is supposed to solve.
Within Taiwanese folk religion, Ghost Month makes practical sense. If wandering spirits can interfere with ordinary life, then a table of offerings appears to answer an immediate need.
For the (gospel) conversation to start, it may need to begin at their table.
Christians need not mock that fear, nor should we participate in rituals intended to appease it. Instead, we can take the question seriously enough to answer it with Christ. Ultimately, the conversation must lead to the cross. But for the conversation to start, it may need to begin at their table.
Ghost Month sets the table to invite wandering spirits to dine and be satisfied. The gospel announces something altogether different. Christ has delivered His people from the power of darkness, redeemed them through His blood, and brought them into His kingdom.
Fear no longer gets to set the table.
John Walz is a missionary, pastor-teacher, and writer serving in Taiwan. For more than fourteen years, he has been involved in church planting, discipleship, and proclaiming the gospel in Taiwan. Alongside ministry, he writes about scripture, missions, spiritual formation, special needs education, and the challenges and encouragements of Christian life. He is also completing graduate studies in biblical languages, which shape his approach to teaching and writing. Whether through theological articles, ministry stories, or creative fiction, he aims to help readers see the grace and glory of Christ in everyday life.
