Halloween
It’s no secret that I don’t like Halloween. I don’t dress up in October. I don’t carve pumpkins. I don’t hand out candy to children at my door. I don’t go to “church fall festivals”. I don’t watch Halloween movies. I don’t buy Halloween candy. I don’t do anything Halloween. But, why don’t I?
I used to celebrate it. I used to dress us and go trick-or-treating. I used to sneak around in the dark with my friends and imagine all sorts of creatures lurking in the shadows. I used to be excited to hand out candy to the children who came to our door. Hey, we used to run a haunted house out of our garage! But, then, about the time I really started living for the Lord, I was exposed to some of the origins of Halloween and I began to grow in my understanding that any association with Halloween on my part is a compromise of my Christian faith.
I’ve been looking for a site that will introduce you to some of the history behind our Halloween customs, and I think I’ve found three that you’d do well to take 10 minutes to explore after you finish reading this blog.
The first is a page by The Jeremiah Project called Halloween Origins and Customs, and while it isn’t an exhaustive study of Halloween, it will provide you enough material to judge if it is correct in asserting, “It [Halloween] does not have even one single redeeming virtue.”
Another good site is called Unmasking Halloween, and includes an origins section at the bottom of the page. Additionally, a little Google work will provide you with more than enough information about the various activities and symbols we associate with this day. For example, did you know that Jack-O-Lanterns are the symbol of a damned soul?
The third site is the most disturbing and points out the elements of human sacrifice, Baal worship, and the obscene ways we celebrate sin and death during this season.
Olivia and I were reading in Jeremiah tonight, and chapter 7 stood out to me. It says,
“Will you…follow other gods you have not known, and then come and before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’ – safe to do all these detestable things?…” (v.9-10)
“The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven…Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?” (v.18-19)
“…I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people…But they did not listen or pay attention…They went backward and not forward.” (v.23-24)
and
“They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places…to burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.” (v.30-31)
I’m sure you have heard that God forbade sorcery and witchcraft in the Bible. (Go and search it out for yourself.) Yet, there are modern pagans and witches to this day who still celebrate October 31st as their Witches New Year’s Eve, and as the most important of their 4 major religious festivals. They'll even tell you how they do it! Others, equally decieved, also claim this day as a religious center for their lives. So, how can we willingly associate ourselves with it?
I think the primary problem is one of understanding. We don’t intend to be compromising. We love the Lord and want to honor Him. We simply don’t know what to do with Halloween! Where is the line? What is acceptable? How do we reach people? We don’t know how to respond, so we negotiate for a middle ground. And, there is no winning when we compromise in this way.
We think we’re providing an alternative for our children so they won’t feel left out. But, isn’t satan worship something we should want our children to know they are being “left out” of? Would it serve as a better example to stand out at a time like this rather than try to make Halloween somehow acceptable?
We think we’re providing an outreach to the lost. But, aren’t we compromising ourselves and sacrificing the holiness of the Christian life? Aren’t we connecting Jesus to something evil by our very association with this holiday? In truth, if we actually examined ourselves we might be ashamed of our real motives. (The party people in their short skirts aren’t any more interested in Christianity on October 31st than they are on any other night of the year; they’re just wearing shorter skirts and cat ears!)
We think we’re being a light in the darkness. But, if we go out with megaphones condemning people to Hell we’re doing God’s image no favors. Likewise, those who are intentionally worshiping the devil, or nature, or the dead, are likely in places where our bodies cannot reach but our prayers can.
Perhaps that is the answer, or at least a starting place for an answer:
Prayer. Halloween is a spiritual event, and we must wage war against it spiritually. Tell our teens they can’t go to a party, and our tweens that they can’t decorate the yard, and our children that they can’t dress up (even as a princess), because this night our family is going to turn off the front porch light, lock the doors, turn off the TV, stay home, and seek the Lord. We’re going to sing worship songs, read Scripture, and pray for all of those poor people out their on this night who are being led down the candy coated road to spiritual captivity and destruction.
This night, we are going to be different than our neighbors. This night, we are going to be deliberate about opposing any hint of compromise. This night, we’re going to gather together and pray. This night, we’re waging war!
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual {forces} of wickedness in the heavenly {places.} Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:10-13)
I used to celebrate it. I used to dress us and go trick-or-treating. I used to sneak around in the dark with my friends and imagine all sorts of creatures lurking in the shadows. I used to be excited to hand out candy to the children who came to our door. Hey, we used to run a haunted house out of our garage! But, then, about the time I really started living for the Lord, I was exposed to some of the origins of Halloween and I began to grow in my understanding that any association with Halloween on my part is a compromise of my Christian faith.
I’ve been looking for a site that will introduce you to some of the history behind our Halloween customs, and I think I’ve found three that you’d do well to take 10 minutes to explore after you finish reading this blog.
The first is a page by The Jeremiah Project called Halloween Origins and Customs, and while it isn’t an exhaustive study of Halloween, it will provide you enough material to judge if it is correct in asserting, “It [Halloween] does not have even one single redeeming virtue.”
Another good site is called Unmasking Halloween, and includes an origins section at the bottom of the page. Additionally, a little Google work will provide you with more than enough information about the various activities and symbols we associate with this day. For example, did you know that Jack-O-Lanterns are the symbol of a damned soul?
The third site is the most disturbing and points out the elements of human sacrifice, Baal worship, and the obscene ways we celebrate sin and death during this season.
Olivia and I were reading in Jeremiah tonight, and chapter 7 stood out to me. It says,
“Will you…follow other gods you have not known, and then come and before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’ – safe to do all these detestable things?…” (v.9-10)
“The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven…Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?” (v.18-19)
“…I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people…But they did not listen or pay attention…They went backward and not forward.” (v.23-24)
and
“They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places…to burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.” (v.30-31)
I’m sure you have heard that God forbade sorcery and witchcraft in the Bible. (Go and search it out for yourself.) Yet, there are modern pagans and witches to this day who still celebrate October 31st as their Witches New Year’s Eve, and as the most important of their 4 major religious festivals. They'll even tell you how they do it! Others, equally decieved, also claim this day as a religious center for their lives. So, how can we willingly associate ourselves with it?
I think the primary problem is one of understanding. We don’t intend to be compromising. We love the Lord and want to honor Him. We simply don’t know what to do with Halloween! Where is the line? What is acceptable? How do we reach people? We don’t know how to respond, so we negotiate for a middle ground. And, there is no winning when we compromise in this way.
We think we’re providing an alternative for our children so they won’t feel left out. But, isn’t satan worship something we should want our children to know they are being “left out” of? Would it serve as a better example to stand out at a time like this rather than try to make Halloween somehow acceptable?
We think we’re providing an outreach to the lost. But, aren’t we compromising ourselves and sacrificing the holiness of the Christian life? Aren’t we connecting Jesus to something evil by our very association with this holiday? In truth, if we actually examined ourselves we might be ashamed of our real motives. (The party people in their short skirts aren’t any more interested in Christianity on October 31st than they are on any other night of the year; they’re just wearing shorter skirts and cat ears!)
We think we’re being a light in the darkness. But, if we go out with megaphones condemning people to Hell we’re doing God’s image no favors. Likewise, those who are intentionally worshiping the devil, or nature, or the dead, are likely in places where our bodies cannot reach but our prayers can.
Perhaps that is the answer, or at least a starting place for an answer:
Prayer. Halloween is a spiritual event, and we must wage war against it spiritually. Tell our teens they can’t go to a party, and our tweens that they can’t decorate the yard, and our children that they can’t dress up (even as a princess), because this night our family is going to turn off the front porch light, lock the doors, turn off the TV, stay home, and seek the Lord. We’re going to sing worship songs, read Scripture, and pray for all of those poor people out their on this night who are being led down the candy coated road to spiritual captivity and destruction.This night, we are going to be different than our neighbors. This night, we are going to be deliberate about opposing any hint of compromise. This night, we’re going to gather together and pray. This night, we’re waging war!
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual {forces} of wickedness in the heavenly {places.} Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:10-13)
Comments
Seth
We just covered the subject of holloween on our blog.
You can read the post at http://preachtoday.blogspot.com/