IS A CHRISTIAN HALLOWEEN A SELF CONTRADICTORY CONCEPT?
Many churches have a safer substitute. They have a Christian Halloween. Furthermore, some also believe that people need a positive fall celebration. Why not use Thanksgiving instead of Halloween? Why? Because Halloween is built around the dark occult!
Deuteronomy 12:2-4, “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods… altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire… 4 You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things.” (NKJV)
Is it just another costume party? This may sound wonderful, but is it what God would desire? Is it spiritually misguided and not beneficial to children or adults? Note in Deut. 12:30-31 that God said NOT to learn the ways of the pagan nations around them with their false, superstitious, dark occult customs.
Deuteronomy 12:30, “Take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them… and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’”
Is it good for people? Christ made a major revelation to His critics regarding the purposes of the Law. Christ said the Law was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Law). This concept applies to all God's prohibitions and laws when understood deeply.
Mark 2:27-28, “And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath… Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.’”
Therefore if God bans using superstitious, occult practices of pagans –– then they must be detrimental for society and us.
THE REAL ROOTS OF HALLOWEEN ARE SCARY
The Neo-pagans of today love Halloween. Why? They like the pagan earth worship involved. Many know that it was a pagan day set aside to worship the god of the dead, Samhain (pronounced “so-ween”). It predates Christianity and was a source of human sacrifices and even cannibalism at times. They burned human bones, thus the term “bonfire.” It was used as a spiritual day for witchcraft and the occult.
Deuteronomy 18:10, “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, ora sorcerer,”
2 Kings 17:17 “And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.”
God hates these forms of paganism and superstition. Pagans appeased the lord of the dead and evil spirits on this idolatrous day. The ancients believed that on October 3, the boundary between the living and the dead dissolved. The dead spirits became dangerous. Costumes were worn in an attempt to mimic and placate the evil spirits. Later, the Romans came, and mixed Halloween with their similar holiday, Feralia.
GOD’S COMMANDMENTS ARE FOR OUR BENEFIT AND PAGANISM IS HARMFUL
All Ten Commandments, when understood, are the laws of love and liberty. The most important thing in all our lives is the keeping of the Commandments. See Eccl. 12:13. Romans 13:10 explains that love is the fulfillment of the Law. The occult is just the opposite of the first commandment and God really hates it!
2 Kings 21:6, “Also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.”
2 Chronicles 33:6, “Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire...practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD…"
The First Commandment tell us that the most important thing in regard to showing love for God is to put Him first in our hearts. Loving and respecting God is vital to our growth and development. We must learn to love, honor and respect God to develop as happy mature people. In the same manner, a child who does not learn to respect his/her parents is headed for trouble. God knows we must learn to be loyal to Him.
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT IS ABOUT LOYALTY TO GOD
Learning loyalty is obviously so essential for being with God for all eternity. Lucifer was given the opportunity and he failed utterly. See Ex 20:2-3. When a society is not loyal to the Great God it hurts them. Jeremiah told the decadent Israelites that their worship of the feminine goddess Ishtar, the consort to all the Baals, was driving them to confusion.
Jeremiah 7:19, “Do they provoke me to anger? saith Jehovah; do they not provoke themselves, to theconfusion of their own faces?” (ASV)
Who gets hurt when we turn away from God? We do. It is like a plant turning away from sunlight. Loyalty has two sides. God is loyal to us and we need to be loyal to God. Therefore we must also reject the paganism that God hates.
GOD HATES THE SUPERSTITIOUS PAGANISM AFFECTS ON MANKIND
Halloween is a festival based on fear of ghosts. This is not Christian, but it does fit our slasher-movie-Vampire-and-Zombie culture from “Holly-weird.”
2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us aspirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
When was God ever in need of reclaiming pagan, demonic influences as a means to worship Him? Never!
Jeremiah 10:2, “Thus saith Jehovah, Learn not the way of the nations… for the nations are dismayed at them.”
Pope Boniface IV in 609 A.D. declared Feralia to be Christian. Instead of resisting, he eventually appeased the pagans with All Dead Saints Day. The pagans in Catholic Europe still celebrated Samhain’s day (the grim reaper), so Pope Gregory III (731-741) fixed the date to coincide with the pagan date. Thus, October 31 became All Hallows Eve or Hallowe’en.
Puritans in America blocked its celebration because of its wild, rough paganism. Later, around 1900, its popularity and momentum increased in America; possibly because of the commercial value and the increase in Catholic immigrants. Halloween is now the second largest retail event in America behind Christmas. Wow!
THE TAMING AND “CLEANING UP” OF HALLOWEEN
As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Now it is also for adult costume parties. It was brought into the classroom and the streets. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing children with small treats. The Bible speaks vehemently against such practices, not reclaiming and taming them!
ISSUES, DOES IT HAVE A BAD EFFECT ON BELIEVERS CHILDREN?
