Soon little children will line up at our front doors dressed up as spider
man, little princesses, cowboys and even babies wearing cute pumpkin
outfits. Yes it’s that time again… time to stock up on every candy known to
man for the free giving away to all who come to our door requesting
“treats.”
The Halloween craze is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to consumer
spending. Halloween spending is expected to reach $3.1 billion this year,
according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), based in Washington, D.C.
It is no joke that people look forward to this nationally recognized holiday
and freely spend the money to enjoy it to the max.
The harsh reality is this: many of us have no idea what we are participating
in. We may know that Halloween has something to do with ghosts, goblins and
witches but perhaps some of us are uncomfortable dressing up our children to
depict such characters. So in order to make ourselves feel better about the
whole “Halloween thing” we dress them up as a superhero instead. Remember
that the word of God says, My people perish (are destroyed) for a lack of
knowledge. So before you decide to partake of the Halloween craze this year,
perhaps you should know what exactly it is you are “celebrating.” It may
surprise you!
THE ORIGIN OF HALLOWEEN
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain
(pronounced sow-in). Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France is the
area where Celts celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked
the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often
associated with human death. On the night before their new year, Celts
believed that the spiritual boundary between the worlds of the living and
the dead became blurred. On New Year’s eve (October 31) they celebrated
Samhain. They believed that on that night ghosts of the dead would return to
earth to haunt the living. Celts thought that the presence of the spirits
made it easier to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely
dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important
source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. In other
words, they wanted to know if they would to survive the harsh winter to
come.
COSTUMES
On October 31, Druids built huge sacred bonfires used for the people to
gather and burn crops, animals and human beings as sacrifices to their gods
and goddesses. During the ritual celebration, the Celts wore costumes,
typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each
other’s fortunes.
According to The Oxford English Dictionary, the word bonfire is derived from
the word bone-fire, so called because it was a great fire in which bones
were burned in the open air. The next day, divination was done based on the
bones remaining.
All of this was done to frighten the evil spirits away. Further, they
believed evil spirits would attack people on the eve before the November 1
celebration. The only way these people could escape was by assuming
disguises and looking like the evil spirits themselves. As a result they
became “vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened”
(Romans 1:21). As you can see, gross looking costumes have their source in
paganism and because of this we should instead put on “the full armor of
God” (Ephesians 6:11).
Dressing up like witches, ghosts, or goblins is incompatible with a
Christian’s testimony. Furthermore, many of the customs of Halloween are
associated with the worst kinds of pagan beliefs and ceremonies; they are
usually sinister things such as demons, witchcraft and superstition. If we
as Christian parents simply disregard the unchristian aspects of such
practices as mere fantasy or superstition and then encourage our children to
participate in them, we run the risk of communicating the message that the
spiritual battle waged by the rulers of darkness (Ephesians 6:10) is not to
be taken seriously.
BOBBING FOR APPLES
As the Romans conquered the majority of Celtic territory, the Roman festival
of Pomona was combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
Pomona is the name of a Roman goddess of fruit and trees. Pomona’s symbol is
the apple. So while our children innocently “Bob for apples” during
Halloween festivities, they are unintentionally practicing a ritual that was
used to honor the goddess of Pomona. One of God’s commandments is to not
have any other God’s besides him. Though our children innocently play this
bobbing game, we now know that it is traditionally something that was used
to honor a false god. Some liberal Christians may say that stopping our
children from participating in a simple game is rediculous. But to those
people I respond with a quote from 1Thessalonians 5:22: “Abstain from all
appearance of evil.”
THE MERGING OF CHRISTIANITY AND PAGAN CELEBRATIONS
As Christianity spread into Celtic lands, Pope Boniface IV designated
November 1 All Saints’ Day, a church-sanctioned holiday to honor saints and
martyrs. This celebration was also called All-hallows. The night before
Samhain began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even
later, the church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead.
It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and
dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three
celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’, and All Souls’, were
called Hallowmas.
As immigrants came to America, they brought their customs and traditional
celebrations with them. As their beliefs and customs mixed with the American
Indians, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The
first celebrations included public events held to celebrate the harvest,
where neighbors would share stories of the dead and try to tell each other’s
fortunes. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing
Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of
Halloween nationally.
Though the name has changed, Halloween still carries its pagan significance.
It is still an observance of death and there is no Christian significance
whatsoever. Jesus Christ is conspicuously absent! We can celebrate the birth
of Christ in Christmas and the atoning death of Christ in Easter. But
Halloween is a day dedicated to idolatry, fear, death and the occult. You
cannot celebrate those things to the glory of God. The Bible tells us, “So
then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you may do, do all for the honor
and glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
TRICK OR TREAT
As Americans embraced this pagan tradition, they began to dress up in
costumes, going house to house asking for food or money, a practice that
eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed
that, on Halloween, they could divine the name or appearance of their future
husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings, or mirrors.
The Irish believed they could mix-in with the spirits roaming the earth
while going unnoticed. If your costume wasn’t convincing enough, there was a
way to exorcise the spirits. People would have to set out a treat of food
and fruit, and provide the wandering spirit with shelter for the night. If
the demon spirit was satisfied with your treat, it was believed that he
would not trick you by casting an evil spell on you.
Good luck was promised to all who donated but threats were made against
those who would not give. There is absolutely nothing in Trick or Treat that
honors our Lord Jesus Christ! In fact, it is a form of idol worship. When
you give out Halloween candy, you are, in essence providing a sacrifice to
the false gods. You are participating in idolatry. God has made it clear
that he will not tolerate idol worshipping of any sort. God declared this
thousands of years ago: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall
not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on
the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or
worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the
children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of
those who hate me” (Exodus 20:3-5).
Consider carefully the words of the Apostle Paul starting in 2 Corinthians
6:14 : “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated
alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent
with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing
with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship
with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial [the
devil]? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement
[can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of
the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them
and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people. So, come out from among [unbelievers], and separate
(sever) yourselves from them, says the Lord, and touch not [any] unclean
thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favor, And I will
be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord
Almighty.”
JACK O LANTERN
As a child I remember trick or treating throughout my neighborhood. I
remember wearing a plastic outfit of Casper the friendly ghost and holding
on to a hard plastic pumpkin as the container to hold my treats. This candy
container, also known as the Jack O Lantern, is still very popular even
today.
There is an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the
story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his
name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the
Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks.
Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his
pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back
into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition
that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he
would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into
climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree,
Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could
not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more
years.
Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an
unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played
on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into
hell either. So the devil sent Jack off into the dark night with only a
burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved out turnip
and has been roaming the Earth with it ever since. The Irish began to refer
to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack
O’Lantern.”
Superstitious people hollowed out turnips or pumpkins placing candles inside
to scare evil spirits away from their houses. Others claim that the
candlelit pumpkin or skull…served as a signal to mark those homes that
were sympathetic to the evil spirits and thus deserving of mercy when the
terror of the night (Halloween) began. I certainly am not sympathetic to
evil spirits, are you? Then why display a Jack-O-Lantern at your window?
SCRIPTURES TO HELP US UNDERSTAND
In Leviticus 19:26, God instructs us not to be partakers of such evil
observances. As for those who still make an attempt to tell the future, look
at what Isaiah 47:13-14 says, “…Let now the astrologers, the stargazers,
the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from these things that
shall come upon thee. Behold they shall burn them, they shall not deliver
themselves from the power of the flame.”
The Bible also clearly warns us in Leviticus 19:31 to stay away from anyone
who practices witchcraft. Now that we know that Halloween is truly an evil
celebration, we should stop celebrating it, according to Isaiah 1:16, “Wash
yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from
before My eyes! Cease to do evil.”
Perhaps you’ve celebrated Halloween all of your life and it’s difficult to
just stop doing it all of a sudden. What will your friends and family say?
We cannot be pressured by what others think. We have to live according to
God’s instructions. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world
(this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial
customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind
[by its new ideals and its new attitude]” Furthermore, Ephesians 5:6-11
tells us, “Let no one delude and deceive you with empty excuses and
groundless arguments [for these sins], for through these things the wrath of
God comes upon the sons of rebellion and disobedience. So do not associate
or be sharers with them. For once you were darkness, but now you are light
in the Lord; walk as children of Light [lead the lives of those native-born
to the Light]. For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or
[c]the Spirit [consists] in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of
heart, and trueness of life. And try to learn [in your experience] what is
pleasing to the Lord [let your lives be constant proofs of what is most
acceptable to Him]. Take no part in and have no fellowship with the
fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be
so in contrast as to] expose and reprove and convict them.”
Now ask yourself after reading these scriptures, is Jesus Christ pleased
with this national holiday? Can we mix evil and good, and then laugh at it?
Halloween stems from evil, darkness, witchcraft and Satan himself. How can
we, being followers of Christ, put our stamp of approval on such an evil
holiday?
As Kymberly is away with her family, at the funeral of her grandfather, First I would like to express my sorrow and condolences for her loss, and pray that the Lord Jesus heal her and her family’s heart. My prayers and all the essence of who I am are with you sweet girl. 
kymberlyrenee
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