Christians And Halloween - Big Deal Or Not?

Well folks it's that time of year again, Halloween.  And this nearly marks the one year anniversary of one of my first postings on this blog Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

I have Incorporated a different and short article on Halloween and once again no matter what you decide to do this Holiday please be careful.  However, there is one thing I would love for believers to keep in mind during this holiday.  No matter how you attempt to "sugarcoat" this holiday with the picture of a little baby dressed up as a bumble bee or a lady bug, don't kid yourself.  There is more going on in the spiritual realm than you are aware of, Paul said "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

C.S. Lewis once stated in his book, The Screwtape Letters,  "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.  One is to disbelieve in their existence.  The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.  They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight."  

Enjoy the article......

A Night When Evil Is Celebrated

Few festivals give Christians in the Western world more cause for debate than Halloween. To some Christians, it is merely a harmless time of year when children get to dress up and play games. To others, it is indicative of the prevailing godless worldview—a celebration in which children are encouraged to beg from their neighbors, while playing with traditions that date back to the most dangerous pagan occult practices.

The history of Halloween should give cause for concern. It was originally the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. This was a night when the spirits of the dead allegedly walked abroad, and it was thought that they could be conjured to do the will of those who summoned them. So, as the church in medieval times began to replace pagan festivals with Christian celebrations, Christmas replaced the Saturnalia festivals, and Samhain was replaced by All Souls’ Day on November 2, All Saints’ Day on November 1, and All Saint’s Eve on October 31. An old English word for holy (sanctified) is hallow, so October 31 was Hallows’ E’en.

Throughout the ages, the old pagan ways began to creep back into these “Christianized” festivals—and none more so than Halloween. Far from a celebration of Christian souls, it returned to its roots of summoning the dead. One ancient English tradition has families lighting candles in a sinister attempt to draw back the souls of dead relatives to the house. In Northern England, this was associated in the Middle Ages with the practice of Mischieving—from which the tradition of “trick-or-treating” is derived. These mischiefs usually involved doing damage to property and blaming it on the spirits of the dead. In more modern times, this has developed into the practice, in some places, where older children demand treats or money in exchange for not cursing the property.

Many parents who encourage their children to go trick-or-treating may not realize the occult background to this practice and simply see the activity as harmless fun. This may unwittingly lay their children open to all sorts of evil influence. In recent years, the police services in the U.K. and the U.S. have put officers on high alert at Halloween because of the growth of anti-social and vandalous behavior.

While I would argue that Halloween has always been a dubious and anti-Christian festival, carefully observant parents have noticed that in recent years the godless nature of the event has increased and realize that even more caution is warranted. This problem has occurred hand-in-hand with the slide into godlessness generally associated with an evolutionary worldview, in which God is not central to our lives, and death and the occult are glorified, rather than abhorred.

This leads us to the important issue of how Christians should respond to the festival. I would suggest the following:

1. I, personally, urge Christians not to take part in the festival. The world of evil is very real, and we should not carelessly expose our children to it.
2. If your children are being encouraged to take part in Halloween-related activities at their schools against your wishes, then contact the schools and voice your concerns.
3. Consider giving tracts (U.S. | U.K./Europe) instead of (or in addition to) giving them sweets or money. The ReachOut Trust (www.reachouttrust.org) also has many good tracts written for even very young children and include a gospel presentation for their parents.
4. Consider an alternative. Many churches today are organizing “Light” parties or “Hallelujah” parties or other similar events that focus the children’s attention on the Bible and on Jesus. Another positive alternative would be to have a “Reformation Party” to mark the fact that October 31 is the anniversary of the day when Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg.

- AIG