The Unmasking Of Halloween

One Halloween night, a little boy, dressed in a devil costume knocked on my door wanting candy. When I saw him, I thought to myself, ’how sad it is that our society encourages children to dress up as Satan and other evil personalities. Don’t parents realize that Satan is real and not some sort of Halloween character?’

Well, unfortunately, many folks don’t believe that the devil really exists. They think he’s a figment of our imagination–a character out of Dante’s Inferno.

Once there was a boxer who was being beaten up badly. Finally, he leaned over the ropes and said to his trainer, “Throw in the towel. This guy is killing me!” But the trainer replied, “Oh, no he’s not. He’s not even hitting you. He hasn’t laid a glove on you!” At that point the boxer wiped the blood away from his eye and said, “Well, then, I wish you’d watch that referee. He sure is tough!”

Some people are like that trainer. They just don’t get it. They deny the obvious.

This Halloween season, millions of Christians will encourage their children to pay respects to the devil and his gang of evil spirits. Thousands of churches will fully sanction this homage to Satan in direct violation to the explicit teaching of the Word of God! Many fellowship rooms will be decked out with all the paraphernalia and trappings of Lucifer’s kingdom.

Halloween is a celebration of darkness. I don’t like darkness. Darkness hides things. In the Bible, darkness symbolizes evil. When I was a boy I used to ask my mother to leave a light on in my room. It always made me feel better. That’s what we should be doing—lighting up our world with God’s love.

Ephesians 5:8-11 says it well: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”

The whole concept behind Halloween involves death, darkness, deception, fear, and pagan rituals.

Many Christians find Halloween an uncomfortable topic. It’s a little like walking into a graveyard and seeing among the tombstones a raucous party in progress–a bizarre mixture of horrible screams and laughing–and then wondering who might have organized it.

Let me pose this question: What in the world do witches and demons and vampires and blood have in common with the people of God, who John refers to as “children of light?”

Is Halloween simply a child’s celebration, a night of good, innocent fun or should we think more seriously about glorifying Satan and his evil angels? Do I sound like an extremist? Consider what the World Book Encyclopedia has to say on the subject:

Halloween’s beginnings preceded Christ’s birth when

the druids, a pagan group of devil-worshipers in what

is now Britain and France, observed the end of summer

by making human sacrifices to the gods. It was the

beginning of the Celtic year. They believed that Samher, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only be assuming disguises and looking like spirits themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks. Most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to the old pagan rites and superstitions.

Present-day Satanists and witches still consider Halloween to be their “high holy day”–like Easter is to us. They say it is the ideal time of year to cast spells, see into the future and communicate with the spirits of dead relatives.

Many centuries ago the Church tried to offset this seasonal emphasis by introducing “All Saints Day” on November first. It was also called “All Hallows Day.” Then it became the custom to call the evening before, “All Hallow E’n.”

Trying to Christianize a pagan calendar certainly is not working today. In fact, you might say that “All Saints Day” has been almost obliterated in favor of Halloween.

In my opinion, for a Christian to celebrate Halloween makes about as much sense as the Russians celebrating the fourth of July!

The point here is not to infer that participation in Halloween makes one a witch, or a devil-worshiper, or occultist. But I do believe that it is dishonoring to the Risen Savior whose coming was to “destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8).

Another point: The Bible clearly tells us that God hates witchcraft. Should our children, who are an “inheritance of the Lord” be dressed up like witches and goblins? Come on, Christian parents. Think!

Instead of celebrating Halloween, let me suggest some ALTERNATIVES.

1. Celebrate the Season. The end of October is a perfect time to celebrate the beauty of Autumn. Give glory to God for His genius and love in providing such a beautiful landscape for us to enjoy. Its also a wonderful time to think about harvest time and all that God so bountifully provides for His children. Psalm 65 and 104 are excellent passages to read together as a family.