The Way of the Heathen: A Brief Survey of
Halloween
Should Christian celebrate a day
that honors things that are cold, dark and dead?
The
Way of the Heathen: A Brief History of Halloween
by
Dr. C. Mathew McMahon
“After
one's own birthday, the two major Satanic holidays are Walpurgisnacht
(May 1st) and Halloween.”
The
Satanic Bible, by
Anton Levey, Page 96, Segment on Religious Holidays
“Learn
not the way of the heathen.”
Jeremiah
10:2
Around
October 1st, American grocery stores stock their shelves with
candy corn, chocolate bats, and miniature Snickers bars.
They lace the isles with cobwebs, hang pictures of witches on top
of the shelves, setup small graveyards surrounded by ghoulish figurines
and call it fun. Why do
they do this? Well, they
are readying themselves for the upcoming celebration of Halloween.
Halloween purports to offer a time where people can have fun at
the expense of all that is righteous and holy.
It is a celebration of devils.
At this time of the year, the “Christian” is faced with the
dilemma, “Should I have anything to do with the celebration of
Halloween?” I am going to
give the pre-climactic and unwavering answer of “absolutely and
biblically not!” There
are a variety of reasons why this is so.
Really, the question should be “Should I have anything to do
with the blatant nature of Satan’s influence on the American mind?”
Halloween is blatantly, and immodestly open about its Satanic
nature. Without desiring to
portray a disposition of sanctimoniousness, I am always amazed that
articles and tracts such as this one even need to be written.
Are “Christians” that much deceived and in the dark about
such issues? Why is there a
need to place forward and convince the Christian community that such a
“holy day” is utterly evil and abominable to God?
As I probe these questions, I am also going to set forth some
arguments against the “fall festival replacement theory.”
This teaches that instead of celebrating the pagan festival of
Halloween, Christians can practice a “Halloween-like
festival” dedicated to the Lord of the harvest; this is known as the
fall festival celebrated in place of Halloween.
I
believe it would be most beneficial to be familiar with, and to
understand, what influences and ideas lay behind the concept of
Halloween. Halloween is
intricately linked to certain ideas and motives.
It will give us an answer to the question, “Why would anyone
desire to partake in a day which glorifies all that is cold, dark, and
dead?” There were a
number of Celtic and Druidic holy days (“holiday”) which aid us in
understanding the rise of Halloween.
Days of “remembrance” concerning the solstices and equinoxes
relating to the year's four seasons were hallmark days of worship for
these pagan religions. These eight celebration days (the eve of the day and the day
itself four times a year) were the most important times of the year for
the ancient Druids, the priestly class among the Celts. Among these 4 solstice days reigned the most significant
remembrance of an event known as “Samhain,” a celebration of the end
of autumn and the beginning of darkness, of winter and the New Year.
Samhain was one of the four key parts of the Celtic seasonal
calendar. (However, it was
much more than just a celebration of coming winter.)
“Imbolg” was the advent of springtime signifying birth. This
was the season of the ancient pagan goddess Brigit.
The coming of summer was represented by the festival of
“Beltane” on the first of May (this is also called May Day today).
“Lughnasad” on August 1 was another key day of the Celtic
year relating to the Celtic god Lugh.
This day was seen as the beginning of the harvest season. In more
modern times this pagan celebration transformed into the festival called
“Lammas.”
Samhain
occurred on November 1st and its eve was October 31st – the time when
the celebrating actually commenced. This ancient festival was in honor
of their lord of the dead, a Druid deity, who later became known as
“the grim reaper.” On
this night, the pagan Celts believed that the two worlds, the physical
world and the spirit world, drew closest together on this date and that
ghosts and apparitions of the dead could roam about the physical plane.
For the Celts, Samhain was a “magical” time, a time of the
lighting of bonfires, which had a spiritual significance.
Pagans customarily would put their fires out, then re-light them
to represent the end of the year and the coming of the next.
It was a Druidical belief that on the eve of this festival
Samhain, lord of death, called together the wicked spirits that within
the past 12 months had been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals.
Literal human sacrifices were offered on this night to the
spirits of the dead, as they supposedly visited their earthly haunts and
their friends.
For
several hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Celts inhabited
what is now France, Germany, England, Scotland and Ireland. These people
were eventually conquered by the Romans.
Information about the Celts and Druids comes from Roman
historians and Greek writings from about 200 B.C., and very early
records found in Ireland. Greek and Roman writings about the Druids
dwell heavily on their frequent and barbaric human sacrifices. The
ancient Irish texts say little about human sacrifices, but detail the
Druids' use of magic to raise storms, lay curses on places, kill by the
use of spells, and create magical obstacles.
The
modern custom of going from door to door asking for food and candy goes
back to the time of the Druids. They
believed that sinful, lost souls were released upon the earth by Samhain
for one night on October 31st while they awaited their judgment. Lost
souls were thought to throng about the houses of the living and were
greeted with banquet-laden tables.
People greatly feared these spirits and thought that the spirits
would harm and even kill them if the sacrifices they gave did not
appease Samhain. They
carved demonic faces into large turnips, placing a candle in them to
keep the evil spirits away from their homes.
They believed it was the best time for divinations concerning the
future, including marriage, luck, health, and death. They invoked the help of their false god for these purposes.
Believing this was the time to appease the supernatural powers
which controlled the processes of nature, these pagan worshipers made
offerings of food and drink, performed rituals, and sacrificed animals
and humans in huge fires atop “sacred” hilltops in an attempt to
ward off these spirits.
To
protect themselves from the mean tricks of these spirits (like killing
livestock), the Druids offered them good things to eat (sometimes food,
sometimes female children). The
Druids also disguised themselves in order that the spirits would think
the Druids belonged to their own evil company, and therefore, not bring
any harm to the Druids. The
most horrible practice during this festival were the sacrifices made by
the Druids. The sacrifices were both for divination purposes and to ward
off disease, defeats in battle, etc. These sacrifices were both animal
and human. Those human
sacrifices killed could include criminals, captured enemies, volunteers and
kidnap victims. They were
gruesome sacrifices, and the divination was based on how the person
reacted as they died. Caesar wrote, “They
believe that human life must be rendered for human life if the divinity
of the immortal gods is to be appeased.” Cannibalism was
also practiced for medical and cultic purposes.
After
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christianity spread throughout
Europe and many Celts were converted. Catholic priests tried to replace
the Celtic holidays with “Christian” ones.
Around 610 A.D., they created a new holiday in May, All Hallows'
Day (now All Saints' Day) to honor martyred saints.
The Roman Catholic church became interested in these people while
attempting to “evangelize” them.
Irish records tell of the fascination the Catholic monks had with
the “powerful” Druids, and Druids soon became important members of
their monasteries. Later,
around the 5th century, as the Catholic Church developed and
moved into the area, instead of adding a new day to celebrate, the Roman
Church took over the Samhain celebration. A later custom developed where
people would go door-to-door on Nov. 2, requesting small cakes in
exchange for the promise of saying prayers for some of the dead
relatives of each house. This arose out of the religious belief that the
dead were in a state of limbo before they went to heaven or hell and
that the prayers of the living could influence the outcome (which is
totally fallacious). Pope
Gregory the Great decided to incorporate the Druids' holiday into the
church. He made the proclamation, “They are no longer to sacrifice
beasts to the devil, but they may kill them for food to the praise of
God, and give thanks to the giver of all gifts for His bounty.”
In the 9th century “All Hallow's Day” was moved to
November 1st to replace Samhain.
After the Roman Catholic Church became the “official”
religion of the empire, Pope Gregory III set aside a day in which those
who had died for the Christian faith would be remembered.
Part of the festivity would include a pageant where people would
dress up as one of these departed “saints” and some as the devil. This
day had been in May, but by the 9th century it was moved to Nov. 1 and
called “All Saints' Day” to remember the church saints that had
died. November 2 was called
“All Souls' Day” and it honored the souls of those who had died the
previous year. An alternate
name for All Saints Day was “All Hallows Day” and the night prior
then would be “All Hallows Eve” which then became shortened to
“Halloween.” Pope
Gregory IV decreed that the day was to be a universal Roman Catholic
church observance. So,
the origins of contemporary Halloween are a mixture of old Celtic pagan
rituals, superstitions, and varied Roman Catholic traditions.
The
English Puritans, and founding fathers of America, refused to permit the
holiday to be observed because they knew it was a Satanic holiday which
was condemned by the Biblical record. Halloween was not widely
celebrated in the U.S. until about 1900. It seems that its vibrancy
began in the 1840's where there was a potato famine in Ireland which
sent thousands of Roman Catholic Irish to America. Unfortunately, they
brought Halloween with them.
Not
only is it important to understand the historical background to the day,
but it is also important to understand the various ideas which are
purposed for the “worship” of the day.
For instance, the huge fires atop the “sacred” hilltops in
which the Druids sacrificed animals and humans derived their name from
the skeletons of those who died in them. The words “bone” and
“fire” formed the word “bonfire.”
The orange flames lit up the black night, and here is where we
find the commonly accepted colors of Halloween.
As these pagan worshipers danced around and jumped through the
fire, they wore masks of animal-heads and animal-skin costumes.
The head of each household was given live embers to start a new
fire on his hearth which would last until the next autumn. It was
believed this fire would protect their homes from danger throughout the
year.
Jack-o'-lanterns
were originally carved from large turnips. The Celts carried these
carved lanterns through their villages in an attempt to ward off evil
spirits. Later, Irish
folklore resulted in a tale explaining the use of
“jack-o'-lanterns”: a man named Jack tricked the devil into climbing
a tree. Once the devil was in the tree, Jack carved a cross on the
trunk, “preventing” the devil from coming down. The devil then made a deal with Jack promising to keep him
out of hell after he died if only he would remove the cross from the
tree. After Jack died, he
could not go to hell, and he was not allowed to enter into heaven.
He was forced to wander around the earth with a single candle to
light his way. The candle
was placed in a turnip to keep it burning longer.
When the Irish came to America in the 1800's (during the potato
famine), they adopted the pumpkin instead of the turnip.
Along with these traditions, they brought the idea that the black
cat was considered by some to be reincarnated spirits who had prophetic
abilities.
What
about all those “kids” games like bobbing for apples?
The Romans honored the dead with a festival called Feralia,
conveniently dated in late October.
It was a festival to honor Pomona, their goddess of fruit trees,
who was often pictured wearing a crown of apples.
During this festival, they ran races and played games to honor
the “Apple Queen” and used omens such as apple parings thrown over
the shoulder or nuts burned in the fire in order to predict the future
concerning their marital prospects. When the Romans conquered the Celts,
they combined local Samhain customs with their own pagan harvest
festival. Bobbing for apples was derived from this blended pagan
celebration.
And
what of the old saying, “Trick-or-Treat?”
The Druids would visit house to house, knocking on doors and
requesting a “treat;” food, clothing, etc, for departed spirits
(which, no doubt, they kept for themselves.
They were clothed in their animal masks and skins, and carried
candle-lit, carved turnips, (or sometimes squashes) to ward off evil
spirits, as mentioned before. If
the party of the house denied their request for “treats” then they
would pronounce a curse on the household with their powerful magic, and
summon demons, nymphs and devils to torment the property, livestock, and
family of the household. These are the “tricks.”
Conveniently this was a day when the moon was full, the most
“sacred” time of the month for occultist practitioners, and the
ominous for the superstitious.
What is the Christian to make of all this?
What directive should the Christian think about concerning this
holy day in pagan history which now invades itself into our homes
through advertising, and in the common market through selling its wares?
Should a Christian
partake or relate to the unfruitful works of darkness?
Ephesians 5:11-12 says, “And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame
even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.”
What does it mean to have “fellowship?”
The word derives from the Greek “koinonia” which means,
literally, “commonness.” Those
who follow the Lord should have no commonness with the unfruitful
works of darkness. Halloween
is filled with darkness. Dark,
evil, wicked occultist practices makes Halloween Halloween.
The Bible specifically commands us to avoid every kind of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22).
How could we possibly, knowing the Bible condemns the practices
and ideas of Halloween as intrinsically anti-Christian, partake in such
a day?
The Old Testament is leavened
with a multitude of verses which condemn occultism and its practices,
and to avoid them completely: Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus
7:26; Leviticus 17:12-14; Leviticus 19:26, 31; Deuteronomy 12:31; 2
Kings 17:16-17; 1 Chronicles 10:13-14; 2 Chronicles 28:3-4; 2 Chronicles
33:1-6; Isaiah 8:19; Jeremiah 10:2; Ezekiel 20:31, and many others.
Deuteronomy 18:9-14 is one of the more explicit pericopes
covering an overview of the occult practices to disdain, “When
you are come into the land which Jehovah your God gives you, you shall
not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations.
There shall not be found among you he that makes his son or his
daughter to pass through the fire, that uses divination, that uses
auguries, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or one that
inquires of a spirit of Python, or a soothsayer, or one that consults
the dead. For every one
that does these things is an abomination to Jehovah, and because of
these abominations Jehovah your God does dispossess them from before
you. You shall be perfect
with Jehovah your God. For these nations, which you shall dispossess, hearkened unto
those that use auguries, and that use divination; but as for you,
Jehovah your God has not suffered you to do so.”
The strongest word in the Old Testament for wicked actions,
besides the word “wicked” itself, is the word “abomination.”
These practices are abominable.
They are
abominable whether they are just for fun, or for real.
God desired that his people abhor such practices, and rid the
land of those who practice such evils.
Exodus 22:18, “You
shall not let a witch live.” They
were to kill them and liberate the land of the abominable practice of
witchcraft and sorcery.
The sign or symbol of a thing
is not the thing itself, but a representative of the thing.
For instance, the Lord’s Supper is a sign or symbol of the body
of Christ – not the body itself. Halloween, in its essence, is representative of wickedness,
and a host of abominable practices condemned by God.
This means that those who practice Halloween are representing
those abominable practices even if they dress their children up in a
clown’s outfit instead of a vampire’s cloak. The
Druids did not wear costumes which represented Frankenstein, or the
Mummy. They wore outfits of
animal skins; bears, wolves, and the like.
They were not “horrific”
perse; much like the Halloween
costume of a clown. The
outfit does not make Halloween evil, rather, Halloween dictates that the
participator wear an outfit. And
the outfit, whatsoever that may entail, represents the wickedness of the
day, and glorifies the devil – even if it is simply a cowboy outfit.
Its not the outfit, but the day which his necessarily wicked.
So, what should the Christian do?
“Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (Rev
18:4).”
Halloween
is a festival based on fear (think about the “fun” of a haunted
house). The Druids were
power-hungry sinners who desired to gain control over others for their
own purposes, quickly. This
is at the essence of “witchcraft” which literally means
“manipulation.” In
complete contrast, however, the Scriptures replace fear with love.
2 Timothy 1:7 says that the Spirit of God has not given us a
“spirit of fear.” The
fear in this passage is for the Lord, and His ability to judge and
dispose of men in hell. Men
are afraid of a God who can do this.
They have a spirit of fear – they are afraid.
Rather, those who are saved and regenerated by the Spirit of God
gain a spirit of love. This
is obtained from the fruit of the Spirit, and knows no place of fear, or
being afraid (reverence - yes, fearfulness - no).
Why would the Christian desire to entangle themselves in any
variety of fear at all? Does
the Christian realize that fear, in its root, is a fear of death?
The sting of death has been done away with in Christ.
When someone attends a “haunted house” or a “scary movie”
they jump in fright because they are housed in mortal bodies that can
experience pain and suffering (a foretaste of hell).
They are scared to die, but receive a type of exhilaration from
their “brush with death.” This
is the result of a twisted and perverse fallen soul.
Why would they want to glorify fear, dying, and death?
Why do they enjoy it? It
is part of the curse and fall of man (cf. Genesis 3).
How much ground should the Christian give the devil?
Is there any room for compromise?
No, there is none. The
Christian should have a holy hatred of the devil and everything he
represents. “Give no
place to the devil, (Eph. 4:2).”
Halloween represents all that the devil loves and propagates
against the holiness of God’s character.
When Christians participate in occult festivals, they are
ascribing glory of the lord Samhain, the devil, the god of this world.
They may ease their conscience by saying they are worshipping
God at their Fall Festival, the true Lord of the harvest, but when has
God ever inaugurated this kind of worship?
I have no qualms about having a costume party on June17th, or
February 12th, insignificant days (provided the costumes are
not degrading or evil). Costume
parties are not the issue, nor are they sinful in and of themselves.
It is the festival of Samhain which is the issue; it is
Halloween. Will Christian
parents plan a costume party in July instead of October 31st?
No they will not. Why?
Because they desire to make their children happy and fit in with
the neighbors. Christian parents should be teaching their children to hate
worldliness, not thriving after it. “You adulterous generation, do you not know that friendship
with the world is enmity towards God? Anyone who is a friend of the
world is at enmity with God” (James 4:4-5).
If a Christian participates in this unholy festival, they must
consider that the world is watching them.
For instance, let us imagine Jack is a next-door neighbor to Bob. Both have families with young children. Jack is a witch (warlock).
Bob is a Christian. Jack
and his family know that Bob claims Christianity as their faith.
On Halloween Jack dresses up the children and takes them
Trick-or-Treating, (before he brings them into the woods for his Wicca
rituals.) Bob dresses his
three children up as a beaver, a clown, and a cowboy. Jack dresses his children up as a hobo, a pirate and a ghost.
What will Jack think? As
much as Bob may explain “it is just for the kids,” Jack is actually
at liberty to expound the significance of the influences Bob is exposing
his children to. This is
the reverse to evangelism since Bob wanted the children to have
“fun.” If Jack is a
thinking man, he will quickly see the hypocrisy in Bob’s involvement
with Halloween as a professing “holy” Christian, one who says he
desires to follow Christ.
The previous situation may
even escalate to a greater level. Bob
may tell Jack that he is going to his church’s Fall Festival held as
an alternative to Halloween. Why
do Christians need alternatives to pagan festivals?
What is this? What
do they think they are missing by not worshipping all that is cold, dark
and dead? Why are they out
to redeem the unredeemable? The Fall Festival is supposed to replace Halloween by taking a
day surrounded by demonic influences, and regress nostalgically to the fall
festivals of the Druids. The
Druids were engaged in many of the same ideas of celebrating fall as the
Fall Festival purports. Does
this make sense? The only
difference in its outward manifestation is that the Druids sacrificed
animals and humans while worshipping a pagan idol, and the realm of
nature, where Christians are having “fun” (not worship) around a
Fall Festival they are trying to reclaim back for God.
When was God ever in dire need of reclaiming pagan influences,
or demonic worship back to Himself?
The Bible speaks vehemently against the practices to do away with
them, not reclaim them. There is nothing inherently good in them to reclaim!
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power
of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:10–12) Where is the voice of reclamation here? The Scriptures tell us to fight against the wiles of
the devil (and principally that means in every way). Opening ourselves up to the spiritual warfare of the
malicious devil by candidly partaking in a day which has its roots in
the person and work of the devil cannot be accepted by the Christian who
is reading their Bible. God
exhorts us vehemently, “Learn not the way of the heathen (Jeremiah
10:2).” Paul exhorts us
in another context that “…I would not that ye should have fellowship
with devils (1 Cor. 10:20).” Why
would we want to? Rather,
“Submit yourself to God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you
(James 4:7).” Resist him!
Do not make him attractive by decorating the sanctuary of God
with leaves and bushels of hay and dressing up the children as clowns or
cowboys.
The unregenerate and reprobate
are attracted to the macabre. The
Christian should never be attracted to such filth.
When the book of Philippians exhorts the Christian to think about
that which is lovely, noble, etc., the devil exhorts the lost to think
on that which is ghastly, gruesome, horrific, grisly, chilling, morbid,
and down-right disgusting. Why
is the populous at large so enamored with the horror movies of today?
The answer is actually quite easy: they are servants of sin, and
sons of the devil. God has
given them over to a debased mind that they would not do that which is
fitting. You would be
appalled at me if I documented the sexually deviant, and gruesome
details of the worship of the Druids, or of witches, or of Satanists
even in our own day. You
would be repulsed and sickened.
But these people love Halloween, and mark it as a special
day. The Christian
ought never to do this.
Some may attempt to reclaim
the day under the guise of godly means such as, “Why can’t we use
the day to win others over – to be all things to all men?
I give out candy at Halloween to spark up conversations with
those who come to the door and to distribute tracts about Christ.”
Ok, then be consistent. Let
us go to the brothel, pay for the prostitute, rub shoulders with her,
and then witness to her. Then,
let us go to the nude beach and witness to them as well.
Of course we would have to remove our clothes to get onto the
beach, but it is for a good cause – the witness of Christ!
We could even do this on some of the public beaches, especially
around the muscle bound males or the barely clothed women sun-tanning on
the shoreline. They need
Christ too! Come now, let
us be all things to all men! Why
stop at Halloween? Or would
we wait until a more opportune time where temptation and sin are
not knocking at our door? (This
is like the fallacy of missionary dating.)
We are to be separate from the darkness of the world.
Such things should not attract us.
If they do, then there is something dreadfully wrong with our
Christianity, or our misguided interpretation of the Bible.
Why not witness to those who participate in Halloween before
Halloween, or on the day after Halloween?
Why not witness in protest of the day by removing your
child from the school’s Halloween party?
Why not be true light in a dark world, not a confusion to them!
The Bible is explicit in
that it commands us to be sons and daughters of light, those opposed to
darkness. John 12:46, “I
am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should
not abide in darkness.”
John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I
am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
John 3:19-21, “And this is the condemnation, that light
is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may
be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” Romans 13:12 “The night is far spent, the day is at
hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on
the armour of light.”
2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “Be ye not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? And what
communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will
dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch
not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a
Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty.”
1 Peter 2:9-12, “But ye are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not
a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,
abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against
you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
1 Corinthians 10:18-22, “Behold Israel
after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of
the altar? What say I then? That the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in
sacrifice to idols is any thing? But
I say, that the things that the Gentiles sacrifice, they
sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have
fellowship with devils. Ye
cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be
partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke
the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”
The Bible calls men wicked and evil who partake and relate to
such abominations as Halloween. Manasseh,
one of the most wicked kings of Israel, did evil in the sight of the
Lord. “…He observed
times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a
familiar spirit, and with wizards (2 Chronicles 33:6).”
The word “dealt” in Hebrew is “mar’arab”
which means “setting place.” Where
one would sit down and discourse with another, or come into relationship
with another. It is the point of interaction.
What is the point of interaction with those who come into contact
with the principles of Halloween? The
Ephesians who were converted burned their books of magic – they wholly
gave them up. They did not
desire a continued relationship with darkness since they knew that had
been delivered from the dominion of darkness.
You cannot sit in the foyer of the devil’s castle and say
you are not visiting his home.
What, then, must the Christian
do? I believe Halloween and
all its darkness is biblically condemned.
The Christian ought never to partake in it.
However, there is an alternative.
I can hear you now, “Wait! Wait! You said no alternatives two
pages ago!” No, this is
not what I mean as an alternative. I am speaking in the scope of the entire paper.
I do not mean that we should substitute Halloween for something
else. No, not that at all. Rather, we must renew our thinking to disregard Halloween all
together, and hold steadfastly to a real Protestant watershed event in
the history of the church. The
Reformation is something we should have known about long before
Halloween ever came into the American picture.
The Devil is constantly
involved in taking the believer’s eyes off of what his eyes should be
on – the truth of Christ’s grace.
Halloween is a macabre sort of “fun” to our fallen natures,
and we desire to involve ourselves with all that is cold, dark and dead.
But what we should be setting our eyes on are those things
relating to, and surrounding, the Gospel and the grace of God.
“Coincidentally,” (providentially!)
the full birth of the Reformation was on October 31st and then flamed on November 1st.
After the Roman Catholic church had been influenced by these
pagan days and claimed them as “All Saint’s Day,”
they had special vigils in church for that special occasion of
remembering the long departed saints who had gone before.
Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk who was wrestling with the
grace of God, placed in order a set of propositions against the tyranny
of the Roman Catholic church and their misconceptions about grace.
Luther wrote out 95 theses on a large parchment, in Latin, and
hung them on the door of Wittenberg’s chapel on October 31, 1517,
where he knew the priests and monks would see them the next day during
church service. The nailing
of his thesis on the door of the chapel sparked a great anger between
the Roman Catholic Church and the rising questions of Luther. Ultimately, the Protestant (protesting) church came to light,
and the once hidden Gospel under the darkness of a Roman Catholic cloak,
was in full glory. This is
a watershed point in the history of the church.
Any Christian who acknowledges the grace of God should be ashamed
of their ignorance of this. They
cannot ignore it. Many
churches set specific events surrounding this time at church and in the
homes of family to commemorate the time when God providentially and
sovereignly poured out His grace on men like Wycliffe, Hus, Luther,
Calvin, Beza, Bullinger, Latimer, Cranmer, and others.
Reading selected passages from history, playing games surrounding
the Reformation, and like ideas concerning grace are often inaugurated.
At that time grace was seen for what it truly is – sovereign
grace. Here is our
joy in the Gospel. The
Protestant Church ought to be celebrating Reformation Day, not
Halloween. Halloween should
be detestable, and the reality of Reformation should be sweet to the
Christian. The Reformation
is a holy convocation of God’s grace realized in the lives of the
regenerate. Do not trade
Halloween for the Reformation, simply realize that October 31st
is the day of the Reformation which is commemorated.
It is mutually exclusive to the pagan holy day of All
Hallow’s Eve, or Halloween.
Might
we be exhorted?
“Learn not the way of the
heathen.”
Jeremiah
10:2 |
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