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October 26, 2013

Halloween and the Lordship of Jesus Christ

By Anthony Wade

What does the Bible say?

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Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  - Ephesians 6: 10-12 (ESV)

It is that time of year again. The time when Christians must decide whether to take a stand for what they claim to believe or sink further into the worldliness the church has embraced. When I think about Halloween, a Satanic High Holiday, what I am most taken aback by is the almost casualness that Christians approach the topic with. How mainstream Satan has managed to make his holiday amongst the very people who are supposed to be opposed to him. That it is the people that would dare question this that are crazy. But I want to challenge those presuppositions today and ask that you consider Halloween in light of the Bible - which is supposed to be what we live by. 

Let us start with the history of Halloween. It is not a matter of disagreement. Everyone knows that Halloween originated from Druidic worship of their god of death - Samhain. It was considered the day of highest spiritual movement. Where supposed good spirits and evil spirits roamed the earth. All of the traditional Halloween paraphernalia we see today comes from these early demonic practices by these occult followers. Dressing up in costumes, bobbing for apples, trick or treat - they all stem from these early practices dealing with evil spirits. I can hear the worldly Christians objecting already - but that is not what it means to us! We need to stop living in a Christian bubble where we think that our perspective means anything to the rest of this world. The Bible is clear on the existence and realities of the spiritual world. Just realize the truths contained within the key verses above. 

1)  The devil has schemes in place that he uses against us.The Bible also warns us to not be ignorant of them.  

2)  We are living within a present darkness. That is the world we live in. It is not all rainbows and puppy dogs. It is not what modern churchianity sells it to be. It is an evil world, ruled by its lord - Satan. We have been saved from this darkness and translated into light by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Beloved, this is foundational, not casual. 

3)  There are rulers and authorities over this present darkness. They are our enemies. We are not to play with them, marginalize them, or deny their existence in the way we live our lives. 

4)  We are supposed to be wrestling against these evil spiritual forces - not joining them in their holidays. 

Now, I understand for some this might be hard to swallow because it simply is not taught anymore within the seeker friendly purpose driven model. We are raising a generation of spiritually illiterate believers who have no idea how to wage spiritual war. But ignorance to that fact does not prevent them from being in the war nonetheless. There are consequences for ignorance. Do we think this is a joke? How does someone walk into an elementary school and casually kill 20 children? Demonic influence. How is it that so many youth today are involved in the practice of cutting their own bodies? Demonic influence. Don't believe me? Let me introduce you to the first "cutter."

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.  F or he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.  - Mark 5: 1-5 (NIV) 

Why did this man cut himself? Because he had an impure or unclean spirit. Beloved the world has not changed. The spiritual world has not changed. I know it is easier to stick our heads in the sands and think these are the things of movies but they are not. So I ask you, do you honestly think the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places care that you do not believe what they believe as you celebrate their holiday? That is right, Halloween is also a Satanic High Holiday. It is actually referred to as Satan's birthday. I want us to consider the words here of a former satanist, who thanks be to God was saved:

Satanists believe that October 31st as an "All Demon's Night." As one of the few times a year the spirit world and the physical world meet and a gateway, portal or vortex opens up, there is exchange of demonic power that has been earned throughout the year. All "Hallows' Eve" is a time of spells, curses, and demonic possession and power. Particularly for the witches, it is a joyous festival and major Shabbat. Our culture dilutes the real intent behind this, and we as Christians buy into it, whereas practicing cults understand the seriousness of this Holiday, and it is far beyond trick or treating.   So while our little children run from house to house and carnival to carnival, somewhere on this night children and animals will loose their lives as they are sacrificed to the Kingdom of Darkness in exchange of possessions and power. This is reality !!!

Halloween is also a high holiday within the pagan witchcraft religion of Wicca. They also believe that the veil between the spiritual and material worlds is the thinnest on this day. Are we getting this picture? Are we understanding what we are sending our children out into? Once again I can hear the objections - I am not celebrating it as a satanic holiday! Do you think that the prince of darkness cares what we think? Do you think that our refusal to see the truth for what it is alters the truth? Do evil spirits decide to pass by us because we are not considering this day for what it really is? 

The quote from the former satanist hits on the core of the problem. This is a matter of culture. That is the most common argument I hear from Christians when this topic is discussed. I have heard all of the arguments.

"I do not want to deprive my kids of a normal childhood!"

There is nothing "normal" about celebrating a satanic holiday. What we become afraid of doing is called parenting. The argument of "everyone else is doing it" is ridiculous. We take stands on other issues. We refuse to let our kids participate in sex ed or "tolerance" curricula if we feel it goes against our Christian values but not a tradition rooted in evil spirits and celebrated by satanists? 

"I don't want my kids to feel like they are weird or different." 

They are weird and different already because their parents no longer belong to this world! The Bible says we are sojourners and pilgrims simply walking through this world. We are not supposed to stop and pitch our tents towards Sodom. By admitting that we do not want them to feel different means we are admitting that we want them to become acculturated to the culture of the world! Then we wonder why they stray so easily when they grow up. Because we never stood for anything when they were young! 

"I only dress my kids up as angels and Bible characters!"

Once again, it is not about us. It is about what this day is. While you send your child off in their princess outfit, they are trick or treating with other kids dressed in the most evil and horrific of costumes. I have already seen this year on Facebook proud parents displaying their kids costumes. Witches, ghouls, zombies (of which there is a growing satanic fascination with in this country), and any other number of undead and evil representations. Do we seriously think this is lost on the impressionable minds of our kids? 

"Well, I am stealing back the day by having a harvest party, or a hallelujah party, or a trunk and treat, or by evangelizing door to door!  

First of all let me say that while it is not appropriate for us to participate in Halloween we certainly should provide tracts and candy for those who come knocking on our door. We should not close our door to people walking in darkness but rather show them the light. As to the altering of the satanic holiday, this is simply putting a bow on a rotting corpse. It does not matter what we want to call it. The day is what the day is. We have 364 other days of the year to go evangelizing so why are we choosing Halloween? We have to stop lying to ourselves to feed our worldly desires. We are stealing nothing back. We are in fact pausing our lives to acknowledge October 31 st,  when we should let it pass as if it means nothing to us - because it should mean nothing to us. 

"I don't want to be  completely irrelevant or even antagonistic to culture and those weird Christians on the block, the ones everybody tries to avoid because they believe that being for Jesus also means being against fun. "

These are the actual words of Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in an article he wrote defending the church's embrace of the Easter Bunny. But it is the same argument I hear regarding Halloween from many Christians. It is born out of the purpose driven mentality and the seeker friendly philosophy. It blurs the lines between what is right and wrong in favor of cultural relevance. It changes the gospel so that it is more palatable to unbelievers. Take out all that sin and repentance stuff and replace it with hyper grace and love. You want to celebrate Halloween? Knock yourself out! Pay no attention to the entire Bible. Pay no attention to the fact that we are supposed to be different:

"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless."You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.  - Matthew 5: 13-16 (NIV)

The "you" is referring to us beloved. But the church is losing its flavor. It is becoming more and more bland as compromise after compromise piles up. The Pope says that everyone goes to heaven and mega church pastors say they aren't "gifted" to preach doctrine. We are no longer that shining city on a hill. The beacon of hope for the lost. We are slowly becoming like the world. Inch by inch. Do you think that world doesn't look at our "hallelujah parties" and laugh? Shining city on a hill? No beloved. We are becoming hidden again. Blurred into the shadows of this world because we refuse to stand for what the Bible says we should stand for. Instead of seeking to be different from a world that is consigning everyone to hell we seek to be relevant to it. God help us. 

I understand this is not an easy teaching. I understand that as parents it is even harder. God never promised that following Him would be easy. I have gone through this before and still had people say to me - "so you think we should forbid our kids from Halloween?" To that I say - you have missed the point. YOU shouldn't want your kids to have anything to do with Halloween. Not only because of the obvious spiritual dangers involved but it is clearly not what God would want. 

Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don't participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.  - Ephesians 5: 6-11 (ESV)

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.  - 1Corinthians 10: 21 (ESV)

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.  - Proverbs 22: 6 (ESV)

Let us consider what God has to say. 

Reverend Anthony Wade - 10/26/2013



Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

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