Halloween...in December!

Hi there y'all! Well, you've already seen the strange title,"Halloween in December", and now I'll tell you what it means. We have been asked several times last month to do a post about why we do not participate in this certain "holiday". In this post I'll (try to) explain why we don't "celebrate" Halloween, even though it is long past it for this year... Here are a few biblical reference points to start off with...

•  Ephesians 5:11,"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."

• Romans 12:2," Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

• Third John 1:11, "Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God." 

• 1 Corinthians 10:31,"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

• 1 Thessalonians 5:21,"But test everything; hold fast what is good." 

•  Proverbs 22:6,"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

• 2 Timothy 1:7," For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

• 2 Corinthians 4:4," In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." 

And finally, maybe the most convicting verse:

• Joshua 24:15," And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 

These are just a handful of verses that pertain to this so-called 'holiday'.  Let's start with with our family's personal beliefs, then show how the Bible verses above back them up 100%!
I (Bekah) believe that the world is getting very close to end-times and Halloween is just one of the thousands of things the Devil is using to corrupt Christian minds before Judgement Day. (Don't misinterpret my words, I am not claiming that I *know when the end will happen, I just know it can't be too far off considering the world we live in.   *1 Thessalonians 5:2,"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.") 

 Although I have never heard of a church actually banning or preaching against Halloween in itself, come October 31 some churches have put out on their billboards: 'TRUNK OR TREAT' in a futile attempt to entertain children otherwise sent out by their parents as 'Frankensteins' or 'cute little witches'.  To me, this is a black and white issue. We should not try to search for the grey area. This is just one of the many (many, many!)  issues that Christians are happy to just ignore and brush off as not important. We can not any longer do so.
   Romans 12:2 says it all. "Do not be conformed of this world... but find out the will of God and do it."  
 I'm fairly certain God's will is not for us to mimic everything the world finds acceptable. The following was taken from THIS page. 

"You would have to agree with me that also today Halloween is most definently not a holy evening!! This annual event is far from the harmless, innocent tradition it is promoted to be. Many dread this "holy" evening as they think what could happen to them, their property, and/or their children! Consistent with its historical roots, this evening is charecterized by fear, and frequently arouses dormant fears in many. The fear generated by this event is symbolic of the fear which plagues so many in our moden, morally bankrupt world. It is a gripping fear for an unknown and very threatening future, a fear caused by a gnawing inner emptiness."

From my brief research on Halloween so I would be prepared for this post, I have found that "Alhallomass" (Later shortened to "All Hallowed Evening" and then the now well-known abbreviation "Halloween") was started by Druids who were afraid of being punished by the demons and spirits before "All Saints Day", November first.

 "These Druids believed that on the night before November 1 (October 31) Samhain called together wicked souls or spirits which had been condemned to live in the bodies of animals during the year which had just transpired. Since they were afraid of these spirits, they chose October 31 as a day to sacrifice to their gods, hoping they would protect them. They really believed that on this day they were surrounded by strange spirits, ghosts, witches, fairies, and elves, who came out to hurt them. In addition to this, they also believed that cats were holy animals, as they considered them to represent people who lived formerly, and as punishment for evil deeds were reincarnated as a cat. All this explains why witches, ghosts, and cats are a part of Halloween today."

Why some have the decidedly cock-eyed belief that Halloween is "Christian Holiday" is because in an attempt to convert more heathens in the Middle Ages, the Roman-Catholic church sweetened the pot, so to say, by allowing the former pagans to keep on celebrating some of their feasts. 

 "During the Middle Ages (about 600 years ago), the Roman Catholic Church at that time, decided to make the change-over from pagan religion to Christianity a bit easier, and therefore allowed the new converts to maintain some of their pagan feasts. It was agreed, however, that from now on they would be celebrated as "Christian" feats. So instead of praying to their heathen gods, they would now pray to, and remember the deaths of saints. For this reason the church decided to call November 1 the "Day of All Saints," and the mass to be celebrated on that day "Alhallowmass." In consequence of this, the evening prior to this day was named, "All Hallowed Evening" which subsequently was abbreviated as "Halloween." In spite of this effort to make October 31 a "holy evening," all the old customs continued to be practiced, and made this evening anything BUT a holy evening!"

  Now, as to the reason why not all Christians see it this way, it can be nothing more than what John 10:10 says,"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy."   

By using God's very own words, the Devil distracts us with worries that we are being too judgmental.
John 7:24 says,"Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." 
He seems to somehow twist it into saying,"Do not judge anyone for anything and do the things that they do so they know you accept them."     

So some of us tend to adopt worldly celebrations and so-called traditions only to ignore what God's Word, the Bible, says about it.


 Okay, I'm getting a bit off track here....






I have been saying how it happened but not what the Bible forbids about it.


Here goes.  Ephesians 5:11, "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."
This is what I am trying to do. Halloween is not just a happy little time to walk around the neighborhood collecting candy. May I instead suggest that it is an evil celebration that Satan has used to make the world accept his darkness as an every day happening?  



Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."  My explanation of the Ephesians verse above is much the same for this verse. "Do not be conformed" does not mean get as close to line of good and evil as you can without falling over, it means stay as far away from the evil workings of Satan as possible! Test everything before taking part. Just because they are not conducting a seance does not mean it's as innocent as it looks.

 
Okay, next verse. Third John 1:11, "Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God."  Below is a photo of a baby. Dressed as a monster. Something's not right here.  (This the most innocent photo. I just wanted you to get the picture. There are people who actually draw bullet holes and cuts on their babies!)
 


Does the photo above look like it's for the glory of God? 1 Corinthians 1:10,"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."   (There is no way I can possibly address unbelievers on this touchy topic but to (only) the Christians out there, please reconsider having anything to do with Halloween.)  Because it is NOT for the glory of God.


As 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says we must,"... test everything; hold fast what is good."  As hard I look, I can not bring myself to find anything 'good' about Halloween. While the things to test are abundant.


Proverbs 22:6,"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."  If we train up the children in this way of the world, the way of ignoring and embracing evil, that is most certainly the way that they will go.


2 Timothy 1:7,"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."  I do not feel a spirit of power or love, or for that matter a spirit of self-control in the goings on that surround this October holiday.   Instead the spirit of fear runs rampant!  God did not give the Christian a spirit of fear, but we all acquired one when Eve partook of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. In this way, Halloween has even deeper roots than we ever imagined.  If there was no fear attached to Halloween, then there wouldn't be a Halloween!   Even the simplest traditions of putting a candle in a carved out pumpkin originated from a spirit of fear. They were afraid of the demons. They were afraid they would not be accepted in Heaven.  They had *ungodly (*fearful) hearts.


2 Corinthians 4:4,"In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
We have been blinded by the god of the world, Satan.   A lot of people would say that they believe there are demons and a Devil, but not a Heavenly Father watching over them. This might be because they see more evidence of the former than the latter. We need to defy Satan and be the ones who show God to the world!

Joshua 24:15, "And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  I said this was the most convicting verse because in order to obey God, we first have to choose to follow Him.  If you are not a follower of Christ, than not one word I have said in this post matters. Not one. I say this because all humans by default are born with a spirit of sin and fear, ever since Cain all the way until now, 6,000 years later, every person has been born under that 'curse'. But as Christians we have the power to throw it off! He has given each person the ability to choose to follow Him.  It's amazing, is it not?  God loves us so much that He has given us a choice. He does not just drag us into it without our consent. The world does not understand this. They think we are forced to follow Him. But every human who professes Christ as their Savior has chosen  to obey God's Word, the Bible.

On this note, how can we only pick and choose what rules we follow?  Is it so hard to shun evil? It shouldn't be, but it is because of the Devil's constant hounding. Making us second-guess ourselves every step of the way!  But I say to you now, when you can't decide about something whether it is 'okay', just look to God's Word as YOUR final word.

You do not have to agree with me about everything, but you do have to study the Word and see what He says.



Well, this has been a pretty long post, that has taken several days to 'conquer'!  ;-)   If you have any questions that I have not discussed, please leave a comment below! 

                                                                Do you have any special convictions about this holiday?
                                                                           What are your church's views on it? 

Thanks for reading!

                                                                                  ~Rebekah

p.s.

The title was originally "Halloween... in November, that is how long it too for me to collect my thoughts on this touchy subject!   ;-)      Have a good day y'all!