Friday, October 30, 2009

Halloween from a Christians prospective

A few years ago a good friend sent me this article so I thought I'd pass it along to you. I'm not sure where the article came from all I know is it gave me the chills when I read it. So, just in case you are not familiar with the origination of halloween you may want to continue reading....

As for me, yes, I did trick-o-treat when I was a kid and yes, I thought it was a fun thing to do, what kid wouldn't!?!

Even before having children of my own my husband and I stopped acknowledging halloween altogether, we think it's a dark and demonic event. Sure, we give out candy, in fact we give out bags of candy with this artical inserted in it.

I know.. you're probably thinking I'm some weirdo. But after reading this artical it made me realize just how the devil will do anything, even by using children, our children and your children to seem as though his darkness is a good thing. Well in my household we're not standing for it!

Please don't get me wrong, at times I do feel horrible that my son, at almost 4 wont be trick-or-treating. In fact, he does not even know what trick-or-treating is. I'm not posting this to stir up controversy just a little reminder that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life......

Here you go, please read on and I'd love to hear your kind thoughts...Happy Harvest!

Halloween What It Is From a Christian Perspective

Many Christians will allow and even encourage their children to pay respect to the devil on October 31 without knowing they do so.

Churches will fully sanction the event with parties that will be decorated with witches, cats, brooms, jack-o-lanterns and bobbing apples. What is the harm? How did this originate?

The custom of Halloween is traced to the Druid festival of the dead. Then the Roman Pantheon was built by Emperor Hadrian in 100 A.D. as a temple to the goddess Cybele and other Roman deities. It became the principle place of worship. Roman pagans prayed for the dead. Rome was captured and the Pantheon fell into disrepair. Emporer Phocas captured Rome and gave the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV in 609. He reconsecrated it to the Virgin Mary and resumed using the temple to pray for the dead, only now it was "Christianized", as men added the unscriptural teaching of purgatory.

In 834 A.D. Gregory IV extended the feast for all the church and it became known as All Saint's Day, still remembering the dead. Samhain, a Druid god of the dead was honored at Halloween in Britain, France, Germany and the Celtic countries. Samhain called together all wicked souls who died within the past year and that were destined to inhabit animals.

This celebration of the dead honored the god of the dead on this particular night. Druids believed that souls of the dead returned to their former homes to be entertained by the living. Bonfires were built atop hills so they might find their way. Suitable food and shelter was provided for these spirits or else they would cast spells, cause havoc, steal infants, destroy crops, kill farm animals and create terror as they haunted the living. The spirits demanded placating by giving them a type of worship and offering. This is the action that "Trick-or-Treat" emulates today.

The Samhain celebration used nuts, apples, skeletons, witches and black cats. Divination and auguries were practiced as well as magic to seek answers for the future. Black cats were considered to be reincarnated beings with the ability to divine the future. During this festival supernatural beings terrified the populace. Even today witchcraft practitioners declare October 31st as the most conducive time to practice their arts.

The Christian church tried to eliminate the Druid celebration by offering All Saint's Day as a substitute. As Christianity spread over Europe and the British Isles, it attempted to replace the pre-existing pagan cult worship of Apollo, Diana or Ymir, but to no avail.

Although the outward forms of such worship disappeared, the belief in these deities did not. They found an outlet during the Middle Ages in the open practice of witchcraft which is presently enjoying a revival in many countries, including the U.S. In Germany the occult is considered more prevalent than in the Middle Ages. The deistic cults held periodic meetings known as witches sabbaths, and it is the same today with October 31st being of more importance.


Prosperity was promised to all who were generous donors, and tricks to all who refused during the Irish Druid event of trick-or-treat. The contributions demanded were in the name of Muck Olla, and early Druid deity.

Traditional Halloween symbols appeared in the U.S. during the late 1800's. Witches, black cats, death's head cut from a pumpkin, candles, masks, parties and pranks were used.

In rural areas, aggravating and destructive acts were done, such as removing gates and placing them atop barns. The same was done with outhouses and wagons.

The uninformed Christian has no idea that there truly are demonic spirits which are contacted and activated as people call out to them in jest or in seriousness. Every act around Halloween is in honor of false gods, which are spirits in the realm of the Satanic. Those who have been deeply involved in witchcraft and who are now free, declare that even those who say they worship spirits of nature are in actuality contacting the Satanic realm without knowing it.

To pray for the dead is against scripture. If one knows Jesus before death, their spirit is already with the Lord. Paul says to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord, II Corinthians 5:6. If one is an unbeliever at death, the scripture says there is no second chance as it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. Therefore, prayer for the dead is in opposition to God's Word and a pagan practice that became "Christianized". While living, one must make a choice "for" or "against" Jesus and that determines the destination at death of the spirit. No amount of prayer can reverse the decision made on earth by the person concerned while they were alive.

The Bible instructs us to have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness. Both Christian and Jew are forbidden to participate in the occult practices listed in Deuteronomy 18:10. Necromancing is the delving into contacting the dead. God said all such practice was an abomination to Him.

Some may reply, "But we only do this in fun...we don't practice witchcraft." That which represents Satan and his domain cannot be handled or emulated "for fun". Such participation places you in enemy and forbidden territory and that is dangerous ground.


Through the ages, Halloween has gone by various names but all have been tributes to the same dark force, Satan. There is no place in the life of the Church or the Christian for such participation.

2 comments:

Heather said...

Thanks for posting this article! I only went trick or treating a few times as a child, with my father (he wasn't saved at the time) and honestly, the years we didn't go, I couldn't care less. I have a 10 month old little boy and I don't plan on celebrating it with him and I'm not too concerned of him "missing out." Stay strong in the Lord and thanks again!~Heather

SmockLady said...

PLEASE! Check your facts, the bilbiography of these things. Halloween did NOT originate with Satan worship, Satan's birthday, or any such other things.
Also, did you know that the Boy Scouts of America are the ones who started Trick or Treating? Yes, they did. It was an organized thing to get the children off the streets and stop doing the "tricks" like TP-ing houses, egging houses nad so forth.

Here's an article my hubby wrote a few years ago and I posted it on my blog. My hubby is a graduate from a Reformed seminary and an ordained minister. He does not take research lightly. He has another article in the works based on new "iformation" and questions posed by many. Please read it. Gossip and spreading falsehoods is abad thing. http://thesmocklady.com/blog/what-about-halloween

Also, think about this: Christians, Halloween is one day your unchurched neighbors actually wanted you to visit them. What did you do?

also I wish I could comment with my own login and URL and lot be bound by the options here.

SmockLady, http://thesmocklady.com/blog