The following is an excerpt from a booklet written by Pastor Scott Smith on the subject of Halloween entitled “The Hidden Horror of Halloween.”
Halloween has become big business and has sadly become a part of many Christians’ lives. So many are afraid that their children will miss out on the fun others are having that they will compromise on this one night of the year. The fact of the matter is that Halloween has always been, and it will always be, completely evil, and for Christianity to take any part of it is entirely absurd. There are hidden horrors of this night that men are not aware of, or worse, they have completely ignored them altogether.
In a dictionary dated 1870, entitled Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Halloween is defined as October 31, according to the Scottish superstition, as the time when witches, devils, fairies, and other imps of earth and air hold an annual holiday. That is very different from the definition found 120 years later in the Oxford Current English Dictionary, which defines Halloween as October 31, the eve of All Saints Day. These definitions show us how, over the 120 years from 1870 to 1990, we have redefined this day as acceptable rather than the day of evil. Yet, believe it or not, this night is the most important night of the year for witchcraft. This night goes back over 3000 years to the country of Ireland, to a small Celtic tribe. They saw this day as the last day of harvest and the first day of winter. They believed that the line between the world of the living and the world of the dead was unusually thin on this night. This, they claimed, allowed the souls of the dead to roam freely between the two worlds. This was a very magical time for them. They would take this day to honor the dead and harvest. They would leave food or sweets outside their homes, believing that doing so would appease the spirits that sought revenge. This is one source of the modern trick-or-treating that is so popular today. Although it looks pretty innocent, there’s nothing at all innocent about this night.
These rituals were carried on for many years until a man by the name of Constantine rose to power, having claimed to have seen a vision of Christ while out to battle. He began to send missionaries out to save these pagans from their ways and bring them to Christ. These missionaries soon discovered that this was not an easy task to accomplish. It was tough to persuade the pagans to change their ways. Thus, the church began to find ways to make Christianity more appealing. The church then began to absorb pagan holidays and declare them as Christian holidays. They declared November 1 as All Saints Day or All Hallows Day. This did not change the pagan. They continued dressing up like animal spirits and putting out sweets for the dead, but now they did it under a Christian holiday.
In the 1400s, the church began to hunt down the witches and burn them at the stake in 1517. Martin Luther, on Halloween night, started the Protestant movement, which opposed the church’s involvement with the mixture. In 1605, when Puritans came to America, they also bitterly opposed. Yet as immigrants from Ireland began to migrate to America, the customs of this night began to revive. Soon, Americans began to adopt these customs, trying to turn dark meanings into lighthearted fun. This is where children start to take over. Eventually, Hollywood would come along and seemingly tame Halloween.
The central theme of Halloween is the celebration of the dead. Druids, or high priest witches, consider Halloween a very sacred time. It is celebrated as the beginning of their new year. Amazingly, as you begin to look at this from the outside, you start to see very disturbing things. What other time of the year could these disturbing ideas, such as death, blood, gore, and fear, be so easily accepted? If your neighbor were to hang bloody body parts over his house in the middle of March, you would probably call the law, and you definitely wouldn’t allow your children to go over for a sweet snack! Yet on Halloween night, it’s all fun and games. It’s a night of playing with more than fear; it’s playing with spirits of hell.
The word of God has clearly told us that there is no fellowship with the light that is in a child of God and the darkness that is in such a night as Halloween. Therefore, if you feel comfortable entertaining this fear, the light of God cannot dwell within you. This fear that is entertained on this night is not of God. Fear is more than a feeling; it is a spirit not given by God.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but a power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
How can we hold to the knowledge that the perfect love of God casts out fear when so many are entertaining such fear? It could be your child or friend on a stone altar. You entertain spirits unaware. If we sow fear into our lives, we will reap the torment that fear brings. The Greek word for torment in 1 John 4:18 is defined as “infliction or punishment.” That is what is reaped when fear is entertained. Do you enjoy the thrill of Halloween? Do you enjoy a good scare? Psalms 11:5 speaks of that one who “loveth violence” of whom the Bible says the Lord’s soul hateth.” Can that be said of a child of God? Would Christ be found in a haunted house? It is our responsibility to pray against the works of Satan, not to join them.
If you would like a copy of this booklet, please get in touch with us. We would love to see this tool placed in the hands of churches.
Pastor Smith
