An Argument Against Halloween

Before you begin reading the reasoning and arguments that will follow in this article, all I ask for the next few minutes as you read these words is that you put aside for the moment all of your previous opinions concerning the subject at hand and come with an open mind to the discussion that needs to be had. Put aside your childhood, your cultural upbringing, and the immediate response that this must be another form of legalism or anything that would otherwise hinder you from hearing what is being said, and instead approach this article with an unbiased, sound, and godly judgment. Can you do that for me? 

As you have read and can presume from the title, yes, we are discussing the holiday of Halloween and are asking the essential question, should followers of Jesus, otherwise known as Christians, take part in and celebrate Halloween? This may be controversial, but I believe it is a question that we should have all been asking a long time ago, and today, maybe more than ever. But before we get to that question, let us first determine what exactly we are asking, in other words, what actually is Halloween?

History of Halloween

Over two thousand years ago, the Celtic people began a tradition on a particular fall night based upon their belief that on this night, the realm between the living and the dead grew extraordinarily thin. Ghosts, spirits, and demons roamed the land of the living, plaguing households with curses, destroying crops, and raising mayhem in various supernatural ways. They call this night, Samhain. On this eerie night, many traditions began that sound all too familiar even today. They would have massive bonfires to ward away evil spirits. They would dress in costumes to disguise themselves from being haunted while they danced. Their religious priests, known as druids, practicing witchcraft, would perform the sacrifice of animals and crops so as to appease the spirits while offering many other gifts as well. 

On this night, families would not only attempt to ward off evil spirits but would delight in having their deceased loved ones come and visit their homes. They would make jack-o-lanterns and would do what they could to not be cursed with black magic and transformed into a black cat for example and many other various traditions to protect themselves while celebrating their dead.

On this night, believing that the spirit world was so close, their priests believed that they could better learn of the future by communicating with spirits. Therefore, they believed that this night was also their most opportune time to learn prophetic words for their communities and gain favor with the spirits. People would want their fortunes read to them and use many forms of divination and witchcraft to do so. 

For the Celts, this day was saturated with the supernatural, celebrating the dead, practicing divination, and other forms of witchcraft. Witches, black magic, and other ghastly tradition and pagan rituals were the norm to this pagan people and spawned a large array of practices that we even continue in our own culture. But for them, it was all very real, dangerous, and deeply embedded in the occult. This was their world, at least, until the Roman Catholic Church came through and converted much of Europe, including the Celtic people.

In the middle ages, the Roman Catholic Church devoted itself to rooting out pagan tradition and, in many cases, replacing it with new holidays that often carried over the same traditions but were repackaged under a new name. For Samhain, they replaced it with a day to commemorate the dead with prayer and to celebrate the saints. Taking place on November 1st, they called this day, All Saint’s Day, or as it was known then, All Hallows’ Day. By doing so, they excluded the pagan rituals and ceremonial practices, and drove out the witchcraft along with the witches, branding them as workers of evil. But despite their efforts, Samhain lived on, and taking place on the eve of All Hallows’ Day, was renamed as we know it today, Halloween.

From there, time continued through the ages, as well as Halloween. As the world changed, much of the traditions remained the same, and as the Celtic people migrated into the new Southern American colonies, so did Halloween. The traditions and ceremonies came along with the people to be practiced now in their new home. Many of the traditions became attractive to the new land it was taking place in, and more than just the Celtics adopted them until eventually even being commercialized around candy and children going out to request treats, or otherwise “trick” the innocent people of the town just as the spirits of old used to do. 

Today, Halloween is obviously much different than it once was, but even what is practiced in tradition is much the same as its origin. Most people might not view it in the same light as its past, but the same spirit still embodies the day we now celebrate. From costumes, witches, offerings, “trick or treats”, and even scares and frights, what made Halloween for the ancient Celtics is all depicted and celebrated even now in America. Many do not realize the history of Halloween, nor just how dark and pagan it is, but as Christians, we ought to know and not be naïve about such things. But if there is anything that we can learn or gather from its past, it is this: throughout the ages, from its beginning and all of its traditions, Halloween is deeply rooted in witchcraft, is saturated with the occult, and is inherently satanic.

Should Christians’ Participate in Halloween?

Therefore, with the proper understanding of Halloween and where it comes from, can we as practicing Christians consciously take part in a holiday that has its roots in witchcraft and the demonic? Can we clearly and rightfully say it is okay? At some point, we as the Church compromised and decided to take part in this occult holiday, but are we not meant to question all, and abstain from evil? Are we not meant to diligently follow Jesus while waging war against the occult?

When God led the Israelites out of Egypt and were instructing them on how to live, He gave them this command:

“”When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.” -‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭18‬:‭9‬-‭12‬ 

Today, the question is Halloween. Not only is it a pagan holiday in all rights, but it is inherently satanic as well. In its very roots are numerous traditions that God specifically names in just this command alone; from divination, fortune telling, mediums, inquiring of the dead, and more. When we honestly and carefully look at Halloween, it is no less than what God calls an abomination. 

In our nation’s history, Halloween has crept into what would otherwise be considered a Christian culture. It has repackaged many of its traditions into seemingly innocent fun and games. It has taken advantage of the season of Fall, and the commercialized business of candy has allowed it to become something that it is not. But, that does not make it anything less than what it is, a satanic holiday. 

As Christians, we are called to be beacons of hope for society. We are called to not conform to the world, but rather follow Jesus even if it seems weird and counterculture. It strikes me as odd that Halloween has become so completely mainstream that the Church does not bother even to question it anymore. At what point did we choose to compromise, support, and even encourage the participation of a satanic holiday that is steeped in witchcraft and the occult? And worse, when did we choose to sacrifice our children to it?

It is clear that Halloween has been repackaged today into something specifically targeting our children. Trick or treating, costumes, candy, and fun; it is designed to get our kids out into the streets to imitate the occult while being taught that the demonic is fun. Halloween is still the same holiday that it always has been. It is still celebrated by witches across the world and is still inherently satanic. So I beg the question, as Christians, it just does not add up and it is about time we wake up to this reality that just because a holiday has been embraced by our culture does not mean that we as followers of Jesus need or should take part in it. If anything, we ought to be waging war against a holiday such as Halloween.

Indoctrinating our Children

With all of that in mind, let us review what we have learned so far. Halloween might not be viewed by our modern culture as it was viewed by the Celtics two thousand years ago, but in many ways, it still retains many of the same traditions as it did back then. It still consists of costumes, trick or treating, and offerings to spirits in the form of candy to the dressed-up children. The day and entire month leading up to it are saturated with the occult, witches, ghosts, and demons. The supernatural is still celebrated, and many of the same rituals live on, even if stripped of their religious meanings. Halloween retains many of its same bells and whistles, but one thing has changed, for instead of being celebrated by pagan adults, it has been thrust upon our children. Not to jump to conclusions, but is that not a little suspicious?

The young are malleable, easily directed into new thought patterns, and molded by those who have direct influence over them. Their minds are young and unknowing, and unable to discern between what is good and bad. In fact, there is no better time than when they are young for the enemy of their souls to introduce them to his ways, and what better way to do so than to repackage the occult as fun, fictional, and even joyous? Yes, I am saying that Halloween is an attempt by Satan to introduce our children to the occult at an early age and indoctrinate them into spiritual wickedness. Allow me to explain.

For modern-day Halloween, many of the same traditions live on, but instead of adults celebrating their pagan holiday, we are now encouraging our children to participate in things that they do not understand. Think about it, two thousand years ago, the Celtics would dress in costumes to disguise themselves from the spirits. They would then offer “treats” to the spirits so as to not be “tricked” by them with harm. Our children are now the ones dressing up as the evil spirits and are now being offered “treats” to appease them into moving on to the next house. We dress them in costumes that imitate the occult. We saturate our culture and minds with ghost stories, movies about witches, and dark magic, and decorate our homes with occult symbols and depictions of evil. We treat these things as fiction, and yet they are not. All the while opening up our children to the evil that they should otherwise not be exposed to. Spiritual doors are being opened in our homes and in their minds that we are completely ignorant of all in the name of holiday fun. 

If you are a parent or someday desire to be, then consider this. We protect our children from many various things in this world. It is our job to shield them from that which could do them harm. We do not let our kids play violent video games because we do not wish them to learn or even adopt the things they do in the game. We do not allow them to watch R-rated movies because of the things they would see and learn from them. We do not willingly introduce them to things that are obviously ungodly, let alone read to them the satanic bible, do we? So why then do we turn a blind eye to a satanic holiday that specifically targets our children with the occult? Because everyone else is doing it? Because there is candy and decorations that they think are fun and appealing? If we take a moment to view this objectively, then we will see that it is simply ridiculous no matter which way you look at it.

What if you were to move to a foreign country such as India or Turkey and you discovered that there was a holiday celebrating the Hindu goddess of fertility, Parvati. Would you suddenly compromise your own faith for the sake of your child not missing out on the fun and send them into the streets wearing a costume of the pagan goddess? Or if there was an Islamic holiday celebrating Mohammed that encouraged children to embrace their heritage and religion by dressing up as Mohammed while going out into the streets to evangelize and be rewarded with candy in return, would you allow your children to participate? By no means! How then is a satanic holiday of witchcraft such as Halloween any different? 

Concluding Thoughts

I understand that this is a difficult proposition and I wish it was not so, for Halloween was a part of my childhood just as it was yours. It was a part of your parent’s childhood, and their parents before them, and so forth. It is so ingrained into our culture that it is not even a question anymore. Believe me, the thought of our children missing out on something that we experienced and cherished ourselves is not a simple thing to grapple with, but for their sake, we need to. In a day and age such as now where more and more people are testifying to practicing witchcraft, we ought to begin taking these things more seriously. At some point as the Church, we must look reality in the face and begin making some very difficult decisions on how we are going to participate in the culture that is around us.

I am not saying that we condemn one another if we do choose to participate in Halloween, but I am saying that we ought to begin questioning the things we do in our culture, and Halloween should be at the top of the list. As the Church, we must begin holding our ground and stop compromising ourselves in the name of conformity and instead turn the tables and begin being the ones influencing the culture for the Kingdom of God rather than being influenced. Yes, it will be difficult and complicated, but at the end of the day, it is our job to raise our children right and protect them from the things of this world. Looking at Halloween objectively, it goes without question that we should refrain from allowing our children to participate in a satanic holiday that celebrates witchcraft, period. Therefore, in reflection on this day that is deeply rooted in witchcraft, divination, and the occult, what will you do? I encourage you to evaluate these truths with the Lord before you jump to any conclusions and whatever you do choose, that is between you and God. But as for me and my family, we are choosing to stop conforming to this world and hereby refuse to allow our children to be indoctrinated by this holiday any further.

Scripture References:

_{-Deuteronomy 18:9-12}

_{-Matthew 5:14}

_{-Romans 12:2}

_{-1 Thessalonians 5:21-22}

Sources:

_{Pon, D. (n.d.). The Origins of Halloween. The origins of Halloween. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www.albany.edu/~dp1252/isp523/halloween.html} 

_{Bahn, Micaela. “Here’s the Real History of Halloween for All You Scary Story Fanatics.” The Pioneer Woman, The Pioneer Woman, 3 June 2022, https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/holidays-celebrations/a40178895/history-of-halloween/.} 

_{Voight, Heather. “Halloween and the History of Witches.” Heather on History, 28 Sept. 2014, https://heathervoight.com/2012/10/23/halloween-and-the-history-of-witches/.} 

_{“Deuteronomy 18: ESV Bible: Youversion.” Deuteronomy 18 | ESV Bible | YouVersion, Youversion, https://www.bible.com/bible/59/DEU.18.ESV.}