'and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus replied to them, “Yes; have you never read [in the Scripture], ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared and provided praise for Yourself’?”
Matthew 21:16
I enjoy facebook! I get to keep in touch with my friends and family, see cute dog pictures and encouraging Bible verses. There are times when I hang my head down and wonder why someone would post that, and other times where I applaud the post! Yesterday I was proud of a beautiful 4 year old named Camila.
"Today at Camila's appointment.
Doctor: are you ready for halloween?
Camila: mmmm no.
Doctor: oh you don't know what you want to be yet?
Camila: God don't like that."
There it is folks! Out of the mouth of a babe - Kingdom truth concerning Christ-followers celebrating this pagan holiday. I have been wanting to write a post about Halloween but wasn't sure how to approach it, but when I saw Camila's words I knew what to say!
Halloween is a pagan holiday and there is nothing in it to do with God. When I was a baby my mom was led by the Holy Spirit to look into the origins of Halloween and was told by the Lord not to raise my brother and I to participate in this pagan holiday. The Lord told my mom not to allow us to be involved in what our family church used to do on Halloween - Hallelujah Night. The Lord pointed out that even this was recognizing the holiday that to a Christ-follower should be like any regular day.
I found a great article from Bibleinfo.com that states the history of Halloween and shows from the Bible what our Father thinks about it. I'm not giving you the whole article; however, if you want more I have the link to it at the bottom of my post.
"The origin of Halloween as we know it, began over 1900 years
ago in England, Ireland, and Northern France. It was a Celtic celebration of
the new year, called Samhain which occurred on November 1. The Celtic druids
revered it as the biggest holiday of the year and emphasized that day as the
time when the souls of the dead supposedly could mingle with the living.
Samhain remained popular until St. Patrick and other
Christian missionaries arrived in the area. As the population began to convert
to Christianity the holiday began to lose its popularity. However, instead of
eradicating pagan practices such as “Halloween” or Samhain, the church instead
used these holidays with a Christian twist to bring paganism and Christianity
together, making it easier for local populations to convert to the state
religion.
Today costumes take the place of disguises and candy has
replaced fruits and other fancy foods as children go door-to-door
trick-or-treating. Originally trick-or-treating began as “souling,” when
children would go door-to-door on Halloween, with soul cakes, singing and
saying prayers for the dead. Over the course of history Halloween’s visible
practices have changed with the culture of the day, but the purpose of honoring
the dead, veiled in fun and festivities, has remained the same. The question
remains, is celebrating Halloween bad or unbiblical?
Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?
As a logical thinking person, consider for a moment what you
are celebrating and what Halloween is all about. Is the holiday uplifting? Is
Halloween pure? Is it lovely, praiseworthy, or of good report? Philippians 4:8
says, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Is Halloween based
on godly themes such as the idea of peace, freedom and salvation or does the
holiday bring to mind feelings of fear, obsession and bondage?
Additionally, does the Bible sanction witchcraft, witches,
and sorcery? On the contrary, the Bible makes it clear that these practices are
an abomination to the Lord. "When you come into the land which the Lord your
God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those
nations. There shall not be found among you...one who practices witchcraft, or
a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures
spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who
do these things are an abomination to the Lord.”
Is it wrong to celebrate Halloween?
Let’s look at what the Bible adds to this topic in Ephesians
5:11, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
expose them.” This text is calling us to not only have no association with any
type of dark activity BUT ALSO to shed light upon this topic to those around
us. As stated earlier in this article, Halloween was not exposed by the church
for what it was, but rather was incorporated into church holy days. Are
Christians responding in the same way today?
As you think about Halloween—its origins and what it stands
for—would it be best to spend time dwelling upon its themes or to shed light
upon what lies below the surface of this holiday's celebration. God is calling
humanity to follow Him and to "come out from among them, and be ye separate,
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:17)."
If you are a Christ-follower who celebrates this pagan holiday I pray you will think on if this is something Jesus would do - does our King want you doing this? There are other times in the year where your kids can have the opportunities to dress-up and eat sweets: a costume birthday party, a box of play clothes to do dress play, or family game night silly style! (Pics from my different dress up birthday parties over the years and a Valentines Day treasure hunt!) As followers of Christ we are supposed to look different from the world, so don't feel bad that you aren't doing what the crowd is doing.
Honor God and set Him first in all you do. If you see/hear something and what pops to mind is "God don't like that" don't stop to check it out, just keep on walking!
"15 But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your conduct [be set apart from the world by your godly character and moral courage]; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy (set apart), for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16
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