What’s wrong with Halloween?

What is a holiday?
a time to celebrate and remember

Holidays are usually the most enjoyable days of the year, when family and friends gather together to eat, play games, and just plain enjoy being together. The word holiday means different things to different people around the world, but when I say holiday, I'm referring to a repeating celebration on the calendar, not necessarily a vacation. Holidays almost always have a very special meaning. For example, your birthday could be considered a holiday, because it is a day set aside every year to celebrate your birth. Christmas is a holiday set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the one Who came to earth to die for our sins. Resurrection Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and the U.S. Thanksgiving Day was created to thank God for His love and care.

Celebrating God's Enemy?

Unfortunately, there is one day that many people consider a holiday that ignores God completely. On October 31st of every year, millions of people in America and around the world celebrate “Halloween” (also known as the Day of the Dead). Many of these people view Halloween as a harmless day where children dress up in costumes and go door to door in their neighborhood asking for candy, but there are others who take Halloween very seriously. To some, Halloween truly is a “holy” day because it is set aside to worship the devil. Satan hates God and mankind very much, and wants to hurt us all. So it should make Christians very sad that so many people want to celebrate a day which was meant to give glory to God's enemy and hellish things.

What should followers of Christ do? Pray!

Maybe you want to know if it's okay to have a “Harvest Festival” or a “Harvest Party” on October 31. Here is a suggestion. Instead of having a party on the same special day that people worship our spiritual enemy, invite your friends over and ask them to pray with you. Pray for the safety of children that are out trick-or-treating. Pray that God would prevent people and even animals from being hurt or killed because of this day.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that we are in a war against Satan and his allies. It also tells Christians what to use as armor to protect ourselves (verses 13-17). Then in verse 18, I believe we are given the weapon: prayer. All you have to do to find out how powerful prayer can be is read the Old Testament; nearly every amazing thing that happened was a result of prayer.

You can still have a holiday…

If you want to have an autumn party, I suggest making it a celebration of life and God's goodness. Thank God that He provided a way for us to be saved from our sin and to live with Him forever, instead of being separated from Him for eternity. If you want to have a party, why not hold it sometime earlier in the fall, instead of on the day which celebrates God's enemy, death and ghoulish things? Set aside the 31st as a day to pray for all of those who are still trapped by Satan's lies. Don't help support a “holiday” which is based on bad things.

Romans 12:21 says “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Even when everyone around does things that are not good, we need to stand up for what is right. We should not let Satan have the victory on October 31, but we should use our powerful weapon of prayer against him.

What does the Bible say?

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 (“Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”) James 1:27 (“keep oneself from being polluted by the world”) 3 John 1:11 (“do not imitate what is evil”) Romans 12:9 (“abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”) Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (do not learn to imitate detestable ways, including spiritists, sorcerers and witchcraft) Ephesians 5:11-12 (“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness” / “live as children of light”) 1 Timothy 4:1 (don't “follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons”) 1 Corinthians 10:21 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 (“what fellowship can light have with darkness?”) Philippians 4:8 (think about pure, lovely, noble things) 1 Corinthians 11:1 (“follow the example of Christ”) 1 Corinthians 10:31 (“whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God”)

James 4:7-8 (submit yourselves to God / resist the devil / purify your hearts) Ezekiel 44:23 (“…teach my people… to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.”) Proverbs 22:6 (“train a child in the way he should go”) Matthew 18:6 (“if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin…”) Hosea 4:6 (“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”) John 3:19-20 (people love darkness instead of light) Romans 13:12 (“put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”) Ephesians 6:11-18 (“take your stand against the devil's schemes.”) 1 John 5:19 2 Chronicles 7:14

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