My earliest memory of Halloween occurred when I was six or seven years old. I have two memories with that Halloween. My brother and I each got a Scooby Doo and Shaggy plastic costume (the semi hard plastic face mask with the elastic band to hold the mask tightly against your face and the plastic drape that covered most/all of your body). Without looking at a photo for proof, I don’t remember who was which. But our parents took us through the neighborhood (more specifically, just down one side of the street) to knock on doors that had a porch light to say “trick-or-treat” and await whatever candy loot we received. To our disappointment only two of the 6-8 houses on our side of the street had a porch light on and only one answered the door looking at us like we were insane but was able to scrounge up some form of candy for us. The second memory was at the Baptist church we attended for a while. The kids were invited to attend a “haunted house”. The entire evening consisted of a maze we had to crawl through on our hands and knees with either black plastic or blankets draped over metal folding chairs. Inside this “dark” maze were various objects to allegedly illicit fear. Once the youth completed the maze (which we had to continue to line up and go through until we were told to stop) the youth pastor stood at the end of it with a water pistol or squirt bottle and would squirt the kid in the face. I think I went through the maze four times leaving only the last time to not be squirted in the face (to which I thought that was wonderful in of itself). Then we had room-temperature pizza. Finally we had to each sit on a balloon to pop it with a slip of paper that was inside that read a Bible verse. The youth pastor chided me for my inability to pop the balloon (at that time I may have weighed about 25-30 pounds soaking wet) with my bottom, so a sharp object had to be procured to finish the final game. Annually since the 1960s and beloved by many people, my parents included since the 1980s, is the “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”.
Halloween carries with it many a memory for many people. For some people, scary movies is the thrill (I never could get into them and after becoming a Christian I definitely would not). For some, it is a holiday for harmless to dangerous pranks. For some, it is a time of the occult and dark connections. For some, it is historical or theatrical. For some, it is a time to get bags of candy and seemingly innocent fun. For some, it is a time for dressing up to pretend to be someone or something else for a moment. For some, it is parties ranging from innocent to as dark or sinful as desired. For some, it is a time of fear where some Christians go into hiding or at least spend the evening in prayer. For some, it is a time—like any other time or opportunity—to present hope found in Jesus Christ. And for some, it is just like any other day that comes and goes like any other day.
But where did this Halloween begin and why is it special enough to have a day set aside for it. Briefly and according to Google AI, “Halloween originated around 2000 years ago from the Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts lived in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France. They celebrated the end of the harvest and the start of a new year on November 1. Samhain was a pagan religious celebration that welcomed the harvest at the end of summer. People would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. Over the centuries, Halloween has evolved from a pagan ritual to a day of: parties, costumes, jack-o-lanterns, and trick-or-treating. European immigrants brought Halloween customs to the United States in the 19th century (1800s). By the 1950s, trick-or-treating for candy had become one of the most popular activities. Today, Halloween is one of the biggest holidays for candy sales in the U.S. To which every avenue mentioned above wove its tapestry into whatever form of Halloween that people enjoy celebrating.”
For the Christian, many people feel that the Bible is rather silent. Puritans/Separatists chose to not observe any holidays if they were not founded or indicated otherwise in the Bible (Christmas included). Yet it were these people who were perhaps the most fearful and superstitious people in American history. So should Christians observe and participate in this single holiday day? What is acceptable and what is crossing the line? Should this be a day of fear or viewed no different than any other day? But above all else and if the aforementioned questions remain unanswered and we are just left up to individual conviction or preference concerning choice and behavior, does the Bible speak about the dark mysteries that seem to relate to Halloween?
So then what do we Christians do about Halloween? How should be view this? Since looking at it from a rules stand point is out of the question because it has a very weak defense and is not scriptural, we need to look at it from a spiritual stand point. And the simple matter is that there is God and there is the Devil. Lucifer was a created being in heaven. His job was to be the bearer of Light or to point the heavenly host who God is. This is partly done through song—this is why Lucifer was known as the “song service leader in heaven”. But simply his job was to point to and point others to God’s glory. When he rebelled against God and was cast down, Satan’s gaze turned toward man. The creation of man—male and female—were God’s crowning achievement and it was very good (Genesis 1:31). And our purpose is identified in Matthew 5:14-16 (Jesus speaking), “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” And because we were granted the role that Lucifer had and he was cast out of heaven for pride, Satan has sought to diminish that glory or light for thousands of years. And because mankind accepted a half-truth (or a lie) in Eden, our hearts—desire, obedience, will, passion, devotion—have been divided. John 3:19-21, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” Matthew 6:22-23, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 15:11, 18-20, “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man…But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” Romans 3:4, “…let God be true but every man a liar…” Romans 7:23-25 TLB, “but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin. So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside of me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free”. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. James 1:12-27, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world”. And then finally Philippians 4:8-9, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
I desired to lay out all of these scriptures—and there are certainly a lot more I could have pulled from the Bible—as a foundational understanding of the conflict that wars in our lives to live for God and not live for God, to stand for truth and to do things in secret, good and evil, Light and dark. And because of this, we find a host of people in the Bible who deal with this struggle. And by their exampleship, we find ourselves in good company as to why we, too, struggle with our walk. Unfortunately, there are some who depart from the faith for whatever their reason/s may be and sadly they spin off. And so for our specific and classic example, this is where I specifically would like to bring in two specific correlations with Halloween and the Bible. There are two common symbols, objects, people, whatever you want to call it that are common at Halloween: witches and costumes. And interestingly enough there is a single place in all of the Bible where these two items exist. So to help bring this to light, allow me to set the stage. For years Saul had attempted to get rid of David. Further, King Saul slipped further and further away from God as the years went on due to poor choices, pride, ego, etc. These were initially addressed by the prophet Samuel. And perhaps while the prophet Samuel was alive and Saul was initially obedient to God, 1 Samuel 28:3 said that, “Saul banned all mediums and diviners from the land”. In short, he banned witches and anyone who were not the priests of the Lord or a prophet like Samuel. But due to Saul’s dreadful falling away from God, David continuing to rise up on the Lord’s side in his character, and the enemy feared David more than they did Saul, it was no wonder that the Philistines rose up again to fight against Israel. Now these enemies were fought and defeated numerous times by David, but that is just like the Devil to keep wanting to pick, pick, and pick at us. If it isn’t condemnation, it is temptation, or it is complacency that we don’t have to fight or live for Jesus full-on as we once did. In short, battles have been fought and won, so who cares about finishing off the Devil to win the war? And this is where we find King Saul. He only had a fingernail-grip left upon his kingdom, the enemy was ready to fight to the death, and David was not at Saul’s side. Worse off, he sought for answers. A lesson I learned and heard from a wise man of God was, “when we refuse to see, God will make it so we don’t see”. And so this is where we find King Saul who is worse off than a last hope chance to make it out. God refused to speak through Saul’s priests and mighty men because they could not discern God any longer. It was this final time when God decided that enough rope was given to Saul for him to repent and get things right—and yet he refused at every level and opportunity—so now is the time when the noose begins to tighten around his neck. I hope we have never gotten this far away from God, and heaven forbid that we blindly think we are not that bad and still can easily “shake off the enemy” like Samson said, without realizing God has long since left.
So I wish to pick up from 1 Samuel 28:7-25 Common English Bible, “So Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who communicates with ghosts! I’ll then go to her and ask by using her techniques.” “There is such a medium in En-dor,” his servants replied. So Saul disguised himself, dressing in different clothes. Then he and two men set out, going to the woman at nighttime. “Please call up a ghost for me! Bring me the one I specify,” Saul said. “Listen,” the woman said to him, “you know what Saul has done, how he has banned all mediums and diviners from the land. What are you doing? Trying to get me killed?” But Saul promised to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you won’t get into trouble for this.” So the woman said, “Who do you want me to bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel,” he said. When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed at Saul, “Why have you tricked me? You are Saul!” “Don’t be afraid!” the king said to her. “What do you see?” The woman said to Saul, “I see a [man of God] coming up from the ground.” “What does he look like?” Saul asked her. “An old man is coming up,” she said. “He’s wrapped in a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed low out of respect, nose to the ground. “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Samuel asked Saul. “I’m in deep trouble!” Saul replied. “The Philistines are at war with me, and God has turned away from me and no longer answers me by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what I should do.” “Why do you ask me,” Samuel said, “since the Lord has turned away from you and has become your enemy? The Lord has done to you exactly what he spoke through me: The Lord has ripped the kingdom out of your hands and has given it to your friend David. The Lord has done this very thing to you today because you didn’t listen to the Lord’s voice and didn’t carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites. The Lord will now hand over both you and Israel to the Philistines. And come tomorrow, you and your sons will be with me! The Lord will hand Israel’s army over to the Philistines.” Saul immediately fell full length on the ground, utterly terrified at what Samuel had said. He was weak because he hadn’t eaten anything all day or night. The woman approached Saul, and after seeing how scared he was, she said, “Listen, your servant has obeyed you. I risked my life and did what you told me to do. Now it’s your turn to listen to me, your servant. Let me give you a bit of food. Eat it, then you’ll have the strength to go on your way.” But Saul refused. “I can’t eat!” he said. But his servants and the woman urged him to do so, and so he did. He got up off the ground and sat on a couch. The woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly butchered it. She took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread. She served this to Saul and his servants, and they ate. They got up and left that very night.”. This woman was a witch and King Saul dressed up in a costume to hide who he was.
So now that we know this, what does this have to do with the above? When our hearts continue to drift, compromise, or even choose to allow something into our lives that doesn’t bring honor to God or doesn’t keep us in the right mind (of God), then we choose to hide ourselves in our masks. We put on a church mask, a mask for work, a mask for family, and even a mask before God. We are willing to listen to unsaved people for advice on marriage, finances, relationships, commitments, etc. or unwilling to tests the spirits of those who are perceived to speak for God to verify if who they say they are is who they really are.
And this is the true, core, and heart matter. Forget the surface matters of can we bob for apples and dress up like a cat. When are hearts rip away, pull away, ignore away God and His desires, our hearts—time, devotion, affections, direction—one step at a time get pulled away from God. We substitute God for other things. We seek the praises of man more than the glory of God. We desire peace—an absence of conflict—rather than being where we ought to be. Years ago I heard a phrase, “there is no better place to be than the center of God’s will except His presence”. May our lives—true motives, our hearts, our will, our passions, our finances, our Calling/calling—be all the center of God’s will so that in His time we can be in His presence.