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Halloween- Should Christians Observe It? The October 31st holiday that we today know as Halloween has strong roots in paganism and is closely connected with worship of the Enemy of this world, Satan. It is a holiday that generally glorifies the dark things of this world, rather than the Light of Jesus Christ, The Truth. I believe born again christians should have no part of it. Origin of this holiday can be traced thousands of years back before the days of Christianity, to the ancient Celts (many of today's Halloween customs and traditions come from the Celts of what is now known as Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern France) and their priests, the Druids. The Druids believed that people needed to be cleansed after they died. The souls of the departed were transferred by magic to the bodies of animals.During the night of October 31, the enchanted souls were freed by the Druid god, Samhain [the god of the dead],and taken together into the Druid heaven.This festival was always accompanied by animal and sometimes human sacrifices and linked with all kinds of magic. In spite of the coming of christianity, this pagan festival continued to be observed until the sixth century Gregory the Great (A.D. 540-604) advised the Archbishop of Canterbury to retain the hitherto Druid sacrifices and celebrate them in honor of christians. Some trace the origins of present day "trick-or-treat" to Samhain, which was the supreme night of demonic jubilation. Spirits of the dead would rise out of their graves and wander the countryside, trying to return to the homes where they formerly lived. Frightened villagers tried to appease these wandering spirits by offering them gifts of fruit and nuts. They began the tradition of placing plates of the finest food and bits of treats that the household had to offer on their doorsteps, as gifts, to appease the hunger of the ghostly wanderers. If not "treated", villagers feared that the spirits would kill their flocks or destroy their property. God said, "Learn not the way of the heathen....." {Jeremiah 10:2} Professing followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who get involved with pagan "holidays" such as Halloween, are learning the way of the heathen. Born again christians are supposed to be the light of the world, but Halloween involves DARK practices as I said earlier, and christians should have nothing to do with spiritual darkness, especially because since "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." {1 John 1:5}, ".....and what communion hath light with darkness?" {2 Cor.6:14}. Halloween is of the devil, and the devil is evil, and christians are supposed to "Abstain from all appearance of evil." {1Thess.5:22} The Lord Jesus Christ "delivered us from the power of darkness" {Col. 1:13}, so we certainly don't want to wallow in it. The unsaved world can celebrate this pagan "holiday", but christians are not to be like the unsaved world, we are not to be conformed to this world as it says in Romans 12:2. I understand that children like to dress up and go out trick or treating to get candy, and it is all harmless fun to them. In my opinion, I would tell a parent to explain to their child about how trick or treating got started, if they are old enough to understand and just buy them candy and keep them home, but if they decide to let their children get in on the fun of going out and trick or treating, at least be with them and go to houses of the people they know. Trick or treating is not harmless fun a lot of the time, because many times, children have been known to get candy that had razor blades in them, and also, more children are kidnapped during this time of year for sacrifices to Satan than any other time, so it is not always harmless fun. Halloween introduces children to witchcraft and dark practices, and I don't let my children get involved with that. God Bless, Christopher
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