Should Christians celebrate Halloween?

Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31^st and has a very dark, spiritual history. It was influenced by the traditional ancient Celtic festival of Samhain; where it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. It also marked the end of summer, the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death; a day deeply linked to ghost and superstitions. The Celts believed they could commune with the dead more easily on this day, therefore they would light bonfires and wear costumes typically made of animal heads to ward off the evil, harmful spirits.

From the late 15^th century, people began wearing demonic outfits to represent winter spirts or demons. Individuals would mainly dress up as witches or the devil for Halloween. Witches use magic or supernatural powers to harm others and the Bible tells us that we should not be among those who engage in witchcraft, cast spells or consult the dead (Deuteronomy 18:10-11) and the devil is the embodiment of evil and God tells us that we should resist the devil (James 4:7).

Some may argue that they are dressing up as something that is not demonic, such as a superhero or an angel. Nevertheless, regardless if you want to dress up as something good or evil, the solid purpose of dressing up for Halloween came from the belief, that souls of the dead roamed the earth on this day and costumes would ward off the ghosts. There are also many people of today that still dress up as devils, skeletons and witches. The overall theme of Halloween is based on darkness and of death. As a Christian your duty is to refrain from contributing to this day.

The Bible also says we must not confuse evil with good. It is extremely dangerous to do this. Isaiah the prophet states: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Furthermore, the Bible proposes many scriptures that discuss darkness and evilness. For example in; 1 Corinthians 1-21 states: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons." In Ephesians 5:11 it tells us to ‘’Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.’’ In 1 Thessalonians 5:22 in explains that we must abstain from every form of evil. And to give no opportunity to the devil in Ephesians 4:27.

Should Christians celebrate a day that acknowledge evil, demonic spirits? Why would a person who states they believe in God participate in Halloween, a day that is full of darkness and wickedness, when the bible instructs us that we should separate ourselves from these things?

The scriptures tell us in Ephesians 6:10-12 that we must be strong in the Lord and put on the full amour of God, that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. To scheme, is to plot against someone’s life to defeat and triumph over. The Bible tells us that we are fighting a war against Satan, who seeks to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8).

We must wake up and put on the whole armour of God, not just parts of it, but all of it so that we can be made aware of the lies of the devil, withdraw from it and stand firmly in the Lord our God.

Stay Blessed x