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• Participation
I grew up celebrating Halloween in the typical sense- candy, costumes, and carving pumpkins. It wasn't my favorite holiday when I was little and it wasn't the most important one, (I don't even think we celebrated it every year) but celebrated none the less.
• Fascination
As I got into high school, things began to change. I was obsessed. Not with the horror and demonic and witches (I knew better than that...) but with the atmosphere of the season. It was chilly, spooky, thrilling, and exciting. Halloween colors, decor, and candy physically gave me a dopamine release. I was all about it.
I dressed up, went to horror movie premieres at midnight on Halloween, did a "ghost tour" at my college and participated in taking to the dead. I also desperately wanted to get married on that day with each guest in attendance dressing up and me in a black gown (thank God Michael disapproved!)
• Redemption
Once married, I started to think about Halloween differently. My husband's family wasn't allowed to celebrate Halloween so the love of my life didn't share my love for the holiday. I didn't understand the big deal his parents were making and we were "adults" now who could do whatever we wanted [insert face palm]. I desperately tried to convince him to see my side so I wouldn't have to give it up. I believed one of the biggest lies- that you can celebrate Halloween AND give glory to God. By dressing up and going to church I thought I could "witness" to others about Christ. I thought if God knew my heart and (that I didn't want to worship Satan) then He would approve. I dressed my kids up, continuing in traditions, naïve to the reality.
• Edification
Recently I have been exposed to tremendous Christian authors and ministers like Derek Prince, John Ramirez, Isaiah Saldivar, and Vladimir Savchuk. They have taught me, along with Pasor James Masionneuve, that spiritual warfare is real and that God has commanded us and given us His authority to fight this battle of the mind.
It was John Ramirez, an ex-satanist warlock who talks in his books of how powerful the holiday was for them that changed my mind for good. He explained that by dressing up “you give the devil the legal rights to change your identity.”
He also mentioned how "Anton LaVey, author of The Satanic Bible and founder of the Church of Satan, said, 'two major holidays, Halloween and Walpurgisnacht are celebrated by the Church of Satan. I am glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night out of the year. Welcome to Halloween.' ”
It was Isaiah Saldivar who asked the question "what is redeemable about a holiday that glorifies Satan?" This really got me thinking about my actions and what I am demonstrating to my children.
• Rejection
Starting this year (2021), our family will no longer take part in Halloween. Some may not understand our decision and hopefully this message will help clarify. After researching the origins and experiencing the effects of what opening doors to the demonic realm can do to my life, I no longer can justify even "redeeming" the holiday. We will choose to focus on our role of being the light of the world and start our own God-honoring traditions.
"But if we should walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."- 1John 1:7
"Do not be unequally bound together with unbelievers [do not make mismatched alliances with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" - 2 Corinthians 6:14
Summary:
Deuteronomy 18:9-13 says the following: “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritism or who consults with the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord”.
• This holiday celebrates death, darkness, and fear. None of these are of God or honor God.
• Celebrating Halloween opens doors to the demonic realm. I've seen first hand the effects that opening these doors have and it is literally soul crushing.
• Teaching my children that celebrating Halloween is ok is hypocritical of me. You either honor God with your life or Satan. There is no middle ground.
• I don't want my family to have anything to do with a holiday that celebrates contact with the dead, offers sacrifices to Celtic deities, or gives any power to the devil.
Pastor Vladimir Savchuk states my feeling perfectly:
As always, the choice is yours, however, here are a few things to think about:
• It promotes fear. As Christians, we celebrate faith. We are believers who belong to the household of faith and our lives revolve around it. We have the gift of faith, and are called to live lives of faith because that is what pleases God! The Bible says that “perfect love casts out fear…” it does not celebrate it (1 John 4:18).
• It promotes darkness. Jesus is the light of the world and we are called to be a reflection of His light in this dark and broken world. The Word of God is Light and nothing about Christianity revolves around darkness.
• It promotes death. The only death we remember is Jesus’. It defeated the grave and death. We believe in the cross, not in a skull! As Christians we believe in the Holy Spirit and in Him alone are we to rely on for guidance and direction in our lives – not the dead, and not any other spirit from “the great beyond.”
If we imitate the world, we will lose our distinction; but, if we isolate ourselves entirely from the world, we will lose our influence.
Christians need to engage the culture if we expect to make an impact, but the Bible is clear about not conforming to our culture.
We don’t celebrate Halloween because it promotes fear, darkness, and death."
https://pastorvlad.org/Halloween/?gclid=CjwKCAjwq9mLBhB2EiwAuYdMtYengsQJHYXhZaT50Nhu_kHdsjvrEgc7X5EwcwZADox-OmraOeEjDhoCPFUQAvD_BwE
