For more than half a century the debate has continued in American churches regarding if it is right or wrong for believers to participate in Halloween. The tragedy of the enduring controversy, however, is that the issues of overriding importance regarding Halloween are overlooked in the heat of the debate and almost never discussed even among anti-Halloween believers. Those oft forgotten issues are my focus in this article.
At the outset, I want to make it clear that I’m really not addressing my comments to unbelievers or those claiming to be agnostics or atheists, but rather to believers. My goal here is not to debate this matter with unbelievers, but rather to appeal to believers to consider some matters rarely taken into account.
A plethora of pages debating the origins of Halloween, its beneficence or maleficence, and advocating for or against the observance of Halloween and its associated practices populate the Internet. If you want that kind of information, it’s available in abundance online. A primer on Halloween from a Christian perspective is available at: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/halloween.html.
On and on we could go rehashing all the usual arguments regarding the origins of Halloween and delineating the long litany of reasons proponents and opponents cite for or against observance of Halloween and participation in its satanically-inspired and -associated rites, rituals, and revelry, and whether participation in an alternative “festival” provided by a church or other entity in the local community is a good option. By and large, for bona fide Born Again believers of any tenure at all, all such discussion is to varying degrees “old-hat,” and they have some measure of awareness, if nothing more than generally and cursorily, of the pros and cons that have been part of the public discourse regarding it for a number of decades. Nothing new here, essentially, and most believers have already drawn their conclusions one way or another.
I will briefly offer here, for what it’s worth, for anyone who might appreciate it, my personal conclusion regarding the matter, which is that the preponderance of the most credible evidence comes down on the side that all the philosophies and theories, genesis, history, rites and rituals, paraphernalia, accouterments associated with Halloween are based in the occult, Satanic, demonic, and “the kingdom of darkness” (Satan’s kingdom), out of which the Word of God specifically states that the believer has been translated (Col. 1:13). Certainly there is no Scriptural support for the observance of Halloween, since there is nothing in the Bible about it, but rather only numerous admonitions against such pagan practices. Even the colors associated with Halloween — black, red, and orange — (according to ancient traditions of pagans, occultists, and devil worshipers) are the colors and unmistakable signature of Satan. So, to me personally, it’s really a no-brainer and not worthy of the effort and energy required to write about it all or discuss it.
My experience is that basically people are going to believe what they want to believe about the matter, especially those intent on personal participation in Halloween festivities. Relative few are those who are convinced by the evidence and consequently change their position. But, to me, the tragedy of all the controversy is the inherent spiritual effects of participation in the revelry and traditional rituals of “All Hallows Eve,” which are almost never discussed or even recognized by believers, including those opposed to Halloween observances.
Halloween in America Today
Halloween as it has evolved to what it is now in this country is largely a post-WWII, “boomers” phenomenon. In fact, in the early years of our nation’s genesis, there were laws prohibiting the practice of Halloween because the early founders, along with political, social, intellectual, and religious leaders, wanted to ensure that there was no proliferation in the new republic during its formative years of “the influences of the east” that had been so injurious and detrimental sociologically in the “old country.” So, by and large, the observance of Halloween with its macabre and occult practices only began gaining traction following WWII as the troops returned from the various European and Far Eastern theaters where they’d been deployed.
Whatever Halloween was in the past, for many participants on the extreme end of the spectrum, it has evolved now into a day of hedonism, debauchery, and unrestrained revelry—in essence a nationalized Mardi Gras. With each passing year, Halloween-related events in the news validating that unfortunate fact increase exponentially, it seems. Although, happily there are an increasing number of communities across America taking a stand against the diabolical side of the high occult day by instituting limitations on Halloween “festivities” in the interest of protecting and looking out for the best interests of the communities’ children. Hopefully that trend will continue as well as expand going forward.
Hollywood and Halloween
There is nothing merely accidental or coincidental about the fact that Godless, hedonistic “Hollywood” has over the years become inextricably linked with Halloween. Satan has played the movie-making industry like a fiddle in using entertainment and the arts to condition children to accept Satan as being a good and benevolent person, and that all the things associated with his kingdom are good — calling evil good and good evil, just as predicted by Scripture. People become “bewitched” as a result of their fascination with the elements of darkness and of that which is “hidden,” i.e., the occult.
The Harry Potter series in print and on screen is a sterling example of Satan’s handiwork for indoctrinating children and preparing them for his final coup de gras of accepting the Antichrist as the ultimate super-hero who will suddenly emerge out of nowhere on the international scene to save the world from destruction and from those evil “Christians” (so they believe) who throughout human history have been the driving force behind so much sociological and political damage worldwide.
All this is part of Satan’s well-devised and well-orchestrated scheme to deceive people concerning the Antichrist and the establishment of his kingdom on the earth, especially the end-time generation. One of Satan’s elementary yet most effective “tricks” is to brainwash people into believing that everything associated with his kingdom is benign, harmless, or only mythical. “It won’t hurt you; it’s just pretend; it’s not real.” Artists and artisans have long caricatured “ole slew foot” as a fantastical part animal, part human, horned, cloven-hoofed creature, with a long tail and a goatee, wearing red pajamas, and wielding a tri-tined pitchfork (trident). No reasonable and reasoning person in their right mind could possibly place credence in the existence of such a creature if that is what he looks like; thus such a creature could only be a myth.
Satan’s Schemes (Strategies)
This, along with a multiplicity of schemes of deception Satan is perpetrating in these last days to mask the existence and operations of his demonic cohorts on the earth and to brainwash the extant generations into accepting demons as friendly and benevolent beings, is all part and parcel of Satan’s ancient plan to deceive the unbelieving of the world into receiving and accepting the Antichrist, whom he himself incarnates in his last-gasp effort to seize control of the world (2 Thes. 2:1-12).
The Bible warns against being taken captive through the vain philosophies of man and the world, rather than according to the principles of Christ and the Kingdom of God: “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ” (Col. 2:8). Capturing people’s minds is the core objective of Satan’s master-plan.
For this cause, the Spirit admonishes not to be ignorant of the “schemes (strategies) of the devil” (2 Cor. 2:11). We are told also that the result that will inure unto those who continue to trifle with and/or buy into Satan’s strategies and schemes of deception will be “strong delusion” or a “deluding influence” that God Himself actually sends upon those who refuse to separate themselves from Satan’s Antichrist and anti-God plans and purposes (2 Thes. 2:1-12). Finally, after so much divine grace, mercy, and longsuffering has been extended, God will finally give the defiantly unbelieving over to a reprobate mind and to believing the lie!
Scriptural Support
Scripture also admonishes in several places not to even mention or acknowledge the false gods and practices of pagans and worshipers of false gods.
Additionally, with respect to the establishing of “special days,” believers are told by God in His Word not to elevate one day above another, for every day is alike to the Lord, and is the day that He has made, and thus we are to rejoice and be glad in each and every one, because it has been made by God. The entire matter of special “religious” or “holy” days is completely contrary to New Testament concepts.
Moreover, all the festivals of the Old Covenant were made obsolete, ineffectual, and unnecessary by virtue of having been fulfilled in and by Christ with His life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. So, all the contentions about Halloween having some spiritual significance by virtue of its origins being traceable to “All Hallow’s Eve” established by a pope in Roman Catholic history for the honoring of all the beatified “saints” of the Roman Catholic Church is a totally moot and unsupportable argument. Besides, Jesus also stated categorically that the observance of the traditions of men invalidate the Word of God (Truth) in the life of the person who observes them (Mat. 15:6).
The Apostle Paul by inspiration of the Spirit adjured believers not to participate in the evil deeds of darkness but rather expose them (Eph. 5:11), to separate themselves from the world and their evil practices, and come out from among them, for there is no partnership of righteousness and wickedness, believers with unbelievers, no communion or cohabitation of light with darkness, no harmony between Christ and Satan, and no unity or union of God’s temple with the temple of idols (2 Cor. 6:14-18).
The eminent apostle also said that if you drink the cup of demons you cannot also drink with effectualness the cup of the Lord, referring to the sacrament of Holy Communion (1 Cor. 10:21).
The Holy Spirit also warns against believers allowing themselves to be taken “captive through the philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).
Scriptural references such as these provide more than ample and unambiguous answers regarding what the Word of God speaks about the matter for those whose heart is set toward obedience to Him and adherence to the principles of His Kingdom. However, again, that is not my main focus here. Rather, what I feel impelled by the Spirit to address is the effects participation in the macabre and demonic practices and revelry associated with Halloween engender due to the demonic incursion to which it opens participants and, by extension, their children.
Open Doors for Demonic Incursion
As someone who has worked for more than three decades to deliver people from aberrant, abnormal, and improper behavior through the casting out of the unseen demonic forces behind it, I can testify with extensive firsthand knowledge of the adverse spiritual impact Halloween practices can have upon participants. This is the real, oft overlooked issue regarding Halloween.
In this respect, a myth that must be debunked is the prevalent response I hear all the time from counselees, which is that they never really took any of it serious or put any stock in all its demonic associations and connections with witchcraft and devil worship, and all that. Rather, they just considered it a game; something akin to entertainment or amusement. Their theory is that because of their attitudes about it all — i.e., not taking it serious, and not doing it to invoke evil spirits or to worship Satan, etc. — their participation in it therefore was benign; a “no harm, no foul,” kind of thing. Well, that theory may sound good and right, but it is not at all how it works. The problem is that that theory is predicated on what would be right in a system where everything operated according to what was right and just. But, what people fail to understand is that Satan is the original outlaw and rebel. He vehemently defies and rebels against everything that is right and just. He has no propensity whatever to do what is right, just, and proper. His rebelliousness exceeds all human imaginations of evil, wickedness, and lawlessness. The Hitlers of history, the most insane of megalomaniacs, could never in their wildest imaginations conjure up the diabolical schemes of wickedness Satan routinely and incessantly devises.
By the Spirit, the Apostle Peter warned concerning the master of madness, “Your Adversary, the devil, roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Since he was evicted from his glorious status and estate in heaven, and cast down to the earth as punishment for his utter perdition and insurgency against God, Satan has been relentlessly roaming throughout the earth (Job 2:2) in search of every human-being he can possibly dupe and seduce into allying with him and his supremely dastardly scheme of rebellion and revolt against God and His eternal plans.
Bottom-line is: Satan does not play fair! I know that is a shock to many people’s system, but it is undeniable, indisputable fact!
So, it matters not whether in one’s participation with the deeds of darkness, it was with subscription to or rejection of the beliefs and demons behind the practices, the door of demonic incursion was opened nonetheless. That is the “tricks” that Satan hands out to unsuspecting victims, not just on one day of the year, but every day, and the “treats” he dispenses are nothing but an illusion, dirt painted gold.
We are admonished in Scripture not to, “give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27). The devil is unauthorized to enter any place in the believer’s life he has not been given permission, whether wittingly or unwittingly, whether proactively or by passivity. It makes no difference. Satan and his demonic cohorts always enter through open doors, either those opened by the host individual themselves, or by the ancestry of the individual. One of the worst problems with all that, especially in the context of our topic, is that many people who are now parents unknowingly opened up their children to demonic influence by their participation in Halloween practices and revelry when they were a child and then passed those influences on to their children.
A parent’s worst nightmare! But it happens all the time. A great percentage of the demons from which people need liberation are inherited, that is, passed on from one generation to another. This to me is the ultimate reason why demonized people should come forth and be willing to repent of whatever it is that is allowing demons to have a place in their life, and seek real deliverance from the demons operating in their lives — to ensure that their children and their children’s children are not affected by demonic influence. The overwhelming desire of every loving parent should be to see the captives set free, especially when the captives are their own children, and by extension, their entire posterity.
Though polemic preaching about such things as judgment from God is far from vogue today in the atmosphere prevailing in much of the church requiring that preaching be candy-coated and of the “easy-listening” variety, there is a strong and sobering admonition from the Savior Himself applicable to all those who would so casually expose young and innocent children to the vile evils and stark wickedness of the “kingdom of darkness,” especially those of the households of the believing:
“but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” (Mat. 18:6,7)
Just a few of the evil influences associated with Halloween: are death; fear of death or fright, and therefore all manner of fear, because all fear is rooted in the fear of death; fascination with “the deeds of darkness,” meaning all the things associated with darkness (occult, hidden); fascination with the macabre such as vampires (blood, death, defilement, damnation, sadism and abominable sexual acts); fascination with fantasy (play world, never-never land, Disney World, make-believe, living a fantasy, thespianism, play-acting, no reality, denial of reality and truth [unbelief, agnosticism, atheism]). All these involvements are the precursors of numerous psychological disorders such as: neurosis, psychosis, DID (formerly, MPD), schizothymia, schizophrenia, and others. They are also a doorway to a multiplicity of forms of divination, sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, and familiar spirits.
Such is only the beginning; there are so many more that space and time simply won’t allow. And, remember, none of what I have written is theory; rather it has been proven out in deliverance counseling sessions and ministry I have personally conducted in private sessions and public meetings. Indeed, some of what I’ve witnessed in deliverance ministry would be incredible and unnerving to many people.
Mimicking Marilyn Monroe
In the vein of our topic, I remember the case of one woman to whom I ministered deliverance, and all the demons that came out of her that were associated with Halloween. One of the first spirits the Lord had me to call out of her was a spirit of harlotry, which He showed me by the Spirit had entered her when her mother had her to masquerade on Halloween at the age of ten as Marilyn Monroe, who her mother thought she looked like and wanted her to grow up to be like to gain fame and fortune. Frequently, this now grown woman of thirty years old, who was genuinely Born Again and even Baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, would be taken over by this spirit of harlotry during her normal course of life, with the result that her entire body, gestures, and body language would dramatically change to mimic a seductress, and her manner of speech and voice would also totally change and she would speak exactly like Marilyn Monroe when Norma Jean was “being” Marilyn Monroe. I’m telling you, no impersonator ever sounded so perfectly like Marilyn Monroe, and none could, unless, like her, they were giving themselves over to a familiar spirit like the one that operated through Marilyn Monroe and was behind her supernatural powers of seduction. But, what was so strange was that when I called that spirit out and told it it must leave her now, first it began crying, then when I told it I didn’t feel sorry for it and it had to go, it then began trying to seduce me. Then when I told the spirit that its attempts to seduce me was not going to work and commanded it to leave…now, it let out one of the loudest and most blood-curdling roars I’ve ever heard…out of this petite, barely five-foot, 110-pound, blue-eyed, blond-haired, young woman, who was no bigger than a minute, as they say. The roar was so loud and eerie sounding that a Christian couple part of my ministry team in another room clear on the other side of the 4,000-square-foot home we were ministering in said it was the eeriest and scariest sound they’d ever heard, and made the hair on the back of their necks stand straight up.
In another deliverance session with this same woman a year or so later, when I was walking out of my office in our home to meet her and my wife in our living room where they’d been waiting on me, the Holy Spirit said to me, “Take your Thesaurus with you.” “My Thesaurus?” I asked incredulously. “Yes, your Thesaurus,” the Spirit replied. The long and the short of it is that as I prayed before ministering to her, the Lord said that today the stronghold we would be casting out of her was the spirit of fear. As I began ministering to her, the Lord told me to open up the Thesaurus to “phobias,” and I discovered, to my utter amazement, that there were some 265 human phobias, or fears, identified and recognized by modern psychology. Then, He also told me that a great many of the fears this woman had, had come in through years of bizarre Halloween practices at the insistence of her mother, who herself had a strong spirit of harlotry, fascination with the macabre, including with vampires, witches, warlocks, and deviant sex, and other kinds of associations with the kingdom of darkness. As the Lord identified the fears my deliveree had, and I asked her if she had that fear, she would manifest with extreme body language and manifestations that reacted to the thing named. In the end, I cast out some 200 devils of fear from that same woman, and her life was forever revolutionized, as God demonstrated that truly, “God has not given us a spirit of fear” (2 Tim. 1:7), but rather that fear is indeed a spirit, an evil spirit, sent by Satan.
Unintended Consequences
Participation in such ungodly and worldly traditions as Halloween has the effect of invalidating the Word of God (Truth) in the lives of even those who have been genuinely Born Again, and the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Born Again believers life, because one cannot drink the cup of demons and partake of the “delicacies” of the table of the devil, and contemporaneously drink the cup of the Lord and partake of the food on His table (1 Cor. 10:14-22). Either make the tree and its fruit good, or make it bad, Jesus instructed (cf., Mat. 12:33), but it cannot be both simultaneously. With the Lord, there is no black mixed with white to make gray. Rather, it’s either black or it’s white. Period! You can call that polemic if you want, but God calls it Truth!
Here’s another thought. Have you ever considered how confusing it is to children for an authority figure in whom all their security and trust is entrusted and ensconced to encourage or require them to dress up as and emulate people who have become caricatures, icons, or symbols of certain values and behavior, mostly evil and bad, one day of the year, and then teach and preach principles of character, morality, and integrity the other 364 days of the year? You know, it wasn’t the kid’s idea — he or she did not wake up on October 31st and say, “Mom, Dad, I’d like to dress up today like a vampire from Transylvania, or a witch, or a warlock, or an immoral Hollywood star, with a mask to conceal my real identity, so I can go out tonight after dark and scare and startle some people, and go knocking on the doors of strangers, saying, “Trick or Treat!” so that I can extort a bunch of candy and goodies from them under threat of mischief and vandalism if they refuse!” Fact is, you know, kids know nothing about such tom-foolery until they are introduced to the whole concept of Halloween by their parents!
Also, have you ever stopped to think how strange and bizarre some of the traditional practices of Halloween are? How about the one of having your children masquerade as someone who they are not (deception) in order to deceive complete strangers as to their real identity and sending them to those strangers’ doors throughout your neighborhood (or a wider swath of the city or area you live in, today) to beg for food and treats? Something you would never even dream of doing any other time. Most would be mortified at just the prospect of sending one of their children next door to ask a neighbor who they know to just borrow a cup of flour for a baking recipe, as was fairly common still when I was a child. The whole practice of begging is not something Christians should be modeling for their children considering King David’s testimony that in his lifetime he’d never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. Children, especially young children, become very confused when their parents make them to do things that are contradictory to their parents’ stated beliefs.
Another strange aspect of Halloween tradition is that practically no mother in America would allow her children to eat food given them by some stranger out in public no matter how sweet, kind-hearted, and benign the stranger appears to be, yet many of those same mothers allow their children to eat the “treats” handed out by complete strangers whose doors they’ve knocked on, posing as beggars. The whole scenario makes no sense! Even when you say, “Oh, it’s only play or fantasy; it’s only a custom; it’s not really real; and we don’t want them to be traumatized by feeling left out of something all their friends are doing!” I think you might be surprised at how resistant kids are to such.
When you boil it all down, truth is: there really is no good reason to participate in Halloween celebrations and practices; certainly no Scriptural reason, since there is nothing in the Bible about Halloween, but rather only many admonitions against such practices. For example:
Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.” Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:7-16)
“Do not be partakers…Do not participate…be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time,” God says. Good and clear advice, from the Father who knows best!
Conclusion
Fellow believer, if you have in the past participated in Halloween, whether before or after you accepted Christ, there is a strong possibility that you could greatly benefit from deliverance. That also applies to your children. I have ministered to hundreds of “boomers” who into their fifties and sixties still carry with them the effects of participation in Halloween as a child. There is no scriptural evidence that once demons gain entrance, they subsequently leave on their own without being driven out through deliverance. So, if demons ever entered, whether in your soul (mind, will, or emotions) or your body, if you are a Born Again believer, and your spirit, if you are not, then they are still there and affecting your life, and will continue to do so until they are cast out by a believer operating through the anointing of Jesus, the Deliverer.
I urge you to visit DeliveranceNow.Com to learn more about deliverance. The site contains a lot of information about the matter of deliverance as well as information about how you or your children can receive deliverance.###
CLICK HERE to read another important article on the topic of Halloween!
DELIVERANCE FROM DEMONIC POWERS, by Dr. Steven Lambert
[Click on image to learn more about this powerful book]
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to be set free from the fetters of demon powers! |
Dr. Steven Lambert was ordained in 1977 and holds several earned graduate/post-graduate degrees. Over more than four decades in ministry, he has served as a pastor, radio/TV host, adjunct-professor, Board Certified Doctoral Diplomate Christian Therapist/Counselor, and a speaker/commentator on a range of social, political, and theological issues, particularly as a recognized authority on the matter of ecclesiastical authoritarian abuse. He is the founder/Overseer of Ephesians Four Network (ephesiansfour.net) and its subsidiary, Ephesians Four Network of Deliverance Counselors (efndc.ephesiansfour.net). Dr. Lambert authored several books (catalog at realtruthpublications.com), many published articles, and is the founder/editor of Spirit Life Magazine (spiritlifemag.com). His bio, extensive blog, and scheduling information are available on his ministry website at: http://www.slm.org. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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