Leviticus 19:31 (NIV)
'Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 20:6 (NIV)
'I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people.
1 Corinthians 10:21 (NIV)
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.
3 John 1:11 (NIV)
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Today some people are celebrating Halloween. Can Christian celebrate Halloween? Is Halloween associated with Christian?
History of Halloween
Halloween is on the eve of All Saints Day. All Saints Day falls on 1 November. Halloween comes from All Hallows' Eve and means hallowed evening. The history of Halloween was started before All Saints Day. It dates back to a pagan festival called Samhain. It began over 1900 years ago in England, Ireland, and Northern France. It was a Celtic celebration of the new year, called Samhain which occurred on November 1. The Celtic druids revered it as the biggest holiday of the year and emphasized that day as the time when the souls of the dead supposedly could mingle with the living.
Another tradition is the druidic belief that during the night of November 1, demons, witches, and evil spirits freely roamed the earth with joy to greet the arrival of “their season”—the long nights and early dark of the winter months. The demons had their fun with poor mortals that night, frightening, harming, and even playing all kinds of mean tricks on them. The only way, it seemed, for scared humans to escape the persecution of the demons was to offer them things they liked, especially fancy foods and sweets. Or, in order to escape the fury of these horrible creatures, a human could disguise himself as one of them and join in their roaming. In this way, they would recognize the human as a demon or witch and the human would not be bothered that night.
Samhain remained popular until St. Patrick and other Christian missionaries arrived in the area. As the population began to convert to Christianity the holiday began to lose its popularity. However, instead of eradicating pagan practices such as “Halloween” or Samhain, the church used these holidays with a Christian twist to bring paganism and Christianity together, making it easier for local populations to convert to the state religion.
Pope Gregory I, also known as St. Gregory the Great, who headed the Church from A.D. 590 to 604, advised a missionary going to England that instead of trying to do away with the religious customs of non-Christian peoples, they simply should convert them to a Christian religious purpose. For example, “the site of a pagan temple could be converted to become a Christian church,” Suppe says.
In that fashion, Samhain, the Celts’ dark supernatural festival, eventually was converted and given a Christian context.
“The ancient Celts believed that all sorts of threatening spirits were out and about on Samhain,” Suppe says. “The early medieval Christian church believed in saints—Christians who were remarkable for their devout religious beliefs and lives.” But saints also had a supernatural side, such as their involvement in miraculous occurrences.
So the Church mixed the traditions involving Celtic spirits and Catholic saints. In the 800s, the Church designated November 1 as All Saints’ Day.
Source:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/it-wrong-celebrate-halloween
https://www.history.com/news/halloween-samhain-celts-catholic-church
After reading about the history of Halloween, can Christian celebrate Halloween? Let’s look at today’s Bible verses for reference.
In Leviticus 19:31 & Leviticus 20:6 we are told by God that we are not suppose to turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for we will be defiled by them. God will cut us off if we turn to mediums, spiritist. Following after the Celtic druids, believing what they said and doing what they said are breaking this commandment from God. We should not believe that the dead can mix with the living on Oct 31. We should not celebrate this festival as is pagan practice and dark. Magicians are also mediums and spiritists. God don’t want us to be associate with them. There are some pastors who love magic and practice magic, this is dark. You should not be following after them too.
Parents should not dress up their children in Halloween costumes as evil spirit or the dead, people young or old should not dress up in Halloween costumes too. Children should not dress up in Halloween costumes and go door to door knocking on doors and ask for sweets on Halloween day. This is acknowledging you believe in the pagan practice. According to 3 John 1:11, this is imitating what is evil. This is not acceptable by God. This is doing evil. Also by dressing up as evil spirit or the dead, you are drinking the cup of demons. You are following the demons. You are not following God. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. This is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:21. Drinking at Halloween is saying you are celebrating the dead, the evil spirits and demons. This is against God.
In the past, before I was Christian I come to know about Halloween festival, carnival and went. I followed after the dressed up Halloween costume people who went walking around the bars, nightclubs and restaurants and took photos. I thought it was interesting to see them dress up and it seems fun. Also I enjoyed taking photos. I didn’t know that this was wrong. Only come to realize it after I become Christian. Today after seeing the news of South Korea tragic death of 153 people killed after Halloween Crush, I decided to write about the wrong belief, practices of Halloween. It is the shops, bars, nightclubs and restaurants with Halloween festivals marketing campaigns promotions that draw the crowd to celebrate Halloween. A pagan practice and business minded motives that cause Halloween to be widely celebrated around the world. All these all wrong. I am saying this even though I am a marketer and business person. However, I am a Christian. I cannot go against my conscience what God has told me. I need to tell the world about it.
Another thing I want to talk about is for many years in the past history, Churches, Christian have accepted the pagan practice without stopping them. The Catholic created All Saints Day saying is for the celebration of all saints which are initially for the martyred saints and later become all saints which are referring to all Christian. Saying that Saints can do what the Celtic do supernatural things. This is not right. They did not told the Celtic they are believing the wrong things. Instead they created another festival to make it like the Celtic.
Finally, I want you to reflect over what God had said in Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Is Halloweeen pure? Is it true? Is it right? Is it lovely? Is it admirable? Is it excellent? Is it excellent? Is it praiseworthy?
You should know the answer. Is No for all the questions.
If you are Christian and have been celebrating Halloween in the past, is time for you to wake up and realize your mistakes. Repent and stop celebrating Halloween. Go tell others is wrong to practice Halloween festival. Pray this prayer.
Dearest Heavenly Father, I am sorry for celebrating Halloween in the past. I repent. I should not have celebrated this pagan festival. Forgive my ignorance. Please don’t punish me for my sins. Remember your son Jesus Christ had died at the cross for my sins. I am forgiven. From today onwards, I will not celebrate Halloween festival any more and I will be your witness and warn others the danger of Halloween. Help me to be an effective witness.
In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
I hope this devotion is helpful to you. If you find it helpful, please share with your family and friends.
Janice Ong
Founder of Christ Unite
Korean Translation https://tinyurl.com/yc4fjyek
Japanese Translation https://tinyurl.com/3t9n783a
