As a child we participated in Halloween every year. My family would pass out candy and we would dress up in costumes of our choice. Go door to door to get candy then come home, dump it all out on the floor to see what we all got. Exciting time of year for us as children, oh, except the part where people dressed up in scary costumes and played tricks on us to try and frighten us.
After I had a born again experience with Jesus Christ in February 1996, my views and convictions on this holiday quickly changed. I recognized the evil spirit behind all of the excitement. If we would take the time to look into the holiday and read behind it's origin I believe our ideas of celebrating in this tradition would soon change. I know that this is my conviction and I have refrained from even speaking aloud concerning this subject because it was "my" conviction and I didn't want to offend anyone, but I now feel as though that is the problem with most of the church today. We are afraid of offending so we don't tell the truth. What if someone wouldn't have told me the truth about Jesus Christ and His saving power? We must not conform to the patterns of this world, we must be set apart and not compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Below you will find portions of an article from History.com on the origin of Halloween. After you read it, you will see several things that the Lord warned us in scripture to stay away from. The fact that it is the country's SECOND LARGEST commercial holiday should say enough. Wake up church!!!
"Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future."
