HALLOWEEN — Is it a good holiday for Christians to support?

What is a holiday?
a time to celebrate and remember

Holidays are usually the most enjoyable days of the year, when family and friends gather together to eat, play games, and just plain enjoy being together. The word holiday means different things to different people around the world, but when I say holiday, I’m referring to a repeating celebration on the calendar, not necessarily a vacation.

Holidays almost always have a very special meaning. Christmas is a holiday set aside by many Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the One Who came to Earth to die for our sins. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and the U.S. Thanksgiving Day was created to thank God for His love and care.

Celebrating God’s enemy?

Unfortunately, there is one day that many people consider a “holiday” that ignores God completely. On October 31st of every year, millions of people in America and around the world celebrate “Halloween” (also sometimes known as the Day of the Dead). Many of these people view Halloween as a harmless day where children dress up in costumes and go door to door in their neighborhood asking for candy, but there are others who take Halloween very seriously.

To some, Halloween truly is a “holy” day because it is set aside to worship the devil. Satan hates God and humans very much, and wants to hurt us all. So it should make Christians very sad that so many people want to celebrate a day which was meant to give glory to God’s enemy and hellish things.

What should followers of Christ do? Pray!

Maybe you want to know if it’s okay to have a “Harvest Festival” or a “Harvest Party” on October 31. Here is a suggestion. Instead of having a party on the same special day that people worship our spiritual enemy, invite your friends over and ask them to pray with you. Pray for the safety of children that are out trick-or-treating. Pray that God would prevent people and even animals from being hurt or killed because of this day.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that we are in a war against Satan and his allies. It also tells Christians what to use as armor to protect ourselves (Ephesians 6:13-17). Then in Ephesians 6:18, I believe we are given the weapon: prayer. All you have to do to find out how powerful prayer can be is read the Old Testament; nearly every amazing thing that happened was a result of prayer.

You can have a Godly celebration

If you want to have an autumn party, I suggest making it a celebration of life and God’s goodness. Thank God that He provided a way for us to be saved from our sin and to live with Him forever, instead of being separated from Him for eternity.

If you want to have a party, why not hold it sometime earlier in the Fall, instead of on the day which celebrates God’s enemy, death and ghoulish things? Set aside the 31st as a day to pray for all of those who are still trapped by Satan’s lies. Don’t help support a “holiday” which is based on bad things.

Romans 12:21 says “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Even when everyone around does things that are not good, we need to stand up for what is right. We should not let Satan have the victory on October 31, but we should use our powerful weapon of prayer against him.

What does the Bible say?

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 — “Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”

James 1:27 — “keep oneself from being polluted by the world”

3 John 1:11 — “do not imitate what is evil”

Romans 12:9 — “abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 — do not learn to imitate detestable ways, including spiritists, sorcerers and witchcraft

Ephesians 5:11-12 — “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness” / “live as children of light”

1 Timothy 4:1 — don’t “follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons”

2 Corinthians 6:14-17 — “what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

Philippians 4:8 — think about pure, lovely, noble things

1 Corinthians 11:1 — “follow the example of Christ”

1 Corinthians 10:31 — “whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God”

James 4:7-8 — submit yourselves to God / resist the devil / purify your hearts

Ezekiel 44:23 — “…teach my people… to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.”

Proverbs 22:6 — “train a child in the way he should go”

Matthew 18:6 — “if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin…”

Hosea 4:6 — “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

John 3:19-20 — Sadly, most people love darkness rather than light.

Romans 13:12 — “put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Ephesians 6:11-18 — “stand firm against the schemes of the devil”

What are goodness and righteousness?

What is HOLINESS and why are we to pursue it?

Want to know more?

Did you know?

The word “holiday” comes from the two words “holy” and “day”? The Israelites, in the Bible, were command by God to set aside certain days during the year to feast, and pray, and thank God for all the things He had done for them. These were very “holy” days. Today, we use the word holiday to describe very similar “holy” days such as Christmas and Resurrection Sunday. Today, many people have forgotten that “holy” is in the word, and so they think of holidays as vacation days.

THANK GOD—What should we thank God for, and how should we praise Him? Answer

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Author: David J. Sheley, Christian Answers

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