Hallowed Who? The Real Story of Halloween

Halloween is a time where children, both big and small, get all dressed up and have fun. Little Johnny puts on his Batman gear and runs from house to house laughing with glee at the prospect of more candy. Jennie beams with delight as she enters into the night dressed all in black from the top of her pointy hat to the tips of her boots. And let’s not forget the retailer who also looks forward to this day, especially since Halloween is one of the major retail seasons of the year. So, at first glance it would seem that Halloween is a good time to be had by all, just a whole lot of innocent fun. Or is it?

The origins of our modern day Halloween celebration is thought by many to be around 835 AD when Pope Gregory IV designated November 1 as “All Saints Day,” or “All Hallows Day,” and the night preceding it, October 31, as “All Hallows Eve,” which latter became shortened to Halloween.

The question though is why did the Pope designate this day? Well, the answer involves the custom of the Church to make Christian holidays out of pagan festivals in order to Christianize nations. You could say that they were trying to inject biblical values into ungodly events.

Long before this day was “Christianized,” the people of Northern France and the British Isles (the Celtic people) celebrated this day as a high holy day and observed it with occultic arts and the worship Samhain, the lord of the dead.

It was on this night that Samhaim gathered the souls of the evil and wicked dead and determined their fate for the coming year. Sacrifices, prayers, and gifts to Samhain would lighten their punishment, and the sacrifices would protect the people from evil who were offering them.

Basically, on October 31, all hell broke loose on the earth as ghosts, evil spirits, and witches roamed about he countryside.

What the Roman Catholic Church did was to change the day from the celebration of the god of the dead to the celebration of dead saints. Not much of a change if you ask me, and little if any godly values were injected into this time of great evil.

The sad reality is that the church did little if anything to reform this day for Christ. They merely changed the name to protect the guilty.

Costumes were worn along with grotesque masks of goblins, and the poor would go from house to house begging for soul cakes with the promise to pray for those in purgatory, along with firewood to build a great bonfire to help rejuvenate Belenus’, the sun god’s power, as it waned in the fall and winter months.

Halloween, as it is celebrated today, is not as cute as it may seem. It is an insidious holiday that veils a real horror. This day, October 31, is the most high and holy day for all witches, neo-pagans, and the occult, and the most holy day of Satanism. It is a night in which all of the satanic arts are practiced, including animal sacrifice and even worse horrors, far too graphic for this article.

In the “Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs,” it says that since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Halloween has been regarded as a time “for working charms, spells, and divinations.”

The unfortunate part is that whenever Halloween is mentioned, none of this stuff is ever mentioned. We are like an ostrich that hides its head in the sand pretending that it doesn’t exist. We don’t want to give up our cute holiday. But please understand, all those cute little costumes and candy are nothing more than a smoke screen to cover up the horror of what this day is really all about.

What should we do?

The Bible tells us that we are not to learn or follow the ways of those who don’t follow the Lord God, for their customs are futile and useless, Jeremiah 10:2-3. When the Jewish people entered into the Promised Land, the Lord commanded them not to follow in the ways of those who were there before them, that is, don’t practice their customs or follow after their gods. They were called to be a separate people, a holy people, a people who would only follow the word of God.

In the same way, the Lord has called the church and those who call themselves “Christians” to be a holy and separate people as well, 1 Peter 2:9. If we are then called to be a holy people and not follow after false gods and ungodly customs, then how can we still celebrate Halloween, a day given over to Satan, no matter how innocent it may seem to be?

Consider the Apostle Paul’s words. “Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom. 1:32).

In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul tells us to abstain, to voluntarily refrain from every form of evil (1 Thess. 5:22).

Halloween is no trivial or laughing matter to be taken lightly. It is inseparably attached to the occult, and when we participate in it, in any fashion, we are allowing the cover up and a great evil to continue to be perpetrated upon our children.

However innocent Halloween may be at one level, at another level all its innocence is lost. Let’ not lose our children in the process.