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Christians
Should Give Place to the Devil By Participating in
Candy-Coated "Halloween Alternatives"
Rather than write an article about how
Christians may rationalize the sin of celebrating Halloween, Leftbehind.com
used guest articles to do the job for them.
The following is
a critique of the article, What Should
Christians Do For Halloween, which was published on Leftbehind.com in
October, 2002. My commentary is in bold text. (The article,
"What Should Christians Do For Halloween" has been has been
removed from the internet.)
What Should Christians Do For
Halloween?
So, what can Christians do about Halloween?
Should we just ignore it and wait for it to pass.
Steve Russo, from Focus on the Family put it
this way:
"Halloween is here to stay, and burying
our heads in the sand won’t make it go away. What are some valid options
that we can consider?
The first option is to simply not participate
in anything at all associated with Halloween. This means locking your front
door, turning out the light, and basically acting as if no one is home when
trick-or-treaters come through your neighborhood. . . .
. . . . Let’s look at the big picture for a
minute. Because Halloween is such huge business, there is a lot of publicity
and attention given to October 31. Why not take advantage of all this fanfare
and use it to "turn on the light" of God’s Word with an
alternative that could take people one step closer to a relationship with
Jesus? Ephesians 5:16 encourages us to "make the most of every
opportunity," and Halloween is just such an occasion for Christians who
are serious about making a difference in their world.
God commands
His people to "Have
no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove
them." Ephesians 5:11 There is no reproving or exposing of Halloween on
Leftbehind.com's "What Should Christians Do For
Halloween?"
Notice the little word, "for." It
means the opposite of against, in this context. The article should
be about "What Should Christians Do Against
Halloween?" Even the title sets the pro-Halloween tone.
This article
contains
many suggestions about how to fellowship with the works of darkness by
participating in the seemingly innocent Halloween rituals the world is already
deceived into taking part.
Remember that participating in an alternative
is not the same thing as celebrating the holiday. When we celebrate a holiday,
like Halloween, we are publicly bringing some sort of honor to the day. When
we participate in an alternative, we are taking part in providing a choice
between Halloween and some other event. . . . The right alternative can be
safe and fun for kids and yet still honor God. . . .
Participating in
an alternative is supposedly a
Christian substitute for Halloween. Christians are to stand in the evil day,
not participate in substitutes for the evil because they think it is mean to
deny their children the devilish trappings of the world!
Ultimately, Halloween can be a great
opportunity to "overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21)."
Overcoming evil with good will not be
accomplished by having a party and celebrating while followers of Satan
literally sacrifice human
beings on altars all over the world. Even little children can learn that
people die on Halloween because Satan hates people who are created in the
image of God. They can learn to pray for the people that Satan wants to die. They
can understand that God can rescue them. They will associate Satan and his day,
Halloween, with the evil that it truly is rather than learn to give place to
the devil by participating in the rituals the world runs after on Halloween,
such as consuming candy and dressing in costumes.
Click here to read some more.
The next guest article,
written by Peggy Bohanon, is filled with print subliminals that work to condition Christians to
think positively about Halloween.
Peggy Bohanon, from gospelcom.net, shares this:
Simple, innocent "trick-or-treat"
days are gone forever from many neighborhoods. What was once a fun-loving,
family-participating event has turned into dark occultic activities opposite
from the Light-giving God we serve.
Halloween has never been
innocent, but the writer wants you to think it used to be. It has always been a day of human sacrifice all over the world. Even the seemingly innocent trick-or-treat rituals we all
probably participated in as children gave place to the devil. The trick-or-treat
ritual is most definitely a give-place-to-the-devil ritual. It is an invitation
for demons to come into your life and fellowship with you. Renounce the sin of
participating in Halloween rituals if you have never done so and do not believe
those who lie and say that "Christianized" trick-or-treat rituals are
godly alternatives. They are not. The trick-or-treat ritual represents
human sacrifice, and is an abomination in the sight of God.
(See:
Why
Fake Christian Ministries Push the Halloween Trick-or-Treat
Ritual)
So, as a Christian, how do you respond? Turn on
the lights? Turn off the lights? What to DO?? Talk to 100 Christians and you
may have 100 shades of opinion about the celebration of Halloween. . . .
It does not matter what Christians say about
celebrating Halloween. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, not those who regard
themselves as Christians, who will judge you at the last day. God has made it abundantly clear in his Holy word that you
cannot fellowship at the table of the Lord and the table of devils. You must
choose. The article, "What Should Christians Do For Halloween" tells you that
you can do both as long as you call it an
alternative. This is Satan's
lie.
I don't pretend to have all the answers-- and
the bottom line? Jesus Christ is Lord--and we celebrate HIM every day! However
you choose to celebrate or not to celebrate, may HE be the honoring factor in
every decision!
According to Peggy's article
(promoted
by Leftbehind.com) you may either celebrate Halloween or not
celebrate it and honor Jesus Christ in either choice. Read her statement above
again. That is the message. Jesus Christ can be the honoring factor in either
decision: to celebrate Halloween or not celebrate Halloween. This is NOT the
Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible! He would never be the "honoring
factor" in a Christian giving place to the devil.
Click here to read some more from Peggy.
Creative Alternatives For
Halloween
The phrase, "creative
alternatives for Halloween," is a euphemism that serves to assuage the compromising
Christian's conscience. This phrase helps the Christian who refuses to
give up running after the course of this wicked world that hates God, feel
better in his sin. According to this Leftbehind.com endorsed article, a
Christian is not sinning by participating in candy-coated Halloween
rituals. He is simply enjoying "creative alternatives."
Here are some ways that families
and churches are turning Halloween into a positive celebration to "turn
on the light" of the Gospel to a dark world.
God
commands his people to put on the shoes of the gospel of peace
daily. Christians are to have evangelism on their
minds every day and they are to look for opportunities to witness of Jesus Christ to
a dark world every day. Halloween is the day in which satanists are ritually
murdering many people all over the world. This is the day Christians must fast and
pray for God to enable the
kidnapped victims to escape and thus prevent these sacrifices from
occurring.
Evangelism is for every day. Praying against human
sacrifice is the Christian's ministry on Halloween. The
unbelievers,
who are busy conforming to the course of the world via Halloween
costumes and festivities, have no awareness or concern about the
slaughter of human beings at this time. And neither do
Christians who are occupied with celebratory activities on
Satan's night.
Satan is pleased when
Christians engage in alternative activities on Halloween because:
(1) they are sinning and giving place to
him. This causes them to be in no position to pray and counter his evil activities,
(2) they
are opening themselves up to satanic attack on that night and
in the future due to their fellowship with devils.
1. Make it a family night.
• Since schools often provide
Halloween parties, some families see no need for trick-and-treating and turn
the rest of the evening into a family night, perhaps going to dinner and then
a movie.
Notice this soul-ensnaring statement:
"Since schools often provide Halloween parties," some (Christian)
families see no need for trick-and-treating."(!) There are two dangerous
messages in this portion I quoted above: Halloween parties are not condemned,
but treated as something positive since they take away the "need" for a Christian
parent to take their child trick-or-treating! The message is that a Halloween
party removes the need for Christian children to go trick-or treating. This is communicating to the reader that participating in the
devilish custom of trick-or-treating is a need! This is definitely
candy-coating sin and sending Christians the message that trick-or-treating is
not a sin.
This also works if you elect not
to have your children attend a school or community event. Rather than feel
left out of the fun, you can make your own special family time.
Again, we have the message presented
that as a Christian parent, the choice of participating in Halloween, the
highest satanic holiday of the year, is up to you. If you elect not to have your
children participate in a satanic Halloween party (the subliminal message of
course is that you can elect to have them participate in this sin) you
can make your own special family time rather than be left out of the fun. We
have another satanic subliminal presented here: "Rather than feel left out
of the fun." What is the fun you could feel left out of? Attending a
Halloween school or community event. Leftbehind.com picked articles that
slyly promote Halloween.
2. Turn on your porch light.
• Rather than sending a message that you’re
unfriendly, welcome trick-or-treaters with candy and "redeem the
night" with a specially prepared Halloween tract.
According to Peggy's manipulative
wording, abstaining from Halloween and not
participating in the satanic trick-or-treat ritual sends the message to the
world that you are unfriendly. If you have a cordial relationship with your
neighbors, the message that you will send is that you take following Jesus
Christ seriously; and they will respect you for it. Peggy is pushing Christians
to enter into the "sanctified" trick-or-treat ritual very strongly throughout the entire
article!
If you give a
tract in response to the ritual phrase, "trick-or-treat" you are participating in Halloween. Just because you add a tract
to the
treat (or give only a tract) does not sanctify this Halloween activity. I
realize there are many who believe it does. I am warning you that participating in trick-or-treat,
or trick-or-treat-and-add-a-tract, is honoring Satan by doing what is
expected of his followers: giving a gift or treat. Giving a tract
while you engage in the ritual that Satan takes very seriously (the
trick-or-treating ritual is a satanic ritual no matter how cute it looks or how
much fun it is) will not give your or your child automatic protection from evil
spirit contact. You are
sinning and thereby breaking God's protective hedge. The serpent will bite you
and your children, tract or no tract. CLICK
HERE to learn how to evangelize on Halloween without giving place to the devil.
(See: Why
Fake Christian Ministries Push the Trick-or-Treat Ritual)
Remember, God commands His
people to have their feet shod with the gospel of peace every day. You have 364 other days in the year to evangelize; you
must not "touch the unclean thing" by engaging in a seemingly innocent occult ritual
in order to evangelize your neighbors.
If you want to give out tracts on
Halloween, do it during the day or do it
in such a way that you are not participating in trick-or-treat. Do
not participate in the trick or treat ritual in any way. Chick.com has
tracts that expose the real meaning
behind Halloween.
You’ll find lots of sources for tracts
– your local Christian bookstore may have some or you can visit web sites
like American Tract Society or The Joshua Outreach Group. Some of these tracts
are designed for kids, while others are designed to pass on to their parents.
Consider this "reverse door-to-door evangelism:" instead of you
going door-to-door, the neighbors come to you!
Praying against ritual human
sacrifice is critically important on Satan's Day.
Participating in the
trick-or-treat ritual for the purpose of giving out tracts does not sanctify this
sin.
Give out tracts,
yes, but not as part of the trick-or-treat ritual.
• Let your children be "keepers of the
candy." If you get trick-and-treaters from your neighborhood, they will
also enjoy trying to guess who’s behind the costume. It’s a way of
reinforcing with your kids that you want to be warm and welcoming to your
neighbors. (Many communities have guidelines that encourage trick-or-treating
among younger children from the neighborhood before it gets too dark—making
it safer and also making it less "unfriendly" on your part to turn
off your light at some point in the evening.)
Allowing your children to be
"keepers of the candy" will desensitize them to the sin of Halloween rituals. Also, having them guess who is behind the costumes is
further numbing them to the fact that Halloween is an evil satanic high
day. They are learning Satan's lie that Halloween is simply a bunch of fun and
games and should not be taken seriously. Leftbehind.com should not have
endorsed this article.
In view of the fact that they called their latest product ILumina,
the last two books in the Left Behind series were released the day before
and the day after satanic high days, the last two movies were released on
the high days before Halloween, Jerry
Jenkins' book portrays a Christian with "the ID biochip beneath the skin of his right
forearm" (Soon, pg. xv), and the
Left Behind Series contains New
Age markings, I am not
surprised that leftbehind.com endorses Halloween.
• Visit your neighborhood. Do a reverse
trick-or-treat. Use the opportunity to "Light the Night" by going
around your neighborhood handing out tracts that talk about Satan’s tricks
and God’s best treat (Jesus).
Again Peggy
encouraged parents to participate in Halloween with their children rather
than take a prayerful stand against the atrocities committed on this evil day. Calling Jesus "God's
best treat" is deliberately uniting the holy (the Lord Jesus Christ) with the unholy
(Satan's Halloween celebration.)
• In many neighborhoods, going with young
children not only provides safety, but may be an occasion to be with other
parents. Even the simple "thank you" of kids delighted to receive
something in their bags helps convey a sense of community often lacking in
today’s busy and isolated society.
3. Turn off your porch light and go to church.
Provide an activity for your own church family. Even better, provide something
you can open to the community. Here are a few ideas:
The following are
Peggy's suggestions for activities on Halloween. You won't find prayer against
satanists' evil activities on Halloween listed among them. Because the prayers of the
righteous avail much to counter the evil deeds committed on Halloween, Satan does not want
Christians to pray against his plans on his day.
• Provide a
Harvest Festival, with games and
food and fun activities. Particularly in areas where parents may be hesitant
to let their children go door-to-door, the church can provide a safe and fun
place to be. One church has "trunk-or-treat" where people open their
car trunks, fill them with candy and let the kids get their treats by
wandering through the parking lot. Such an event can be a great place to let
teens do evangelistic presentations through music, drama, or other means
limited only by their imaginations.
Trunk-or-treat is the same ritual as trick-or-treat except that Christian children are
trick-or-treating at car trunks rather than at neighbors' houses. This is conditioning Christians to participate in
Halloween rituals and to believe they are harmless!
• Hold a Bible Heroes Costume Party. Kids
love to dress up and play pretend. Instead of ghoulish characters, let them
dress up like Bible characters. (Some churches tie their celebration into
Reformation Day, remembering that October 31, 1517 is the day that Luther
posted his 95 theses on the chapel door at Wittenburg University, the event
that now symbolizes the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.)
The Halloween ritual of dressing
up in costumes is presented as a sanctified act as long as the participants dress in
Bible costumes rather than as ghouls. Again, Leftbehind.com (via Peggy) is
reinforcing the "accept Halloween" agenda. Remember, Satan seeks whom he may devour,
and when Christians participate in his thinly disguised rituals on
his day, they have opened their lives to him so he may begin to do
just that. He delights in the fact that
Christian parents are being tricked into giving him place in their lives and
their children's lives.
• Conduct a Progressive Dinner. This can be a
fun way to let youth in your church spend the evening together. It can also be
a great event to use it as an outreach activity to invite non-Christian
friends, letting them see that there are other ways to have fun on Halloween.
There are a lot of variations, depending on weather, day of the week, school
schedules and other factors. Kids can come in costume, make a game of the
movement from one "course" to another, and end up at the church or
another location for dessert and a short devotional talk related to the
Christian alternative to evil, the occult, or similar topics.
The emphasis of having fun on
Halloween (Satan's followers have the time of their lives on Halloween, so why
should Christians miss out on the "fun"?) is repeated in this Halloween-promoting article.
There is no mention that Halloween is a satanic high day and
that the Halloween rituals, as innocent as they may appear on the surface, are
ways Satan tricks the world and Christians into giving access into their
lives. It is very telling that Tyndale House chose to present Halloween,
Satan's #1 day in the calendar year, as harmless fun as
long as the Halloween rituals are modified.
Keep in mind the principle found in 1
Corinthians 10:31: "Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you
must do all for the glory of God."
Respond
Share with us your plans for Halloween.
The people at Leftbehind.com assume
the reader has plans for Halloween. They named the article with this assumption
in mind. They want to know what Christians will be doing for
Halloween. Why? Why do
they want to know the thoughts of the Christian website visitors? Why do they
want to know if the Christian reader will commit spiritual adultery and celebrate
Satan's #1 hellish "holy" day? Why do they want to know how many Christians are going to
dishonor God on Halloween? Why did Leftbehind.com not ask how
many will abhor what is evil and cleave to that what is good?
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Read Others' Responses
There is no admonition
in this article to abstain from
the observance of Halloween! Not a word was written about how much God hates
the occult. Instead, the article provides many soul-subverting suggestions
about how to
celebrate Halloween "Christian style." It is impossible to eat at
the table of devils in a "Christian fashion." Christians eat at the table of the
Lord or the table of devils, and will reap the blessings or curses of
their decision.
Jesus
said strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there
be that find it. Leftbehind.com wants you to believe that there are
alternatives to the narrow way that is not the broad road either. That is not
in the Bible. It is Satan, not the Lord Jesus Christ, who preaches a middle-sized road named
Compromise.
Print-friendly
Format
Index of Halloween Articles
link for documentation
purposes only:
Human
Sacrifice 666 The Guide and the Ceremony to Sacrifice
Diane Dew wrote Bible
Outlines on FASTING
and Intercessory
Prayer that are so helpful to read as you embark on your
time of fasting and prayer to intercede for the very lives of
people to the glory of God.
revised 10/24/06
first writing
10/29/02
return to:
Exposing Satan's Snares
in the Church |