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25 The graven images of
their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or
gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared
therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 Neither shalt
thou bring an abomina-tion into thine house, lest thou be a cursed
thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly
abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.
Deuteronomy 7:25, 26
What is Halloween today? Many can explain where most of the trappings
of Halloween come from. The Druid bases and occult sources. Many also
think that's what it used to be, but not today; so it's all right for
Christians to celebrate Halloween.
Again I ask, 'What is Halloween TODAY?'
Look at the TV guide during Halloween, or what movies are showing at
the theater - horror movies. What do the stores decorate with? Witches,
vampires, and other objects of horror. That's how the spirit of
Halloween can best be summed up for TODAY'S meaning of Halloween.
Witches are an abomination (Exodus 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:9-14). Should
we then think nothing of them? Dress up in a costume imitating what's
an abomination, for fun? How do you think God would view that? The
spirit of fear, which is the base of the Halloween celebration, is
dia-metrically opposite to the Spirit of Christ:
7 For God hath not given
us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound
mind.
II
Timothy 1:7
An Ancient Command
Take a look at the first scripture quoted. It's a powerful statement as
to how Christians should respond to the Christianizing of Halloween in
our day. Many think they can take Halloween and celebrate it dressing
in costumes of Bible characters and harmless apple bobbing events. They
reason that makes it OK. Think again.
Deuteronomy 7:25, 26 was given to Israel from God before they entered
the promised land. They would see many idols covered with gold and
silver. The idols could have been melted down and the precious metals
taken and used for good. Look carefully at what God said before they
entered the land. He called the gold and silver on the idols an
abomination. Many take the heathen holiday that's dedicated to the
spirit of fear and occultism, strip off the gold and readorn it to a
nice Christianized holiday. There may be some good aspects of the
holiday we could use like the gold off the idols. This issue, however,
isn't one of, 'is there any good to be found and retrieved?'. God spoke
clearly as to how we're to respond to this type of recla-mation. There
is to be no reclamation! Pitch that attractive silver and gold with its
luster! More than that, this scripture has a perilous warning with it.
The idols were cursed. Because the idols had been made for exclusive
devotion to evil, the gold was also defiled and cursed. The LORD warned
that to take the gold into their possession would be to take an
abomination into their midst and would bring a curse upon them! Verse
26 also says the attitude toward the idols should be utter detestation
and abhorrence. Strong words! Do we view Halloween that way? If we did,
we certainly wouldn't want to have anything to do with it. Much less
try to Christianize it.
Responsibility of the Brethren
Though the lesson in Deuter-onomy is clear, we see people in the church
saying it's wrong, but refusing to be dogmatic, since spiritually young
Christians don't know any better. If they don't know any better, it's
up to the elder Christians to see to it the younger Christians do know
about it! What's more, the love of God should constrain us to cry out.
How can we sit back and watch a brother or sister in Christ be involved
in something that carries a curse with it and do nothing? To keep
silence so they're willing to continue listening on the more obvious
issues shows no love. They would be defiling themselves with something
accursed. The frown of God would surely fall on the naive Christians,
but the scowl would fall on the knowing elders.
So, do we end this dissertation at a frown, a scowl and a curse, or do
we stand up and do something? Do we seek to glorify our God in living
pure and holy lives that testify His standards of acceptability?
The decision is up to you.
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 Free to Copy under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND3.0 License by Darrell Farkas
All quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible
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