Halloween- Fear or Revere? by Bryan Craig

“And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”  2 Corinthians 11:12-14 ESV

I used to love Halloween.  I think it was tied to my love of Fall and the weather, changing of the leaves, the smells and colors and festivity of the season.  Of course, I grew up Trick or Treating, having fun wearing different costumes each year and seeing what kinds of treats I would get.  And there was always the element of embracing the “scary”.  When I was young, every Friday night on TV they had a black and white “monster movie” like Frankenstein, the Werewolf and Dracula.  We would stay up late with my Dad to get scared.  As I got older, the movies got much scarier than these old black and whites, and I remember the thrill of being spooked by these darker movies, but I also remember the after-effects of fear that plagued me many times.  It took me a while to figure out I was inviting these dark thoughts and fears into my life.

As I got older and started embracing my faith, the Holy Spirit helped me to start seeing the reality of evil.  One of Satan’s greatest tactics is to hide in the shadows as if he doesn’t exist or to masquerade as an angel of light.  He is the master of deception and confusion.  And as I had my own children, I wanted them to enjoy the festivity of Halloween, but I began to feel conflict in embracing the dark, scary side of Halloween.  I wanted to protect my children from the fears I had experienced.

I think there is a naivety in the body of Christ regarding evil spirits.  I have written about some of my discoveries regarding the existence of evil spirits and spiritual strongholds in our lives that we may not even realize exist.  Ephesians 6 talks about spiritual warfare and our armor.  It talks about the evil empire as “rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness…spiritual forces of evil.”  Satan is real and his organization of evil spirits is vast.  These spirits are all around us, and they come into our lives through our sins, through traumatic experiences and even by our own invitation.  In the old Dracula movies, I remember the folklore that a vampire cannot enter your house unless he is invited.  Similarly, have we invited evil in and is Halloween a portal for evil to come into our house?

This morning, I was spending some time journaling one of the accounts in scripture on the Lord’s Prayer:

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”  He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread.  Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”  Luke 11:1-4 ESV

“Hallowed be your name…”  Those words jumped out at me.  First, I wanted to make sure I knew the definition of “hallow” which is not a word we use very often.  Then, I realized it is part of the word, Halloween.

Definition of “hallow”:

Hallow means: made holy, consecrated, greatly revered and honored.  As I read this, I see why Jesus wanted us to ascribe such reverence in our prayers to the Father.  And it’s not just the Father, but it is His Name.  He has many names, but His name above all names is Jesus, who also said, “I and the Father are one.” (See John 10:30)

So, why is the word “hallow” in the name, “Halloween?”   With just a little research, I learned that Halloween means “All Hallows Eve”, because it was the night before the religious holiday, “All Saints Day.”  This is a Christian celebration of those saints, martyrs and faithful who have departed.

So that sounds all nice and spiritual.  How did Halloween get so scary?

The History Channel says that Halloween goes back 2000 years to a Celtic festival that marked the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, which was associated with human death.  Apparently, the Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.  They believed this was when ghosts of the dead returned to the earth.  This is in keeping with the Mexican tradition of “The Day of the Dead,” also celebrated at this time, where the culture believes it is a time of contact with those who have died. 

So, a time that was meant to “hallow” those who have come before us has turned into a time to embrace ghosts, and demons and horror and death, all in the name of festivity and fun.  As an abider and follower of Christ, I feel a caution.  Last June, I saw a 30 foot monster being sold at Lowe’s, already announcing Halloween four months early.  Halloween seems more popular than ever.  My neighborhood is full of people decorating their houses with ghosts, spiders, scary figures.  Just the other day, I was in a bagel shop and I saw a boy, around 8, dressed normally, but wearing one of those scary masks from the movie, Scream.  He casually walked into the counter.  There was a man in front of him with a little 2-year-old.  The 2-year-old was staring in horror at this boy in the mask.  The Halloween boy raised his mask to order, which revealed a sweet kid who they all seemed to know.  He was oblivious to the fear he caused the little 2-year-old.  It struck me.

I follow Jesus, who spent a lot of time casting out demons, not celebrating them.  And he also did not want his followers to be afraid.  When He was walking on the water during a storm out to greet His disciples, it says that they thought He was a ghost, and they were terrified.  Immediately, Jesus said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

God does not want us to live in fear.  We are commanded, “Do not fear” at least 66 times in the Bible.  Scripture says that Abiding in Christ casts out fear:

“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”  1 John 4:13-18 ESV

 And if Death causes you fear, let us remember that Jesus destroyed the power of death:

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.  Hebrews 2:14-15 ESV

So, as you consider your celebration of this holiday called “Hallow-een”, think of your approach and what you “hallow” or revere.  Satan, who masquerades as an angel of light, would love for us to celebrate demons and darkness and fear and death. And innocently, we may be inviting evil into our lives. 

And more warnings from scripture:

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 ESV

And back to the Lord’s Prayer, as Jesus told us how we should pray:

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”  Matthew 6:13 ESV

This Halloween, let’s enjoy the fall season and the smells and colors and the pumpkins, and perhaps “hallow” our loved ones who have passed on, but above all, let’s hallow the name above every name, Jesus, who died to conquer death.  And be on guard against the Deceiver and his schemes.