Halloween & Why I Don't Celebrate

While Halloween does include fun with friends and family, it is a pagan/satanic holiday. These gatherings are centered around attributes, such as witchcraft, death, deceit and fright, which are opposing to God.

Halloween began as a celebration of wickedness and Satan worship. It is rooted in pagan tradition. Although the original ways it was celebrated bear little resemblance to the way it is celebrated today, I am still not going to celebrate it.

Children may dress in cute costumes and get candy from neighbors, but this isn’t the way everyone celebrates. There are icons of witches, skeletons, ghosts, and other “evil” things. People, especially rebellious teenagers, play tricks on others (soaping windows, smashing pumpkins, egging homes, vandalizing properties, etc.). Sinister stories are passed around. I know I’ve been there. I didn’t come from a Christian home so I grew up celebrating Halloween.

There are people, who participate in pagan religions and celebrate with special rituals (some of which are Satanic). The entire spirit of the holiday doesn’t set a good example for children and it’s not based on how God wants us to live and celebrate.

The main focus of Halloween is fear, darkness, monsters, the occult and violence. Are these the kinds of things that we should be exposing our children or ourselves to? Paul said that Christians should "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." (Ephesians 5:11) He also wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 that we are to "Keep away from every kind of evil."

Halloween is a holiday that glorifies that which is dark, that which is diabolical. The Bible tells us that we have been called out of darkness and into the marvelous light of Christ (1 Peter 2:9). Jesus wants to lift us above the paganism and wickedness of this world (John 17:14-15). How are we to let our lights shine (Matthew 5:14-16) if we are relishing in a custom that promotes darkness? "And what communion hath light with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14). Our delight and meditation should be on that which is pure, lovely, and virtuous (Philippians 4:8).

The Bible is clear: God is opposed to occultish practices (Deuteronomy 18:10-12, Galatians 5:20, Revelation 21:8). You can also read in Acts 19:18-19 about Christians who renounced all dealings with the occult after they accepted Jesus as their Savior.

I’m not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't do since every Christian must be persuaded in his or her own conscience about this type of matter, but to me, Halloween doesn't sound like anything I want to be associated with.

Today, I don’t want to be identified with the holiday because it’s rooted in ideologies which I see as being dishonoring to God. I’ve had enough evil done to me in my life and there is enough evil in the world going around that I don’t want to celebrate a holiday that elevates evil further.

A lot of Christians anticipate Halloween with excitement, unaware of the strong ties to the pagan religion or maybe they haven't yet realized the importance of integrating our faith into daily decisions (like whether or not an activity honors God).

Halloween emphasizes violence, but Jesus emphasizes peace and gentleness (Titus 3:2 & Luke 2:14). Halloween emphasizes fear and terror, but God emphasizes tranquility, rest, assurance, and love (Psalm 23, 2 Timothy 1:17, 1 John 4:18). Halloween emphasizes death and destruction, but God emphasizes life and restoration (John 3:16, Ezekiel 33:11, Jeremiah 30:17). There's just no getting around the fact that Halloween is opposed to God's character and ways.

And then there is the candy.

Tons of sugar in so many different forms, plus artificial colors and flavors. No redeeming nutritional value at all. It’s just store-bought and laden full of junk that is slowing killing us, which is just as harmful as the spiritual roots of Halloween.

Think about this, every year, Americans spend over 6.9 billion dollars on Halloween alone. Imagine all the good that could be done with that kind money!

❤️Kerri

© Kerri McKenna Reece | Kerri Chronicles | Kerri Coaching, LLC.

Read more of Kerri's personal journal:

Love Letters to the Wounded Child Inside
My Very First Memory
Good little Girls