Although some years when I'm feeling extra generous, I'll spring for the "Thrills" soap-flavored chewing gum.
The kids love it!
Posted on 10/31/2022 9:55:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
As most Americans plan to celebrate Halloween on Monday night, many Christian parents will try to keep their children from being exposed to occultic ideas like witchcraft, demons and evil spirits. But other Christian families will embrace the time for candy, costumes and fun.
Many pastors and churches urge members to avoid the annual observance altogether or suggest alternative activities like harvest festivals. However, others are less bothered by Halloween even though they acknowledge its pagan origin.
In a series of interviews, The Christian Post asked pastors with children of their own about how their families approach Halloween.
Most of the church leaders interviewed say they do not celebrate Halloween because it originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain.
The celebration was traditionally held halfway between the autumn equinox and winter solstice and is seen as a period when the veil separating the world and the spirit realms is at its thinnest.
But some are more open to allowing their children to participate in what they believe has become a watered-down, commercialized version of the holiday.
In their perspective, the last day in October has adopted a new meaning over time by becoming more about costumes, trick-or-treating and carving pumpkins than a celebration to ward off evil spirits.
As polling shows that 78% of Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year, a recent survey from Lifeway Research of over 1,000 Protestant pastors finds that only 13% say they urge their congregations to avoid celebrating Halloween altogether, up from 8% in a 2016 survey.
Seventy-one percent of pastors say they encourage their church members to invite friends or neighbors to church events on or near Halloween, such as a fall festival, trunk-or-treat or judgment house. About a third of pastors (34%) encourage their members to give out “tracts to trick-or-treaters.”
Charles Washington, the pastor of Regeneration Temple in Raleigh, North Carolina, said he doesn't celebrate Halloween with his two children — Nathan, 11, and Taylor, 8.
“My family believes it’s wrong after we conducted research to better understand the origins,” said Washington, whose church belongs to the Church of God in Christ denomination.
“And as Christians, we are called to be ‘the light of the world.’ And as we know, this is a day that is for the celebration of evil spirits.”
Even though Washington grew up in a Christian home, his family did not teach him about the origins of Halloween right away. He recalls celebrating the holiday as a child on one occasion.
The following year, his family became aware of the celebration’s origins and stopped celebrating.
“Some people celebrate it based on ignorance and not knowing the origins. Growing up, I didn't know the origins of Halloween. I just thought it was a date that we all dressed up, and I grew up in a Christian home,” he said. “But as I got older and I got wiser, I researched and I understood. This is not a day that Christians participate in.”
Over 2,500 years ago, the Celtic festival of Samhain was believed to have taken place at dusk on Oct. 31 annually. Celtic communities in Europe celebrated for about three days, starting on the 31st. They would light bonfires, wear costumes and spend the evening summoning the spirits of the dead.
The Celts are believed to have called on the spirits to come and roam throughout the Earth. The costumes are believed to have been worn because they thought the disguises would keep the “evil” spirits from recognizing them.
“It's a pagan holiday that honors ancestors going back to the Celtic people who are known as the Celts,” Washington said. “They would honor this day. Witches would honor this day, honoring the dead. A lot of it was a festival that was created to appease the spirits of the dead.”
Washington believes Halloween can never be separated from its origins, and Christian parents who celebrate Halloween in any way with their children are likely to make themselves and their children more “susceptible” to the negative impact of the devil and his plots, schemes and evil plans carried out through his demons on that night.
“This day is supposed to be a gateway between the dead and the living. And at this time, it is easier, or it is more possible, for dead spirits to interact with human beings. So with all that being said, according to our Christian belief, to celebrate Halloween is to drink the cup of the devil,” Washington asserted, quoting 1 Corinthians 10:21, which warns that it is impossible to “partake in the Lord’s cup and the cup of devils.”
During Halloween, Washington said, it is believed by witches and warlocks that the veil that separates the demonic realm from the earthly realm is thinner than usual, which can make the ability for those practicing witchcraft to have access to more of the demonic realm.
It’s important for Christian parents to be aware that “Christians are in spiritual warfare all the time,” according to Washington.
“The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12 about how we ‘wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness,’” Washington added. “So, at all times, we are wrestling with this. But, if this day is dedicated to that, for witches and warlocks to be even stronger, and to call on those evil spirits, even more, you don't know what could happen.”
Washington said, “anything that a Christian does that is idol worship, that is not godly, you are more susceptible to demonic spirits.” The pastor warned that celebrating evil spirits could lead to something tragic.
“You never know what can happen with this type of celebration,” he warned.
The Lifeway survey found that African-American pastors (32%) were almost three times more likely than white pastors (11%) to say they encourage their congregations to avoid Halloween celebrations completely. About a quarter of Hispanic pastors (24%) agreed. Non-denominational (22%) and Pentecostal (20%) pastors were over twice as likely than Lutheran (9%), Methodist (7%) and Church of Christ (7%) pastors to say they urge their congregants to avoid Halloween.
John Reichart, one of the pastors at The Experience Vineyard Church in Rockville Centre, New York, believes Halloween can be separated from its origins because it’s a day that has adapted over time to become “mostly innocent.”
Reichart told CP he recognizes there is a dark side to Halloween dating back to its origins and present day.
But he believes it is possible for Christian parents to separate Halloween from demonic activity by teaching their children to avoid the holiday’s dark side. The pastor has three children in their late 20s and early 30s with whom he once celebrated Halloween.
“When our children were very young, before they were old enough to think about going out trick-or-treating, we were able to bring them to a church that hosted a harvest party where they could dress up and gather with other Christians for fun activities. They didn’t call it a Halloween party,” Reichart said.
Though waves of immigrants brought many Celtic traditions to America, Reichart said there have been generations of adaptations of Halloween. Over the decades, he says, the holiday has become more of a “candy acquisition.”
“I am aware of the Celtic origins and the spirituality and fear aspects that were woven into it. … I am familiar with the details there, particularly what the Roman Catholic Church started doing to essentially co-opt some of those harvest time festivals that the Celts were celebrating where they viewed there is a thin barrier between the living and the dead and that people in the community that was dead might appear and need to be appeased,” Reichart stated.
Reichart said Halloween should be a time for Christians to be keenly aware that the spiritual realm exists in both a heavenly way with the Holy Spirit and a demonic way with Satan and his demons.
When his children were younger, Reichart allowed them to dress up and go trick-or-treating. But he prohibited any costumes viewed as “gory or overtly gullish or occult and on the demonic side.”
“It’s a holiday that goes along with the residuals of some spiritual aspects. There is a layer here that remains created by the commercial costume that’s available and through the frightening Hollywood movies that have been created. But at the kid level, they could dress up as crazy funny things where they are trying to look like some celebrity. But not in those gruesome ways.” Reichart stated.
“In that way, we tried to protect our kids and educate them about this topic and the origins a bit. I don’t minimize the reality of there being a rich spiritual world with the presence of the Holy Spirit and the presence of demons and Satan. But, I don’t believe that going to a Halloween festivity is demonic and that if someone does, they will be unduly influenced by demonic spirits.”
If Christians choose to celebrate Halloween, Washington advises they should only engage in Halloween festivities on the days before or after Oct. 31.
“Why not do it on another day? Why do it on a day that you know is dedicated to celebrating evil spirits? If you want to celebrate with your kids, don't celebrate it on the same day that everybody else is celebrating Halloween,” Washington said.
“My thought is I don’t want to do anything that's associated with that day. I'm not giving treats and candy to my kids because we study that with the Celts’ festival, they would put out food, and they had treats, and that was supposed to appease evil spirits so that the evil spirits wouldn't bother them.”
Sharing a similar perspective as Washington is Pastor Justin Mercer of the Faith Temple Church of God in Christ of Lynchburg, Virginia, which also belongs to the Church of God in Christ. He also believes that celebrating Halloween is engaging in a “demonic practice.”
The 38-year-old Pentecostal pastor has five children: Justin Jr., 12; Kelly, 10; Sarah, 9; Hagen, 4; and Reddington, 1.
Mercer does not celebrate Halloween with his children and never will.
He believes that even if someone celebrates before or after Oct. 31, they still disobey God by engaging in any activities related to Halloween.
“We have a firm belief with regards to our Christianity and ascribe it to the Bible that we are supposed to steer away from appearances of evil and also not to have any association with anything that represents darkness,” Mercer said. “We should not be celebrating that day.”
Mercer said Halloween is a day “marred by the practice of wishing spells on someone.”
“Even the trick-or-treat little song that they sing developed as a way to cast spells on people. And so, dressing up like goblins, demons and the like is just not something that a Christian should be associated with,” Mercer said.
“As a pastor, I have the pleasure of helping people get rid of their demons. Why would I then take my children and myself and go out and dress like the things that are plaguing individuals every day?”
“Spiritual transference happens all the time. And the Bible says that evil communication corrupts good morals. And so, whether you ascribe to the Bible or not, you know that if someone is hanging around a murderer every day, after a while, some of their actions are going to rub off on them,” Mercer said.
“It’s the same thing when it comes to demonic activity. It is what it is. If someone is practicing that, it has the potential to get a hold of somebody else's child. Almost the same thing as a kid who is hanging around another bad person. As good as your parenting is, [if] you leave that person with that child on a consistent basis for an extended amount of time, they may pick up the traits of that bad person.”
Mercer contends that the demonic realm is thinning as the world gets closer to the End Times. He believes Halloween is risky to celebrate because of the power he believes Satan has on that night.
“Do I think that Satan has more free course on that night? Yes, because it's dedicated to celebrating him. So it’s his show. Everything that is going on is centered around highlighting his activity and those that worship him. So yes, I do feel like he has more access to humans that night,” Mercer stated.
Celebrating Halloween is “putting your salvation aside,” Mercer claims.
Even when Christians dress up in costumes that are not related to the demonic realm or are meant to be “humorous” or “innocent,” Mercer believes they are still disobeying God by partaking in Halloween.
“Salvation doesn't work that way. We can't take our salvation and put it to the side and then dress up as something innocent and participate in something demonic and call it what we want to call it,” Mercer said.
“You can't change the orientation of something just because you put on a certain thing or anything else.”
Pastor John Amanchukwu of the Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina, takes a similar stance with his three children who are all below the age of 13.
Amanchukwu also referred to 1 Corinthians 10:21, Ephesians 5:11 and 3 John 1:11 as verses to support his stance.
"I don't celebrate Halloween with them. The topic of Halloween comes up every year and Christians debate on this topic. And oftentimes, it's a tug-of-war of whether or not we should allow our children to engage in it or if we shouldn't. The important thing to keep in mind is not only what Christians think of Halloween, but we also have to answer the question of what do Wiccans, witches and warlocks think about Halloween?" Amanchukwu said.
"And if you have encounters with individuals who have been in that lifestyle, they will tell you themselves that 'the Christian is a fool to engage in that day' because it's a high day for them, meaning it's a chief day for them to sacrifice and to do seances and to summon the demonic influences to do things. And I don't think that Christians understand that."
Even if a Christian dresses their child up as an angel and not a goblin, Amanchukwu said they are still doing their child a disservice. When he was a child, Amanchukwu said he unknowingly participated in Halloween trick-or-treating and wore costumes solely because he wanted candy.
"I wasn't focused on the spiritual aspect of things as a kid. My mind was on Snickers, Skittles and Starbursts. Christians need to think beyond just what they feel. They need to look beyond the candy and costume and study the opponent," Amanchukwu said.
"Study the adversary and what they do on this day. There are Christians who were once witches that will say that Christian parents who celebrate Halloween are setting their children up for demonic influence."
“There is hope for them to have the knowledge of the truth and come to the light and come to the understanding. And Jesus can save anybody. His grace is for all of us who ‘confess with their mouths and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead,’” Washington said.
"There is hope for those who celebrate Halloween because I once celebrated Halloween. There's always hope when Christ is involved," Amanchukwu said.
According to Mercer, the beauty of salvation is there's hope for everybody.
"There are people who confess Jesus on their deathbed. And at that moment, they're saved. But don't wait until you're about to die. You'll miss out on a good deal of stuff that Jesus can help you with. But everybody is able to be redeemed,” Mercer stressed, referring to 2 Corinthians 5:1 about how humans who believe and receive Jesus and repent will be made into new creatures.
“Everybody is able to be redeemed by the Lord. … He gives them a way through His Son.”
Christmas,christmas trees etc are also based on pagan holidays,do they celebrate Christmas?
Although some years when I'm feeling extra generous, I'll spring for the "Thrills" soap-flavored chewing gum.
The kids love it!
God doesn’t look at blending the ungodly and the Godly too kindly. At least if we are to believe the bible. Of course most pastors don’t really follow the bible but instead follow the people.
>> It’s just the night before All Saints Day. Why can’t the “researchers” ever get this right? <<
>> it was a Christian day through and through...at least till the secularists got a hold of it. <<
I think the reason there's not a peep out of the article discussing the fact that Halloween originated as a CHRISTIAN holiday is because the poll itself is carefully rigged to avoid that. The article claims they want to get the opinion of how "Christian pastors" as a whole feel about Halloween, then later in the article they admit this pesky little fact:
>>> a recent survey from Lifeway Research of over 1,000 Protestant pastors <<<
Yep, apparently the opinion of EVERY Catholic pastor in the U.S. is chopped liver.
The decision to set All Hallows Eve on Oct 31, of course, was created by Catholics, so let's not bring THAT pesky fact up for discussion. Let's just "poll" Christian churches that DON'T observe All Saints Day. And just to be even further on the safe side and get the results they want to hear, they didn't bother to 'poll' a single Eastern Orthodox pastor, either. Eastern Orthodox Christians, of course, ALSO celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day (albeit on a different date than Catholics do), don't wanna risk one of THOSE pastors bringing up the fact that All Saints Day is a Christian holy day.
It's akin to saying you want get the views of how "American citizens" feel about celebrating the birthday of Robert E. Lee. You then ONLY "poll" Americans living in New England, and don't bother to poll a SINGLE southerner about how THEY feel about Robert E. Lee's birthday. The "results" would say the vast majority of "Americans" (all the folks in New England, the ONLY ones you bothered to "poll") have no interest in observing Robert E. Lee's birthday. I'm SHOCKED, I tell ya!
Another religious "poll" that is rigged and worthless.
I've noticing that a lot of on FR lately, sadly.
Here’s Father Augustine Thompson on the Catholic origins of Halloween: https://ucatholic.com/blog/the-catholic-origins-of-halloween/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Gfile%2010302015&utm_term=GFile
Halloween, as far as any Christians goes, and as far any Christians sanctioning it, is a practice where local tradition(s), approved/sanctioned by religious authority or not, exceeds biblical scriptural foundation.
“Halloween, as far as any Christians goes, and as far any Christians sanctioning it, is a practice where local tradition(s), approved/sanctioned by religious authority or not, exceeds biblical scriptural foundation.”
______________
So is baseball. What’s your point?
>> So is baseball. What’s your point? << <<
Reformation Day as well, a popular protestant "alternative" to Halloween. It likewise is a practice where local traditions, approved/sanctioned by religious authority or not, exceeds biblical scriptural foundation.
Do as we say, not as we do!
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