Truth To Wonder: conversation for christ

The dark nights are now upon us, and swift on the heels of the earlier nights is the foul celebration of all things evil that is Halloween. This wicked day is believed to be a dark coming together of the druidic celebration of Samhain (marked end of summer and beginning of winter along with reverence of the dead), and Roman Catholic celebrations over a three-day period known as All Hallowtide. 

This three-day period began with All Hallows Eve on October 31st (where the name Halloween comes from) and was a day of vigil for the dead. The following day, November 1st marked All Souls’ Day, before the three-day event climaxed on November 2nd with All Saints’ Day. Formally established as a three-day period of reverence and honouring of the dead in 1000 AD by the Roman Catholic Church, this period of honouring death took hold on a deeply superstitious Dark Ages Europe.

This wicked mix of paganism and ‘Christianised’ celebrations of revering the dead, was taken to the Americas during colonisation. As time passed, the ‘honouring of the deceased saints and martyrs’ fell away to leave a fixation on death and all darkness that accompanies the grave.

Halloween’s fascination and celebration of all things evil declares its allegiance to all things Satanic. What Christian in their right mind would ever condone (let alone take part in!) such a day that invites people to revel in the fruits of the last enemy of Christ that is death?! (1 Corinthians 15:26). Halloween is a celebration of all the evil that Christ Jesus came in the flesh of man to defeat and free humanity from! Any who indulge in this disgusting day, grieve the Holy Spirit and make a mockery of the finished work of Christ in His conquering of sin and death!

Furthermore, consider how the very origins and aims of this superstitious day popularised by Rome, also invites people to indulge in idolatry. Even if we were to strip away the foul, nightmare inducing decorations that fill many supermarket aisles in October; we are left with a day that encourages people to give reverence and honour to deceased people. No one, no matter how great, is worthy of such acts of worship apart from Christ Jesus! Yes, we are to remember those heroes of the faith that have gone before, and teach others of the service they gave to Christ. However, we are to never raise them up to a level that requires reverence and ‘honouring’. 

Rather than using this time as a period to honour the deceased, the Roman Catholic Church should’ve used it to give honour and reverence to Christ Jesus. He who freely gifted those same saints and martyrs’ life eternal through His shed blood! We are not to celebrate death, as we are called to give thanks and live in remembrance for the life that was ransomed for ours, the Lord Jesus’!

Ask yourself, why do many happily set aside one day to dress up in hideous costumes and put-up disgusting decorations, that would make anyone gag in horror if put up during the rest of the year?! If you drive past a house with a blood-stained skeleton hanging up in the window in the middle of July, you’d rightly be disturbed by the manner of person dwelling inside! Why? Because they have decided to live alongside gruesome monuments of death! That’s just creepy, isn’t it?! Doesn’t this tip us off that something is deeply, deeply wrong with this evil day that is Halloween?! Yet strangely, on October 31st many happily dispense with such sense because social convention says it’s ok for one day. 

Let us live under the words of God as given through the prophet Isaiah, where we read, ‘Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness’ (Isaiah 5:20). 

We are living in a land filled with woe right now (just read the daily news for proof of this statement!). We have brought this woe upon ourselves because as a nation, we have fallen so far away from God that people are happier to put up decorations of fake corpses and possessed people (the Range is stocking such hideous props, I kid you not!), than we are to look upon the image of the Cross or see the Holy Bible openly displayed and preached! 

We are a nation that is putting up darkness in the place of light. Tragically, many Christians are taking part in such God angering actions. Let we faithful few not hide away from such heavy events, however. Instead, let’s step boldly into the battle knowing that it is a battle already won by our Saviour Christ Jesus! Let’s go and joyfully witness to the lost before God; leave tracts and preach the light of the Gospel unashamedly. Let’s make sure we encourage others to not stop and spend a day in celebration of evil and death. Instead, use it as a day to stop and give glory unto God. All because of the gift of eternal life that is held within the pierced hands of the Risen Lord Jesus. A gift He offers to all in His grace and mercy. Amen.