Halloween
A few years ago, God began convicting Jared and I about celebrating Halloween. We were both raised in families that didn't celebrate it, but as we had our own kids, and were part of churches and preschools that did celebrate, it was natural to just fall in. We never did anything scary or outright evil, but we participated. We dressed the kids up and went to trunk or treats, preschool parties, fall festivals, etc, in the name of a fun time. Over time, God really began working in our hearts to show us the truth of Halloween and to draw us back into a "set-apartness" (also known as holiness). With conviction, prayer, and research on the origins of Halloween, we decided that we would no longer be celebrating any part of Halloween.
I think the church, as a whole, fails to talk about the spiritual warfare parts of the Bible enough. It focuses on grace and love because those are fun and feel good, but the demonic, the spiritual world, and spiritual warfare seem much less fun, much less feel good - and even sometimes scary because we don’t understand it. Many people grow up in church and don’t learn anything more about it than the basics. But when the Bible says, in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be of sober mind. Be alert. Your enemy the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”, and in Job 1:7, when satan told God that he had been, “Roaming through the earth.”, we can know that we have an enemy who is not passive in his pursuit of us. Satan is not only very real but very much seeking to destroy us.
In order to understand spiritual warfare, we have to understand the gospel - the entire gospel - not just the feel-good parts. All the way back in the Garden, when God created Adam and Eve, He did so, intending for them to always walk in unity with Him. In Genesis 2:7, we see that God created man as a triune being just like He is. God formed the man (body), breathed life into him (Spirit) and he became a living being (soul). Adam was not alive until God’s Spirit was breathed into Him. This is so important because God created us by breathing HIS Spirit into us - not A spirit, but HIS Spirit. We were created to share God’s Spirit - to literally be one with Him and walk in perfect unity with Him. But when Adam and Eve chose to sin, they were no longer holy like He is. Before they sinned, they were completely pure and innocent of all evil - they were holy, set apart. But their sin changed that.
Our God is holy and no evil can stand in His presence. Because Adam and Eve were no longer holy, they could not walk with God in unity - their Spirits died in the Garden - the Spirits they had shared with God. God’s Holy Spirit could not be in an unholy human. This grieved God - He wanted that relationship with Adam and Eve, with us, that’s why He created us, but one moment, one small choice, changed everything.
But God was prepared! This wasn’t what He wanted, but He knew this would happen and He already had a rescue plan prepared! Genesis 3:15, is the very first prophecy of Jesus! Until Jesus though, there had to be a temporary solution for the forgiveness of sin. When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, God made a covenant with Him. This is called the Old Covenant, The Mosaic Covenant, or the Law. In very short terms, God told Moses that if the people would obey a crazy long list of rules and offer a certain number of sacrifices, then He would view them as holy and dwell with them. In order for their sins to be forgiven, there had to be bloodshed from a spotless animal (nothing wrong with it) every time they sinned. Only the person that was anointed as the High Priest though, was able to actually enter God’s presence and talk to Him. Everyone else was allowed to continue living and be blessed by God, but they couldn’t have a personal relationship with Him - their relationship with God was through the High Priest.
But then there was Jesus! When Jesus died on the cross, He was the spotless sacrifice to cover our sins. He died, once and for all, to cover everything that we had ever done and would ever do. Jesus' death and resurrection destroyed The Old Covenant and God made a New Covenant with us. When Jesus died, when He took his last breath, I imagine satan thought he had finally won, but then Jesus conquered death! Jesus defeated satan’s hold on us, and His death and resurrection made us holy. No longer do we need a priest to be our go-between for God! When we become Christians, we are now “washed in the blood”, new creations, made holy, and able to not just live in God’s presence, but to be filled by His Holy Spirit. We can now once again live in perfect unity with God - exactly as He meant it in the Garden of Eden! But of course, we have to make that decision daily - sometimes moment by moment. We are filled with the Holy Spirit, but we are still living in human bodies and have the choice to operate in our flesh or our Spirit.
In Galatians 5:19, Paul writes, “Now the works of the flesh are obvious; sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery…I am warning you about these things – as I warned you before – that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
He goes on to write that we are to completely avoid all things that aren’t of Him, things that are evil and from the flesh. 2 Corinthians 7:1, “...Let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit…” Romans 11:12 “...Detest evil, cling to what is good.”
Instead, we are to be holy like God is holy, and not just passively, but to pursue it.Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace and holiness…”1 Peter 1:15-16 “But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘Be holy as I am holy.’”Ephesians 5:1 “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.”
In Ephesians 6:12, we read that “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” As Tony Evans says, “Spiritual Warfare is the cosmic conflict waged in the invisible realm but simultaneously fleshed out in the visible, physical realm.” As Christians, we are made holy and are filled with the Holy Spirit. Not only does God see us as sinless, but He has placed His Spirit inside us, and we carry the full power and authority of that Spirit. In Jesus, we are more powerful than satan, and he knows it - and it scares him. Satan’s entire goal is to be the ruler of the world. He wants to be god - that is what got him kicked out of heaven, back before Adam and Even were even created. We, as Christians, threaten his chance to rule because we know that he was eternally defeated on the cross and will one day be thrown into the burning lake of sulfur. He knows that in Christ we have the power to defeat him, so obviously he wants to defeat us first so we will give up and join “Team satan”. If he just went up to people and said, “Hey, I’m satan, and I’m evil, and I have nothing good to offer you except a future without any hope or joy and an eternity in hell,” no one would go for that. So instead, he hides and deceives, and most of the time we don’t even realize it. We are so content in God’s grace and goodness that we ignore the fact that we have an enemy whose only goal is to take us down - it doesn’t seem like anything we need to give time or attention to. But satan has no morals, no ethics, and no rules. Anything and everything is game. He will sneak lyrics into songs, lines into movies, hidden images into pictures, hidden agendas into kid's classrooms and tv shows, thoughts into your head, people into your lives, etc. He will attack you with physical and mental attacks, car trouble, sickness, relationship drama, misplaced items, general confusion and chaos, until you feel defeated and weary, in the hopes that you will give up. He does not care who He hurts. He hates the Jesus in us and will do absolutely anything to take us out, in his goal to become god - to be in power. He loves when we accept things as “just the way it is”, or “what everyone else is doing”, or “I can’t change it”. He really loves it when we blame all of our problems on other people when he is actually the puppet master pulling the strings. But what he loves most is when we become complacent in our treatment of evil. A complacent Christian is no threat to satan.
As Christians, satan cannot mess with us unless we give him permission. We are covered by the blood, forgiven, made holy, forever and always Team Jesus. Satan has no right, no ground, no power, and no authority in our lives unless we give it to him. When we choose to take part in things that go against God’s word, against holiness, we are choosing to open the door to satan and give him ground in our lives. I’m sure that most of us aren’t thinking, “Wow, I think that I’m just going to watch this movie and let satan come hang out a bit”, but that’s exactly what we’re doing. As my friend Skye says, “Sin is a secret agreement with the enemy where you agree to being blinded spiritually.” Choosing anything that goes against holiness, means choosing evil. Choosing evil means choosing to push God out of that part of your life. Pushing God out of that part of your life means that satan sees an open door and an invitation. As Christians, we cannot be possessed but we can be oppressed and attacked. Satan can only oppress and attack as much as we let him though. Tony Evans says, “If hell is happening in your life, it is because hell has been given permission to do so. Hell was told - either through sin or circumstance - that you were willing to yield.”
If we are pursuing holiness and desiring to be like Christ, then we shouldn’t want anything to do with things that aren’t like Christ. We should heed 1 Thessalonians 5:22 and, “Stay away from every kind of evil.” We should not knowingly open the door for satan to work in our lives. We are to detest evil, to hate it, not because God likes giving us rules or is trying to take our fun away, but because He loves us so much! God wants to walk in unity with us. God wants good for us. And God knows the massive destruction that satan can do when he is given the tiniest inch of ground in our lives. God knows that sin blinds us spiritually and keeps us from receiving every blessing He has for us. Sin separates us from God. Choosing things that are not holy is choosing to allow space with you and God, to agree to there being a bit of distance in your relationship, for the unity to not be quite so perfect.
Satan doesn’t want us to know how great of an enemy he is, so he “disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) He hides in things that seem good or innocent, like a silly movie, trick or treating, and church trunk or treats. He doesn’t want us to see that he is in there because if we know, then we won’t be a part of it - because what Christian wants to choose evil knowingly? So, he makes us think that it’s not really evil, it’s just silly fun. He tells us that it is just a movie, just having fun, just playing dress up, just getting some candy, just one night. He puts those thoughts in our heads and when we don’t know the truth of God’s word on it, we believe it because those thoughts make sense to us. Not only is satan a liar, but he is the father of lies, (John 8:44) - in fact, the very first time he is mentioned in the Bible, he is speaking a lie to Eve, making something wrong, look good and twisting what she knows to convince her it’s not truth. It’s kind’ve his M.O.
In the Bible, God tells us that magic, witchcraft, etc, is all sin - the works of the flesh - meaning things that are not of the Spirit, are not holy and we are not to be a part of it.
Deuteronomy 18:10-11 “No one among you is to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire. Practice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery, cast spells, consult a medium, or a spiritist, or inquire of the dead.” Without going into a long, boring spiel, the roots, origins, and traditions of Halloween are all 100% witchcraft. There is nothing even remotely holy in the celebrations, no matter what costume you put on it, where you do the celebrating, or how healthy the treats are you pass out. See, satan is the father of lies. He masquerades as an angel of light. Satan likes to pretend that he is good and fun and totally safe, when he is actually the complete opposite. He loves that we think we are simply having fun, when we are really celebrating evil.
Did you know that Halloween comes from a Celtic celebration that was intended to invite and talk to spirits? That costumes are meant to confuse and trick spirits? That Jack-o-lanterns are to keep spirits away? That bonfires and candles are to invite spirits? That trick or treating is in the hopes of spirits not tricking you but that by giving them a treat, they will be nice? Did you know that witches and those who worship satan, go around cursing people on Halloween? Or that they hold prayer meetings where they speak curses over people, our nation, etc?
As Christians, children of God, saved from death, why do we want to have any part of this? By families choosing to participate and churches choosing to host "family fun" events, we are choosing to participate in something evil, devoid of all good - we are making the choice to set aside holiness for one night of the year, in order to have fun, to draw in people and community. God didn't call us to reach the community by becoming like them - the opposite actually.
Friends, anything we do, that isn't on the side of Jesus, gives satan ground in our lives. By celebrating an evil holiday, no matter how family-friendly it is, how much we claim we are only having fun, or how cute the costume, we are opening the door to satan and his demons and giving them an invitation into our lives - into our children's lives. I WILL NOT let satan have access to my kids!
I urge you to do your own research, to pray, to seek God's heart on this. His Word says time and again that we are to stay completely away from evil, we are to be set apart, we are not to have anything to do with unrighteousness, and yet we forget all of that for one night of candy.
There is nothing demonic that we should fear because in Christ we have power over satan and every one of his evil forces, demons, and attacks, but we absolutely should not open the door and invite him to come on in and wreak havoc on our families.