Pastor J. Mark MartinCalvary Community Church

Halloween is a big holiday! Here are some of the stats:

Everywhere you go, you see Halloween decorations going up in •the mall and all around town near the end of September.

Halloween has become big business. •

More than fifty million Americans celebrate Halloween each •year.

An estimated $400,000,000 is spent on Halloween, and most of that •is spent on candy and costumes, but they say about $60,000,000 is spent on Halloween decorations.

Every year Halloween becomes more popular with adults. It is •the third most popular holiday, especially for Americans in their twenties and thirties.

Halloween is second only to Christmas for decorating. An estimated •fifty percent of Americans decorate for Halloween. (Keep in mind that eighty percent of Americans decorate for Christmas.)

An estimated ninety percent of all families with children ages •twelve and younger will participate in ‘trick-or-treating’ or some kind of costume party.

People are sending each other more ‘ghostly’ greetings. One year, •over 35 million Halloween cards were sent, and that was up 3 million from the year before.

Halloween has been haunting North America for hundreds of years. It goes way back to the time of our founding fathers, the time of the colonies and the colonists, but it really didn’t become popular until Irish settlers came over in the 1840’s when they brought their Halloween customs and traditions with them. They were the real serious ‘Halloweeners.’

Halloween is a holiday that all of us Christians need to think about. Its history is a little spookier than you might think. On or near Halloween, we will see people dressed up as spooks, goblins, witches, little Dracula’s, Snow Whites, miniature princes and fairies, clowns and even cows.

How did it all start? Why do people knock on doors and shout, ‘trick or treat?’ Halloween’s history is spooky. It has spiritual roots that may surprise you. Maybe you’ve even been ‘tricked by treats’ yourself.

Let me put it this way. When you think about the Passover celebration, at the beginning of the Passover, the little son will ask his father, “Daddy, why is this night different from all other nights?” Then, the father tells him of the mighty works of God surrounding the exodus of Israel from Egypt. There is history behind that celebration! There is a reason for what they do.

But what would you say if your child were to ask about Halloween? What if they were to say, ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’ ‘Why do we dress up?’ ‘Why do we go door-to-door?’ ‘Why do we put out these decorations?’ How would you honestly explain the ghosts, witches, the jack-o-lanterns, the black cats, broomsticks, and devilish faces that are features of Halloween? A lot of Christians don’t have the answers because they have been tricked by treats.

Halloween’s dark history goes way back to the ancient Druids, an order of Celtic priests who held the festival in honor of Samhain, the Lord of the Dead. These ancient occultists and sorcerers believed that Samhain (pronounced Saw-ween) called together the wicked souls that had died that year and had been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals. On this night, called Samhain, or Saween (and hence, Halloween), they were released to haunt the world in the form of ghosts, spirits and witches or elves.

Black cats, which were also worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, were considered sacred because they believed that the cats once had been human beings, and then were changed into cats as a punishment for evil deeds. (The way I feel about cats -- that might be true!) They were considered to be familiar spirits.

It was the Celts who chose the date of October 31 as their New Year’s Eve. On that night, they basically celebrated everything wicked, evil or dead. It was believed that on their New Year’s Eve (October 31st), the gates of Hell that separated the worlds of the living and the dead were opened. The souls of the dead were allowed to come back to the earth, to visit the very

homes that they had departed and to terrorize the living.

These ancient people believed that the only way to satisfy these evil spirits was to set out food and provide shelter for them during that night. If you didn’t, they would ‘trick’ you by casting a spell on you or by somehow hurting you. Some say they lit bonfires to keep the spirits away, and others say the bonfires were to help guide the spirits. We’re not sure, but the fires were lit at night and that became part of the Halloween custom.

Also, during their observance, they would gather around the campfire and offer their animals, some of their crops, and sometimes they would even offer human beings as sacrifices.

This ancient black Sabbath continued even after the Romans conquered the Celts around 43 A.D. The Romans, however, added a ceremony honoring their goddess of fruit and trees, and that is how the custom of apple bobbing came into existence. It was part of the way they tried to discern the future. It was a way of fortune telling.

The lighted pumpkin face (or jack-o-lantern) is an ancient symbol of a damned soul. They were named for a man named Jack who could not enter heaven or hell. As a result, he was doomed to wander in darkness with his lantern until Judgment Day. Because they were fearful of evil spirits, people began to hollow out turnips, pumpkins, or some other kind of gourd, and they would fill them with candles that were lit inside of them to scare away evil spirits from their houses.

Occultists today still seriously observe Halloween as a black Sabbath. It is one of the most important nights of their year.

Now, here is the spooky thing: All of this pagan occultism became associated with Christianity. After Christian missionaries preached the gospel to the Celtic peoples around 300-400 A.D., the converts didn’t put away their pagan practices and the church sat by and didn’t do anything about it. It seems that the church began to redefine or ‘baptize’ these pagan customs and just rename them.

November 1st began to be celebrated as All Saints Day by Pope Gregory IV in 835 A.D. He thought that the church could at least observe the holiday in honor of those saints that didn’t have a feast day named for them during their regular liturgical year. Later, November 2nd was designated as All Souls Day because the church realized that people were still observing the pagan holiday in honor of damned souls, and so they thought, Well, the church needs to step in and we need to have something to replace the damned souls day. That was how All Souls Day came to be observed.

Both of these celebrations began on the evening before November 1st: October 31st.

Over time, the church has been ‘tricked by treats.’ History verifies that. Today millions of Christians will allow and even encourage their children to participate in a holiday with purely pagan and occult origins. Their Halloween decorations will feature witches, brooms, cats, and jack-o-lanterns, and they may even bob for some apples. Some churches will fully sanction the event with parties held on their premises, and others will hold Harvest parties to provide entertainment as an alternative for parents and children.

You know what I think? I think we’ve been tricked by Satan’s treats! He’s a master at making evil look good. When you think about it, he is the original ‘trick-or-treater,’ isn’t he? What did he do in the Garden of Eden? He put on a costume, didn’t he! Then, what did he do? He said, ‘Hey! You want a treat, Eve? Then, just open the door to me. Just do what I tell you to do, and you can have both! You’ll become like God!’ Then, Eve opened the door, and she shouldn’t have. Adam opened the door, and he shouldn’t have. Satan entered this world by masquerading, looking like something good, and pretending to be something he wasn’t.

How should a thoughtful Christian respond to this?

I think we need to see what God’s Word has to say. If there is any clear counsel, we want to follow it. Look at Ephesians chapter five with me. Let’s look at verse one:

Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you as is proper among saints.

So now, what’s he doing? He’s giving us counsel for whom? The saints or the church, right? We’re the saints; we’re the church, and he’s telling us how we ought to live.

There must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Look at verse six:

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these saints the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord.

What does he counsel us to do next? Read!

Walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

That is our journey right now. If you are reading this, and you are saying, ‘Now, where is this guy coming from? I have never heard anything like where I think he’s going to take me. What is this?’

Let’s just say this: We’re all on a journey to try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. I wouldn’t be surprised if sometimes we discover that something that we’ve been doing and taking for granted as okay isn’t okay. We might learn that there are some things that don’t please the Lord. You know what? I think that the Lord isn’t as concerned about the fact that in the past you’ve done something that didn’t please Him as much as He is with how you respond when you discover that you are doing something that doesn’t please him. ‘What are you going to do when you find out that I don’t want you to do something? Will you honor Me and place Me first, and love Me more than anything? Or, will you hang onto the thing that I don’t like?’

Going on, it says in Ephesians 5:10-16:

…trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness but instead, even expose them for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light; for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason, it says “Awake sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise making the most of your time because the days are evil.

Basically, he’s saying, ‘Look! You don’t want to keep participating in evil deeds! It doesn’t please the Lord.’ He clearly says in verse eleven, ‘Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness.’ The word ‘participate’

means ‘don’t have fellowship with.’ When I think of having fellowship, I think of ‘hanging out’ with, don’t you? If I have fellowship with someone, it would be hard to say that I had fellowship with them if I was five hundred miles away from them. It would also be hard to say that I have had fellowship with them in the seclusion of my own home if there weren’t even around. You have to be there!

The Lord is saying, ‘I don’t want you to be there; I don’t want you to be participating in…; I don’t want you to be fellowshipping with the unfruitful deeds of darkness.’

Now, let’s look at Deuteronomy 18:9-14: (Here God forbids His people from participating in anything occult. The Lord says, ‘I don’t want you to participate in this.’ He says, ‘I don’t want you to participate in anything that has anything to do with witchcraft!’)

When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not to learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone that makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire.

They used to offer their children, their little babies as living sacrifices to the fire god Molech. It was a horrible thing that they did!

There shall not be found among you anyone that makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination…

That is someone who tried to discern the future through things like apple bobbing or the reading of tea leaves, or palm reading, or looking at the stars; all of which was divination.

..one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so.

The Lord is saying, ‘Look! I don’t want you guys to have anything to do with witches, with sorcerers, or with people who practice this of the occult. I want you to stay far away from them because; My judgment is coming upon these nations because of those things.’

I have to just ask the question that I think is a no-brainer: What about a holiday that is based around occult practices? What do you think God thinks about it? Do you think God thinks it is nothing? Or, do you think maybe it would fall under the category of DETESTABLE TO GOD?

In the Old Testament, there was a king named Manasseh who was, to put it simply, chronically bad – okay? He was just a bad guy. The way his life ended up was a miracle of God’s grace, but I’m really not here to get into that. I want to tell you that he ended up with a hook in his nose, being led captive and put into prison because God finally said, ‘This is it! I’ve had it up to here with your wickedness!’ What sort of pushed this king over the edge? II Chronicles 33:6 says:

He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

It was not just at the point when he was murdering his children, but at the point where he would not stop his occult activity that, finally, God said, ‘I’m sorry, but I am angry now!’ At that point, the Lord’s judgment came upon Manasseh.

In the New Testament church, God’s people were not to have any involvement in the occult or false religion. When they were saved, they walked away from paganism, and they began to walk in a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see the Apostle Paul’s writings in the New Testament when he lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, chapter five. Before that, he lists the work of the flesh. Listen to what he says about the works or the deeds of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery.

Notice that, along with the works of the flesh, he includes sorcery. There is something about our flesh that is totally enthralled with the supernatural. What we have to do is keep that reined in so that we understand that the supernatural things are not all right. There are some things that are supernatural that are supernaturally wrong! There is a real Devil who

has real power who is really evil and his evil power is something that we don’t want to know about. We don’t want to have the knowledge of good and evil. All we want to have is the knowledge of good – right? As a new creature in Christ, I don’t want to know any more about evil. I had my PhD in ‘Wrong.’ Now, I want to get a doctorate in ‘Right’ in the Lord Jesus Christ.

After listing sorcery and other deeds of the flesh, the Apostle Paul goes on to say:

…and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

He’s saying, ‘Look! There’s got to be a difference between you and the world.’ The difference between you and the world is your practice. That’s what shows that something happened when you got saved. The practice doesn’t save you. It just shows that you ARE saved. The fruit on a tree doesn’t make it an apple tree (or a pear tree), but it designates that that tree IS an apple tree (or a pear tree). I can tell what it is by its fruit.

Look at Revelation 21. Things are concluding. Lots of things are drawing to a close. God is saying some very final things about life, about eternal life, about sin, and about how people ought to live. Look at what the Lord says beginning in verse six:

[Revelation 21:6-8]

Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

“He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

The point is this: You don’t want to be on the side of these guys! You say, ‘Yes, but I’ve lied! Does that mean that I’m going to hell? I’ve been immoral. Am I going to hell?’ You know, the whole salvation issue is not based on what you’ve done, but it is based upon Whom you have believed

in. You believe in Christ! If, however, you continue to do all those things as your lifestyle, then that would be an indication that you haven’t really been saved.

What we are looking at is God’s attitude, especially His attitude towards those things that are of the occult. GOD HATES IT! Now, why do you think God hates it? He hates it because He knows the origin of it. Where do they originate? SATAN. What does God think of Satan? He hates him. God hates him with a perfect hatred, an ‘okay’ hatred. It is okay for God to hate Satan, and I’m very glad He does. It is a perfect, godly hatred.

In 1 Corinthians 10:21-22, the Apostle Paul warned the Corinthians:

I do not want you to share with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons as well; you cannot have a share at the Lord’s Table and the demons table as well.

Do we really want to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than He is?

This scripture is saying, ‘Listen! God loves you, but He is also jealous for you, and He doesn’t want you to have a little sip of Satan’s wine now and then. He doesn’t want you saying, ‘Well, you know! It’s not all that bad! I know what this is.’

The issue referred to in 1 Corinthians had to do with meat offered to idols, and whether or not you should eat meat that had been offered to a pagan god. Paul’s point is that it was offered to a demon. You don’t want to participate in that! It’s part of a demonic sacrifice. They are wrong. They are of the occult. He says that you don’t want to provoke the Lord to jealousy.

Isaiah 2:5 says:

Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

I think that there is a decision that we need to make as Christians. We need to decide whether we are going to walk in the light of the Lord, or we are going to walk in our own path. The Bible says that we need to reason together. We need to come together with the Lord, and we need to see what He says, and then realize that our hearts are evil and desperately wicked. We can’t always trust our heart.

I love the story in Acts of when the Apostle Paul came to the city of Ephesus. It was a city that was steeped in occult activity. Halloween would have been small business for the city of Ephesus because the people of Ephesus were very strongly into magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. When Paul arrived, there was a lot of demonic activity going on.

Acts 19:11 talks about how God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of the Apostle Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that were carried from his body to the sick cured people and evil spirits would leave them. Verse 13 tells a little story about how some of the Jewish exorcists who went from one place to another attempted to name the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying:

But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

How embarrassing!

This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.I think that is about $4,110,000 (maybe a little bit more). Four million, one hundred ten thousand dollars went up in smoke because as soon as they learned, they burned! As soon as they learned what the Lord wanted, they gave it to Him. As soon as they learned what the Lord didn’t like, they got rid of it.

What causes people to live like that? They had a brand new love, a brand new heart, and a loyalty to God. It cost them to follow the Lord. It cost them a lot of money! Do you have any idea how expensive books were in those days? One of the most expensive things a city could have would be a book! Libraries weren’t in every city, but were more like one to a country. They took their magic books and burned them. It cost them to follow the Lord, and it may cost you.

But, what about our children? When we talk about Halloween, you think about what we should do with our children.

I’ve already bought the costume! I found the cutest little rabbit outfit! I had all this planned… What do I do as a parent? First of all, you would want to pray about what the Lord has shown you. The Lord is speaking to your heart, and you are a Christian. His Word speaks to you. The Holy Spirit tells you what to do.

What about the kids? They’ll miss out! I don’t think so. I think they will love following Jesus. I don’t think there is anything wrong with teaching our children that there are some things that the world does that we don’t do.

Don’t we need an alternative? I can ‘hear’ that one!

How about just a little ‘Harvest Party’ on the 31st? Wouldn’t that be okay? Well, the only problem is, the kids aren’t always going to have an alternative to sin. When you think about it, why should we stoop to the place where we provide an alternative to an occult celebration? Our children need to learn to stand alone. They need to learn to take a stand and say ‘No’ without an alternative in sight. They have to be able to say, ‘No! That’s wrong! Get your hands off of me!’ ‘No! That’s wrong! I won’t take the drugs from you.’ ‘No! That’s wrong! I don’t do that!’

Maybe they will have a friend or two walk away from them. Maybe they will lose a boyfriend or a girlfriend. You know, you’ve got to start teaching them while they are young. They don’t learn that when they turn sixteen. It just doesn’t go ‘Boom!’ and they say, ‘Oh! That’s what I do!’

You’ve got to start programming now to follow Jesus. Do you know what programs your kids the best? They watch you! The Lord says something very important in Deuteronomy 6:5-7. He says:

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Do you understanding what He is saying? You can’t teach it until it is on your heart first! You go by what you are convinced of, Mom and Dad. You go by what you know is right and wrong, and then you just teach that. The kids will follow. They’re not going to be destroyed by missing a bag of candy. In fact, if October 31st is the only time your kids get candy, I feel sorry for your kids! They’re not coming to Calvary enough. My kids were given so much candy that after a while I (don’t tell them!)… I threw it away! It was just too much.

God will reward you and God will reward your children for taking a righteous stand.

What about my family? They’re going to think I am a nut! No. You’re not a nut, and you are not a cultist. You are a Christian, and you are saying that this is a pagan, occult holiday. Look at the trappings! If you don’t want to look at the history, then look at the trappings. What does it say about Jesus? What does it say about God? What does it say about right? What does it say about truth? What does it say about love? NOTHING!

[Well, I don’t want my kids participating in that! I’m sorry! It’s wrong! It’s evil. We’re saying, ‘No!’ But you know what? If you want to have the kids over for a good time any other time, let us know. If you want to have the kids over so Mom and Dad can go someplace, have the kids over Grandma and Grandpa!]

They’re not going to be slighted. We love our kids. After you’ve gotten over the first year or two, then your relatives will begin to understand that you’re not a kook, you’re not a fanatic, you’re not going to stop celebrating their birthdays, you’re not going to stop celebrating Christmas, and you’re not going to stop…..! We’re not talking about that, but we are talking about a very dark and evil time. We don’t want our kids to participate in that because God said, “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness.”

We really don’t need more than that. That is what God has said, and so that is what we do.

You know, it is important for us to know our enemy’s tactics. He is a master of disguise. He loves to costume his evil intentions in something that looks good. He stands at the door and says, ‘Trick or Treat?’ An ignorance of our enemy’s position, his power and his plans is not bliss; it’s stupidity. Satan and his work thrive on the fact that the saint is ignorant of Satan and his works. He tricks people into stepping into his traps by baiting them with his ‘treats.’

If you think about it, that’s just the way Satan works! He takes something evil and he makes it look good and then he gets you – he grabs you!

You say, ‘Well, aren’t you over-dramatizing Halloween?’ What I am saying is that is how he works. He says, ‘Ah, this is good! Look man, this is good man… There are candy and costumes involved. Let’s go ahead!’ All the while, God is saying, ‘I don’t like this.’

But it looks so good! You see, he ‘tricks by treats.’ He does it with immorality. He does it with other sins. He just tries to put the ‘treat’ in there to ‘trick’ you, and he really wants you to fall into hurt. He is the prince of darkness, and he must have darkness in order to work.

The light of the truth exposes and ruins him and his evil work. We need to get a spiritual perspective. We need to realize where the real battle is, and keep our eyes focused there.

The REAL battle is between Truth and Error; between the Devil and the Lord. Sometimes we get all confused in this in-between stuff. Try to keep it clear: God likes some things and He doesn’t like other things. As believers, we stand with the Lord.

You know, I did Halloween as a kid. I participated and didn’t understand what I was doing. The church I was part of had Halloween parties. I can only remember one person in my entire time of growing up that thought we shouldn’t do it, and I thought they were a ‘nut.’ What’s the matter with them?

A long time ago, I repented of that. I said, ‘Lord, you know about all that stuff I was doing then, and I was really stupid. It didn’t please You. Now that I know better Lord, I won’t ‘trick-or-treat’ anymore.’

(That’s probably just as well, because it might really spook somebody if I came to their door.)

You have a decision to make. What are you going to do? What is your family going to do? What am I going to do as a parent? What am I going to do as a child? What am I going to do now that I’ve heard what God says about this kind of activity?

You will never make a mistake by standing with the Lord. I promise you that! You have someone knocking at the door of your life. Satan is knocking, and he is saying, ‘Tricked by my treats?’ And, you have Jesus who is knocking, according to Revelation 2:20. Jesus is knocking and He says:

Behold I stand at the door and knock.

He’s standing at the door of Christians’ lives and saying, ‘Let Me in!’

Who are you going to let in? The masquerader, the original ‘trick-or-treater’, the one who disguises evil and makes it look good? Or… are you going to say, “Come in Lord! You are so welcome here. I want all Goodness, all Rightness, all Purity, and all Love to dwell in my life. I want to walk in Light! I don’t want to walk in darkness.”

The prophet Isaiah said:

Come house of Jacob and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Christians! Let us walk in the light of the Lord.[Prayer]

Lord Jesus, tonight we ask that You would give us hearts to follow after You. Perhaps there are some of us who have never had to make a decision as a Christian that is contrary to custom and contrary to trend. Maybe we really have never had to make a decision that is unpopular or that might be something that places us in an uncomfortable position.

For us, Lord, we pray that you give us strength and courage and grace. These are decisions that are so important because they represent course corrections in our lives, and things like this matter to You. We pray that You will give to us and to our families (our children and grandchildren) grace and strength, and that we would walk in the light of the Lord; we will walk in Truth. I know, Lord, that you will always bless those and honor those who honor You. We’ve got Your word on that!

Thank You.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.