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Submitted by Peter Lupia –
Statistically speaking, if you are conservative, you are most likely a Christian. Knowing this I ask you … Does Halloween amplify, support, and strengthen conservative values and principles in society or is Halloween merely a “justified” excuse to set aside morals, values, and ethics for a day?
Pagan religions claim Halloween as a core tenant and believe the holiday, their New Year celebration, invites dark spirits into our world. Is this in alignment with conservative values? If we are being honest with ourselves there is only one possible answer, despite what society may reassure us.
As conservatives, the challenge for rejecting participation in Halloween is overcoming the generational construct, both inside and outside the church, that it’s just a fun time of decorations, costumes, candy, and parties. There are no other arguments for participating.
However, putting social, family, and peer pressure aside, prominent voices tell us exactly why Halloween should not be on our calendars. Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, stated: “I am glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night out of the year. Welcome to Halloween.”
And former longtime Satanist and witchcraft practitioner John Ramirez, now a Christian adamantly speaking against participation in Halloween, points out that under the guise of faith based intentions and community service, pastors are literally opening their doors and inviting evil into their churches by hosting “Trunk or Treat” and “Harvest Festivals” with all the trappings of Halloween, just not the name.
Ramirez points out that in essence those pastors are saying “Here’s my church. You can have it” by granting evil influence on the biggest pagan holiday of the year.
Equally as important, why are conservatives amenable to engaging in idol worship?
Our faith is clear on that issue, yet we think because we are not performing any demonic rituals or human sacrifices that we are not inviting in the darkness. We don’t hesitate to encourage costumes that idolize famous people or characters, children to idolize hordes of candy, and make excuses in the name of “fun” to idolize what pagan religions celebrate as inviting evil into our world.
Isn’t it interesting that pagan religions don’t honor or idolize important Christian figures, dates, and traditions but conversely, we conservatives don’t hesitate to idolize on Halloween because we have convinced ourselves that it’s all just about candy and costumes?
Even the attempt by the early church to divert focus from the pagans with All Saints Day was idol worship, taking the focus off the Creator and refocusing it on idolizing past creations. We really need to consider, does idolizing via costumes, scary decorations, and candy make society more conservative and a better place?
Just days before Halloween sixteen years ago I invited my wife to discuss my discernment that our family needed to step away from Halloween, even the church alternatives. Unexpectedly, that conversation was contentious, guilt and insults included and became about my crushing our children’s lives (no more fun, no more candy, facing peer pressure, etc.) and ruining our own childhood memories.
Thankfully, after about an hour the Light shone on my wife who then admitted to not really knowing why she was fighting so hard, and we quickly came into agreement – no more Halloween for our family.
Surprisingly, the children accepted the news with little protest and were on board when we explained why Halloween was not for us. Reminding them that our house already kept multiple treat options, that they chose, consistently on hand made accepting no more Halloween less painful.
In the end it comes down to this: If you are a Conservative, grounded in your Christian worldview, are you honoring your morals and values by continuing generational participation in Halloween?
In these days of watching witchcraft and pagan religions grow and gain influence, and the subsequent spreading of darkness and evil throughout our country, can we still afford to so quickly invite the harm of Halloween still thinking it’s “just fun” with costumes and candy?
Making righteous choices that buck society and generations of participation can be unpopular and difficult, in this case with your spouse, children, relatives (who will question your stance), and neighbors.
But these tough decisions are necessary to save the souls of our families, communities, and country. We all have difficult decisions to make, but hopefully stepping away from Halloween will not be one of them.
2 Responses
Seriously doubt most Christians know the history of lucifer’s halloween.
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
I read this opinion about Halloween. I am not going to say this opinion is wrong. And it is interesting to read about it.
Here is my “but” to that article: There are many things in society today that are founded on false and pagan principles that may be an attempt to take away from the truth of a given celebration. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Halloween and I’m sure there are more. However, many of these things have turned into a cultural celebration where the sinister or evil intent has been lost, and that is usually centered around having innocent fun with children. I’m not saying an underlying lie or evil intent is not real; but it is not perceived by the children and parents having fun with their children.
Do the evil or sinister origins turn the modern event evil? My argument is: it depends on what the parents teach their children (or do not teach them). If Christmas becomes about Santa Claus and not about the birth of Jesus, parents have failed their children and the pagans win. If Easter is about a mythical bunny and candy and not about the resurrection of Jesus, parents have failed their children and the pagans win. If Halloween becomes about celebrating the devil, demons and evil in general and not about spooky candy, silly decorations, scary movies, and kids having fun in costumes, the parents have failed their children, and the devil worshipers win.
I believe the Conservative and Christian parents raising kids can have fun with these cultural events and let their kids participate in the innocence of youth and not destroy their status in the eyes of God. But at the same time, parents have an obligation to teach their Conservative / Christian values to their children, so they understand the difference between a cultural celebration and standing upright in front of God. Dressing up in a costume and yelling “trick or treat” once a year (or for a few weeks a year) does not change a child’s values. I would say a good (or bad) parent has more influence on a child than pagan devil worshipers.
My opinion.