Bible Verses

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The History of the Holiday 

Halloween is a holiday that has been celebrated for many years. It did not just start in America. In fact, it is quite hard to track down the exact origins of this holiday. But the most widely known starting point is with the Celts. The Celts were an ancient people that lived in Ireland around 700 BC. They had a holiday called Sow-win. Celebrated on October 31, which was the day before their new year. It was also the end of harvest season, so they would have bonfires, decorations, carving turnips, and they would also dress up. To celebrate the end of harvest. Each one of these traditions has a specific history and reason why the Celts did it, and I’ll go over each one. But first let’s start with where this holiday came from. Around 3000 BC ancient Egypt had some of its first harvest festivals. During these harvest festivals there were celebrations, and the farmers along with the King or Pharoah, would spend the night weeping and mourning. They did this to try and fool evil spirits who were thought to live in the crops, so that they would think the crops were dying and leave. I know, seems crazy but they did it.  

This is very interesting, because about 100 years earlier, one of Egypt's pharaohs finished the “Sun Temple”. So, after the temple’s completion they went on to celebrate this end of harvest festival. It’s intriguing that the temple was finished near the start of the festival. Then about 3 to 4 years later, the great pyramid of Giza was built. Now in the pyramid of Giza 86 feet below it to be exact. There is a chamber. People believe it is an unfinished room because once you go down below the pyramid, there’s a hallway that just leads to a dead end. A rough unfinished dead end.  

In ancient Egypt only certain people were allowed inside of these pyramids, they were the ones who built the pyramids and the priests of their false gods. So, this chamber could possibly be a portal, instead of the wall being unfinished the hallway may continue from physical to spiritual (or at least that’s what they could have believed.) Also, in October they had a festival celebrating Ramases the second. During his reign he had four statues built of himself and during the end of October and their harvest festival, which ends in September. All the statues light up from the sun, but the smaller statue behind them of their false God of darkness stays dark. It is a solar phenomenon that we can’t explain.  

With that being said the ancient Egyptians had all this happening around 2500 BC. Fast-forward a little ways to the Celts in Ireland and there are actually many relations between the two cultures and their holidays. The Celts have many ancient Egyptian artifacts in Ireland, similar traditions, and stories of the Egyptians. It is thought that the Celts could have come from Egypt. But nobody knows for sure. It would make sense that overtime this holiday that the Egyptians had would evolve into something more as the Celts separated from their culture.  

So now fast forward to today, we have Halloween. Where did it come from? The Celts came over to America during the 19th century. And that’s when they brought their festivities with them. Halloween has changed a lot since its original starting point with the Celts and possibly Egyptians. But is it something Christians should avoid? Or are there just certain parts that we should steer clear of?  

Jack-o-lanterns and Carving Pumpkins: 

Carving pumpkins originated in Ireland with the Celts. They would carve turnips on October 31 to scare away evil spirits. By carving scary faces into the turnips, they believed that was a way to “protect themselves.” But when the Celts came to America, they found that pumpkins were much more abundant (and probably easier to carve) so they switched from turnips to pumpkins. So, should we carve pumpkins? Well, the point of doing so was to scare away evil spirits. Which is unnecessary since we have power over such things through Jesus and the Holy Spirit (1 John 4:4, Luke 9:1, 2 Corinthians 10:4, Matthew 10:1, John 14:13.) Carving pumpkins to scare these things away is also ineffective, Jesus is the only way. But what if we’re just doing it for fun? Well, by carving pumpkins you are participating in the Celtic festival. Which takes us back to our original question. Is it ok to celebrate Halloween? 

Trick-or-treating originated with the Celts; they would go door-to-door in what they called “souling” and would offer prayers for dead friends and family members of the people they visited, in exchange for food a.k.a. soul cakes. This developed over the years into what we have today, dressing up and going out to ask for candy. So, should we Trick or treat? Well, the belief that you can pray for the dead and that it could change someone’s eternal destination is unbiblical (Hebrews 9:27, 1 Thessalonians 4:13.) Mainly of Catholic origin I believe (Having to pay money so deceased relatives could get into heaven.) Which is not Christian. But what if we’re just getting candy? Well again, by Trick or treating you are participating in Halloween. Is that ok? 

Costumes: 

During the Celtic festival of sow-win the Celts would dress up like the evil spirits they believed roamed the land on that night. They believed that on October 31st, the wall between the physical world and spiritual world thinned and allowed some spirits to pass through. They dressed up like this to blend in with the spirits, to change their identity. So that the spirits would leave them alone and not recognize them (if a spirit was someone they had wronged or something like that, they were worried it would try and get revenge on them.) So, they pretended to be evil spirits as a sort of disguise. There is another idea that Christians dressed up to scare away evil spirits, but I personally have not seen any evidence of this and think if it is true, it would most likely be Catholic (based off the soul cake tradition being Catholic as well) and not Christian. So, should Christians dress up on Halloween? Look at this quote from an ex satanic high priest “When you dress up or take candy from people this night, you are allowing the devil and his minions to cast spells on you and attack.” He also said that when you dress up, you are “changing your identity.” If your identity is Christ, then why would you change it? (1 Peter 2:10, Acts 17:28, Ephesians 2:10.) Is it true that people can cast spells on you if you participate in Halloween? It’s very possible, but even though we can’t say for sure we should be very careful of such things (1 Thessalonians 5:22.) Witchcraft is very real, very dangerous, very evil and very demonic (1 Samuel 15:23, Galatians 5:20-21, Leviticus 19:26.) But remember, Christ is much more powerful than any evil. So, should we dress up on Halloween? Should we participate? 

Candy: 

Should Christians take Halloween candy? As ex satanic high priest Jonathan R. stated in a interview. When you take candy from strangers, you have no idea what they have done to it. Whether they poisoned it or even said chants and spells over it you have no idea what is wrong with it. This makes sense from a Christian standpoint and from just plain old common sense! Even if someone doesn’t believe in the spiritual world, they still know that there are many evil people doing horrible things to candy these days. It’s dangerous spiritually and physically. By taking the candy you are participating in Halloween. Is that a bad thing? 

Crime Rates and Coincidences 

So, here’s a big question. Is there something truly evil about Halloween? Is it demonic? Is there something happening that day that doesn't happen any other day? Well, the simple answer is yes. 

According to cpisecurity.com 

On average, CPI Security’s Central Station sees a 21% increase in break-ins during the month of October.   

Traveler’s Insurance reported a 68% increase in vandalism claims on Halloween compared to the other 364 days of the year.  

Travelers also reported an 8% increase in theft claims and a 5% increase in mysterious disappearance claims on Halloween.  

Halloween is one of the top holidays for stolen cars year after year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.  

According to NHTSA data from 1975 to 2016, the risk of a pedestrian fatality from a car accident is 43% higher on Halloween.   

And to make matters worse, according to Northeastern University professor James Alan Fox, the evening violent crime count on October 31 is about 50 percent higher than on any other date during the year, and about twice the daily average. 

Is it possible that all this is just a coincidence? Could it be Halloween just happened to be on this strange day with higher crime? Well, the Bible clearly states there is no such things as coincidences (Ecclesiastes 3:1, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28 Acts 17:26, Ephesians 1:11.) So no, this is not merely a coincidence that crime rises significantly on Halloween night. 

Looking at the Holiday from a Biblical Standpoint 

What good can come out of it? 

I've heard arguments about “good things” that can happen by participating in Halloween. Such as... 

“You can share the gospel with people as you trick or treat, people you might not see otherwise.” 

“You can participate as long as you just don’t get into the spirit of it.” 

And well... that’s about it. 

My response to that would be you can share the gospel any other day, not just on Halloween night! You can even leave out gospel tracts for crying out loud! But if you only witness to certain people because you happen to run into them while trick or treating, then I don’t think you care enough about their salvation. “Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you yourself are not saved, be sure of that.” -Charles Spurgeon. If you truly cared about your neighbor’s salvation, you would do something about it. Not just when it’s convenient. 

And as for “not getting into the spirit of it.” You get into the spirit of Halloween the moment you start participating!  

Words of Warning 

People have come out of the occult saying Halloween is evil 

Look at these quotes from ex witches and warlocks... 

>Jenny Weaver (Ex witch) “This is Satan’s play night” “witches look forward to this night.”

>Jonathan R (Ex Satanic priest) “when you dress up or take candy from people this night. You are allowing the devil and his minions to cast spells on you and attack”

(An argument against this may be “We are protected by the blood of Jesus.” While this is true, why would you purposefully put yourself in a situation where you would need protection especially when there is little to no positive outcome!)

>Ex witch: “witches and warlocks and demons go out and cast spells on anything with a costume or decoration or person taking candy, it gives them the right to do so”

>Ex witch: “how many people have to come out of the occult before y’all will believe that this is an evil day?” 

There was an argument made by an ex satanist, who was asking Christians “do satanists celebrate good Friday?” Do they go to church? No, of course not. So why do we as Christians participate in such an evil satanic holiday? 

Church “Falloween” 

Now although Halloween may be bad, certainly “Falloween” must be ok. You may know it by a different name. “Trunk or Treat” “Harvest Festival” or maybe something else. But most churches will have some sort of event either on Halloween or a few days before. They give it a different name but do a lot of the same stuff that you would do on Halloween. So, should Christians participate in church “Falloween?” Well believe it or not the answer is clearly a no. The church should not be trying to invite the world in by doing things the world does (Romans 12:2.) And even if you try and do something different than Halloween on or near the same night, you need to examine the reason you’re doing it. Is it because you just want to have a party? Or is it because there’s a holiday being celebrated that you want to participate in. 

Should Christians participate in Halloween? I hope you can clearly see that the answer is no. Christians should “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” -1 Thessalonians 5:22. It does not take much to see the evil in Halloween! Just go to your local Target or Lowes and you will practically be able to feel the evil resonating from the Halloween displays! And if you’re still on the fence about whether the Bible is against halloween, here are a few more verses to look at. 

Galatians 5:19-20, 1 Corinthians 10:21, 2 Timothy 1:7, 3 John 1:11, Deuteronomy 18:10, Ephesians 4:27, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, Leviticus 19:31, Ephesians 5:11, 1 Peter 5:8. 

I hope this has been informative and that you are clearly able to see the extreme evil in this pagan holiday. I pray that the Lord Jesus will protect you and your family from the evil of this day, and that you would avoid participating in it. 

I’ll end with this. 

I challenge anyone to send me a Bible verse that supports the belief that Christians are fine to participate in Halloween. 

Let me save you the time... 

There isn’t one. 

But there’s a ton against it. 

Bible Verses Against Halloween: 

Galatians 5:19-20, 1 Corinthians 10:21, 2 Timothy 1:7, 3 John 1:11, Deuteronomy 18:10, Ephesians 4:27, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, Leviticus 19:31, Ephesians 5:11, 1 Peter 5:8, 1 Samuel 15:23, Galatians 5:20-21, Leviticus 19:26, 1 John 2:15-16, 2 Timothy 2:4, Galatians 5:24, James 4:4, 1 Peter 1:15-16, Hebrews 12:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Ephesians 6:12, 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, Philippians 4:8, Titus 2:14, Proverbs 4:23, 1 John 1:5, 2 Corinthians 11:14, Isaiah 8:19-20, 3 John 1:11,  

“Our choices can have a ripple effect on those around us, especially our families, friends, and community. When we choose to avoid celebrating Halloween or any event that promotes darkness, we set an example for others to follow. This silent witness can stir curiosity and lead others to consider their choices. Through our actions, we can encourage our friends and family to lean into the light of Christ and share His love with those they encounter.” -Bible study tools.com 

Quotes: 

>Jenny Weaver (Ex witch) “This is Satan’s play night” “witches look forward to this night.”
>Jonathan R (Ex Satanic priest) “when you dress up or take candy from people this night. You are allowing the devil and his minions to cast spells on you and attack”
>Ex witch: “witches and warlocks and demons go out and cast spells on anything with a costume or decoration or person taking candy, it gives them the right to do so”
>Ex witch: “how many people have to come out of the occult before y’all will believe that this is an evil day?” 

>Charles Spurgeon “Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you yourself are not saved, be sure of that.” 

Crime Rates on Halloween: 

On average, CPI Security’s Central Station sees a 21% increase in break-ins during the month of October.   

Traveler’s Insurance reported a 68% increase in vandalism claims on Halloween compared to the other 364 days of the year.  

Travelers also reported an 8% increase in theft claims and a 5% increase in mysterious disappearance claims on Halloween.  

Halloween is one of the top holidays for stolen cars year after year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.  

According to NHTSA data from 1975 to 2016, the risk of a pedestrian fatality from a car accident is 43% higher on Halloween.