Christians Should Celebrate Halloween?

Our primary goal and mission as Christians is our service and singular devotion to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. That's who and what we are, and it defines everything about our lives. We walk in a manner that reflects glory and honor upon His name, and when there is the darkness of wickedness, His light reflected through us reveals it. 

Our highest mission is service to Jesus, who is YHWH. Once a year, however, it becomes abundantly clear that this mission has gotten confused in a lot of Christian's minds. We serve YHWH for 364 days of our lives, but one day a year, it's okay to go out and partake in the works of darkness. It's harmless and fun, so what's the big deal?

As representatives of the kingdom, we are children of light. We cannot participate in evil things and expect God to be okay with that. We are to practice what is pleasing to God and do those things which are good, right, and true. That's a pretty good litmus test, and we find it repeated throughout scripture. 

Ephesians 5:7 NASB95 — Therefore do not be partakers with them;

Ephesians 5:8 NASB95 — for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light

Ephesians 5:9 NASB95 — (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),

Ephesians 5:10 NASB95 — trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:11 NASB95 — Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;

Ephesians 5:12 NASB95 — for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

Ephesians 5:13 NASB95 — But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

Some may use Paul's statements about eating meat sacrificed to idols as a way to say there's nothing wrong with participating, but that's a misunderstanding of what Paul was actually saying. Paul often taught in a series of arguments, and here is a good example of that pattern.

Paul acknowledges that an idol is nothing but a hunk of metal or wood, and moves into his first argument. Not all men understand that an idol is nothing, so your prideful knowledge is going to cause harm because even you don't know what you think you know. 

1 Corinthians 8:1 NASB95 — Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.

1 Corinthians 8:2 NASB95 — If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;

1 Corinthians 8:3 NASB95 — but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

1 Corinthians 8:4 NASB95 — Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.

1 Corinthians 8:5 NASB95 — For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,

1 Corinthians 8:6 NASB95 — yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

1 Corinthians 8:7 NASB95 — However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

1 Corinthians 8:8 NASB95 — But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.

Clean meat is clean meat, and he says the food itself is not an issue simply because it has been laid on an idol's altar. He then moves into the second part of his argument, basically saying that even if it's not wrong to eat the meat itself, you should still avoid it for the sake of your brother in Christ. 

His first appeal is love for your brother in Christ, because Paul teaches in layers here, and the first layer is love. You should not do this because you love your brother, even if it weren't wrong to eat meat that has been offered to an idol. 

1 Corinthians 8:9 NASB95 — But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

1 Corinthians 8:10 NASB95 — For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

In other words, if people see us seeming to participate, they will assue we are participating in the eating of the sacrifice and worshipping a false god. What kind of a witness is that?

1 Corinthians 8:11 NASB95 — For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.

1 Corinthians 8:12 NASB95 — And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

1 Corinthians 8:13 NASB95 — Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

However, Paul doesn't stop here and continues the discussion in chapter 10. 

Interestingly, before Paul gets to the second half of his teaching, he references the Israelite's rebellion in the wilderness, specifically, the golden calf incident. 

1 Corinthians 10:6 NASB95 — Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.

1 Corinthians 10:7 NASB95 — Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.”

1 Corinthians 10:8 NASB95 — Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.

Since he felt this topic was relevant, we will also take a look at that story before we continue with Paul's teaching. Moses had gone up Mt Sinai to meet with God, and while he was gone, Israel grew restless and convinced Aaron to make a golden calf.  

Exodus 32:1 NASB95 — Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Exodus 32:2 NASB95 — Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

Exodus 32:3 NASB95 — Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

Exodus 32:4 NASB95 — He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

The people declare that this calf represents the God who brought them up out of Egypt, and Aaron’s response is simply astounding, especially since it is what so many try to do with Halloween and other days. 

Exodus 32:5 NASB95 — Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”

5 And Aaron sees, and builds an altar before it, and Aaron calls, and says, “A festival to YHWH—tomorrow”

The people declare this is their god, acknowledging a pagan deity, and Aaron declares the next day, the day they are going to worship this pagan idol, a feast to Yahowah. Not just “god” but specifically the one true God. 

In other words, he takes the worship of this pagan idol and tries to dedicate it to the one true God so that it would be acceptable. “We’ll blend pagan practices and a pagan day of worship with the worship of our YHWH, and that will Christianize it so it will be okay.” 

Exodus 32:6 NASB95 — So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

The next day, that’s exactly what happened. The people blended the worship of a pagan deity with the worship of God, and we see the scripture quoted by Paul there at the end of the verse. 

Why would Paul quote this in relation to eating meat offered to idols?

Israel blended worship of a false god with worship of the True God, and look how God responded. 

Exodus 32:7 NASB95 — Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

The people have corrupted themselves. They have mixed poison with truth and so become defiled, and as Paul is about to tell us, they are eating from the table of God and the table of demons. What’s more, God declares He will blot the one who sinned out of His book. He also plagued Israel further, even after the Sons of Levi slew 3,000 of them with the edge of the sword. 

Exodus 32:33 NKJV - And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.

God took this very seriously, so with this background to what Paul is about to say, let’s continue on with 1st Corinthians. 

1 Corinthians 10:11 NKJV - Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV - Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV - No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God [is] faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [it].

Every judgment that came upon them was for our admonition, so we would know what was right, and we would know what God thinks of certain things. Paul goes into his discussion of eating meat offered to idols with this admonition to his readers. 

1 Corinthians 10:14 NKJV - Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

Flee idolatry! Don’t sit around and play with it, don’t mix it in with your worship of God, don’t participate at all, get out of there! 

This brings to mind Joseph, who fled from the opportunity of sin in his master’s house when his master’s wife tried to seduce him. He literally fled. He didn’t hang around to try to reason with sin when she tried to take him; he picked up his heels and ran. 

Here’s what Paul tells us next. 

1 Corinthians 10:15 NKJV - I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say.

1 Corinthians 10:16 NKJV - The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 10:17 NKJV - For we, [though] many, are one bread [and] one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

He uses the communion bread as an example of all of us partaking of the same bread and so being one body because of it. We are all partakers together in the blood and body of Christ. That same bread, taken outside by someone who didn’t know what it was, wouldn’t make them a partaker and part of the body because the bread is a symbol. 

He goes even further with his next question. 

1 Corinthians 10:18 NKJV - Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

If you eat the sacrifice, you’re partaking in the altar, which he gets to the point in the next verse. 

1 Corinthians 10:19 NKJV - What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?

The idol itself is nothing, and what is offered to the idol is nothing in and of itself; however, it is actually being offered to demons. 

1 Corinthians 10:20 NKJV - Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

1 Corinthians 10:21 NKJV - You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons.

1 Corinthians 10:22 NKJV - Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

Paul is saying that if we partake of these sacrifices, we are partaking of the table of demons. We are doing the same thing Israel did and mixing worship of God with the worship of demons. His first appeal is to our concern for our brothers, and his second appeal is that it is actually wrong to eat meat sacrificed to idols because it is sharing in the table and cup of demons. 

1 Corinthians 10:23 NKJV - All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.

1 Corinthians 10:24 NKJV - Let no one seek his own, but each one the other's [well-being].

1 Corinthians 10:25 NKJV - Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience' sake;

1 Corinthians 10:26 NKJV - for "the earth [is] the LORD's, and all its fullness."

1 Corinthians 10:27 NKJV - If any of those who do not believe invites you [to dinner], and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience' sake.

1 Corinthians 10:28 NKJV - But if anyone says to you, "This was offered to idols," do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience' sake; for "the earth [is] the LORD's, and all its fullness."

1 Corinthians 10:29 NKJV - "Conscience," I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another [man's] conscience?

Paul clarifies that eating the meat in and of itself isn’t the issue; it’s whether or not you know it has been sacrificed to idols. If it’s in the market and you don’t know, don’t worry about it. If it’s at someone’s house and you don’t know, don’t worry about it, but if they tell you, for the sake of your example and to avoid partaking of the table of demons, don’t eat it!

There are three levels to what Paul is getting at here, and the first level is our witness, what we are demonstrating to other people. We know idols are hunks of wood, but our witness is more important than our “knowledge.”

Association goes right along with this, in that we don’t even want to be associated with the worship of demons, even by proxy. We’re supposed to flee idolatry, after all. 

The final level is direct participation, which we do by partaking of the sacrifice in the context of others worshipping this false god. Eating of the sacrifice is how you participate in worship, even the worship of YHWH. When people would bring a sacrifice to God, they would eat some, and the priests would eat some, thereby all participating in the worship of God. 

So the lesson is clear: don’t blend practices from pagan cultures in with the worship of the one true God. 

Here’s the next point, though, because there’s another takeaway. How many of the people who were dancing before this calf and eating or drinking were just there for the party?

“We’re not going to worship this calf, but we’ll partake in the celebration because it’s harmless.” 

According to what Paul tells us, and some other places we’ll look at, participation in the celebration is partaking. We shouldn’t even be present to celebrate this pagan god, so how can we think it’s okay to participate?

Exodus 34:12 NKJV - "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst.

Exodus 34:13 NKJV - "But you shall destroy their altars, break their [sacred] pillars, and cut down their wooden images

Exodus 34:14 NKJV - "(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name [is] Jealous, [is] a jealous God),

Exodus 34:15 NKJV - "lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and [one of them] invites you and you eat of his sacrifice,

Exodus 34:16 NKJV - "and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.

Here, participation in eating is counted as spiritual idolatry. We aren’t even to start down that road, just as we wouldn’t want our wives to go around flirting with other men, even if they aren’t actually sleeping with them. 

Revelation 2:14 NKJV - "But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

Revelation 2:20 NKJV - "Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

Revelation gives us the direct word of Jesus Christ regarding eating things sacrificed to idols, and He backs up Paul’s conclusion when He says it is wrong and it is participating in the worship of idols. 

From what we’ve looked at, we can clearly see that participating in anything to do with pagan worship is abhorrent to God, the same as committing spiritual idolatry. How does this apply to Halloween, or maybe handing out verses with your candy, or dressing up as harmless things instead of witches and demons?

Halloween is a pagan celebration that the Catholic church attempted to whitewash with Christian meaning and symbolism, but of course, they failed. You can’t whitewash paganism, and all the proof you need to see the demonic roots of the celebration is in what is popular for this holiday. 

Horror movies about demons, witches, and demented killers are traditional, evil decorations celebrating the occult, and dressing up as various demons, witches, spirits, or serial killers is the norm. There’s no question about the intended purpose of Halloween today because it is clearly a celebration of death and a time to worship the god of death, that is, Satan. 

Did you also know Halloween is the witches' New Year?

It's supposedly a time when the spiritual veil is thinnest and their supposed power is greatest. It is without a doubt a holiday of demons from its very inception. Originially, it was known as Samhain, and many cultures celebrate some sort of it as a day of the dead; a day to communicate with the dead while the veil to the other side is the thinnest. You can read more about Samhain here.

What does the Bible say our view of the occult should be?

Leviticus 20:6 NASB95 — ‘As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

Leviticus 20:7 NASB95 — ‘You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 18:9 NASB95 — “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.

Deuteronomy 18:10 NASB95 — “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,

Deuteronomy 18:11 NASB95 — or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

Deuteronomy 18:12 NASB95 — “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.

Deuteronomy 18:13 NASB95 — “You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 18:14 NASB95 — “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.

Whoever practices such things is detestable to God. We shouldn’t be curious about such things; we should abhor them. 

We shouldn’t be looking for ways we and our children can participate in these celebrations; we should be staying as far away from them as we can. Wearing “harmless costumes” and just “going out for the candy” to “spread Jesus” is still participating, and to everyone who is watching, our witness clearly demonstrates acceptance and participation in these evil deeds. 

Just as Aaron did, we put our stamp of approval on the celebration. 

Ephesians 5:11 NASB95 — Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;

We should be calling them out, admonishing our brothers and sisters to flee from idolatry, not hunting for a way we can participate without sinning!

On the other side of this, we shouldn’t be afraid of this night, and we don’t need to fear the demons, witches, and other evil things that are taking place on this night, but that doesn’t mean we participate, however remotely, in the deeds of the Darkness. We are children of light, we are protected by our God, and we have His Spirit. 

It’s a night like any other, and there is nothing to fear, unless we participate. If we participate, then we need to fear the jealousy of God, the one we have scorned through our behavior, and we need to repent. 

So, when you see the darkness and the trick or treaters tonight, there is no need to be afraid because we are children of the Light, and we don’t participate in the works of Darkness. We stand apart in holiness not because we are better or self-righteous, but because we serve the one true God as His set apart children.

So tonight, don’t eat from the table of demons and the table of God.

My brothers and sisters, flee from idolatry!