Introduction

In recent years Halloween has grown in popularity.  It has now become the second-largest money-producing holiday, second only to Christmas.  Don’t conclude that the reason for this is commercialism.  It is far deeper than that. It is the result of man’s search for the supernatural. 

Christianity has been discarded as irrelevant and unbelievable, yet man is still searching for something beyond himself.  The occult seeks to fill that vacuum.  This is not intended to be a tirade against children having fun. You must decide what your children do or do not do.  However, before you decide you need to know all the facts.

Read Colossians 1:12-13 and Ephesians 5:11-13

1. The Origin of the Holiday

A. Before Christ, in Gaul (France+) the Druids honored Samhain, Lord of the dead, on November 1st. They believed that ghosts, witches, elves, and evil spirits came out the night before in order to harm people.

B. To avoid harm, you leave a treat of food out for them at night. The Roman Catholics sought to unify the occupied pagan people by “Christianizing” the holiday in the Ninth Century.

C. November 1st became “All Saint’s Day” and the night before became “Hallowed Evening”, shortened to “Halloween”. The Pilgrims banned the holiday as pagan, but in the 1800s the Celtic immigrants revived it.

2. The Danger in Make Believe

A. “Make Believe” implies that something doesn’t exist. If the spirit world did not exist there would be no harm in pretending but…The spirit world is very, very real! There are real demons, devils, ghosts, evil spirits, etc. Consider the origin of Satan (Lucifer) in Isaiah 14:12. Origin of demons (fallen angels) mentioned in Revelation 12:1-9. 2 Peter 2:4 says God spared not the angels…” In Job 4:18 the angels were charged with folly. There are other evil beings: Ephesians 6:12 (in Greek) implies levels of authority in the kingdom of darkness.

B. Consider the immensity of this kingdom. Psalm 91:11 says “He shall give His angels charge over thee.” If there were only one angel assigned to each person there would have to be 6 billion angels in Heaven. If half that many were cast out (Revelation 12), then there are 3 billion fallen angels.

C. Scripture does not teach that fallen angels and demons are one and the same. (Perhaps a pre-Adamic race?) In Luke 8:31 the demons’ names were “Legion” Ephesians 6:12 speaks of the “spiritual hosts of evil in the heavenlies” Don’t tell your children “There’s no such thing as ghosts!” The occult world is very real, not to be played with!

3. Our Course of Reaction

A. Don’t be afraid of them, (1 John 4:4). Put on the whole armor of God, (Ephesians 6:11)

B. Two-thirds of the angels are still in heaven waiting to come to our defense; twice as many as Satan has! (Hebrews 1:14)

C. Have nothing to do with it, (Ephesians 5:11;   1 Thessalonians 5:22) The decision is yours, but if you err wouldn’t it be better to err on the side of caution?

Invitation:

The renewed interest in the supernatural is because the heart of man is reaching out for a God that he has been taught does not exist. Yet he hungers still.  If, in your heart, you hunger to know Him and His peace, accept Jesus today.

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