Marked for Death
In the 70's there was a program where an annual free ice cream cone was offered to children who would fill out their address and birthday on a form to receive it. This might have seemed harmless to both kids and parents. Little did they know it would result in the deaths of many of those same children once they were older. Their birthday from the form for the free ice cream was used to register them for the military draft to be sent to the Vietnam war as soon as each one turned 18.
Candy is well known to be used by child predators. Candy is like bait for children. Demons are no different as they are evil spirits behind the child predators and they use the same tactics as the humans they control. In contrast a parent will limit candy, out of concern for their child's health.
On Halloween, every child who takes candy makes covenant with satan; a lasting covenant that is recorded by the demonic realm. In this covenant there is an exchange of seed. Seeds and eggs of demons are planted in the youngsters' spirits which will "hatch" later in the teen years, causing all sorts of chaos and horror in the kid's future life. What is waiting in the basket? A spirit of rebellion, suicide, harlotry, death or perhaps all of the above. The teen then feels a closer connection to darkness and falls away from the faith.
Mark of the Blood, or Mark of the Beast?
During Passover, God's people would smear the blood of a sacrificed lamb over their doorposts to mark their house as containing God's people. At Halloween the opposite happens and some Christians like to decorate their homes with demonic imagery, entertaining the beast's image in place of God's.
More commonly we have the cowardly comprising Christian, saying we will dress our kids up as superheroes and princesses, just nothing that looks demonic. This is just an excuse to try to keep one foot in the world and one in God's kingdom, conforming to the world and being too afraid to stand apart for Christ. If we truly valued God, we would not dip our toe in it at all. In case anyone thinks Halloween is just a harmless festival, may we remind you that Halloween (Samhein) is actually the most holy day of the year to modern-day practicing witches just as it was to the ancient pagans. Samhein is pronounced SOW-in because the demons will spread their seed. They only need one day of your guard down to sow-in their curses, then the seed grows continuously even when you are back to being a Christian and pretending you hate evil.
Ezekiel 8:9-10 "And He said to me, "Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there." So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls.
This is like decorating for Halloween. Our body is the temple of the Lord. Yet we dress up this temple in costumes which disrespect God in us. All because of a lack of courage and willpower to stand separately from the world while it celebrates its demonic event.
In 1 Corinthians 11:10, the apostle Paul mentions woman should have a head covering "because of the angels." What we wear as our covering (or costume) affects our relationship and interaction with angelic/demonic forces.
Babylon's Tests
The book of Daniel holds many examples for us for how to live apart as Christians, in a secular unbelieving world. Daniel and his friends were transported to Babylon as an intellectual class of slaves when Jerusalem was captured. The Babylonians expected these men to assimilate into their "higher" more sophisticated ways and culture since Babylon was the most advanced civilization in the world. Babylon is a metaphor for the urban secular world system which loves to devour faith and sometimes we face the same choices as Daniel, to be seen as "backwards" for standing up for our faith.
One test of these men came when the king commissioned a large golden image and expected every person to bow down to it.
Daniel 3:4-6
Then a herald cried aloud: "To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace."
Here we have the story of the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They had the opportunity to conform to the secular culture and bow down to the giant idol. Doing this would be the comfortable choice and they not would have please the Babylonians but also would have blended in with the rest of the Jewish community which chose to compromise. It would be easy to go along with the crowd, but Daniel and his friends had to make the unpopular choice to be the only ones who would stand apart and not bow down to the great idol. Feeling disrespected, the king had the men put into his large furnace to eliminate opposition to his decree. Although they were willing to die for their faith, God miraculously preserved these three men, resulting in the king believing in God's power.
In Daniel Chapter 6, we have a similar but different story. The Babylonian officials are bothered seeing Daniel praying openly each day but cannot find fault in his work and performance of duties, so they instead convince the king to create a rule which will prohibit prayer. Just as his three friends had to risk death in the fiery furnace, now came Daniel's turn to face it in the lion's den. In the end, God protected Daniel from the lions and the plotters were thrown in instead.
The most relevant of Daniel's trials in Babylon though, was the first one he and his friends faced:
Daniel 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank;"
Daniel's first trial was to reject the temptation of eating "delicacies." To give in would be to betray his faith and heritage. As Jews, eating certain "clean" foods and abstaining for pork set their nation apart. Although the New Testament laws for a Christian are much more liberal, we still face a test on Halloween as to whether we will compromise our children for the "delicacies" of the various forms of candy.
Proverbs 25:16 "Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, lest you be filled with it and vomit."
Although the physical is the least weighty of the problems Halloween brings it should be briefly mentioned. It is unhealthy to have so much candy, this is gluttony at work. All the effort you put in to train your child's taste receptors to enjoy healthy food get wrecked when they take home a giant sack of candy to gorge on. We already have enough of an obesity problem without a year's with of junk food being heaped on top.
Wearing The Wrong Team's Jersey
Imagine you are a local hockey player in your home stadium. Instead of seeing the crowd rooting for you, you notice they are all wearing the opposing team’s jersey. Your friends, family, and neighbors are all dressed up for the opposing team. Now how would you feel?? Probably a bit betrayed right? BIG TIME!! Now how do you think God feels when his own people who are supposed to worship him, instead dress up as the other team as demons and devils and go to houses decorated in similar nature. You will say “but it’s for the children!!!!” as if there is no other way a kid can have fun. Are you who claim to be Christians really so without imagination that you cannot think of any other way to have fun with your kids than to celebrate satan?? Trust me, I am far from the most skilled person at “having fun” but even I can make a good time happen pretty easily anytime I want. This is a great time to teach your kids that standing up for what is right means making sacrifices. Its easy to be a Christian when its convenient, but the test of whether you have a real faith is that you can stand apart when it is unpopular. When is the last time you did something hard or unpopular to defend your faith and values? A humble and seeking agnostic who is unsure whether God exists will have a better chance of entering heaven than a Christian who treats their faith as if it is a joke. I will say it again. An AGNOSTIC who is unsure whether there is any God, will have a better chance of God being merciful and allowing them to enter heaven, compared to a Christian who does not take their faith seriously (Matthew 21:31). This Halloween do what is right. Take a stand for your faith. Take a stand for what you believe in. Find another way to let your kids have fun this night. Help them realize sacrifices must be made to do what is right. A Christian participating in Halloween saying they aren’t really celebrating the devil is like a person who cheats on their spouse and says “even though I did the act, it wasn’t really cheating, because I didn’t actually “love” her.”” Yes, actions matter, and excuses are not at all valid. Stand apart and do what is right!