welcome to this episode of real Christianity my name is Dale Partridge reach week I offer 15 to 20-minute answers to tough theological and pastoral question this is 100% audio Ministry of relearn. Org and for those who don't know our mission a tree learn.org is to educate and equip ordinary Christians to plant biblical confessional and missional house churches for more information just. Org forward slash house
 big question is Halloween a holiday that Christians should embrace and or celebrate what are churches to do about it are we to use Halloween as an Outreach event what is the bible really say about these matters were to be discussing this and more but before I begin I just want to make one quick announcement I think Justin's is many of you know is I companion Ministry of ours and it's a church planting School many of you have realized that many churches are no longer meeting in person and in large crowds and this is caused more and more Christians to be interested in planting a house church with a few other Christian families that said we really believe that nobody should plant and Pastor a church without training and for that reason we created Saint Justin's School of biblical Church
 planting which is basically a one-year diploma program for men we talked about we teach students I should say to exegete to preach to Shepherd and to plant a Biblical House Church and their local community in fact we we just launched a brand new 3-minute video about the program that you can watch right of the homepage at think Justin's. Org that's just St Justin's. Org the 2021 class space is very limited but there are a few spots left if you're interested in learning more you can just apply online at before December 20th 2020 we'd love to have you maybe pass that along to somebody else that you might know who may be interested in planting a house Church in the coming year
 alright so let's get into the episode today's question is from Valerie and Houston Texas and she asks hello Pastor Bill my my family has been celebrating Halloween for years we have three kids who dress up and carve pumpkins however over the past few months we have been feeling convicted about celebrating Halloween do our convictions alignment scripture or are we just worrying too much. Thank you for the question we actually get this exact question every year we probably done an episode on this specific issue for a few years running now every year I make an Instagram post that causes a lot of controversy talking about the idea of Halloween is wonder you know where they should draw the line should we be buying the decorations and carving pumpkins and going trick or treating start with the most important question
 first what is Halloween where did it come from and why is that important Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic Festival Samhain and mrs. Knight Century Ireland is basically where most people track it back to its celebration of all things dying for the year crops and you to think about. Just the farm life that agrarian culture and its things dying in preparation for winter in the eighth Century about a hundred years earlier Pope Gregory the third designated November 1st as a time to honor All Saints called All Saints Day and likely due to its proximity to All Saints Day All Saints Day began to incorporate some of the traditions of Samhain
 the evening before was known as All Hallows Eve and later we call it Halloween and later the Catholic Church deemed the the day All Saints Day but the Catholic Church the website of the Catholic church I should say makes it clear that Halloween is a secular holiday and it's not All Saints Day All Saints Day is a holy day in the Catholic church and actually require members of the Catholic Church to attend Mass OTA it's it's kind of a major day for the Catholic church now the secular Halloween
 was was to be believed as the night that released the dead spirits who control nature that have been held captive underground by the vegetation of Life over the previous month's another spirits come back to life on this night is what it's supposed to represent in this is the origin of the jack o'lantern write the idea is that the dead pumpkin has come alive from the spirit of something else Halloween is strictly is a night in which people would circle around bonfires dress up in costumes to scare these Spirits or ghosts away and have a seance to welcome the dead and that's just what it was you can see that clearly on the Wikipedia page about Halloween or on the History Channel's website they talk about it there's no argument over the
 stocks that's what the historical Narrative of Halloween is about overtime Halloween has evolved into a day of activities and we've sanitize the holiday to make it less overtly evil in more palatable to a western culture I think trick-or-treating or carving Jack lanterns or Festival Gatherings or dressing up in costumes and eating candy however Halloween is still very much holding its spiritual Roots which is becoming more and more obvious to the Christian did a society that has lost its moral convictions other words I really do believe there is a demonic element of Halloween in play here and I'll tell you what if you simply look up the satanic calendar on Wikipedia it's fascinating that you'll see for Central events number one is your birthday so on the satanic
 calendar your birthday which is the celebration of self and I'm not saying that I'm against birthdays but this is just one thing that it's talking about your celebration of self you know then there's what's called a Whopper just not which is the evening of April 30th and not as a major satanic holiday will purchase net like it's a German name I believe and just one day later May 1st so you have this one on April 30th and then just one day later on May 1st is Saint walpurgis night which is Enterprise Rent-A-Car intercessory prayer for warding off witchcraft so that was what's going on here is that they said there was a night declared St walpurgis night and that was a night by the church to intercessory prayer for warding off witchcraft but then later
 the Demonic alternative was well purchase Nat and not becomes this satanic event is one day before we move down the calendar later to the year you have another satanic holiday on December 24th just one day before Christmas right so that you have December 24th is the grand High climax in this is a night of indulgence Zach's and Demon Rebels with a focus on birth of children and just one day later again is Christmas not the remembrance of Jesus's birth Halloween you have an October 31st and then just one day later you have All Saints Day also some people also put in relationship of this is much later as the Reformation October 31st. But we'll talk about that in the B but October 31st to have you know how loween or else and then you have one day later you have All Saints Day identified by the Catholic church so basically there
 there's either a major coincidence going on or there is some sort of strategy and play to offer these Prix de pre historical church Day events offering satanic Alternatives one day earlier and so it's just a fascinating observation that I've made the vast majority of people who celebrate Halloween are families who are simply unaware of its dark history and that said Christians we do need to be aware about the relationship between Halloween and Satanism I just because it's become an American holiday where must the culture participates doesn't mean there's no spiritual involvement and what's happening so again let's just look back to the core question should Christians celebrate Halloween
 so before I share my position let me share Anton LaVey his position Anton is the founder of the Church of Satan and the author of the Satanic Bible an interview a few years ago in a discussion about Halloween he said and I quote I'm glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night out of the year and quote the reality is Halloween is viewed as a satanic Holiday by satanists so here are three reasons that I have you know it for our family and why we personally don't believe Christians our beliefs have the conviction for ourselves to celebrate Halloween I began at the end of the day these are simply principles because the Bible doesn't speak specifically on participating in Halloween but your level of participation be
 matter of conscience before God and we're not to violate our conscience or convictions my hope is to give you a understanding and this isn't a carb launch answer there's a variety of factors you need to take in consideration the age of your children the place that you live how much participation you feel comfortable with what are your convictions etc etc so I'll give you my three reasons
 first is telling has a celebration of death on everyone Halloween is a celebration of death and this is why your local Home Depot and Target stores are covered in morbid Ducane witches and skeletons it's a season to make children more comfortable with evil and the Distortion of God's image it's a night to elevate nooses and demons and Gore and horror and fear and an appetite you have to you have to realize it's an appetite for horror movies in your teens is cultivated in your childhood that if you're comfortable with a playful form of human perversion and degradation then you'll eventually become more comfortable with a less play full form of it later I'm have to remember that Satan is a patient incrementalist and in he's a mean destroying your children even from a young age
 as Christians we don't look forward to death okay we don't celebrate death death is actually our final enemy it's been conquered by Christ and part but it's not something that we celebrate we celebrate life we don't look forward to the rising of the Dead to torment Humanity but the resurrection of the Dead some judgment and Justice and some to eternal life and so Christ conquered death on the cross therefore we don't celebrate what Christ came to conquer 2nd Timothy 1 10 says and which now has been manifested to the appearing of Our Savior Jesus Christ who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel Hebrews 2:14 says since they're for the children share in Flesh and Blood he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has
 the power of her death that is the devil there's actually a study done on ncbi their website that showed an obvious link between horror movies and suicidal Behavior including a suicidal ideation hopelessness self-harm low self life satisfaction and we know that that suicide and depression are on the rise in this broken and hurting world and why would we want to place our children in any environment or an annual tradition our annual tradition that nurtures a desire for an affinity of fear or morbidity the enemy is strategic and we have to remember that you don't go from clean and moral childhood to all of a sudden enjoying not just watching but enjoying movies about fear and Gore death there's a process that allows you to get there and then I believe
 entire Halloween season is designed to Kindle that process in our children and families if we're not careful
 I never to is Halloween is a celebration of Darkness so first was a celebration of death this is a celebration of Darkness beside the reality that it's a nighttime holiday it's also a holiday that celebrates the spiritual darkness and let's just look at a few verses that speak to spiritual Darkness Ephesians 5:11 have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness rather expose them against our principles I'm not bringing them fully into contacts to your butt first John 15 this is the message that we have heard from him and Proclaim to you that God is light and in him no Darkness at all 1st John 1:7 but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have no we have fellowship with one another
 Matthew 5:14 you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hid in John 8:12 again Jesus spoke to them saying I am the light of the world whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of Life John 12:46 I have come into the world as light so so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness John 14 through 5 in him was life and the life was the light of men the light shines in the darkness and the Darkness has not overcome It ultimately darkness is the opposite of light after coming to Jesus Christians love the light because we know first and foremost that spiritual Darkness stands against God and second we know that we're safest as Christians when we walk in the light we also know that although he disguises himself as an age
 of light Satan is the Prince of Darkness now he's no more of the Prince of Darkness on Halloween then he is on any other day meaning that your sensitivity and awareness of Darkness should change just because it's a holiday it's always that dark but at the end of the day this point that I'm trying to make here is that Halloween is a celebration of Darkness we are people of light and light has no fellowship with darkness and we need to be careful about what we associate ourselves with I think about this is maybe an in the world but not of the world how do we distinguish differentiate ourselves but Halloween is for sure a celebration of spiritual Darkness
 number three my last Point here is Halloween is a celebration of evil I'm not saying that all non-Christian or even Christian Halloween celebrations are overtly celebration of evil I'm saying that Halloween specifically is rooted in evil and generally elevates things that scripture directly tells us to not Elevate 1st Thessalonians 5:22 says abstain from every form of evil to command and scripture and we got to remember in a world filled with suicide murder wickedness and fear we can't believe that dressing up these whores and cute Decor one night per year makes them any less of what they really are which is evil and you know one thing I've noticed is that parents can struggle with a viewing Halloween as evil
 and truly believe it's an innocent Holiday Inn this is because they have the mental and emotional faculties available to discern the moment mini that they can understand that a ghost is fake or the witch in a cauldron is folklore but they don't often realize it's how influential informative these moments and visual images can be for small children and I know our friends for example and had a five-year-old who was dramatically scared just from one night of trick-or-treating and has changed that child's thinking about the holiday for several years coming I had my own kids asked me about the ghosts and If ghosts are real after seeing them and Home Depot
 I'm so these are real things that we need to be aware of the differences between parents and children now I just a quickly address to other common questions first is it okay to use an irredeemable of that like Halloween as a church sanctioned evangelism tool and I think so as long as the alternative that the Church offers is truly an alternative to the current solution for Halloween in the church is almost identical to the world solution with only difference is. It's less in modest me meaning that the girls are walking around and you know they're you know nakedness for the most part the blatant evil is tone down and it's experienced on the church campus or parking lot instead of you know some Halloween party or on the streets
 I think a good alternative would be something like a harvest Community dinner on the lawn with a movie and a gospel presentation at the end to come and eat free food haven't Night by the fire pit watching a movie outside with other Christians however I personally wouldn't have the kids dress up I think the mere fact that a kids aren't dressed up on Halloween becomes a wonderful cause for curiosity to a non looking world and invites a good conversation about the gospel and why they're not conforming to the world in that capacity so that's one question the second common question is what does our family do like what do we do about it I do we just sit at home lock our doors turn off her lights do we do we do anything special as of now that we usually just gather together with our house Church community and invite other maybe fresh
 and family that are in our church for an apple pressing pumpkin pie eating evening and we celebrate and discuss the five Solas of the Reformation which again is initiated by Martin Luther on October 31st 1517 and so we've just turned it into a Reformation day discussion has no links with Halloween no dressing up and that's just how we've been able to do that and hopefully that's helpful for you another question I should just mentioned briefly that people ask well if you're not going to celebrate Halloween why you can't celebrate Christmas because Christmas has Pagan roots to one thing I want to save just briefly on that is that comparing Christmas and Halloween is very different Halloween doesn't have any redeeming qualities where Christmas is a celebration of life it's celebration of giving sure it might have some secular routes to it. But these are virtuous
 qualities so there they are very different Halloween is a clear celebration of death of evil of Darkness some of these other holidays are are much different and you have to use your conscience and convictions to make your decision on how you're going to treat each specific holiday with your family but the bottom line is I want to get a point the point across is is guard your little ones during this Halloween season train up your older ones to be a light defend the truth in the world end if given the opportunity to share the gospel and learn how to use Halloween and every other day to redeem those who don't know Christ I'm so far this is a helpful short little episode for you guys on answering that question as always I'm going to be guys with just two resources that will further your understanding
 of the top you can find them on the post page for this upset every learn.org this is episode 117 and its title that should Christians celebrate Halloween the article is Christians and Halloween and this is on Grace to use website which is John MacArthur's Church pretty comprehensive article on the topic I thought I had some great points another article access it's a video is thoughts on Halloween with John Piper brings another perspective that I think it's helpful so hopefully that will be a great resource for you guys if you get a regular listen or to the real Christianity podcast we would thank you so much for your commitment and loyalty to this program would you guys leave a review if you have not already you know how to write anything if you do write something I will read it but all you have to do is just tap the stars in the podcast app other thing is considered following us on Instagram does that relearn. Org you can also follow me
 actually on Twitter just at Dale Partridge to find me there and on that note I think will close up this episode my name is Dale Partridge and I will see you guys next week
 thank you for listening to this episode of real Christianity if your regular was no to the show would you perfectly consider making a donation to support our ministry efforts simply visit relearn. Org donate again that's relearn. Org forward slash donate and for those looking to explore the idea of joining or planting a church in your home you can download our free pdf ebook titled the basics of biblical House Church by visiting relearn. Org forward slash house last week do you have a theological question you would like answered on the show submit your question at relearn. Org forward slash question thanks for joining us on this episode of real Christianity we will see you next Wednesday