Charles Spurgeon once said that “The church that marries the spirit of this age will be a widow in the next.” And A.W. Tozer was quoted as saying that “The world is not merely unchristian but anti-Christian.” Two very powerful quotes by two giants of the faith. I’ve often times wondered what these men of the faith would say if they could see our world today. I’d guess that they would turn over in their graves—no pun.
To say that our “modern” world has embraced evil with open arms would be the understatement of the century, but that’s exactly what it’s done, and Halloween is a mirror image of said embrace. Though the origins of Halloween have been, continue to be and will always remain demonic at it’s core, satan’s efforts to bring societies into “submission” with evil was not always so overt. His campaign through the ages utilized not the true face of evil, but a more covert one—a subtle and very tame, almost “cute” and “innocent” face.
When I was a kid, Halloween was definitely a day wherein the focus was on the amount of candy you’d get, or how cute your parents can make you look in your costume. “Scary” costumes back were an embarrasment to the word itself. They were more like defective face masks, products of a faulty assemble line or mask die. Yes, the witches, werewolves, vampires and even ghosts were about as evil as they got. And though I don’t approve of them, in all due honesty, the were child’s play compared to what we have today. Here are a few photos of kids dressed for Halloween in the 80’s I found online…
Satan is a “pro” in the area of subtlety. In all areas of compromise and immorality, this has been his modus operandi. You’d think that the church—if any—would have caught onto this decades ago, but the sad reality is that it’s been too preoccupied with getting “bench warmers” into the pews. More concerned with numbers than hearts. And so the enemy won a great battle: compromise! Little by little, increment by increment, evil became more evil, gore, sex, blood and murder became the norm in movies, and instead of rejecting it, society (and many within the church) embraced it. Not only that, but even celebrated it and marketed it.
Halloween is no longer a night. It’s no longer a day for candy and a cheap costume in the supermarket isle— it’s now an industry, a monster, a money making machine. Americans now spend over $12 billion a year. Yes, that ‘billion’ with a ‘B’ on costumes, candy, and décor — more than almost any other holiday, even Christmas!
Let that sink in for a minute. Just think about that. The celebration of darkness, evil, gore, murder, the occult, everything antithetical to Scripture is outspending the celebration of the Light of the world. The world no longer tries to hide its allegiance to evil anymore — it’s hanging it from every front porch and even the front door of many homes in America. But this isn’t about plastic skeletons any more — it’s now become much more than that. It’s about a culture, a society that’s not only embraced evil, but has fallen deeply in love with death, violence, the occult, murder, serial killers and much more. We live in a society and culture that applauds, praises and craves fear. And we know that fear is not of the Lord, but of satan!
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
Many within the church do not believe in the very real fact that when evil is embraced, even as a means of “entertainment” (no such thing), doors are swung wide open in the spiritual world that screams to the demonic: “Come on in. You’re welcome in this place. Feel free to anything here. Mi casa es su casa!” When we make light of darkness, we invite it in—period!
Scripture tells us:
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose (or reprove) them.” —Ephesians 5:11 NKJV
Yet, the enemy has done something subtle — he’s rebranded evil as entertainment. Horror movies, ghost hunts, séances — all normalized. And tragically, even many in the church join in. So that begs the question: How are we supposed to reach the world if we are so busy immitating it? Paul reminds us to:
“…not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship (or what’s in common) has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion (or fellowship) has light with darkness?” —2 Corinthians 6:14
The truth is — Halloween glorifies fear. It makes light of and praises death. And it certainly elevates, exalts and intensifies deception — the very things Jesus conquered! It mocks holiness. It desensitizes us to the demonic. And it trains children to be comfortable, unfazed with symbols of death before they ever learn about the giver of true life, Jesus Christ!
And if you think for one minute that the church is immune to such deception, I’d strongly encourage you to think twice. I’ve spoken ad nauseum about the fact that the church is beyond sickly. Churches now host ‘Trunk-or-Treats,’ costume contests, and haunted houses — all under the guise of being relevant. They play songs like Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and dress in some of the goriest costumes you’ve ever seen. This once again is done as a means to ‘be like the world to attract the world.’ What a lie straight from the pit of hell!
One church from Oklahoma called GUTS Church years ago would put on a haunted house “show” called ‘Nightmare’. It was beyond demonic. Their reasoning behind it was to show the real struggles teens experience. Bottom line, it was so graphic and beyond demonic that I can’t really show images except for the ones below. This is what one attendee said online about it:
“It was so messed up to put that imagery in front of kids. PTSD triggering if you had any of the experiences depicted. Drug overdose, drunk driving car crash, abortion . . . F@cked up.”
And another said:
“Live execution reenactments of children, by children. Mass death mockery, mostly children. Heavily exadurated acts of drug and alchohal abuse.. children. Oh yeah, and the Butcher Room, which featured dismembered bodies and dead fetuses while DyingFetus playing on the speakers. Provided by us of course, the proud deathcore loving kids of guts youth. For Christians, they really know how to do work that Satan would appreciate.”
Instead of doing God’s work, many churches are doing satan’s work, or better yet, working for satan. The rabbit hole of deception and fake churches runs deep! Beware!
God doesn’t need our help—no, we get to help. As children of the most High, we have the amazing privilege of being used by God in His work. But more often than not, ego gets in the way. Power gets in the way. Money gets in the way and the results are catastrophic—as we are currently witnessing.
We can never sanctify something that was born out of rebellion and evil. The early church refused to participate in pagan festivals because they understood that behind every idol and ritual were demonic powers hard at work against the light of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:20).
The same applies today. We may not burn offerings, but when believers celebrate what God calls detestable, we compromise our witness. We open doors to oppression. We become like the world, and God called us out of it! The enemy doesn’t need the world to worship him outright — he only needs believers to stop opposing darkness. And that’s why we as the church have lost the ‘high ground’.
Listen family, I’m not here to condemn — I’m just trying to remind us that we’ve been called out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). The cross of Christ broke the power of death. We don’t need to flirt with it — we need to shine in the midst of it.
The world celebrates fear and evil for one night. But those of us that truly in Christ, for true believers, we celebrate victory over these things forever. Just remember though many hang skeletons at their doors, display cemetaries on their lawns and proudly exhibit serial murders as animatronics to illicit fear, we proclaim an empty tomb—we celebrate the giver of life, true liberty and freedom from everything the enemy stands for.
Jesus said:
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” —John 8:12 NKJV
Though times are dark, remember that the gospel will always shine the brightest!
If this spoke to you, like it and please share it!
Until next time…
😁Have A Nice Day!👍🏻
Click HERE for Eric Barger’s Halloween Booklet
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