By George M. Bowman

THE GHOSTS and goblins and witches of Halloween are not mere subjects for humour. Neither are halloween customs innocent fun and games as today's society would have us believe.

History shows that this popular day of the year came right out of pagan darkness and the evil worship of Satan. Many of today's methods for celebrating Halloween continue to be satanic and grossly offensive to God, our Creator. Come with me back into the past as we examine the origin of Halloween celebrations and what we can do to protect ourselves from their evil influence.

THE LORDS OF DEATH
The source of today's Halloween celebrations is the Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celtics, who lived in Great Britain, Ireland and the north of France some 2,000 years ago, worshiped the mythical Samhain as the lord of god of death. Their new year began on November 1 and their festival to honour Samhain began the night before, October 31, the date now celebrated as Halloween

They associated the winter season with death and believed that Samhain had the power to allow the souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes for the evening of October 31. From this came today's association of ghosts, witches and goblins with Halloween. Later some people came to believe that all the witches came together on October 31 to worship Satan.

The Celtics' celebrations, which were ordered by their priests and teachers (called Druids), included great bonfires of oak branches (which they considered sacred) on which they burned crops, animals and humans as sacrifices. The people wore costumes of animal heads and skins and listened as the future was "predicted" for them by the examination of the remains of the sacrificed animals.

PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD
After the Romans conquered the Celts in A.D. 43, and during their 400 year rule, they combined two of their festivals with the Celtic Festival of Samhain. The first was in honour of the dead, and the second honoured Pamona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees.

In the ninth century the Roman Catholic established All Saints Day on November 1 so that people could carry over their old pagan customs as part of this "Christian holy day". This led to the unbiblical practice of praying for the dead on November 2, a day that became known as "All Souls Day."

On that day poor people went out a-souling or begging and promised to pray for the dead in exchange for pasties called soulcakes. More than likely this is the forerunner of today's Halloween custom of trick-or-treating.

KINGDOM OF SATAN
The phrase "trick-or-treat" means in effect, "You have a choice: either give us a treat or we'll play a trick on you." But playing a trick grew into destructive and dangerous customs such as smashing windows, pulling down small buildings, cutting electric and telephone wires, frightening the elderly, and setting buildings on fire.

It also led to wild costume parties where people dress up as skeletons, witches, and ghosts. Some even go as far as to wear costumes that are supposed to make them look like Satan. At such parties many engage in drunkenness, unclean conversation, and immoral conduct. Showing no respect for God, the Supreme Ruler of this universe, they do that which is more compatible with the kingdom of Satan.

Halloween, then, must be identified with what the Apostle Paul called "the works of the flesh." He also said that "they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (see Galatians 5:19-21).

NOT FUN AND GAMES
Society might make the mistake of treating Halloween customs as fun and games, but God doesn't. His holy character has no place for such a light view of sinful conduct. The Bible says He loves righteousness and hates iniquity and that means He hates all iniquity.

It also means that He has purposed to punish evildoers who choose to live in deliberate ignorance of Him. The Bible says that God, in His mighty works, has revealed Himself plainly to all men and that they have no excuse for such deliberate ignorance about Him.

The Bible also says that in spite of the fact that men knew God they chose neither to glorify Him as God nor to be thankful to Him for His many blessings to them. (see Romans 1:20, 21). Living in deliberate rebellion against His divine authority, all men and women have been judged guilty before God and are described by Jesus Christ as "condemned already" (see John 3:18).

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL
Evildoers are condemned already and face eternal damnation because they choose to practice deliberate disobedience to God's gospel of free deliverance from sin and punishment through faith in Christ. How foolish is that man or woman who refuses to accept such a gift!

Can you be identified with those who refuse this gift? If you can, do you really know what it is you are turning down? Your refusal of the gospel means that in effect you are making statements like these:

"I'd rather be enslaved by my sins and their horrendous consequences than be set free by Jesus Christ."

"I'd rather keep the utter stupidity of my unbelief than gain access to the wisdom of God through faith in Christ."

"I'd rather stay with ungodly companions for the brief duration of this life than gain new friends in Christ who'll be my brothers and sisters forever."

"I'd rather keep my natural fears of criticism, of lost love, of poverty, of sickness, of old age, and of death than gain victory over them all by living in the fear of God."

"I'd rather suffer the aloneness of outer darkness forever than enjoy the inner light of eternal fellowship with God."

"I'd rather go to hell than go to heaven."

THE RIGHT CHOICE
What person in his right mind would make such statements? Yet, we make these statements if we continue to live with no desire to be put right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. He gave His life for sinners and rose from the dead to confirm His power to save. If we refuse His offer of free salvation through faith in Him, we actually identify ourselves with these foolish statements of unbelief.

May the Lord help you (if you haven't already done so) to turn away from such foolishness and, by His Holy Spirit, make the right choice between unbelief which leads to eternal death and faith in Jesus Christ which leads to eternal life. May He move you to declare with all sincerity, "I'd rather put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God than be associated with the Halloween ghosts of Satan."