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According to Leftbehind.com: 

Christians Should Give Place to the Devil By Participating in Candy-Coated "Halloween Alternatives"

Rather than write an article about how Christians may rationalize the sin of celebrating Halloween, Leftbehind.com used guest articles to do the job for them.

The following is a critique of the article, What Should Christians Do For Halloween, which was published on Leftbehind.com in October, 2002. My commentary is in bold text.  (The article, "What Should Christians Do For Halloween" has been has been removed from the internet.)

What Should Christians Do For Halloween?

So, what can Christians do about Halloween? Should we just ignore it and wait for it to pass.

Steve Russo, from Focus on the Family put it this way:

"Halloween is here to stay, and burying our heads in the sand won’t make it go away. What are some valid options that we can consider?

The first option is to simply not participate in anything at all associated with Halloween. This means locking your front door, turning out the light, and basically acting as if no one is home when trick-or-treaters come through your neighborhood. . . .

. . . . Let’s look at the big picture for a minute. Because Halloween is such huge business, there is a lot of publicity and attention given to October 31. Why not take advantage of all this fanfare and use it to "turn on the light" of God’s Word with an alternative that could take people one step closer to a relationship with Jesus? Ephesians 5:16 encourages us to "make the most of every opportunity," and Halloween is just such an occasion for Christians who are serious about making a difference in their world.

God commands His people to "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Ephesians 5:11 There is no reproving or exposing of Halloween on Leftbehind.com's "What Should Christians Do For Halloween?" 

Notice the little word, "for." It means the opposite of against, in this context. The article should be about "What Should Christians Do Against Halloween?" Even the title sets the pro-Halloween tone.

This article contains many suggestions about how to fellowship with the works of darkness by participating in the seemingly innocent Halloween rituals the world is already deceived into taking part.

Remember that participating in an alternative is not the same thing as celebrating the holiday. When we celebrate a holiday, like Halloween, we are publicly bringing some sort of honor to the day. When we participate in an alternative, we are taking part in providing a choice between Halloween and some other event. . . . The right alternative can be safe and fun for kids and yet still honor God. . . . 

Participating in an alternative is supposedly a Christian substitute for Halloween. Christians are to stand in the evil day, not participate in substitutes for the evil because they think it is mean to deny their children the devilish trappings of the world!

Ultimately, Halloween can be a great opportunity to "overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21)."

Overcoming evil with good will not be accomplished by having a party and celebrating while followers of Satan literally sacrifice human beings on altars all over the world. Even little children can learn that people die on Halloween because Satan hates people who are created in the image of God. They can learn to pray for the people that Satan wants to die. They can understand that God can rescue them. They will associate Satan and his day, Halloween, with the evil that it truly is rather than learn to give place to the devil by participating in the rituals the world runs after on Halloween, such as consuming candy and dressing in costumes. 

Click here to read some more.

The next guest article, written by Peggy Bohanon, is filled with print subliminals that work to condition Christians to think positively about Halloween. 

Peggy Bohanon, from gospelcom.net, shares this:

Simple, innocent "trick-or-treat" days are gone forever from many neighborhoods. What was once a fun-loving, family-participating event has turned into dark occultic activities opposite from the Light-giving God we serve. 

Halloween has never been innocent, but the writer wants you to think it used to be. It has always been a day of human sacrifice all over the world. Even the seemingly innocent trick-or-treat rituals we all probably participated in as children gave place to the devil. The trick-or-treat ritual is most definitely a give-place-to-the-devil ritual. It is an invitation for demons to come into your life and fellowship with you. Renounce the sin of participating in Halloween rituals if you have never done so and do not believe those who lie and say that "Christianized" trick-or-treat rituals are godly alternatives. They are not. The trick-or-treat ritual represents human sacrifice, and is an abomination in the sight of God. (See: Why Fake Christian Ministries Push the Halloween Trick-or-Treat Ritual)

So, as a Christian, how do you respond? Turn on the lights? Turn off the lights? What to DO?? Talk to 100 Christians and you may have 100 shades of opinion about the celebration of Halloween. . . .

It does not matter what Christians say about celebrating Halloween. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, not those who regard themselves as Christians, who will judge you at the last day. God has made it abundantly clear in his Holy word that you cannot fellowship at the table of the Lord and the table of devils. You must choose. The article, "What Should Christians Do For Halloween" tells you that you can do both as long as you call it an alternative. This is Satan's lie.

I don't pretend to have all the answers-- and the bottom line? Jesus Christ is Lord--and we celebrate HIM every day! However you choose to celebrate or not to celebrate, may HE be the honoring factor in every decision!

According to Peggy's article  (promoted by Leftbehind.com) you may either celebrate Halloween or not celebrate it and honor Jesus Christ in either choice. Read her statement above again. That is the message. Jesus Christ can be the honoring factor in either decision: to celebrate Halloween or not celebrate Halloween. This is NOT the Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible! He would never be the "honoring factor" in a Christian giving place to the devil.

Click here to read some more from Peggy.

Creative Alternatives For Halloween

The phrase, "creative alternatives for Halloween," is a euphemism that serves to assuage the compromising Christian's conscience. This phrase helps the Christian who refuses to give up running after the course of this wicked world that hates God, feel better in his sin. According to this Leftbehind.com endorsed article, a Christian is not sinning by participating in candy-coated Halloween rituals. He is simply enjoying "creative alternatives."

Here are some ways that families and churches are turning Halloween into a positive celebration to "turn on the light" of the Gospel to a dark world.

God commands his people to put on the shoes of the gospel of peace daily. Christians are to have evangelism on their minds every day and they are to look for opportunities to witness of Jesus Christ to a dark world every day. Halloween is the day in which satanists are ritually murdering many people all over the world. This is the day Christians must fast and pray for God to enable the kidnapped victims to escape and thus prevent these sacrifices from occurring. 

Evangelism is for every day. Praying against human sacrifice is the Christian's ministry on Halloween. The unbelievers, who are busy conforming to the course of the world via Halloween costumes and festivities, have no awareness or concern about the slaughter of human beings at this time. And neither do Christians who are occupied with celebratory activities on Satan's night.

Satan is pleased when Christians engage in alternative activities on Halloween because:

(1) they are sinning and giving place to him. This causes them to be in no position to pray and counter his evil activities, 

(2) they are opening themselves up to satanic attack on that night and in the future due to their fellowship with devils.

1. Make it a family night.

• Since schools often provide Halloween parties, some families see no need for trick-and-treating and turn the rest of the evening into a family night, perhaps going to dinner and then a movie. 

Notice this soul-ensnaring statement: "Since schools often provide Halloween parties," some (Christian) families see no need for trick-and-treating."(!) There are two dangerous messages in this portion I quoted above: Halloween parties are not condemned, but treated as something positive since they take away the "need" for a Christian parent to take their child trick-or-treating! The message is that a Halloween party removes the need for Christian children to go trick-or treating. This is communicating to the reader that participating in the devilish custom of trick-or-treating is a need! This is definitely candy-coating sin and sending Christians the message that trick-or-treating is not a sin. 

This also works if you elect not to have your children attend a school or community event. Rather than feel left out of the fun, you can make your own special family time.

Again, we have the message presented that as a Christian parent, the choice of participating in Halloween, the highest satanic holiday of the year, is up to you. If you elect not to have your children participate in a satanic Halloween party (the subliminal message of course is that you can elect to have them participate in this sin) you can make your own special family time rather than be left out of the fun. We have another satanic subliminal presented here: "Rather than feel left out of the fun." What is the fun you could feel left out of? Attending a Halloween school or community event. Leftbehind.com picked articles that slyly promote Halloween. 

2. Turn on your porch light.

• Rather than sending a message that you’re unfriendly, welcome trick-or-treaters with candy and "redeem the night" with a specially prepared Halloween tract.

According to Peggy's manipulative wording, abstaining from Halloween and not participating in the satanic trick-or-treat ritual sends the message to the world that you are unfriendly. If you have a cordial relationship with your neighbors, the message that you will send is that you take following Jesus Christ seriously; and they will respect you for it. Peggy is pushing Christians to enter into the "sanctified" trick-or-treat ritual very strongly throughout the entire article! 

If you give a tract in response to the ritual phrase, "trick-or-treat" you are participating in Halloween. Just because you add a tract to the treat (or give only a tract) does not sanctify this Halloween activity. I realize there are many who believe it does. I am warning you that participating in trick-or-treat, or trick-or-treat-and-add-a-tract, is honoring Satan by doing what is expected of his followers: giving a gift or treat. Giving a tract while you engage in the ritual that Satan takes very seriously (the trick-or-treating ritual is a satanic ritual no matter how cute it looks or how much fun it is) will not give your or your child automatic protection from evil spirit contact. You are sinning and thereby breaking God's protective hedge. The serpent will bite you and your children, tract or no tract. CLICK HERE to learn how to evangelize on Halloween without giving place to the devil.

(See: Why Fake Christian Ministries Push the Trick-or-Treat Ritual)

Remember, God commands His people to have their feet shod with the gospel of peace every day. You have 364 other days in the year to evangelize; you must not "touch the unclean thing" by engaging in a seemingly innocent occult ritual in order to evangelize your neighbors.

If you want to give out tracts on Halloween, do it during the day or do it in such a way that you are not participating in trick-or-treat. Do not participate in the trick or treat ritual in any way.  Chick.com has tracts that expose the real meaning behind Halloween.

You’ll find lots of sources for tracts – your local Christian bookstore may have some or you can visit web sites like American Tract Society or The Joshua Outreach Group. Some of these tracts are designed for kids, while others are designed to pass on to their parents. Consider this "reverse door-to-door evangelism:" instead of you going door-to-door, the neighbors come to you!

Praying against ritual human sacrifice is critically important on Satan's Day.

Participating in the trick-or-treat ritual for the purpose of giving out tracts does not sanctify this sin. Give out tracts, yes, but not as part of the trick-or-treat ritual.

• Let your children be "keepers of the candy." If you get trick-and-treaters from your neighborhood, they will also enjoy trying to guess who’s behind the costume. It’s a way of reinforcing with your kids that you want to be warm and welcoming to your neighbors. (Many communities have guidelines that encourage trick-or-treating among younger children from the neighborhood before it gets too dark—making it safer and also making it less "unfriendly" on your part to turn off your light at some point in the evening.)

Allowing your children to be "keepers of the candy" will desensitize them to the sin of Halloween rituals. Also, having them guess who is behind the costumes is further numbing them to the fact that Halloween is an evil satanic high day. They are learning Satan's lie that Halloween is simply a bunch of fun and games and should not be taken seriously. Leftbehind.com should not have endorsed this article.

In view of the fact that they called their latest product ILumina, the last two books in the Left Behind series were released the day before and the day after satanic high days, the last two movies were released on the high days before Halloween, Jerry Jenkins' book portrays a Christian with "the ID biochip beneath the skin of his right forearm" (Soon, pg. xv), and the Left Behind Series contains New Age markings, I am not surprised that leftbehind.com endorses Halloween. 

• Visit your neighborhood. Do a reverse trick-or-treat. Use the opportunity to "Light the Night" by going around your neighborhood handing out tracts that talk about Satan’s tricks and God’s best treat (Jesus).

Again Peggy encouraged parents to participate in Halloween with their children rather than take a prayerful stand against the atrocities committed on this evil day. Calling Jesus "God's best treat" is deliberately uniting the holy (the Lord Jesus Christ) with the unholy (Satan's Halloween celebration.)

• In many neighborhoods, going with young children not only provides safety, but may be an occasion to be with other parents. Even the simple "thank you" of kids delighted to receive something in their bags helps convey a sense of community often lacking in today’s busy and isolated society.

3. Turn off your porch light and go to church. Provide an activity for your own church family. Even better, provide something you can open to the community. Here are a few ideas:

The following are Peggy's suggestions for activities on Halloween. You won't find prayer against satanists' evil activities on Halloween listed among them. Because the prayers of the righteous avail much to counter the evil deeds committed on Halloween, Satan does not want Christians to pray against his plans on his day.

• Provide a Harvest Festival, with games and food and fun activities. Particularly in areas where parents may be hesitant to let their children go door-to-door, the church can provide a safe and fun place to be. One church has "trunk-or-treat" where people open their car trunks, fill them with candy and let the kids get their treats by wandering through the parking lot. Such an event can be a great place to let teens do evangelistic presentations through music, drama, or other means limited only by their imaginations.

Trunk-or-treat is the same ritual as trick-or-treat except that Christian children are trick-or-treating at car trunks rather than at neighbors' houses. This is  conditioning Christians to participate in Halloween rituals and to believe they are harmless!

• Hold a Bible Heroes Costume Party. Kids love to dress up and play pretend. Instead of ghoulish characters, let them dress up like Bible characters. (Some churches tie their celebration into Reformation Day, remembering that October 31, 1517 is the day that Luther posted his 95 theses on the chapel door at Wittenburg University, the event that now symbolizes the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.)

The Halloween ritual of dressing up in costumes is presented as a  sanctified act as long as the participants dress in Bible costumes rather than as ghouls. Again, Leftbehind.com (via Peggy) is reinforcing the "accept Halloween" agenda. Remember, Satan seeks whom he may devour, and when Christians participate in his  thinly disguised rituals on his day, they have opened their lives to him so he may begin to do just that. He delights in the fact that Christian parents are being tricked  into giving him place in their lives and their children's lives.

• Conduct a Progressive Dinner. This can be a fun way to let youth in your church spend the evening together. It can also be a great event to use it as an outreach activity to invite non-Christian friends, letting them see that there are other ways to have fun on Halloween. There are a lot of variations, depending on weather, day of the week, school schedules and other factors. Kids can come in costume, make a game of the movement from one "course" to another, and end up at the church or another location for dessert and a short devotional talk related to the Christian alternative to evil, the occult, or similar topics.

The emphasis of having fun on Halloween (Satan's followers have the time of their lives on Halloween, so why should Christians miss out on the "fun"?) is repeated in this Halloween-promoting article. There is no mention that Halloween is a satanic high day and that the Halloween rituals, as innocent as they may appear on the surface, are ways Satan tricks the world and Christians into giving access into their lives. It is very telling that Tyndale House chose to present Halloween, Satan's #1 day in the calendar year, as harmless fun as long as the Halloween rituals are modified.

Keep in mind the principle found in 1 Corinthians 10:31: "Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you must do all for the glory of God."

Respond

Share with us your plans for Halloween.

The people at Leftbehind.com assume the reader has plans for Halloween. They named the article with this assumption in mind. They want to know what Christians will be doing for Halloween. Why? Why do they want to know the thoughts of the Christian website visitors?  Why do they want to know if the Christian reader will commit spiritual adultery and celebrate Satan's #1 hellish "holy" day? Why do they want to know how many Christians are going to dishonor God on Halloween?  Why did Leftbehind.com not ask how many will abhor what is evil and cleave to that what is good?

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Read Others' Responses

There is no admonition in this article to abstain from the observance of Halloween! Not a word was written about how much God hates the occult. Instead, the article provides many soul-subverting suggestions about how to celebrate Halloween "Christian style." It is impossible to eat at the table of devils in a "Christian fashion." Christians eat at the table of the Lord or the table of devils, and will reap the blessings or curses of their decision.

Jesus said strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. Leftbehind.com wants you to believe that there are alternatives to the narrow way that is not the broad road either. That is not in the Bible. It is Satan, not the Lord Jesus Christ, who preaches a middle-sized road named Compromise.

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Index of Halloween Articles

link for documentation purposes only: Human Sacrifice 666 The Guide and the Ceremony to Sacrifice 

Diane Dew wrote  Bible Outlines on FASTING and Intercessory Prayer that are so helpful to read as you embark on your time of fasting and prayer to intercede for the very lives of people to the glory of God.

revised 10/24/06

first writing 10/29/02

return to: Exposing Satan's Snares in the Church

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Liberty To The Captives Established in June 2001