The Five Scariest Things You Can Do This Halloween

The Five Scariest Things You Can Do This Halloween

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. (Proverbs 8:13)

By Doug Phillips
Our country is in the grip of a fear crisis. The tension because of this fear is almost palpable. There is fear over elections, fear over the economy, and fear over hundreds of other issues ranging from the environment to terrorism.

The one fear that America is missing is a fear of the Lord. As a people, we no longer fear God. Because we do not fear God, we no longer hate evil (Proverbs 8:13).

Instead of hating evil, Americans toy with it. We toy with holidays like Halloween that were conceived in evil and that promote the “cute-ification” of evil, whether that evil takes the form of witchcraft, sorcery, ghoulishness, or some other form of malevolent imagery paraded before our children. We laugh at the very things that the Lord describes as “abominations,” and we find ourselves obsessively fascinated by, and attracted to, all things dark.

Yet we do not fear the Lord.

Those who “hate evil” are very scary to a secular society that fears man more than God. They are scary because they dare to declare that there are absolute standards by which society must be governed. They are scary because, if they are successful, industries like Hollywood that make billions of dollars by promoting ungodly fear will lose their influence. They are scary because such people will not be swayed by political candidates who use fear as a tool for manipulation.
With this in mind, I offer you the five “scariest” things you can do this Halloween:

1. The scariest thing you can do this Halloween is to not make light of evil. Halloween was conceived in evil and has remained a celebration that uses children to promote a fascination with darkness and superstitious fear. Simultaneously, it makes light of things that the Bible describes as evil. Stand against such things, and the world will find you very scary indeed. The fear of the Lord makes men turn from evil (Proverbs 16:6).
2. The scariest thing you can do this Halloween is to not be fearful. The media wants you to be afraid of everything from overpopulation to global warming. The politicians want you to be afraid of the economy and political instability. God wants you to do what is morally right, trust Him completely, and never be gripped by an ungodly spirit of fear. You can place your trust and hope for this nation in the King of Kings. Jesus said: “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him” (Luke 12:4–5). Believe this, and you will be light to the world.
3. The scariest thing you can do this Halloween is to completely skip Halloween and remember Reformation Day. It was 495 years ago that Martin Luther nailed his world-changing 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg church. These theses included rebukes to ungodly fear and superstition. 504 years ago, sometime near October 31, a baby named John Calvin was conceived who would dedicate his life to eradicating an ungodly fear of superstitious beliefs and proclaiming the gospel of grace. His emphasis on reformation, revival, and the sufficiency of Scripture had such far-reaching implications for nations like the United States that he has been described by Christian and secular scholars alike as the true founding father of America. The Reformers did something that was very scary to the world of their day. They stood against all forms of dark superstitions which grip the minds and souls of men. It was their emphasis on the fear of the Lord and the wisdom of Holy Scripture that was used by God to liberate untold numbers of men and women. But to remember the Reformers instead of Halloween is very scary to the world. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).
4. The scariest thing you can do this Halloween is to refuse to watch or allow your children to watch any of the toxic Halloween and horror films emerging from Hollywood . America’s fascination with ungodly fear has made horror the most popular and fastest-growing film genre among youth. When parents allow their children to toy with this genre, they promote ungodly fear, and they contribute to the fear-factories in Hollywood that prey upon the youth of our culture. Say “no” to Hollywood horror and you will be dangerously scary to the media elite. “Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence .… ?” (Jeremiah 5:22).
5. The scariest thing you can do this Halloween is to get on your knees as a mother and father and pray that the Lord will send you many children who will fear God, not man — children who will especially shun the glorification of witchcraft, the bondage of ungodly fear, and the “cute-ification” of evil that is promoted through holidays like Halloween. Cultures that toy with evil end up being cultures of death. The Christian response is to be a people of life. That means babies. It means fearing God by honoring His command to “be fruitful and multiply.” It means remembering that the Scripture describes children as a “blessing” and a “reward.” Raise children that fear God more than man, and that will be answer enough to our Halloween-and darkness-obsessed culture; for if you trust God over your womb and commit your children to a holy education, you will be very scary to the modern world. “Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Psalm 34:11).

As I’ve said before concerning my other Halloween post, this is what OUR family feels about Halloween. Please don’t email me telling me why we are wrong or how we need to see this differently. God doesn’t call us all to the same standards and I’m glad He doesn’t otherwise life would be very dull.

Halloween vs. Harvest?

Romans 13:12a “Let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light!”

Over the years we have been asked many times why we don’t participate in Halloween or our church’s harvest party. As we near Halloween I know that we will once again be asked. So to save anyone having to ask I figured I would share why we do what we do.
When we first married and had Shyloh we did the normal dress up and take her around to show off to all our relatives and collect her loot. We got saved and gave our lives to the Lord when she was 3. Within a year or two we started feeling convicted over our participation in what is a dark day. We started reading up on what that day represents and means. We decided to stop celebrating Halloween and start going to our church’s harvest party.
We did this for a few years until God once again got our attention with how we celebrated October 31st. I still remember it as vividly today as the day it happened. I was in Wal-Mart picking out some muslin to make some little Jewish girl costumes for my 3 little girls. They had each picked a bible character to be for the harvest party.
While there we ran into a relative who had been one of the ones who had been upset with us a few years before when we stopped trick or treating. She asked what we were doing and listened with a small smile on her face the whole time the girls excitedly told her what they were going to be and where they were going that evening. By the time they were done talking her smile had grown into an even bigger one and it almost looked like she wanted to laugh. She looked at me and said, “So, they are dressing up, going to collect candy, but you don’t call it Halloween you are calling it a harvest party? Call it whatever you want, but its still the same thing!”
I was so offended at the audacity of this person and I couldn’t believe how rude she was! I came home and told Duane all about our encounter and he was offended too. We went on to our party that night but neither of us could completely enjoy it. The whole night it ate at us. Could she be right? All these children dressed up with their candy did resemble all the children walking up and down the streets or the children attending all the “safe Halloween” get togethers going on at the city parks.
Until the next Halloween came around we prayed and sought the Lord on what to do. The following year came and we sat our children down and explained that it was much more important for us to be an example to all our unsaved family than to go the harvest party. If our family perceived it the same as Halloween then we wouldn’t attend. That year we took the kids and bought them some candy and took them out to play at one of those places with all the tubes to climb thru and balls to jump in. We didn’t want them to feel left out or anything! lol The Lord wasn’t done with us yet on this subject!
About 5 years ago Duane and I watched the Pagan Invasion: Halloween Trick or Treat with Chuck Smith and we were forever changed. I cried through much of the show and was so saddened that I had been so deceived into thinking that what we were allowing our children to be apart of was harmless fun. In the movie they interviewed a man who had been born and raised with the purpose of being a satanic priest. He described being a little boy of about five years old and witnessing his first human sacrifice of a little girl the same age. He described how they drugged her and sliced each wrist and ankle to allow her blood to be spilled. I was horrified. Words could not express how we felt. We sat in stunned silence for awhile processing all we had just saw and heard.
He was delivered from that life and now serves the Lord whole heartily. One of the statements that impacted us the most was when he shared how grieved he is every Halloween when people who profess and claim to be Christians dress up their children and take them to these “Christian”parties and say they aren’t celebrating Halloween they are just letting their children have innocent fun when it is actually a very dark day that many animals and people are hurt on.
We made the decision that day to take a stand against the darkness of that day. Over the years we have boycotted certain clothing lines when the news told of the women and children working long hours in awful sweats shops to make the clothing. We have taken a stand against abortion and many other things that we knew grieved the Lord’s heart. We felt that for our family this was even more important since the day glorifies Satan and all he stands for.
We don’t offer our children a substitute for Halloween and have taught them that as Christians there are many things over their lifetimes that they will have to say no to. We don’t need to always to give them substitutes for things that the world offers and we feel that teaches them the wrong message about Christianity. We don’t want them to think that they are missing out on something in life and in the world by being a Christian and that’s why we are are always trying to offer something to equal what the world offers. We want them to stand up for what is right just for the sake of it being right. Our family tends to agree with the author of an article called " Are 'Harvest Parties' for Christians?" (written by a self-avowed former witch and now active Christian).
As Christians we are called to be set apart from the world. This is one of the things that we feel the Lord has called our family to be set apart on. Halloween in a night that we think of the innocent lives that are harmed and forever changed because of the things and events that take place on that night. We have chosen, with our children, to pray and intercede for those lives.
I’m not here to tell you about the history of that night or the events that take place. That is something for you to research yourself and then take that before the Lord and seek Him on what He wants you to do with that knowledge. This post is just to tell you what OUR family does with that night and why. I just saved you from asking us. And please do me a favor, don’t email me telling me why this day is harmless or why I am mistaken. We are following what the Lord had told US with how he wants OUR family to handle this day. We will stand before the Lord, not humans and give account one day for how we lived and obeyed.
Much love~