Oct

22

Let’s Take Another Look at Halloween

October 22, 2009 | Comments Off

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Christians are confused about Halloween. No wonder. When many of us were growing up, Halloween was a favorite holiday. We loved dressing up and parading through the neighborhood in search of the ultimate thrill–a bag full of candy! We squealed with delight when our favorite neighbor feigned fear or pretended not to recognize us. Few imagined it was anything other than a great day for a party.

Is Halloween just a harmless holiday or a pagan religious celebration? In my years of ministry with unhealed survivors of sexual and ritual abuse, I learned that there are spiritual elements of this holiday that cause huge problems for these fragile men and women. For some, even going to stores causes terror and panic attacks. The worst insult, however, is when our churches celebrate Halloween with “harvest festivals” or other events. Many do this as an outreach to the community without realizing the impact on survivors within their own congregations. Few things are worse for a survivor than seeing the church, which has been a safe place suddenly transformed into a reminder of evil.

I experienced this one year when Halloween fell on a Sunday. I was doing a lot of ministry with survivors of ritual abuse during this period and had seen many of them lose ground during October. In an attempt to find a safe place for Halloween night, I took one to a local church that had a weekly prayer and praise service. But when we arrived, we found that the worship service had been cancelled. In its place was a “Wee Hallows Faire” for the little ones. The courtyard was decorated with smiling black cats. smiling spiders, smiling jack-o-lanterns. Although it was meant to be cute and kid-friendly, my friend, who had been repeatedly abused on Halloween and other holidays, was badly triggered and ran terrified from that church, never to return. It took a while to find a safe place for her that night and set her healing back considerably. If Scripture tells us to avoid becoming a stumbling block for others, why does the church celebrate what is historically and spiritually a demonic holiday?

Download my e-book to learn the history of this holiday, the way it’s celebrated in some cults, and the role of the church in light of this information. Warning: It contains some information on Ritual Abuse that may be triggering to survivors with this background.

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