Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image

The True WMSCOG | March 28, 2024

Scroll to top

Top

This Is Why I Don’t Celebrate Halloween

This Is Why I Don't Celebrate Halloween

If you are a Christian, you should not celebrate Halloween

On October 31st, children dress up mostly in grotesque costumes and go door to door requesting candy from strangers. I’d bet that the majority of adults also once participated, possibly singing a song, knocking on peoples’ doors and making an offer they couldn’t refuse – “Trick or Treat?

It may seem like a cute and mischievous celebration now, but the reality is that Halloween comes from an ancient pagan festival for the dead.

Halloween refers to the night preceding the Catholic ‘All Saints Day’ (also known as All Hallows or Hallowmas) celebrated on November 1st. This celebration was designated by Pope Gregory IV (827-844) in 835 AD. It was established in order to commemorate the departed faithful souls, (which were believed not to have been purified), to reach heaven. The Catholics believe that there is a place called purgatory, and that the souls who did not receive forgiveness of sins on this earth can go there to receive forgiveness. Catholic priests sold indulgences to the relatives of these souls so that their loved one could go to heaven faster, how convenient.

It is common knowledge that there are no records in the Bible about celebrating “All Saints Day”, nor is there any evidence about this nonsensical teaching. Though “All Saints Day” and “Halloween” are ridiculous celebrations, let’s briefly learn about their origins and historical backgrounds for the sake of accuracy.

What Does “Halloween” Even Mean?

The word “Halloween” came from “All Hallows Eve,” which means the day before “All Saints Day”. Through the latter corruption of the English language, the terms became consolidated and known as “Halloween”. As we can see the video above describes the origin of the name and the reason why it is celebrated today.

Where Did This Celebration Come From?

All the customs of Halloween come from many folk customs around the world. Historians generally agree that Halloween came from the special day celebrated by the ancient Druids, the educated and priestly class of the Celtic region. The Celts were the first Aryan people who came from Asia and settled in Europe. The Celtic religion presided over by the Druids had beliefs in various nature deities and ceremonies to worship them. The Celtic people who resided in northern France, United Kingdom and Ireland were immersed in occult arts and worshiped nature such as oak trees and mistletoe.

The Celts also worshiped the sun god Belenus, especially during the summer festival Beltane (May 1st), and another god who was “the lord of death” or “of the dead” during the winter festival Samhain (October 31st). Human sacrifices were offered during both festivals. The Celts believed they were descendants of the god “Dis,” a Roman name for the “god of the dead.” The Celts and their Druid priests started their New Year on November 1st, which they considered the start of winter, the harvest and the beginning of the dark; this time of the year was usually associated with death. The Celts believed that on the night before the New Year (October 31st), the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and that ghosts, evil spirits and witches returned to earth, roamed the earth. They worried that these spirits might ruin their crops, so in order to frighten away the evil spirits they lit large bonfires in honor of the sun god Belenus.

Since they thought these evil spirits might play tricks on the living, they dressed in grotesque masks and costumes typically consisting of animal’s heads and skins, danced around the bonfires, pretending as if they were being pursued by evil spirits. They offered food to the ghosts so that they would feel entertained and welcomed. If food was not provided, they believed these evil spirits would cast spells on them. They believed it was the most favorable time for divination convening marriage, luck, health, death, and it was also considered as the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes.

Roman customs added to the Druid traditions after Rome conquered Britain in 43 AD. For 400 years Rome conquered and ruled Celtic land. During this time, two Roman festivals were integrated into the festivities; “Feralia” and a celebratory day for the goddess Pomona. Feralia commemorated the passing of the dead in late October. As Pomona was the Roman goddess of fruit and trees; her celebration serves as the root of the tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.

Halloween is Popularized

On May 13, 609 AD, the Catholic’s feast “All Martyrs Day” was established in the Western Church in Rome. Pope Gregory III (731AD – 741 AD) changed the celebration date to November 1st. He also decided to include all the saints alongside all martyrs. A few hundred years later, in 1000 AD, the Catholic Church designated November 2nd as “All Souls Day” in order to honor the dead. “All Souls Day” integrated activities similar to the Pagan traditions involving bonfires, parades and dressing up as saints, angels and devils. This celebration was eventually called “All-Hallows Eve,” eventually becoming today’s “Halloween”.

During the latter half of the 19th Century, Irish immigrants also came to play a part in the making of Halloween. Americans began dressing up in costumes and going from door to door requesting food or money. Round-shaped, sweet breads (soul cakes), were baked and given as a way to commemorate the dead souls. The Catholic Church encouraged giving soul cakes as a means of replacing the ancient practice of leaving food for the dead spirits. Halloween lanterns were originally carved out of turnips, but soon changed to pumpkins; an easier alternative.

And so, around the 1800’s Halloween became a day for parties, games, food, and festive costumes. The fear and horror once closely associated with Halloween had slowly faded away. Today, Halloween has been transformed into a highly marketed holiday. Americans spend around 2.5-3 billion dollars celebrating Halloween each year, making it the second largest spending day, just behind Christmas.

You may be thinking “I still don’t get what is so wrong with Halloween!”

This Is Why I Don't Celebrate Halloween

Outwardly, Halloween seems like just a fun night. However, if you are a Christian, Halloween is not just that. Keeping pagan traditions severs our beliefs and faith towards God. Keeping Halloween is essentially proclaiming that dead spirits can return to the earth and give us good or bad luck. If we appease the dead souls they will give us good luck and if we don’t, they will give us back luck. This is a tremendous and ridiculous claim. It is also unbiblical.

The Bible says that when a person dies, his spirit returns to God and waits for judgment.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 – “and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Revelation 20:11-13 – “Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books…and each person was judged according to what they had done…”

The spiritual world is controlled by God, meaning that both blessings and curses come according to our behavior towards God’s commands and will. It is absurd to expect blessings by offering food to the dead. And yet, this is exactly what Halloween is about. We should not interpret the spiritual world like this.

Luke 16:26 – “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”

Through Revelation Chapter 20 and Jesus’ parable about the rich man and Lazarus, it is clear that after a person dies, there is a great chasm fixed between heaven and hell. The person who dies will be judged according to what he has done on this earth.

We Should Not Worship God the Way Pagans Worship Their gods

There is no question that the celebration of Halloween comes from pagan origins. However, God had already warned us to never worship Him in the same way the pagans worship their gods.

Deuteronomy 12:30-32 – “and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.’ You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifice to their gods. See that you do all I command you; do not add to it.”

God already knew that His people would see practices from other religions, and that they would attempt to worship Him in pagan ways. So God strictly warned against this. Why would God warn us from worshiping Him in the same way pagans worship their gods?

1 Corinthians 10:20 – No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.

Halloween is a pagan festival in which participants offer food to the dead. According to the Bible any pagan sacrifice (offering) is given to demons, so we absolutely must be attentive and careful. We should recognize that churches or prophets following pagan festivals such as Halloween prove themselves to be false. On an individual level, we must be cautious about participating in these festivals. Keeping them makes us participants in demon worship and pulls us further away from God.

In the World Mission Society Church of God, we do not celebrate Halloween, nor any other pagan ritual. Instead, we keep the Feasts of God as they are testified in the Bible; the same ones Christ and the members of the Early Church observed.

But… how is it that we even know about the Feasts of God? Why is it that the World Mission Society Church of God does not keep Halloween while numerous other churches choose to do so?
The reason we know and keep the Biblical feasts, not the pagan rituals of the world, is because Christ Ahnsahnghong came to this earth and showed us the truth of the New Covenant.

So this October 31st,instead of dressing up in some weird outfit, why don’t you grab your Bible and stop by the nearest World Mission Society Church of God. You will see how the word of God is the real treat for our soul, without any sort of tricks involved.

Comments

  1. Edward

    I always knew halloween should not be celebrated by christians i just never knew why. Thanks to Father & Mother that i was brought to the WMSCOG

  2. Karen Blanco

    Wow! This information is so important, I can’t believe I never heard about this before, I’m very thankful to the World Mission Society Church of God for opening my eyes about the dark pagan Origen of halloween! WE WILL NEVER AGAIN CELEBRATE THIS EVIL DAY! Surely I’ll pass it around.

  3. DJ

    Growing up my parents Bring Christians were really Against Halloween. When I asked they would say it was a day to worship the devil. I was just obedient to them understanding they wanted what was best for me and never really celebrated Halloween. At the time I was not a member of WMSCOG by I vaguely understood why they would say those things to me. Now, I understand more clearly as a Christian a day were blood, gore, death, the occult, witchcraft and satanism are glamorized and glorified is probably not a place were Christ would want his disciples to be. It’s kind of obvious even before knowing the truth but you know. Common sense is not that common.

  4. Wesley

    Thanks for sheading light on this seemingly harmless holiday! If we don’t know the truth behind this holiday’s tradition we will unknowingly participate in something God is not pleased with.

  5. Quinn

    I am so happy to know that I am no longer a participant with demons but rather with God. Thanks to Father and Mother I am able to keep the Feasts that are not just superstition but the perfect truth.

  6. Duane Ford

    Satan has been truly crafty in convincing the people that Halloween is just some fun time to dress up and have fun, but God’s people we can see that it’s nothing more than fellowship with demons. Thanks to Christ Ahnsahnghong and Heavenly Mother for opening my eyes to the truth and revealing this to me!

  7. Jessica Ramos

    Truly this information was very helpful. As a mom, I want to set the right example for my son by not only teachings him the correct teachings of God but to understand origins behind all the pagan feasts and why God detests them. People just want to commemorate these holidays because of how they look outwardly but inwardly you’d be very surprised as to what you will uncover. Never judge a book by its cover unless you’ve read the whole book aka don’t assume that Halloween is all fun and joyful when it’s true meanings behind it is false and unpleasing to God. I’m so thankful to not be part of such ridiculous traditions that have no meanings or blessings to it. Only the true Feasts of God in the Bible are pleasing and 100% guarantee blessings!!

  8. Xavier Malave

    This article surely was an eye opener. All this pagans festivals make you think about everything except God then how can we think it has something to do with salvation. On the other hand when we celebrate any of Gods 7 feast automatically we are reminded of Gods sacrifice for us. Surely this upcoming 31st I’ll be grabbing my Bible and go to the nearest Church of God to keep the sabbath.

  9. Marquis smith

    I always knew Halloween was wrong, but never In-depth like this, I really thank Father and Mother for always revealing the truth to us and allowing us to see what’s right from wrong! Halloween is truly Pagan and not something God told us to keep!

  10. Rebecca

    As a kid my mom wouldn’t allow me to celebrate Halloween and I thought she was just being over-the-top with her beliefs. I just really wanted to follow my friends and have fun. It’s sad how easily we follow things that are mainstream without looking into where and why it all began. This article really sheds light on the evil of Halloween in its entirety. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!

  11. Nicole Sara

    Thus day is just gross. I was always afraid of death and this day would always freak me out because it’s all about death. Scary movies are played, and everyone dies, some of which crazy people get crazier ideas from. These movies about death could not obviously come from True God Ahnsahnghong because Christ Ahnsahnghong always wanted to give us eternal life, the opposite of death. I’m am so glad that He has come to give us life, and I don’t even want to be associated with this pagan tradition anymore. God’s purpose is leading us to eternal life. And if you don’t know Christ Ahnsahnghong, your missing out on true God and eternal life!!

  12. Alesha J

    After reading this article and then looking around at what is taking place this month, first I feel thankful that I know the truth about things now, but then I also feel pity toward people who regard Halloween as “no big deal” just a day of “fun” while claiming to be Christian . To me, that is called being deceived. I am reminded how important it is to seek true commands and ways of God in order to not deviate from true God and entering Heaven.
    For those who really want to come closer to God, I’m definitely going to share this article, because by celebrating Halloween God says, in the bible, that this type of festival is participating in sacrifices to demons, totally opposite of coming close to God.
    And about the Catholic Church, how ridiculous! They lead the whole world astray from God though claiming to be “holy” .
    Overall I’m thankful to the World Mission Society Church of God for teaching me true ways of God as well as showing me the 2nd coming Christ Ahnsahnghong, Who originally taught the teachings. I have confirmed this truth with my own eyes and would definitely recommend bible study to my friends, family, as well as all readers!

  13. Amber

    Thank Father and Mother for pulling us from the world and allowing us to celebrate true feasts that give life and not false feasts that bring destruction.

  14. Leo

    I always knew it! though I had not much knowledge of the actual meaning of it, it never made sense to me why people all throughout the world celebrate this day! The masks, the costumes, the going around asking for candy! There was never a true answer that made sense, or even come close to making sense. When you are a child or when you grow up, the more people get into this holiday the more evil is found within it. Now I fully understand why this day always felt so spiritually dark and so wrong. It is so sad that though many people know this (obviously this is not a surprise to many) they still follow it just because it has become a tradition and condone these practices that go against God. I hope more people can realize the truth behind this day instead of continue trying to find excuses and rationalizing why it is not a big deal to keep it, if you are a God believing person, it is a big deal!

  15. Michael H

    This article was very informative, it’s so sad how many Christians compromise and follow such pagan customs yet claiming to have sincere faith in God.I’m glad the world Mission Society Church of God shows people the correct way to follow God.