What About Halloween

by Travis L Quertermous

From The Reminder, October 31, 2010

Today is October 31 also known as Halloween. Many children look forward to Halloween every year. They love to pick out their costume, go “trick or treating,” and carve jack-o-lanterns. For most people, Halloween is simply a national, secular, holiday of great fun. It is the one day of the year when a child can knock on the door of a complete stranger and expect to get something good!

But for others, Halloween is a religious holiday. These are people who today identify themselves as “wiccans,” but in the past, they were known as witches. These modern-day witches are not the fairy tale witches of Hansel and Gretel or the Wizard of Oz or Harry Potter, but genuine practitioners of witchcraft and sorcery. They are nature worshipers who are guilty of idolatry because they worship the creation instead of the Creator and try to tap into its supposed divine energy for power and wisdom.

The Bible sternly condemns the sin of sorcery. Galatians 5:19-21 lists sorcery among the works of the flesh that will shut the door of heaven in our faces. Revelation 21:8 tells us that all sorcerers will be condemned to the lake of fire and brimstone.

Nonetheless, interest in the occult is increasing, especially among the young. Bookstores have whole sections devoted to the occult and witchcraft. May God help us to turn to him and His word for the strength and wisdom we need.