It always intrigues me how far beyond mainstream Christianity—or Christianity at all—is The Huffington Post's Christianity section. I consistently see articles that mock, contradict and otherwise distort the Christian faith—all in the name of Christianity.
The latest is a piece called “The Evangelical War on Halloween” by Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif. I have no idea if Zuckerman is a professing Christian or not—and I won't judge his salvation—but at least some of his views are way off the Christian mark.
As Zuckerman tells the story, when he was 5 years old he was a wizard for Halloween. Ever since then, Halloween has been his favorite “holiday” and his “spirit is tingled” by the scary lawn decorations. He loves the haunted houses, spooky stories, witches and the laughter of Vincent Price.
A Mocking Spirit Rises
“To be sure, most Christians in America enjoy Halloween. But a significant minority of them—primarily evangelical Christians—have been waging a war against Halloween for some time now,” Zuckerman bemoans. “They urge their fellow citizens to abandon trick-or-treating, to eschew spooky costumes, to resist the lure of jack-o-lanterns and instead attend 'Harvest Festivals' on church grounds. To these pious souls, bobbing for apples is kosher, but not wearing a skeleton getup. They even lobby public schools—sometimes successfully—to ban the wearing of costumes on October 31. And of course, Pat Robertson routinely rants about the Druidic/Satanic evils of the holiday.”
From there, Zuckerman tries to draw parallels between Christianity and Halloween. Yes, really. He points to zombies—humans that died and came back to life—and compares that to the resurrection of Christ. Yes, really. Then he essentially mocks Christians who are filled with the Holy Ghost, saying, “For Pentecostals, the Holy Ghost literally enters their bodies and causes them to shimmy and shake and speak in tongues.” Yes, really. Next, he touches on the topic of demons and says Christianity is rife with them. Yes, really. He goes on and on and lands on Satan.
And that's where Halloween ultimately lands. For all of Zuckerman's mocking—even shamelessly mocking the Holy Spirit in a section of HuffPo that's supposed to cater to Christian readers—I'm at least grateful that he brought the conversation to where it belongs. Halloween is a demonic holiday.
Christians Should Not Practice Demonic Rituals
Here's the rub: Bible-believing Christians would no more dress their kids up like a witch or zombie than they would encourage their kids to smoke weed. 2 Cor. 6:15 (AMP) asks this question: “What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial [the devil]?” So make fun of Pat Robertson all you want. He's right about Halloween.
“Halloween is a festival for demonic spirits. The whole idea of trick o' treating … the Druids would go to somebody's [house] and ask for money and if they didn't get any money they would kill their sheep. That was the trick … and it was serious stuff,” Robertson says.
“All this business about goblins and jack-o'-lanterns all comes out of demonic rituals of the Druids and the people who lived in England at that particular time. I think churches can have Halloween parties. You can bob for apples … and turn it into a Christian festival, and that's what we ought to do. We need to redeem these days, but that day was given over to Satanic things.” Amen.
Click here to download a free chapter of Jennifer's new book, Satan's Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft.
Jennifer LeClaire is news editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale and author of several books, including Satan's Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft, and The Spiritual Warrior's Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.
