Why I Struggle with Halloween- A Pastor’s Honest Reflection

Every year, as October rolls around, I find myself wrestling with the same uneasy feeling. As a pastor, husband, and father, I love moments that bring families together and give kids something to enjoy. But when it comes to Halloween, my spirit wrestles between cultural fun and biblical truth. Deep down, I know that what the world calls “harmless fun” often carries spiritual weight that we cannot ignore. The Apostle Paul’s warning in Ephesians 5:11 echoes in my heart: “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.” Halloween, for all its candy and costumes, glorifies darkness, not light. It celebrates death, not life (Proverbs 8:36). And that’s something I can’t easily overlook.

As Christians, we must recognize that Halloween’s roots are not neutral. Scripture warns us about practices connected to paganism and witchcraft (Deuteronomy 18:10–12; Galatians 5:20). These aren’t simply harmless traditions but spiritual gateways that invite confusion, fear, and deception. Paul told Timothy that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). Yet Halloween glorifies fear, it markets it, celebrates it, and sells it to our children as entertainment. What concerns me most is how subtly we’ve allowed the very things Scripture calls evil to become normal. Costumes that imitate demons and witches, decorations that glorify death, and even games that flirt with the occult all blur the line between what is holy and what is profane (Leviticus 19:31).

There’s a dangerous deception in disguise. Paul reminds us that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Masks and costumes may seem innocent, but they symbolize a deeper truth: the enemy loves disguise. Genesis 1:27 tells us that we are made in the image of God, yet Halloween encourages us to cover, distort, or even mock that image. It’s no wonder the prophet Isaiah warned, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). What used to shock us now entertains us, and what once grieved our hearts now decorates our porches. Romans 12:9 calls us to abhor what is evil and cling to what is good, yet Halloween teaches us to laugh at what God hates.

As a pastor, my heart breaks for how this affects our children. Jesus warned, “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). Every year, we dress them up, hand them buckets, and send them into a celebration of darkness disguised as fun. We might think it’s no big deal, but when we normalize fear and flirt with evil, we desensitize their hearts to spiritual danger. Exodus 20:3 warns us against idolatry hidden in tradition, and I believe Halloween fits that warning all too well.

The call of Scripture is to be set apart. “Come out from their midst and be separate,” Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:17. We are not called to imitate the world (Romans 12:2) or blend in with its customs. “Light and darkness cannot mix” (2 Corinthians 6:14), and yet every October, many believers try to find a middle ground between the two. I’ve tried to justify it before, telling myself it’s just candy and costumes, but then Matthew 16:26 reminds me, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” It may seem harmless, but compromise always comes with a cost.

Halloween offers a false sense of innocence that numbs us to the reality of spiritual warfare. It’s not just about what happens on one night; it’s about what it cultivates in our hearts. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good morals.” When we celebrate what glorifies darkness, we begin to lose sensitivity to the things of God. The Bible commands us to “test all things carefully” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) and to “set our minds on things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

I confess, this isn’t an easy subject for me. I struggle with it every year. I feel the pull to go along, to not make waves, to just let the kids have fun. But each time I pray about it, the Holy Spirit convicts me to choose holiness over compromise. 1 Peter 1:16 reminds us, “Be holy, for I am holy.” That call doesn’t take a night off for a cultural holiday. It’s not about fear; it’s about faithfulness. It’s about leading my family and my church with conviction, not convenience.

The truth is, eternity matters more than popularity. John 3:16 reminds us that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, not so we could blend into the culture, but so we could be redeemed from it. While the world celebrates fear, we are called to live by faith (Hebrews 11:6). While the world decorates with death, we proclaim eternal life. While the world imitates demons, we worship the Savior before whom “even the demons believe and shudder” (James 2:19).

This year, I’m choosing to redeem the time wisely (Ephesians 5:16). I want my family and church to stand out, not blend in. We can still love our neighbors, host community events, and share the Gospel, without glorifying darkness. Instead of decorating with cobwebs and skulls, we can fill our homes with worship and light. Instead of fear, we can offer faith. Instead of compromise, we can live with conviction.

Halloween may look harmless, but the Word of God gives us reason to pause. It reminds us that not everything that glitters in the dark is good. The world doesn’t need more Christians who blend in; it needs believers who will stand out as lights in the darkness. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:14 (LSB), “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Let’s not hide that light, not even for one night.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Jody