GRWM Episode #8: Get Real with Me on Halloween, Making the Case for Not Participating from a Christian Mom
Show Notes (Note: This will not match my podcast exactly. These are the notes I took before so some of it may be different).
I want to share with you today some things I’ve learned as I’ve grown in my faith that keep me from practicing Halloween. So I’m going to share some Scriptures, teach you some things and reveal some things about witchcraft, and demons and the supernatural and at the end I’ll tell you how I got here.
Since I know some of my listeners range across multiple generations – some of you are in the age of young adult life and some of you are in mid-life or approaching it, you will hear where I was at with Halloween in those different seasons of my life and faith. I know some of you have never practiced it because that’s what you were taught as a kid. But some of you, like me, for years, never even thought of not practicing it. I get it, and we’ll talk about it.
Towards the end I will share with you how I approach it as a mom with my daughter for those moms or soon to be moms who are thinking about not practicing it. I think we all know we’re in a time where the demonic stuff is out of control. That may scare you, but it doesn’t have to. What it should do, is make you want to dive deeper into your faith.
First of all, I didn’t come to this instantly, this has been a process of listening for the Lord’s voice as I’ve grown in my faith. In that process I’ve been made aware of the supernatural, and the need for the armor of God, and what spiritual warfare is.
It’s so dark and demonic, we can’t afford to pretend it’s nothing anymore.
I know there will be people who watch this that are practicing witchcraft and other demonic things, so if that’s you I will tell you that you don’t scare me. I have God on my side, so you can get behind me Satan.
Here’s what I know: 2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV says it,
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
I don’t expect you to see it. Your eyes are blinded and I pray that you will see the light.
THIS message is for the believers, and the ones who want to grow in their faith, even if they are baby Christians. If you are seeking the Lord, you are welcome here. Also, if you consider yourself to be a believer and you are dabbling in both, may this message be a warning and a word of clarity that helps you break off your connection to the enemy through those things. You will hear a little more as I go.
So, the first thing I want to talk about is the supernatural.
#1. The Supernatural Factor
The supernatural is everything you don’t see in the natural.
Webster defines it as, “of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe, especially of or relating to God or a god, demigod, spirit, or devil.”
Their definition shows you that the supernatural includes both light and darkness. It includes both GOD, the name of above all names and angels. But it also includes these much lesser beings that are not God – things like demons, spirits (that are not of God), gods and goddesses.
There are women in the next generation who are seeking spirituality and the enemy is distracting them with a false spirituality. So they are getting caught up in it with all kinds of practices that are evil – but they are being shown to be “spiritual.”
That’s not surprising because the Bible tells us in 2nd Corinthians 11:14 NIV that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
Ephesians 6:12 NIV (which is part of the Armor of God scripture) says this:
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Not all spiritual forces are good, and there are too many people who don’t know that. If we want to push back the darkness, if we want to live in the light, we must be aware of it, because we all know the verse:
1 Peter 5:8 NIV
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
If you don’t know your enemy is around the corner, you will be navigating it with blinders on yourself. You must STAND on your faith. Know the Word of God and like it says in James 4:7 NIV,
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
And like it says in Ephesians 6:11 NIV, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
Because he is scheming against you. He is plotting against you and he loves when you open a door to his madness. Don’t let him in. Close every door.
Learn to discern the spirits like it says in 1st John 4, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world (And REALLY IMPORTANT! Verse 2:
This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”
#2. New Age Spirituality
That passage immediately makes me think of New Age Spirituality. Those of you who are practicing New Age along with your Christianity, you are messing with spirits that are of the antichrist. If you are studying angel numbers, chakras, tarot cards, seeking mediums or anything like that – you are opening a door to the demonic. These are Satan masking himself as an angel of light.
Believe me, I dabbled in it for a while when I was a baby Christian because I was walking a road of recovery and reading self-help books, because a lot of recovery is about seeing where you messed up, all the stuff you were avoiding when you were using – but keeping it in perspective with God’s help.
Another thing you’ve got to be careful about because you aren’t going to fix yourself. Only God can. That’s why he said in Mark 8:34 NIV, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
When I was training to become a Life Coach. I had read a book by a woman named Martha Beck called, “Finding Your North Star.” I was so excited and encouraged to help other people find their north star, that I did the training. I learned a lot about Life Coaching. But as I’ve grown in my faith, I look back and see just how much talk there was about the universe and self. That wasn’t Godly to me. Then I go to a live event of one of the “spiritual gurus” whose book we used in our training and I witnessed a woman speaking to a crowd who absolutely did not acknowledge Jesus as from God, and then I witnessed it. When someone asked her who had been through horrific trauma very similar to hers, how she got through it, she responded with – I don’t share my story. I only share my tools to help and it blew my mind, because it could have been a moment where a guy heard someone’s testimony and changed. But this woman was not teaching from the spirit of God, and the Lord just opened my eyes on it.
There are so many other ways he’s done it. I may have to do a whole episode on the New Age. But that was just one.
The Gen-Z Factor
Here is what is really interesting. As we are seeing all of these young people, especially Gen Z get saved, and have this desire to chase the Lord especially since Charlie Kirk passed, we see that God is obviously moving.
But we can also see where Satan has been working hard against them with this and how is he doing it? with the occult.
A recent article on The Gospel Coalition website titled, “As Gen Z Turns to the Occult, How Should We Respond?”, there was a reference to a recent survey of 13-25 year olds conducted by Springtide Research Institute. They found that more than half of them practice tarot cards or fortune-telling, with 17 percent of those doing so daily and another quarter practicing once a week.”
What’s interesting about that is it points to their curiosity about “spirituality” but it’s obvious that Satan is trying to steer them in the laser things, the dark spirits of the world.
And you may look at that and go, WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?
Well, the BIG DEAL is your dealing with your soul. If you are opening the door to these things, you are opening the door to your soul to let the demonic spirits to enter in and you may think that’s cool but it will have negative lasting effects.
Just remember John 10:10 NIV,
THE THIEF COMES ONLY TO STEAL AND KILL AND DESTROY
And Jesus says in the second part of that….
I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL.
So, you have the choice of opening 2 doors. One to the devil who will steal your soul, and one to Jesus.
Revelation 3:20 NIV tells you just what Jesus does behind that door,
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
Hmmmm. Which seems more loving to you?
And the reason we bring up the occult is because Halloween isn’t just a night about getting dressed up and getting candy.
It’s About Witches…Let’s Talk about Witches
The other week there was a “witch walk” in our town. I saw online that they happened all over the country in small towns to “celebrate Halloween.” But my friends it is no joke. It’s not something to celebrate. Witches are demonic. There is so much I can say about this but I will just touch on a few things.
#1. WITCHCRAFT
According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, “witchcraft” is a term usually applied to harm brought upon others through the use of supernatural or occult powers. The person engaging in witchcraft is called a witch, while the act of causing harm may be termed cursing, hexing, bewitchment, or maleficium.
Have you ever heard of someone “cursing” someone? It is not joke and absolutely creepy. I’m sure you heard of the creepy Etsy witch who cast a spell on Charlie Kirk before his assassination and apparently she “regrets” that it happened, according to an article in The Independent, titled, “Etsy witch who cast spell on Charlie Kirk days before his assasination says she ‘regrets’ what happened.”
This is interesting:
Someone claiming to be one of the witches the author contacted, known as Priestess Lilin, told the Daily Mail, “We regret any distress experienced. What we do is done based on an impartial perspective and at a professional level. We respect the widow’s feelings and welcome a private conversation to address her concerns.
“Our spells are spiritual in nature and we do not perform actions that are intended to cause physical harm,” Priestess Lilin said, adding, “We do not celebrate the loss of life.”
HA! She acts as if the fact that they are “spiritual” means they are good. No sister – they’re demonic in nature and of the lesser, spiritual dark forces.
#2. And what do witches do on Halloween?
They celebrate something called Samhain which is a pagan holiday that honors ancestors and spirits, from which modern-day Halloween is thought to have evolved. So they “channel” these spirits because it’s the day they believe the veil between the natural and the supernatural was thinner so they could do more witchcraft.
So what are some of the things they do? Oh you name it, none of them innocent – all occult – NOT of God, not fun. They’ll play a Ouija board. They will seek psychics and mediums (which the Bible tells us many times to avoid).They will read astrology. They practice magic in all forms and they do it all in the name of “honoring the dead.”
In this article I read on Refinery 29, titled, “Real Witches on How They’re Celebrating Halloween,” it says, “Our spells are spiritual in nature and we do not perform actions that are intended to cause physical harm,” Priestess Lilin said, adding, “We do not celebrate the loss of life.”
Again – Satan masking himself as an angel of light. “Hey, we’re spiritual!” “We’re just celebrating death.” Um, no. If you are celebrating death or practicing occult rituals you are messing with the demonic and you are messing with your soul. You do not want to be in this place.
NOR, do you want to expose it to your children.
#3. That Brings me to Wicked.
Yes, I know it’s popular. Yes, I know people love it for the good and evil stuff and the “good witches” and yay there’s a new one coming out. But I still advise you – STEER CLEAR PEOPLE.
I mean, just the fact that the new movie coming out the week before Thanksgiving – JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS KIDS! is just comical. What’s the name of it? Wicked: For Good.
It could not be more of Satan masking himself as an Angel of Light.
There is nothing about Wicked that is for good.
It is all evil.
And boy is it everywhere. Cereal boxes. Toddler clothing. Everywhere. I don’t care how much you’ve enjoyed it – STEER CLEAR. Make your children aware of the demonic nature of it if you have kids. DO NOT GO SEE it, and DO NOT TAKE THEM TO SEE IT.
You have free will to, but do you really want to open the eyes and ears and hearts of you or your children to the occult and witchcraft? I sure don’t. I don’t wish that on anyone’s children.
And I don’t care how popular it is, or how much your kids love the colors. Your kids were made to STAND OUT, not fit into the rest of the world that does’t know thy are practicing witchcraft.
It is not good, innocent fun. You can choose to believe me or not. But witches are not imaginary —- they are REAL, and they know what they are doing.
#4. Oh and I’m not done on them: Witchtock? Is real. It’s gotten 30 Billion views. You don’t want your kids going to this out of curiosity. You want to prepare them for what is out there so they know it’s of the devil. And don’t you be participating in it either!
#5. Let’s go to Wicca. Oh it’s real. I am just learning about this but it’s crazy. I even had someone tell me recently that they are trying to get it in Homeschool curriculums.
There is a website called,“wicca living” and if you go to it you see they call it a “fascinating spiritual path,” and “Earth centered religion” with roots in the shamanic.
So yes, it IS a religion. Those who call themselves “’wiccans” “honor the life-giving and life-sustaining powers of nature through ritual worship and a commitment to living in balance with the earth.”
They are “classified as one of many again religions.” They deal with goddesses, and I’m not even going to go further into it because it’s so demonic I don’t even want to read the whole page. But it is NOT TO BE MESSED WITH.
I will add one note here on the nature stuff. The worship of nature is creepy.
Satan has once again blinded the minds of unbelievers with the rhetoric of Mother Earth and making everything about nature. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a nature girl. I love nature. But,
I go to nature to worship the ALL POWERFUL AND MIGHTY GOD who CREATED NATURE. Nature is not the ultimate power. God is who created it. He IS our CREATOR.
Job 12:7-10 NIV
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.
In HIS Hand is every creature of mankind. He is GOD. There are no goddesses.
If you want to go further into this you can see multiple people online to follow. I just watched a great podcast the other day on “Living Abundantly TV” you can watch here with Jenny Weaver, called, “Let’s Talk, The Wicked World of Witchcraft with Jenny Weaver.” If you don’t know who Jenny Weaver is, she came out of witchcraft and is helping thousands of women through her Core Group and her ministry to find freedom in Christ. You can check out her website here.
You can also get her new book, “The Wicked World of Witchcraft: Exposing the Rise of Darkness,” on Amazon here. She just released it on October 7th. (And no she didn’t ask me to promote. I don’t know her personally. I’ve seen her speak. I’ve followed her for a while now because she speaks against the darkness because she’s been there, done that. I also haven’t read the book yet, but after the interview above, I’m looking forward to it. Hope to have her on the podcast sometime!)
There is another lady I want to mention that I recently started following on Instagram. Her name is Jessica Murray and her page is Craft to Christ.
(And just for those who think I’m “following” these people. I follow God. Period. These people speak about the darkness and how it’s not God. I “follow” them on social media. I do not follow them or worship them. That’s worshipping idols – another topic for another podcast).
#3. Let’s briefly touch in DEMONS. There is so much to this but I’m not covering all of it. I merely want to cover them because of what you let into your eyes.
What you are watching or what are your kids are watching – if it is scary, it is demonic.
- If you are watching horror movies and going to haunted houses, you are giving access to demons. You are opening doorways and windows to demons. I know there are many people who “love” the scare factor but exposing yourself to those things is not something you want to do to yourself. If you follow Candace Cameron, she shared something earlier this summer, giving a warning about how horror movies are a portal to something demonic.
- Moms – if you are letting your kids watch Demon Hunters – you are opening the door to the demonic.Don’t play the music. Don’t watch it with them, and for the Love of GOD, please don’t buy the figurines I’m seeing all over Instagram. “You’ll be the cool mom,” if you get this for your kids. PLEASE PLEASE do not let those things into your house. Do not let television be what opens the door to the demonic to your kids. It’s too important. Don’t leave it up to a show. YOU TEACH THEM about how real the witches and the demonic is and it’s not something they want to engage in.
t’s not fun. It’s not light. It’s early doctrinarian and you have to be careful.
These are the types of things that can cause your kids anxiety, interest in witchcraft and many other things that aren’t just ungodly, but can mess with their souls. It’s not good, clean fun.
Do not buy these toys for your kids and bring those things in your house.
Do not play this with your kids.
Do not watch it with your kids.
It will have lasting effects.
Demons are real.
This is why my eyes will NOT look at anything that has to do with demons because it is LITERALLY demonic. I’m so grateful i was never into scary movies or haunted houses, but now I know why. I was maybe just sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Don’t watch the scary movies – you are opening up a door to darkness. Wonder why you have nightmares or you can’t sleep? Stop watching the horror movies. Don’t even watch the commercials!!!!
If you want to watch a good video on this, go watch Isaiah Saldivar’s very clear video on why not to watch it called, “The Dark Truth Behind Netflix’s K Pop Demon Hunters,” on You Tube.
Also, be careful about Plugged In’s Approach.
If you are a parent who uses Plugged In as a resource when navigating what your kids should watch. I was very surprised to see that they didn’t even call this whole thing demonic in their review here.
They talked about the “positive” elements and the “spiritual elements,” almost avoiding the entire undertone of the whole thing. So be careful if you are letting their review on that be your source. They are usually pretty good, but on this one? I’d be careful.
So, that’s all my wisdom for you on that BASIC STUFF, let me share with you how I GOT HERE.
MY STORY——-
Growing Up
I was not a kid who grew up not doing Halloween. We did Halloween. In fact, it was pretty much almost part of the Catholic holiday of All Saints Day (which I don’t practice anymore because I believe all of God’s people are saints, that’s another story). But back then we didn’t have creepy costumes as much, just basics. I was a present one year, box of crayons. I do remember being Madonna for a few years. That I kinda look back and think, yikes. But, I know now! I also do remember playing a Ouija board at one of my friend’s houses and thinking we saw George Washington in her yard!
I continued to celebrate in high school, college and my twenties.
I got dressed up and went to parties because that’s what you do, right? Now I see why it wasn’t pure, innocent fun.
As I GREW In my Adulthood
In college, and well into my early thirties – I struggled with horoscopes. I went to them like they were going to be my answer to everything. I think I did go to a tarot reader once – all things I know now are demonic.
You also heard me say, I started to dabble in New age stuff because of self-help books, but the Lord removed the wool from my eyes on those.
Fast Forward to When I Became a Mom
I had Ellie I had been saved for nine years. I wasn’t that aware of the demonic spiritual realm so much. But, I wanted to do what I could to protect my daughter from any harm – especially in the spiritual realm (Which so many avoid!)
So at first, we celebrated. We dressed her up like an avocado. Then we dressed her up like an elephant. We stood outside on our porch and handed out candy. I was starting to sense a more prominent darkness about the evening that I hadn’t felt before.
So I started to consider not participating. But I was afraid people would judge me for not doing it. As a Christian I had friends who grew up not doing it at all because they knew the darkness that covered this night.
But I had to learn for myself, and come to the conclusion myself.
I kept doing it. Tried to dress Ellie in innocent costumes like Baby Shark, Elsa from Frozen, a cowgirl and Liberty from Paw Patrol. It felt “better”, but we were still celebrating Halloween. We were still participating. So I leaned into the Lord on it, His wisdom and finally stopped last year because I started to see how much the Bible speaks about staying away from the darkness.
I didn’t want to participate it, even if I thought I was being kind and a light to the people who came to my door!
2 Corinthians 6:14 NIV says,
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
I don’t have to participate in Halloween to love the lost, to love the ones who are hurting, broken and confused. I don’t need to fellowship with darkness. I can do something entirely different on this night, one that celebrates Fall, one of my favorite seasons!!
So, two years ago I got rid of all our “Halloween” decor. I don’t even decorate with Jack-O-Lanterns. I told my mom we were done celebrating (She still doesn’t understand). I told her she can send anything fall. But nothing with witches or anything halloween-ish because we are not celebrating it.
Last year, we turned off the lights and went on a hike in the woods. It was fabulous.
Ironically, the Lord gave me a fabulous message on that hike about watching out for the roots on the trail and how it applies to life. The roots can trip us up if we’re walking with the Lord. If we don’t notice, they can knock us down.
If you want to hear more about that and a study of the Parable of the Sower, you can go to my blog and study for yourself, answer a few questions:
But let me wrap up —- This Year….What We’re Going to Do and How I Teach Ellie
This year, our town is actually scheduled to do “Trick or Treat” the night before Halloween because our local football team has a game on Halloween night. Thankfully, my daughter has a class. Her and her Dad will probably go get dinner. I will be over on Notre Dame’s campus meeting with young women in a Bible study.
But on Friday night, if it isn’t raining, we will find a park to go hike in and gather leaves and enjoy the BEAUTY of GOD’S CREATION. I will also be praying against the darkness that is out and about. I will stand on the truth of God’s word and Who he says I am.
I am not afraid of the darkness, but I will not buy into it and I will continue to learn about it as the Lord grows my heart in Him.
I know some of you will read this and already have Halloween all planned out to do. I’m not judging. I just realized, some of you might want to know from someone who only just recently stopped celebrating, how to NOT participate in it.
Maybe this will make you think about what you are participating in, and that’s a good thing. Maybe it will make you want to get more into the Word. That’s an even better thing. If this makes you want to lean more into the Lord for the sake of your sanity, and your kids, then praise God. I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’m here to share my experience and what the Lord has revealed to me in my walk with Him.
Oh, and with Ellie? I’ve just educated her on the reality of the darkness. She knows that witches, ghosts and demons are real and she’s very aware of not engaging with them. She is saved and knows who her God is, that he is mightier and more powerful than they. But she knows she needs to be aware. Do we always catch it? No. But we try to be very vigilant about it, to the point that she turns her head when she knows something isn’t what she wants to, or should see. She knows she has to protect her eyes.
We also find that when we’re going into places where we know there is going to be a lot of Halloween decor, that we talk about it before we get out of the car. I tell her how much there is going to be there and that she can just shield her eyes. Culture promotes it but we don’t have to engage in it.
Like, in years past we would go to Zoo Boo at the Potawatomi Zoo. I think we stopped going one or two years ago because I didn’t like all the scary stuff everywhere. We weren’t planning on going this year and then we went to the zoo one day when she had off and it was right when they were decorating for Zoo Boo. So there were skeletons, witches with crystal balls and everything you can think of that’s creepy. I warned her before we went in and she barely acknowledged them except to say there was a lot of it there while I just went around rebuking things.
So, that’s my experience with Ellie. She may get looked at weird because she doesn’t celebrate it, but I will remind her, we aren’t called to fit In but born to stand out in Christ.
She’s at the point now where if someone asks her what she’s going to be for Halloween, she just says, “We go on a hike.” If someone asks me what she’s going to be for Halloween, I know I’ll get judged sometimes, or thought of as weird, but honestly I don’t care what people think. I care about serving my God and being in step with Him.
One more thing on this before I let you go….
I don’t share all this to act like the devil is more powerful or to share that i’m afraid of any of this witchcraft, or demonic stuff. No, no no.
I know who my God is. He is greater than all of this junk.
But, I’m not going to act like the enemy doesn’t exist. He’s prowling “like” a lion – but He’s no lion.
So back off Satan. You aren’t coming anywhere near this house or this family.
I pray this helped you in some way as you navigate Halloween this week, or whatever time you end up reading this.
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If you are one of the people who wanted the deeper teaching of the Parable of the Sower, you are welcome to check it out here:
Matthew 13:18-23 NIV
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
So, are you going to be:
- The one who doesn’t understand the message of the kingdom and let the evil one snatch away what’s in your heart?
- Are you going to receive it with joy, but have no good roots and fall away when trouble comes?
- Are you going to be the seed that falls on the sword, hearing the Word but let the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word?
- Or, are you going to be the seed falling on good soil, and hear the word, and understand it and produce a good crop?
I don’t know about you, but I want to produce a good crop.
I want to seek the Lord every single day, not just on Sundays.
I want Him to run my life, lead my life and fill my life with His Spirit.
I want NOTHING from the Kingdom of darkness present in my life.
I also want to remind you that this did not come instantly. Listening to the Lord is not a behavior modification thing. It’s a heart thing. He reveals things in your heart, that don’t serve Him and when you love the Lord, you don’t want to be part of ANY OF IT.
That’s where I’m today.
God bless you! Share this with your friends. Come back to it as a resource or watch it again next year. I pray the Lord blesses those who need it and are seeking Him above all else in this world!