Reflection on the origin of Halloween

I loved Halloween as a boy, dressing up as my favorite hero, Robin Hood or Zorro, and collecting candy from our neighbors.

• As time went on and horror stories and motifs began to dominate the holiday, with witches, ghosts, and demons taking prominent display.

• In our neighborhood in Gainesville, Florida, active Wiccan worshipers saluted the devil and wickedness.

• Our family carried on celebrating in the Anglican way at church, supplemented by a "truck or treat" candy hunt in the congregation's cars.

• Don't forget to honor the memory of our brothers and sisters who are now with Jesus this Halloween. It's been done for 1300 years!

The candy will be sweeter after worshipping the Lor and training up our children in the way that they should go.

The Vigil of All Hallows is being celebrated at an Episcopal Christian church on Hallowe'en. PUBLIC DOMAIN :

Reflection on the origin of Halloween

All Hallows’ Eve is not about glorifying darkness — it is about mocking death and proclaiming our victory in Christ over death, hell, and the forces of evil.

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”— 1 Corinthians 15:55–57

As Christians, we do not surrender our holy days because the world corrupts them. Have you given up Christmas because the world has made it about Santa and shopping?

Have you given up on Easter because it’s been turned into a celebration of candy, rabbits, and photo booths? Have you given up Sundays because the world turned it into a game day?

If you don’t want people to glorify death and evil, I’m with you — but don’t abandon what was ours first. Just as Easter is not about the Easter Bunny, Halloween is not about Satan.

Its name comes from “All Hallows’ Eve,” the night before All Saints’ Day — a celebration of the Church Triumphant.

So keep the Christ in Christmas — and the Hallow in Halloween! Don’t let fear, or the descendants of Puritans and Anabaptists, rob the Anglican way of its joy.

Let us instead celebrate what is holy: our victory in Christ over death, hell, and all the forces of darkness.

Victory in Jesus! So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. - 1 Corinthians 15:54

The Call to Stand

George Duffield Jr., a Presbyterian pastor writing in 1858, gave voice to that same triumph through his timeless hymn “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.”

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross;

Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.

From victory unto victory His army shall He lead,

Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus! The trumpet call obey:

Forth to the mighty conflict, in this His glorious day;

Ye that are men now serve Him against unnumbered foes;

Let courage rise with danger, and strength to strength oppose.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the solemn watchword hear;

If while ye sleep He suffers, away with shame and fear;

Where’er ye meet with evil, within you or without,

Charge for the God of battles, and put the foe to rout.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone;

The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.

Put on the Gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer;

Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, each soldier to his post,

Close up the broken column, and shout through all the host:

Make good the loss so heavy, in those that still remain,

And prove to all around you that death itself is gain.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long;

This day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song.

To those who vanquish evil a crown of life shall be;

They with the King of Glory shall reign eternally.

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Duffield’s verses echo Paul’s command: “Put on the whole armour of God.”We do not fight in our own strength — “the arm of flesh will fail you” — but in the power of His might. Ephesians 6 and Duffield’s hymn remind us that our warfare is spiritual, our weapons divine, and our outcome certain.

As the world toys with ghosts and fears, we lift high the banner of Christ, knowing that the battle belongs to the Lord. Our calling is to stand, to withstand, and to stand firm — until faith becomes sight and the Victor’s song fills the heavens.

All reign eternally — His reign, and ours with Him.

Prayer

Lord of Light, Clothe us in Your armor of truth and righteousness. Keep us steadfast in Your strength when the world grows dark. Teach us to mock death, not fear it, and to proclaim boldly the victory of Jesus Christ, who reigns eternally. Amen.