Peretti Warns Believers Against Exalting Darkness at Halloween
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
October 29, 2004
(AgapePress) - A best-selling Christian author says believers should think twice before celebrating Halloween.Frank Peretti has more than 10 million copies of his novels in print, including reader favorites like This Present Darkness, The Oath, and Piercing the Darkness. Many of his books are Christian suspense thrillers, often with scary topics and plotlines designed to point people to Christ. The popular writer is all for scary stories based on scripture or biblical concepts, and he has penned plenty of them for an appreciative audience.
But when it comes to secular fright-fests, Peretti has some reservations. For example, he takes issue with Christians allowing and even encouraging their children to celebrate Halloween. Even when the October 31 holiday does not fall on a Sunday, as it does this year, the author thinks it is better for believers to avoid its traditional observances.
"Halloween, of course, is a pagan holiday," Peretti says. "It has no basis in Christianity, and the sad thing about it is, it's all steeped in the negative."
The typical way many Americans celebrate Halloween involves a lot of darkness, the Christian novelist notes. "It's steeped in death and the sinister, he says, "and in demonism and witchcraft and so forth. I don't think we should commemorate the holiday or grant it any dignity by giving it our attention. There's plenty of other things we could be doing."
Peretti believes churches should offer alternatives to Halloween, so children and adults alike can enjoy holiday parties or programs that emphasize positive, God-honoring images and ideas. For instance, instead of wearing costumes that portray demons, witches, and monsters, Christians can host "All Hallows Eve" celebrations where participants are encouraged to dress up as medieval princesses, cowboys, angels, or biblical characters.
Also, many churches take the fall holiday as an opportunity to present evangelical dramas representing the fearfulness of hell as opposed to the joy of salvation through Jesus Christ. But whatever believers decide to do, Peretti says all need to realize the pagan background of Halloween and look for ways to affirm God's light rather than darkness.
A movie version of Peretti's novel, The Visitation (Westbow Press, 1999), is currently in production. An Amazon.com review of the book says the author's suspenseful drama contains "plenty of spine-chilling mayhem when all hell literally breaks loose" on his small-town cast of characters.
