After they all learned the pagan history of Halloween, Meeke Addison didn’t have to force her kids to refrain from celebrating the holiday. Rather, it was something her kids, who are Christian, voluntarily decided they don’t want to celebrate. As assistant director of special initiatives at American Family Association, Addison has put a lot of thought into instilling biblical values in her family.
“They’re like, ‘How could we celebrate that, like that’s just dark.’ So it’s been cool to leave that up to them. … We [also] have these moments where we’re going through the grocery store, and the cashier will say to our kids, ‘Who are you going to be for Halloween?’ … and, you know, kids don’t really have a filter, right? Parents know how to be a little more measured so that you don’t make people feel like you’re judging them. …
“So our kids would say all the time, ‘We don’t celebrate Halloween—it’s evil.’ And you always have the cashier who’s like, ‘Oh, really?’ you know, they look at you as if you have just judged them because they’re wearing a pumpkin hat or something like that. So one of the other things that we had to teach our kids was Romans 14—Christians have liberty, and we cannot judge whether a believer is or isn’t a believer based on holidays that they observe.”
One practical step parents can teach their children is to stay in a continual habit of prayer, Addison says on the “Charisma News” podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network.
“You don’t just teach your kids that prayer is sort of your last-ditch effort—you know, you’ve done everything and now you’re in turmoil. We need to seek the Lord but to teach them that communion with God is ongoing—this is a part of life for the believer.
“So when you have moments like Halloween where there is darkness and there are people who are going to, on this night—I mean they are public about engaging in all types of occult practices on this night … you can teach your kids that we engage in prayer ongoingly, so this is not something new.”
For more about spiritual warfare as it relates to Halloween, click here for the episode titled “Witchcraft in Halloween With Meeke Addison.” {eoa}
