Rick Burgess warns Christians there are Halloween lines they should never cross

There’s no holiday that divides Christians quite like Halloween. On one end of the spectrum are those who argue that all related festivities — including trick-or-treating, costumes, and pumpkin carving — should be avoided by Christians. According to this group, any attempt to create alternatives or participate in a limited capacity is just whitewashing what is undeniably evil.On the other end are those who fully engage with Halloween — horror, gore, and all. Many fall somewhere in between, believing discernment and partial participation is permissible.On a recent episode of “Strange Encounters,” a spiritual warfare podcast hosted by Rick Burgess, the BlazeTV host dove into the Halloween debate and gave his take. Rick begins by taking a hard stance on one of Halloween’s biggest modern traditions: watching horror films.“[Modern horror movies] are dealing with demons and possession and all this stuff, and then if they’re not doing that, then they’re coming up with new ways to murder people and slaughter people and slice them up and blood, gore, and all that,” he says.To engage with these movies, he argues, is like putting “a sign on your house, ‘Demons are welcome here.”’“I would not have anything to do with any horror picture,” Rick warns. “Don’t let it anywhere near your home.”He also takes a hard stance on dark-themed decorations and costumes.“Please do not allow decorations around your home to be demonic, OK?” he says.“Do not let your children dress up as witches. Do not let your children dress up as serial killers. Do not let your kids dress up as vampires, monsters — just stay out of all that,” he adds.But not all decorations and costumes are evil, Rick caveats. Decorating with “pumpkins,” allowing your child to dress as “Buzz Lightyear,” and trick-or-treating with “people that you know” is OK, as long as you “stay out of the dark stuff,” he says.Rick shares that he is so passionate about Christians being educated about darkness because he has “experienced demonic attack in [his] own home.”“This stuff is real, and to take your impressionable, innocent children and expose them to this stuff is so dangerous,” he warns, urging Christians to keep all Halloween festivities “in the world of fun and brightness.”“And I would go as far as this: Redeem some of it,” he continues.He notes that October 31 is also Reformation Day for Protestants — the day believed to be the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, and kicking off the Protestant Reformation.“Have some fun with it, but why not sit down and say, ‘Let’s pray before we go [trick-or-treating]. Hey, let’s have a devotion before we go out or after we get back,’” he proposes.Rick also stresses the importance of parents addressing any evil their kids might have encountered while participating in Halloween festivities.“Don’t leave it hanging over them before they go to bed,” he advises.“The things that are going on around the world on Halloween night, you don’t want to know. ... The dark spirits of this world, they’re strong on this evening. This is their Christmas, OK? So be careful.”To hear more of Rick’s take on Halloween, watch the episode above.Want more from Rick Burgess?To enjoy more bold talk and big laughs, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.