A majority of Americans love Halloween, enjoying it more than many other major holidays, with its economic impact ranking second only to Christmas. Candy sales soar before Halloween, and only Christmastime sees more sales of holiday decorations. The attraction of Halloween is not primarily about ghouls, spirits, or devilry, as most Americans do not believe in demonic or angelic spirits enough to view it as a celebration of such entities. Instead, the appeal lies in donning costumes and consuming alcohol, making Halloween the year's biggest escape from reality. Modern Halloween, a tame descendant of the ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain, sees rising popularity as revelers use the holiday as an excuse to escape their mundane, stressful lives and indulge in whatever they desire. Laws, customs, and order cease for a short time during this period of revelry and self-indulgence.

Each year, as the last day of October nears, members of God's church make plans to avoid Halloween, driven by a resigned dread of the holiday season that now stretches from mid-October to early January. Some opt for shopping at malls teeming with trick-or-treaters, while others escape to movie theaters or seek out amusements like miniature golf or autumnal carnivals. Those less imaginative or motivated hide their presence by parking cars in garages, turning off front lights, and moving silently to avoid detection. Halloween has grown too significant for kids, partygoers, and retailers to ignore, with roughly 65-70% of adults participating, often by wearing costumes. About 80% of households distribute treats to an average of 37 trick-or-treaters, and Americans spend over $3 billion on Halloween items, with nearly $2 billion on candy alone. The average household spends about $81 on candy and decorations, making Halloween second only to Christmas in retail sales and third as a party day behind Christmas and Super Bowl Sunday. It has become a favorite among adults across America, a time to shed inhibitions behind masks and costumes. Despite perceptions of Halloween as innocent fun, it carries deeper implications, rooted in customs of the nations that God calls abominations. Stripped of its revelry, Halloween is seen as idolatrous false worship, honoring spirit beings other than God. God warns against being ensnared by the appealing lures of such heathen practices, which can trap the unwary before they realize the danger. Halloween derives primarily from the Celtic festival of Samhain, a New Year's and harvest celebration held over three days around November 1. The Celts believed this transition period allowed spirits to cross more easily between physical and spiritual worlds, prompting efforts to appease these spirits with food and treats to prevent tricks or curses. This time was considered outside normal rules, leading to chaos, revelry, and social inversion, with laws unenforced and people adopting disguises. Later, Roman Catholicism moved All Saints' Day to November 1 to coincide with Samhain, allowing pagan customs to persist under a new name, All Hallows' Eve or Halloween. Today, Halloween retains its pre-Christian Celtic practices, focusing on the spirit world through imagery of fairies, witches, and demons. Trick-or-treating mirrors the extortion of spirits demanding treats, while divination, séances, and hooliganism, often peaking in vandalism, remain common on October 31.

The holiday season brings a sense of unease, particularly with the increasing prominence of Halloween. Decorations and related items appear earlier each year, and companies like Hallmark have introduced lines of Halloween décor and cards, flooding stores with seasonal merchandise. Halloween, derived from the Celtic festival of Samhain, was a harvest and New Year's celebration held over three days around November 1. The Celts believed this transitional period allowed the boundary between the physical and spiritual worlds to weaken, permitting spirits to cross over. To appease these spirits, they offered food and treats to prevent tricks or curses on their homes and villages. During Samhain, considered a time outside of normal order, societal rules were suspended, leading to chaos and revelry. People engaged in disguises, role reversals, and acts of abandon, such as freeing animals or removing doors from houses. When Roman Catholicism converted the pagans, it moved All Saints' Day to November 1 to align with Samhain, renaming the eve as All Hallowed Eve, or Halloween. Despite this, the celebration retained its pre-Christian Celtic practices, focusing on spirits, witches, goblins, and other entities, with no lasting Christian influence. Modern Halloween includes trick-or-treating, which resembles extortion, alongside divination, seances, hooliganism, vandalism, and excessive drinking. It remains a time of chaos, echoing the Celtic feast of Samhain, and is marked by practices that God deems detestable, such as spiritism and occultism. These are viewed as forms of idolatry and spiritual prostitution, defiling purity and causing separation from God. Halloween's allure hides dangerous traps that appeal to human nature, ensnaring the unwary. God warns against inquiring into such practices, emphasizing that ignorance of worldly ways is preferable to maintain spiritual purity. The consistent biblical stance is to avoid Halloween and its associated darkness, recognizing it as an unfruitful work that contradicts the pursuit of holiness.