II Corinthians 6:14-17; Ephesians 5:8
The name means “All
Hollows’ Eve”. But is it really? Where did it come from? What is it all about?
Creepy goblins, ghosts and demons, witches on brooms, spiders and bats, dead men’s
bones, flickering jack-o-lanterns, black cats, eerie costumes and parties. What
a weird festival this is! Should we as children of God practice it?
Halloween is
increasingly costly and dangerous. Each year following this strange
celebration, gruesome accounts surface of the giving of booby-trapped treats to
children; apples with concealed razor blades, cookies containing ground glass,
candy laced with laxatives or spiked with poisons. This is to say nothing of
the cases, reported and unreported, of muggings, murders and molestations which
occur on the eve of “All Hallows”. In addition there are other incidences of
bodily harm inflicted during the course of Halloween festivities, some on
purpose and some accidently.
THE ORIGIN OF HALLOWEEN
It really is no secret
that Halloween has been around for thousands of years. Centuries before the
birth of Christ the Druids performed mystical rites and ceremonies in honor of
the dead on their New Year’s Eve, October 31.
The ancient Druids
priests (known as “Men of Oak”), the most evil people living at this time in
England, France, Germany and the Celtic countries celebrated the “Vigil of
Samhain” in honor of their god, Samhain, lord of the dead who demanded
human blood sacrifices. These men were so filled with demons that some had
strange, frightening powers. The people lived in terror of the Druids.
Halloween is fun for the kids today, but in the times of the Druids it was a
night of horror. Halloween had its origin with the Druids. On Halloween the
druids and their followers went from house to house playing tricks or treat.
The treat demanded by the Druids would be a young woman for human sacrifice. If
the treat pleased the Druids they would leave a jack-o-lantern with a lighted
candle made of human fat to protect those inside from being killed by demons
that night.
When some people
couldn’t meet the demands of the Druids, then it was time for the trick. A Hex
(hexagram) was drawn on the front door. That night Satan or his demons would
kill someone in that home through fear. That night the victim was assaulted
brutally by the priests and sacrificed her to their god. Even today on
Halloween night many occult killings take place in the USA and around the
world.
Halloween acquired
sinister significance with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, black cats, fairies and
demons of all kinds said to be roaming about the land. The people believed that
evil spirits lurked about as the sun god grew pale and Samhain grew stronger.
By lighting great bonfires on the hillsides, on the “Vigil of Samhain”, they
hoped to scare away the evil spirits of those who had died the previous year.
It was believed that on this day the souls of the dead would rise from the
grave to haunt those who were living.
By waving burning straw
aloft on pitchforks, the people tried to frighten off demons and witches. Just
in case waving of burning straw didn’t work, the people also put on grotesque
and terrifying costumes. They believed that if you dressed in a horrible enough
fashion and went roaming around with the spirits all night, they would think
you were one of them and they would do you no harm. They believed that when
these spirits came to your house, if you did not treat them, they would trick
you.
Halloween is a day
Witches celebrate above all other days. Witches have eight major festivals
throughout the year. The major Witchcraft festival is October 31 or Halloween.
Witchcraft is not child’s play. It is an abomination in the eyes of God (Ex.
22:18; Dt. 18:10-12; I Sam. 15:23; II kings
9:22; II Cron. 33:6;
Mic. 5:12; Nah, 3:4; Gal. 5:19-21). From 1575 to the 1700’s many people were
burned at the stake for their real or suspected involvement in witchcraft. Yet,
today witchcraft has gained acceptability by many people. Even the Internal
Revenue Service has given tax exempt status to the church of Wicca (the
official church of witchcraft). The word Witch is derived from the Saxon word
WICA, which means “wise one”. The black of a witches cloak reminds us that
Halloween is a “festival of the dead.”
All Saints’ (All Souls ’
Day), was a day that the Roman Catholic church set aside in memory of early
Christians who died for their beliefs, it was first celebrated in the month of
May. By the year 900 the date had been changed to November 1. Another name for
All Saints’ Day was “All Hallows”; October 31 was known as All Hallow’ Eve,
which was later shortened to “Halloween”.
While All Hollow’s Eve
originally had been a strictly Roman Catholic holiday, the pagan influences
from earlier traditions gradually crept in while the Catholic Church’s
influence waned. Soon Halloween became a secular observance, and many customs
and practices developed.
History books and
encyclopedias freely and openly describe this pagan origin and explain their
parallelism to today’s customs. Halloween is pagan; still most people, will
justify Halloween’s observance by saying, “So what? So it was started by
pagans. We aren’t thinking about pagan gods today. We’re just having fun. Where
it came from doesn’t make any difference.”
Well, it doesn’t make
any difference unless you care what God says on the subject! And if you accept
the teachings of God, then it does make a great deal of difference! God’s Word
has a great deal to say about why you should not be involved with customs such
as those centering on Halloween.
One only has to look at
Halloween costumes and decorations to see that it celebrates death, devils,
witches and darkness. We as children of God are supposed to conduct ourselves
in a way that exemplifies light and life, not darkness and death.
The real contradiction
between these two approaches is noted by Ralph Linton, in “Halloween Through
Twenty Centuries”. “Among all the festivals which we celebrate today, few have
histories stranger than that of Halloween, it commemorates beings and rites
with which the church has always been at war.”
C. W. Douglas discloses
in “The American Book of Days”, “The mystic rites and ceremonies with which
Halloween was originally observed had their origin among the Druids, centuries
before the dawn of the Christian era in the celebration on the eve of the
festival of Samhain, the Lord of the dead-Satan. The early Roman Catholic
Church adopted the eve and the days following and gave new names to them, as it
did with many other Christian observances.
Dorothy Wood a writer of
the Wichita Beacon presented the case clearly in October 30, 1959. She wrote,
"This ancient night of feast for the devil and his groups to degenerate,
because of the Christians has grown in popularity. For centuries Christians
have adopted all the pagan festivals of old. The Winter Festival has become
Christmas. The spring festival has become the Passover (Easter), and worship of
Christ shamelessly uses the old pagan fertility symbols, chicks, bunnies and
eggs. Now they have completely taken over Halloween.
A SERIOUS MATTER
God does not look at
this lightly, as some of us do. He does not want his children to borrow pagan
customs (Dt. 12:29-30) with their inevitable detriment to the development of
spiritual character. He plainly and directly commanded through the prophet
Jeremiah, “Learn not the way of the
heathen” (Jer. 10:2). Through Moses,
God condemned as abominable all that has to do with witchcraft, black magic and
other demonic works of darkness (Dt. 18:9-12).
In view of this Biblical
condemnation, we should want to stay as far away as possible from whatever
falls into these categories. Instead all across the land in this “Christian
Nation”, children and adults dress as witches, demons and other manifestations
which honor the “Lord of Death” on his special night.
People do not seem to
realize that Satan and his demons are the enemies of God. Halloween
purposefully worships Satan. The apostle Paul summed up the attitude true
Christians should have and should teach their children: “For once you were
darkness (in the past, before becoming a child of God), but now you are light
in the Lord; walk as children of light (not dressed as demons, witches, zombies
and other beings of darkness) for the fruit of light is found in all that is
good and right and true; and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no
part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them (by letting
your light shine). For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do
in secret (let alone to participate in them)” (Eph. 5:7-12).
Halloween is not just
fun and games. It is serious business! It is the time that witches celebrate
more than any other time of the year!
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