Halloween

Across the western world there has been a marked increase in interest concerning Halloween. An American publication, "Advertising Age", observed, "its enough to give Santa a scare". The article revealed that in the United States the second most popular event for marketing activity behind Christmas was Halloween. Even here in the United Kingdom Halloween has become big business and an increasingly popular holiday period. But what is it all about anyway, is it just a time of harmless fun for the family as it is made out to be, or is there something more sinister behind it In this study we wish to investigate Halloween and see just what lies behind it. 1. THE ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN It was in A. D. 835 that Pope Gregory IV designated Nov 1st as "all Saints day", or "all Hallows day". (Hallow means saint). The night before Oct 31st was known as "all Hallows evening", the term Halloween is a condensed form of this. But long before the Catholic Church gave this name to the evening before what they called "all Saints day", it had been celebrated by the ancient Druid, the learned priestly class of the Celtic religion. The Celts were the first Aryan people who came to Europe from Asia. They brought with them a variation of Indian Hinduism, believing in the various nature gods, reincarnation and the transmigration of the soul, which is the belief that men may be reborn as animals. The Celts worshipped the sun god Belenus on Beltane, May 1st and Samhain lord of death on Oct 31st the summer and winter festivals. At these festivals human sacrifice would be offered to appease the gods. These Celts and their Druid priests began their new year on Nov 1st the beginning of the winter, believing that on the night before, Oct 31st the last day of their old year, that the lord of death gathered the souls of the evil dead who were condemned to enter animal bodies and decided what animal body they should take. While the souls of the virtuous dead would be reincarnated as humans. All of this of course is contrary to the scriptures of truth, which teach that; "it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment". The Druids taught that Samhain the lord of death would on Oct 31st allow for a short time the souls of the dead weather good or bad to return to their former habitation to associate with their families for a few hours before being assigned to their new bodies. Therefore the Celts believed that, ghosts, evil spirits, and the like roamed about on Oct 31st. So in order to frighten away these evil spirits, who it was believed feared fire, bonfires were lit on hill tops, and burning brands were carried around by people for their protection, in order to prevent the frustrated ghosts from playing tricks on humans which it was supposed they did. Clearly the Catholic Church did in A. D. 835 what it has done with many pagan festivals; it took it and tried to christianise it. Gregory IV designated Nov 1st "all Saints day", and Nov 2nd "all Souls day", and made it a day for praying for the dead to help them escape the torments of purgatory. These are sacred days for Catholics during which like the ancient Druids they offer prayers, subject themselves to sufferings and make sacrifices to alleviate the torments of the dead. God’s word the Bible though makes it abundantly clear that we cannot alter the eternal destiny of dead, their decision weather or not to accept Christ as Saviour made in time will effect where they will spend eternity, which can only be in one of two places heaven or hell. 2. THE OCCULT AND HALLOWEEN One Christian commentator rightly observes, "although Halloween as practised today is an innocent time for most youngsters, it is a very serious observance for many witches, neo-pagans and other occultists. It should be noted that the historic and contemporary occult associations to Halloween have produced something of a crossover effect to the larger society, so that in some instances the observance of Halloween is not necessarily an innocent practice". Occult activity on Halloween night ranges from silly superstitions to serious supernatural manifestations. As Doreen Irvine a former witch explains these things, "are not to be taken lightly". Witchcraft, Satanism, ghosts, and poltergeist activity are on the increase at this time of the year, and these things are dangerous and not to be played around with. Witches are not the harmless people they are made out to be, as Doreen Irvine says, "witchcraft is not far removed from Satanism". Ghosts and poltergeists are real enough though they are certainly not the spirits of dead people come back to haunt either a place or a person. They are demons who may assume the form of someone’s dead relative. It is a mistake to try and explain them away as some kind of physiological trick as many try to do, and it is foolish to think of them as harmless or innocuous. The idea of Casper the friendly ghost popularised by the movie industry plays right into the hands of Satan himself who wishes to present an attractive friendly image for his devices. The modern pleasant attractive packaging of the occult and Halloween hides a more sinister extremely dangerous and thoroughly evil side, which we all should beware of. 3. THE ORDINANCES AND HALLOWEEN The word of God is specific in its prohibition of all forms of sorcery; the Scriptural ordinances against it cannot be ignored. Note the detailed list of all manners of occult practices prescribed by God in His word. ASTROLOGY, the observance of the stars for the purpose of foretelling the future, condemned in Scripture in Isa47v12-14. CHARMING, the casting of spells condemned in Deut18v10-12. MEDIUMS, consulting with familiar spirits, condemned in Deut18v10-14. DIVINATION, the practice of fortune telling, condemned in Deut18v10-14. NACROMANCY, which is communicating with dead, is condemned in Scripture in Deut18v10-12. WITCHCRAFT, which is the worship of Satan, and the manifestation of supernatural powers, roundly condemned in Scripture, cf Exd22v18. WIZARDARY, a dealer in magic and sorcery, condemned in Lev19v31.Clearly God’s attitude towards the occult is one of total opposition and condemnation, therefore as Halloween is so mixed up with the occult people should disassociate themselves from it. As far as children are concerned some of the trappings of Halloween may seem innocent enough, but they could easily be doorways to danger and parents should be discerning. Other festivals such as Christmas and Easter have pagan origins and traditions too, but mostly they are innocuous. Halloween is far from harmless though, as it is so openly associated with witchcraft. Therefore great discernment should be used as to what aspects of this holiday season we get involved with and what is safe for our children to indulge in. Apple pies and fireworks present no danger at all but some of the more sinister traditions and the emphasis on witchcraft, however attractively packaged, present real danger to our children. Thank God, powerful though the Devil may be he is a defeated foe. Our Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary defeated him and his legion of demons, cf Col2v15. By His death and resurrection He broke Satan’s power and released mankind from fear and bondage, Heb2v14-15, 1Cor15v51-57. Those who are His through faith in His atoning work on the cross have the power and authority from above to thwart the attacks of the enemy, cf Eph6v10-13. There is no doubt that the devil is busy these days, he is a powerful adversary, but he has already been defeated and the time of his demise and damnation is near. First he will be bound in the bottomless pit, cf Rev 20v2-3, before finally being burned in the lake of fire, Rev 20v10. In the meantime we ought not to be "ignorant of his devices", including the subtle ways in which he seeks to entice the innocent into serving him. He is going down into damnation but we don’t want him to take our children with him, we can best protect them by making them aware of the dangers of Halloween and a host of other satanic strategies and direct them to other things.