Halloween has become one of the most popular American Holidays, next to Christmas. Many unassuming individuals see nothing wrong with it's traditions and origins. For those who desire to follow biblical paths, I would like to review some facts to ponder.
As most or all of my material will be, this is aimed towards those who CLAIM Jesus Christ as their Messiah. So if you do not, then please understand this is not aimed at you nor do I feel you are obligated to follow biblical principles.
For those who DO claim Messiah, you have professed to believe and agreed to follow HIS laws and ways. So it is my attempt to help educate individuals with information that I feel is sadly lacking in the body of Christ.
Since the season is arriving soon, my first post will be on Halloween, formerly known in generations past as All Saints Day or All Hallows Eve, this holiday was started by the Catholic church. What is NOT commonly known, or at least admitted, in "Christian" circles is that the traditions the Catholics incorporated into this holiday came from the celebration of Samhain.
Samhain was a celebration of the druids which celebrated the changing of the seasons. During this time, when summer ends and winter begins, it was said (and is still in occult practice today) that the line between the world of the living and the world of the dead were brought very close...only a thin film separated them. Because of this divination and attempting to reach spirits from the other side was a common practice during this festival.
In ancient times the people believed that on this day evil spirits would come down and roam amongst them. Pumpkins or squash were hollowed out and carved with devilish faces. Inside these jack o' lanterns would be placed glowing coals to light up the face. It was believed that these lanterns would ward off the evil spirits.
During the festival the druid priests would dress up in ghoulish outfits and roam around the city. They would demand a sacrifice of foods (a treat) from each house hold to "appease the evil spirits." If the family refused then a human sacrifice was kidnapped from the house (a trick) and burnt at the steak to their "god" Samhain.
Now, for those who doubt this information, it is historically documented. If you doubt do ten or twenty minutes of research on your own. Look up things like Samhain, Origins of Halloween, etc...
I know many will say, "But that is not what the holiday is now..." However, now that we have established the basic traditions and where they came from (this is not all the information on the origions by any means) I would now like to look at some modern activity on this day.
Halloween is well known and has been documented by secular newspapers, police reports, local communities, and other reliably public sources to have high incidents of kidnappings, murder, missing animals, animal mutilation cases, and occult activity. More so around Halloween than any other single day of the year these things escalate.
Many modern witches and covens still believe that the dividing line between the world of the living and the world of the dead is very thin on Halloween. Because of this there is an increase of divination (attempting to contact the dead and spirits of the other world), coven rituals, animal AND human sacrifices, fertility rituals, and a number of other occult practices.
Halloween is revered by most in the occult to be one of the highest holy days in their religion. I have seen and read testimony to this fact and heard first hand testimony from individuals who are former occultists who admit that they and their covens took part in all these things. This too, can be researched but do so with caution. The occult is nothing to dabble with! That is exactly why I believe this is such an important issue... Our modern "Christian" community is ignorantly participating in celebrating the Day of the Devil and justifying it by whatever means they can grasp!
One of the same women who was a former occultist testified that witches at times sit back and laugh at Christians who partake in Halloween because they are celebrating the day of Satan. Not only do I believe this compromises our spiritual condition but it compromises our witness to anyone who has ever been involved in the occult, and they need Jesus just as much as you and I... no more no less. I would not desire for a wiccan to go to hell any more than I would desire a church goer to go to hell.
Now before you fly off the handle at my attack on one of your children's favorite holidays, let me reason with you a bit more before you make your decision. (For the decision is yours alone to make, I simply wish to make you aware of this information. May God use it in any way HE desires, and in that way alone.)
Symbolism in Halloween is another significant argument against participation. Obvious things such as decorating with witches, goblins, the grim reaper (the resemblance of Samhain the god of death), ghosts etc...
A witch is someone who practices witchcraft. For a biblical perspective on what God thinks about the subject, check out Exodus 22:18 or Ephesians 6:12-13. Be sure I in no way advocate the killing of witches, for if that were enforced we would ALL deserve to be killed as well! The severity of these versus should show us God's opinion on the act, however. We also do need to realize that although I would never advocate killing a witch for their practice some of them WILL kill you for their practice. Human sacrifice is a central part of many covens and rituals.
Other symbolism such as goblins or ghosts.... The idea of a ghost being a dead person who has been trapped on earth has no founding in the bible whatsoever. The bible does talk about such things, however... it calls them demons. So by hanging up a "decorative" ghost for Halloween you are in essence decorating your house with images of demons. This does not seem like anything any Bible believing individual should be doing.
The black cat, which is also symbolism out of witchcraft, is a popular decoration as well as bats, in image of vampirism. The broom stick is used in fertility rituals in Wiccan covens and is also used as an emblem of astro projection.
In other countries witchcraft is at times the most prevalent practiced religions. In places such as Africa the culture is steeped in it. And those other cultures, seeing Halloween, the gory masks and devil costumes, etc... know the dangers and in times have warned against them.
Whether you dress your daughter up as an Angel or not... or your little boy goes out as a cowboy.... it makes no difference. They are partaking in the day of the devil. It's a dangerous road to start down. Please consider this information prayerfully.
For a few versus that speak to this subject please check out,
Deuteronomy 9:4-5
Deuteronomy 18:9-12
Exodus 22:18
Leviticus 19:31
Leviticus 20:6
2nd Chronicles 33:1-6
Acts 19:11-20
Galatians 5:19-21
1st Thessalonians 5:22
1st Timothy 4:1
Revelation 21:7-8
(There are many others... simply do a Bible search)
In conclusion it is my personal opinion that Halloween is not a fit holiday for myself or my children to partake in. Churches should not hold "fall festivals" in place of Halloween but should otherwise dedicate themselves to God's work, fasting or praying, and teaching their children why these things are not acceptable for someone who strives to follow biblical paths.
Now, all I ask is that you view and consider prayerfully. My desire is summed up by Jude 1:1-11. Namely that we should all earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. I personally do not believe that any of the saints, apostles, or Jesus Himself would celebrate Halloween...therefore if HE would not then neither should we.
Thanks for reading, please post any comments. I will be happy to converse or answer questions as I am able. I do have a full time job as well as work on the side, so my time is limited but I will do my best if anyone has a desire for dialogue.
Written by:
Jason Hein
Very informative. Sir, you have been followed.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased that you found it informative. That is my #1 goal is simply to inform people so they can do with the information as God moves them to.
ReplyDeleteHope to get some good conversation going eventually. :)
Not to be difficult - but Halloween had never been referred to as All Saints Day. All Saints Eve, yes... but Day, no. All Saints Day still exists, and is the day after Halloween. All Saints Day was created by Catholics in the middle ages.
ReplyDeleteSecond, yes, the pagans had their holiday Samhain. Like many pagan holidays/traditions, when Christianity came along and people started to convert, the Church put some twists on these existing holidays and turned them into Christian holidays. This is the same with Christmas, Valentine's day, Easter, and probably many others.
Third - I am really curious where you get your information regarding human sacrifice... I have done a lot of research on this holiday as it is my favorite holiday, and have never seen anything that says they would go door to door kidnapping human sacrifices.
All saints Day, from what I have read was on November 1st. Samhain I read was October 31st and November 1st. Granted these are not the exact days (so yes you are correct in that) of modern day Halloween, but it is obvious through research the three are linked and all have aspects of each other.
ReplyDeleteIn Mexico (according to Wikipedia) All saints day corresponds with the first day of the celebration of the "Day of the dead."
So in my mind they are close enough linked. Now that's my personal opinion, granted, but there is some historical evidence to support it.
Yes, you are very right on that as well. Most holidays in America today are tainted with traditions pulled from pagan cultures. Jeremiah 10:2 tells us Not to learn the way of the heathens.
Deuteronomy 18:9-14
9When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. 13Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 14For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
This verse tells us that it was because of these specific things that God drove out the people before Israel... not because of Israel's righteousness but because the wickedness of those nations.
So I think it is safe to say we should avoid traditions rooted in such things. At least for my personal decision I will to the best of my ability. (including traditions in Christmas Easter and all the other holidays)
I will celebrate the birth of Christ simply without any traditions I know to be of pagan origin.
As far as human sacrifice goes it is a simple mater. It is well known that many occult practices today incorporate human sacrifice. We have historical documents (including the bible) that say pagans in the past have incorporated it.
In just five or ten minutes of searching you can find (again wikipedia) that says that they believe in older customs they may have had human sacrifices during Samhain. It being the celebration of the "Day of the Dead" it's a safe guess even if you had to guess.
If you really want to know look specifically for it and things will come up. I would recommend looking up Caryl Matrisciana on youtube. She is a life long occult researcher and has a presentation on Halloween.
carol kornacki (though I know less about her) is a woman who used to be in the occult, was saved to Christ, and now speaks out against Halloween because she knows how big it is in witchcraft first hand from celebrating it when she practiced. She tells a lot about the symbolism of different things and such.
As said above, those who are truly interested, the information is out there. I am simply trying to spark the flame. Once you find the information and review it we all must come to a personal decision and what your personal decision is... that's between you and God, not me.
Hope that answers your questions. Feel free to ask more.
First... I strongly urge you not to use Wikipedia as a source. Anyone can edit that and add their own (often false) information. Schools (elementary, high school, college, etc) do not allow it, and I think we should hold ourselves to that as well (even if we are just simple bloggers).
DeleteSecond, I do understand what you're saying. I don't agree with some of your facts - but this is only because what I have read/studied disagrees. But, this will happen when studying anything that has been twisted and changed throughout history. I will say, however, that the issue of Christianity taking pagan holidays and turning them Christian (so to speak) is NOT an American issue. Halloween and other holidays started oversees... they simply carried forward when America was settled.
All this said, and with respect to your beliefs, I do not find any issue with the celebration of Halloween so long as we are not taking the holiday with any form of pagan seriousness. I do not pull out a ouija board and tempt the spirits. I do not practice human sacrifice. I allow my children to dress up and go house to house asking for treats.
Again, I did one single search and came up with this.
ReplyDeleteThe History and Origins of Druidism, p. 105). Spencer further suggests, "human sacrifice was a frequent and common element in their religious procedure. No sacrifice might be carried out except in the presence of a Druid" (Ibid, p. 104).
Like I have said the information is there if you want to find it.
I agree that most of these holidays originated over seas, but since it has migrated to the US that means it now IS an American issue because it is a common practice in America. Whether a good issue or not, whether you disagree or agree... it is integrated into our society and thus is an issue of our society.
Thirdly, I too am willing to respect your beliefs since they are obviously yours to make. My point in this blog is to mostly educate those who do not know the information. In a case such as this where you know much of the information I would try and reason with you because I think it is an issue, but ultimately I will respect your choice.
I think it is still an issue because although you do not do human sacrifice etc... you are still partaking in something that celebrates Satan. You are decorating with occult symbolism and images of demons. And as I mentioned celebrating damages your witness to anyone who knows where these traditions stem from because if you try and witness to a witch why would they listen when they know you celebrate the day of the devil?
Also the bible tells us very specifically not to participate in things like this. Jeremiah 10:2 says do not learn the way of the heathen. Deuteronomy 18 says basically the same thing. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says flee from all appearance of evil... so if it even appears evil, we are to have nothing to do with it because we can cause others to stumble if they see us participating in those things. Whether we are doing human sacrifice or not, if we are partaking in a holiday where human sacrifice is practiced we are non-verbally endorsing that act in the sight of others.
I agree 100 percent. Unfortunately, most in the church do not agree. They know not what they invite into their lives, and they choose traditions of men over the truth.
ReplyDelete