The History of Halloween

Ezekiel 44:23 (NASB) "Moreover, they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

Hosea 4:6 (NASB) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

1 Peter 1:13 (NASB) Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,

15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;

16 because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."(also in Lev. 11:14; 19:2; 20:7 )

17 And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth;

From these scriptures, we can see that God expects His people to be different from the world. He expects us to be holy - separated onto Him.

In John 17:14-19, Jesus prays for His disciples,

John 17:14 (NASB) "I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

15 "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.

18 "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

Romans 12:1 (NASB) I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

In 1 John 2:15 we are told not to love the world.

1 John 2:15 (NASB) Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.

There are some areas in the Church which have been diluted by Satan and many of us are not even aware of it.

One of these areas is holidays. We are approaching a changed in seasons, a beautiful time of the year. In the days before Christ, people were not as educated as today and the dying of plants was a scary time. They were not sure that they would bloom in the spring. This lead to the formation of cults and different rituals. Since most of the world was lost, these rituals and cults were controlled by the Devil.

Every human is made in the Image of God. He has three parts: The body, soul and spirit just like God. Each part must be fed and the old saying - you are what you eat has much truth to it.

Poor nourishment for the body results in an unhealthy body. Until a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God and his worldly nature is automatically fed by the world. Once a person is born again, he must feed his spirit the Word of God.

There are two kinds of spiritual food - Devils food or angels food. You eat one or the other. If you do not feed on the Word of God, the world will automatically feed you the devil's food.

While we are in the world, there are things such as Ouija boards, fortune telling, haunted houses, and Halloween which seem harmless.

I recently listened to the testimony of Mike Warnke, a former Satanist high priest who was the leader of a coven. He was influence by Ouija boards, seances and even the television program bewitched. When he went to college and was on his own, he began to study the occult.

The occult study as food, combined with drugs allowed Mike to overcome the moral upbringing and allowed the occult to express itself. It was a hobby to that point. He joined the Satanist movement and lead a coven that lead other covens.

Satan promised to make him a God. He was deceived and it was only after a drug overdose that he became a Christian. There is more power in being a servant of The God than in being like Satan.

Sadly, one of the reasons that Mike joined the satanist movement was because of false Christianity, a fouled up religion. I believe that false religion is Satan's strongest tool and it will send more people to hell than any other device.

There is a difference between witchcraft and satanism. Satanist worship Satan in one form or another. Witches worship per say other gods. Witches have to do with religions about nature and earth. It is all ultimately from Satan.

Satanism is a direct, knowing blasphemy against the Real Church. All religions have a devil or evil spirit which may be know by a different name.

Satanism as we know it has it's roots in the middle ages and as such was a direct strike against the Catholic Church. In that day, the Catholic Church was the only representation of Christianity that there was.

Many things in satanism are blasphemy against Christianity, but also against the Catholic Church specifically. The black mass is an example. Satan is substituted for God. The communion is attacked to desecrate the idea of the body and blood of Christ.

There is much blood shed in satanism. There are many sacrifices including human sacrifices. They are practiced today. Satanist do cut themselves to sacrifice to the devil. The satanist high priest's blood is mixed with wine and drank by the follower as a form of sacrifice to Satan and loyalty to the priest.

Hebrews 9:22 (NASB) And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Jesus's blood was shed to set people free. Satanist shed the blood of people to put them in the chains of the devil.

To us Halloween is a fun holiday. Like all holidays, it is of pagan origin.

Colossians 2:16 (NASB) Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--

17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

We should not ascribe more importance to one day than to another.

Most of our holidays can be traced to the Druids of the British Iles. They were satanic priests that were in the religion that was in force before the Roman conquest. They were worshippers of the oak and the holly.

One of the reasons we have Christmas tress is that their winter festival involved taking a giant evergreen tree, standing it in the middle of the village and lighted it with candles. It was a fire festival and the people decked themselves with holly. The holly berry was a sacred token. The Druids worshipped nature and made human sacrifices to the oak as a god.

Halloween is a direct result of the November 1st fire festival of the Druids. They didn't have our calendar, but it was held on the fall solstice.

This was like the first of the year for the Druids. They had everyone in the village extinguish their fires. In that day it was nor easy to make a fire and people went to great lengths to keep their fires going. This was done on all hallow's eve. After this they had to come to the Druids who had their holy fire burning on their alter to get new fire. The Druids charged them for this.

In Lev. 10:1&2 and Num. 3:4, God tells us about Nadab and Abihu who were consumed by God's fire because they offered strange fire to God.

Leviticus 10:1 (NASB) Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.

2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

Numbers 3:4 (NASB) But Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

Leviticus 9:23 (NASB) And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.

24 Then fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

The Druids were a satanic, secret order of priest. On Oct. 31, they went from house to house demanding certain types of food. Those who refused were cursed.

They carried large turnips which had been hollowed out and carved with demon faces. Each one was believed to contain a demon spirit which empowered that priest - his little god.

In Scotland, turnips with demon faces carved into them were called bogies and carried to scare away witches.

In this country we use pumpkins. They have become the symbol of Halloween. Some people called them 'lantern men', hob-o-langers, jack-o-lantern, will-o-wip, or wil. The lantern men got their name from pale eerie lights that appeared over bogs and marshes in England. These ghostly lights, which bobbed like a lantern in someone's hand, were called corpse candles.

The name jack-o-lantern came form a story of a stingy man called Jack. He tricked the devil and when he died, he was turned away from heaven. He went to hell where the devil also told him to go away. The devil threw a live coal at him which he put into a turnip he was eating. Ever since then Jack has been said to be roaming the earth with his jack-o-lantern, searching for a place to rest.

This was the night diviners found they had the greatest success. They called upon Satan to bless their efforts. Since it was the new year, they wanted to know what was going to happen during the year.

On of the forms of divination was to rip the bellies of their sacrifice - often babies and allow the soft internal organs to spill out. The internals are wet and slick and the final position of these organs was used for divination.

Apple bobbing - get the apple without using teeth. The apple was then peeled and the peeling thrown over their shoulder. They would then quickly turn around and expect to see an apparition of the one they would marry during the coming year.

These practices predate Christ by several centuries and still go on in some parts of the world.

Any prophecy which does not glorify Christ is from the devil.

In a book, "A Gift of Prophecy", by Ruth Montgomery, some of Jean Dixon's life described. The name of Christ is not mentioned in the book. According to the book, when Jean Dixon was a little child, her mother took her to a gypsy fortune teller and that was the beginning. She was even given a small crystal ball. Her mother opened the door for Satan. She said it really started after she was grown and a python (snake) crawled in bed with her, wrapped itself around her and looked at her face to face. She said that she was never afraid and never struggled and when she looked into those eyes, she saw all the wisdom of the ages. (quote)

The Greek word for divination is python. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas, cast out spirits of divination. Prophets of God are right 100% of the time. The devil's prophets are right about 30% of the time. Also remember that about one third of the angels fell.

John 3:19 (NASB) "And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.

20 "For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

1 Corinthians 10:20 (NASB) No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.

In the eighth century, the Pope, in an effort to get the people to quit the festival of Samhain, invented All Saints Day (Nov. 1). This was an attempt to get the people to turn away from the horrible observance of Samhain. All Saints Day was intended to honor the martyrs of the Roman persecutions. It didn't work! It never works to Christianize a pagan holiday. The Holy and the Profane do not mix.

The Roman church which wanted to please it's people (especially since there were so many of them), so they gave them counter holidays to coincide with the holidays they already had - Alla, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Purification Sunday, Assumption Sunday, etc.

In those days, the only thing people had to look forward to were their festivals. If you took away their festivals, you would have problems.

It is the Scottish belief that this is a satanic holiday and peculiar powers are given to the invisible world. It is on this night that witches have their major Sabbath.

There are eight major holidays on the witches calendar. One at both solstices and equinoxes, and one at four other times of the year. February - announcing spring, April - announcing summer, August - heralding harvest (fall) , and October 31 or halloween. 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 statue to the church of Wicca (the official church of witchcraft), which means your gift to witchcraft is tax deductible. In the eyes of the U.S. government there is no difference.

In Scotland, people do oblations to the dead to keep their spirits away from them and protect themselves from demons and such. They believed that by lighting great bonfires on hillsides, they could 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. In order to please Samhain, the druids held cruel fire rites. Prisoners of war, criminals, or animals were burned alive in odd-shaped baskets. By observing the way they died, the druids saw omens of the future.

By waving burning wisps of plaited straw aloft on pitchfork, people tried to frighten off demons and witches. Just in case waving burning wisps didn't work, the druids also put on grotesque and terrifying costumes. They believed that if you dressed in a horrible enough fashion and went trooping around with the spirits, they would think you were one of them and do you no harm.

The ringing of church bells was believed to be a defense against aerial witches. In Slav countries, people used to fire muskets at the clouds, screaming as they did so, "curse, curse Herodius, thy mother is a heathen damned of God", while others laid scythes on the ground, edge upwards, to assure that the witches would not have a safe landing.

The people used to put food on their door steps for these evil spirits that used to come around on Halloween night.

Also, the young people used to have bonfires and play a game of picking their future spouses. There were several ways to do that. One way was to pull a certain type of root out of the ground and if you had a lot of dirt left on it, it meant that your spouse would be prosperous and attractive. It was a form of divination.

After the bonfires, the kids would come and take the goodies left by the parents. Just as people once offered gifts of food to the spirits, people today offer treats to the children who represent them. So it is the beginning of trick or treat.

Before setting out for a sabbath, witches would rub 'sacred' ointment called unguent into their pores. One ingredient of the ointment confused the mind. Another speeded up the witches pulse. Still another numbed the feet. This gave them the feeling of flying. If they fasted, the ointment seemed to make them feel even giddier.

The satanic bible says that after one's own birthday, the two major holidays were Walpurgus night which is the spring festival around April 30th and Halloween.

The Druids believed that the lord of death summoned the spirits of evil people to inhabit the bodies of animals.

The Lord does not give the spirit of fear. How can Christian organizations have haunted houses? Christians are to portray Jesus to non Christians. I cannot is my wildest imagination believe that Jesus would condone dressing kids up in demon costumes for any reason. Instead the bible says to clothe yourselves with righteousness.

If you don't know it is wrong, does make it any less wrong. Because you don't know, doesn't mean satan will not use the opportunity.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (NASB) Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

God is a holy God and does not want us celebrating satan's holiday. How can you mix the Prince of Life with a festival of death?

Ephesians 5:11 (NASB) And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (NASB) abstain from every form of evil.

This is not shared in a spirit of criticism. Halloween is the most important holiday of the satanic year.

The devil has deceived Christians into celebrating his holidays!

Scriptural References:

Deuteronomy 18:9 (NASB) "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.

10 "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,

11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

12 "For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you.

13 "You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.

14 "For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so.

James 1:27 (NASB) This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Deuteronomy 7:25 (NASB) "The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

Philippians 4:8 (NASB) Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

Other Sources:

American Encyclopedia, Funk & Wagnall's encyclopedia, Students Encyclopedia, The Standard Reference Work, Collier's Encyclopedia, Illustrated Words Encyclopedia, The Columbia Encyclopedia, World Book Encyclopedia.

Message by Ton McKenney entitled, "Festival of Death."

Message by Mike Warnke entitled, "A Christian Perspective on Halloween"

Halloween and Satanism by Phil Phillips and Joan Hake Robie.

SEPTEMBER 25,1994 THE FEAST OF HALLOWEEN PAGE NO.�