Many people view Halloween as a time of innocent fun. Children love to dress up as their favorite characters. They will go door to door saying the infamous words "trick or treat". Many adults also love Halloween, because it gives them a chance to let loose and act silly. Every year in the U.S.A. alone, millions of dollars are spent on Halloween goods. Halloween is the second highest grossing money maker outside of Christmas. The promotion of Halloween by the television moguls, the advertisers, and not to mention the blockbuster sales of movies and rentals this time of year. Everyone can see Halloween is big business. Alot of people do not see the harm in all of this Halloween hoopla. But yes, there is a darker side to Halloween than anyone dares to imagine.

           Unlike our modern-day Halloween, theirs was not a children's holiday. The Celts and their priests, the Druids, from Great Britain and Ireland. They celebrated "SAMHAIN". It was a festival that marked the eve of the Celtic New Year, which began on November 1. The fall harvest was complete and winter was looming ahead. The Celts believed the sun was fading away, at this time of the year. For the next several months, darkness prevailed. The Celts believed that during "Samhain" the veil separating life from death was at its thinnest. On the evening of October 31, the evil spirits and souls of the dead passed through the barrier and visited the world of the living. The Celts believed these spirits could cause all kind of havoc. They also believed that they could talk with the dead, departed loved ones and such. They also believed that they could devine the future. The powers of darkness were conjured up on "Samhain". The Devil himself, would be called upon to foretell of future events.

          The Celts tried to appease the evil spirits: ghosts, goblins, and demons. Huge "Samhain" bonfires were built to light the way for all the spirits to find their way in to the world of the living.They would leave out food, hoping that this would please the spirit world. If they did not leave a thing, then hence, the spirits would play evil "tricks" on the living in that house. The Druids required human sacrifices, they would go door to door asking for the virgin daughters. If this was not abtained at the chosen homes, then a hexagram was painted on the door in blood to show the appointed evil spirits to cause all kinds of evil to fall on the home. In some cases, even resulted in death.

          It is a story about a man named: "Stingy Jack" He was an old Irish drunkard that invited the Devil to have a drink with him one Halloween night.

  "If you pay for it" the Devil replied.

          "But you can change yourself into anything you want to" Jack protested. "Change yourself into a sixpence. After I've paid for the drink, you can change yourself back." The Devil agreed. He mumbled a spell, disappeared, and there on the counter was a shiny new sixpence. But Stingy Jack quickly put the coin into his pocket, where a silver cross prevented the Devil from getting out. "If you leave me alone for a year, I'll let you out," Jack promised. The Devil agreed and was released. Jack intended to repent, take his pay home to his wife, and go to church and give to the poor. But as soon as he was out of danger, Jack soon returned to his old ways.

          The next Halloween Jack met up with the Devil on a lonely road. "He's come to take my soul now" thought Jack. But this time he tricked the Devil into sparing his soul for ten years. But before the ten years were up, Jack died. He was turned away at the gates of heaven, Jack made his way to the gates of hell.

          "Go away," shouted the Devil.

          "Where can I go ?" said Jack. "Go back to where you've come" ordered the Devil. "You tricked me, and made me promise not to claim your soul." snapped the Devil.

           Jack began his long trek back through wind and darkness. As Jack trudged on, eating a turnip as he went, the Devil threw him a live coal out of the fires of hell. In desperation to find his way, Jack put the live coal inside the turnip. Ever since that time, Jack is said to be roaming the face of the earth with his "Jack O' Lantern", searching for a place to rest.

          When the Druids went door to door, requiring the human sacrifice and it was given over, the Druids would leave a turnip carved out to resemble that of an evil spirit. The turnip would be lit up with a candle usually made from human fat. This they would put at the doorposts of the homes that gave the "Treats". The evil spirits would then "pass over" the house they thought.

          The customs from Great Britain and Ireland, are now in modern-day America. The only difference now is that the "globe-faced" pumpkins that sit on the porches, fenceposts and in the windows of American homes at Halloween are a reminder of the turnips of old. Even today we continue the same tradition of carving out the face of the pumpkin to resemble the evil faces of the spirits.

         The tub was filled with water and apples floated on the surface. The person dunks his or her head in the tub and hopes to grab an apple with the teeth, believed that the person who is successful at this is said that good luck will abound. In some circles the custom is said to be also that the person will be lucky in romance with the lover of their choice. The apple bobbing is a form of divination used to foretell the future.

          First of all cats are very spiritual animals. Out of all the animals, the cat can sense the presence of spirits, both good and bad. But the all black cat holds a high significance to the witches and Satanists. The black cat, they believe has special powers. To them they believe the black cat represents incarnated humans, malevolent spirits, or the "familiars" of witches. This is why that many black cats are in danger around Halloween. If you have a black cat, do not let them roam the streets at night, keep them inside. Also the local SPCA's won't even let anyone adopt a black cat around Halloween time, in fear of the cat might be harmed.

          The colors orange and black can be traced back to the occult. They were connected to the commemorative masses for the dead, which were held in November. The unbleached beeswax candles used in the various ceremonies were orange. The ceremonial caskets were covered in black cloths.  And let's not forget the modern-day "Jack O' Lanterns" orange in color.

THE ORIGIN OF THE "COSTUMES" ON HALLOWEEN

The Celts and Druids believed that by wearing masks and costumes, they would confuse the spirits into thinking they were one of them. Therefore the evil spirits would leave them alone. They would usually wear these while dancing around the big Samhain "bonfires."Also it is to be believed that they thought by wearing the costumes they could communicate with the spirits.

THE ROOTS OF PAGANISM

The whole Halloween thing is steeped in paganism. Halloween is a celebration of death and all that is evil. By decades of letting foreigners into our land, they have brought with them every occult practice and all of their idols. Now because of this, our children are suffering the consequences of the iniquities of the third and fourth generations of witchcraft and things of the demonic world. We as Christians are to stand up and boldly proclaim our heritage of what this country was founded on. This country was to be a Christian nation. By us not speaking out, look at our country today, every evil thing is trying to take away our freedom.

 

 
 



 

WHAT ARE WE AS CHRISTIANS SUPPOSED TO DO?

First of all, as Christians we are to celebrate life in the one who has made us new: JESUS CHRIST! We are not to celebrate the things of darkness. We are not to imitate evil...

"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there, Let no one be found among you who... practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead"                                                          (DEUTERONOMY18:9-11)

If we let our children participate in these things, if we hang cardboard ghosts in our windows, if we entertain with tales of ghouls and haunted houses- what are we doing but imitating that which is evil? We need to make it clear as Christians that witches, ghosts and evil spirits are not funny and not harmless, even if the people in the costumes are just play-acting.

    ALTERNATIVES TO HALLOWEEN

1. Pass out candy with tracts/booklets to show how Jesus loves everyone and how they  can be saved.

2. Have teen rally that night and teach the dangers of Halloween.

3. Invite friends over and watch a Jesus movie.

4. Go dress up with others as Bible characters and "Street Witness" (word of caution: only those who are strong in the Lord in this area and are lead by the Lord to do this, so that there will not be any hinderances from the enemy.)

5. Teach your children the dangers of Halloween, then have a family Bible study and pray for all the children that are out there "trick or treating".

6. Have a "PRAYER WARRIORS" meeting: pray against all the evil forces that are out, pray people will wake-up and find the truth out about Halloween and become saved. That all the children will be safe from any harm:(tainted candy, razor blades and etc...). Pray for all the innocent people held against their will for human sacrifices and all the other deeds of the Devil on this night! ( you might say "Oh this is too horrible to believe" but you better wake-up, this kind of stuff goes on all the time, and not just on Halloween. Yes this is happening in America!)

7. Read the Bible, play Christian music and celebrate LIFE!!!