Halloween ... What It Is From A Christian Perspective by Jim Lewis
Many Christians will allow and even encourage their children to pay
respect to the devil on October 31 without knowing they do so.
Churches will fully sanction the event with parties that will be
decorated with witches, cats, brooms, jack-o-lanterns and bobbing
apples. What is the harm? How did this originate?
The custom of Halloween is traced to the Druid festival of the dead.
At that time tmperoran Pantheon was built by Emperor Hadrian in 100
A.D. as a temple to the goddess Cybele and other Roman deities. It
became the principle p lace of worship. Roman pagans prayed for the
dead. Rome was captured and the Pantheon fell into disrepair. Emporer
Phocas captured Rome and gave the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV in 609.
He reconsecrated it to the Virgin Mary and resumed using the temple to
pray for the dead, only now it was "Christianized", as men added the
unscriptural teaching of purgatory. In 834 A.D. Gregory IV extended the
feast for all the church and it became known as All Saint's Day, still
remembering the dead.
Samhain, a Druid god of the dead was honored at Halloween in
Britain, France, Germany and the Celtic countries. Samhain called
together all wicked souls who died within the past year and that were
destined to inhabit animals. This celebration of the dead honored the
god of the dead on this particular night. Druids believed that souls of
the dead returned to their former homes to be entertained by the
living. Bonfires were built atop hills so they might find their way.
Suitable food and shelter was provided for these spirits or else they
would cast spells, cause havoc, steal infants, destroy crops, kill farm
animals and create terror as they haunted the living. The spirits
demanded placating by giving them a type of worship and offering. This
is the action that "Trick-or-Treat" emulates today.
The Samhain celebration used nuts, apples, skeletons, witches and
black cats. Divination and auguries were practiced as well as magic to
seek answers for the future. Black cats were considered to be
reincarnated beings with the ability to divine the future. During this
festival supernatural beings terrified the populace. Even today
witchcraft practitioners declare October 31st as the most conducive
time to practice their arts.
The Christian church tried to eliminate the Druid celebration by
offering All Saint's Day as a substitute. As Christianity spread over
Europe and the British Isles, it attempted to replace the pre- existing
pagan cult worship of Apollo, Diana or Ymir, but to no avail.
Although the outward forms of such worship disappeared, the belief
in these deities did not. They found an outlet during the Middle Ages
in the open practice of witchcraft which is presently enjoying a
revival in many countries, including the U.S. In Germany the occult is
considered more prevalent than in the Middle Ages. The deistic cults
held periodic meetings known as witches sabbaths, and it is the same
today with October 31st being of more importance.
Pranks and mischief began to by played out to represent the
mischievous behavior attributed to witches and the fairies. Trick-or-
Treat came from and ancient Druid practice. One of the basic tenets in
witchcraft is to control the will o f another by use of fear. Even in
jest, when one threatens to punish if a treat or offering is not given,
they are imitating an occult practice of controlling the will of
another by use of fear.
Prosperity was promised to all who were generous donors, and tricks
to all who refused during the Irish Druid event of trick- or- treat.
The contributions demanded were in the name of Muck Olla, and early
Druid deity.
Traditional Halloween symbols appeared in the U.S. during the late
1800's. Witches, black cats, death's head cut from a pumpkin, candles,
masks, parties and pranks were used. In rural areas, aggravating and
destructive acts were done, such as removing gates and placing them
atop barns. The same was done with outhouses and wagons.
The uninformed Christian has no idea that there truly are demonic
spirits which are contacted and activated as people call out to them in
jest or in seriousness. Every act around Halloween is in honor of false
gods, which are spirits in the re alm of the Satanic. Those who have
been deeply involved in witchcraft and who are now free, declare that
even those who say they worship spirits of nature are in actuality
contacting the Satanic realm without knowing it.
To pray for the dead is against scripture. If one knows Jesus before
death, their spirit is already with the Lord. Paul says to be absent
from the body is to be at home with the Lord, II Corinthians 5:6. If
one is an unbeliever at death , the scripture says there is no second
chance as it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the
judgment. Therefore, prayer for the dead is in opposition to God's Word
and a pagan practice that became "Christianized". While living, one
must make a choice "for" or "against" Jesus and that determines the
destination at death of the spirit. No amount of prayer can reverse the
decision made on earth by the person concerned while they were alive.
The Bible instructs us to have nothing to do with the deeds of
darkness. Both Christian and Jew are forbidden to participate in the
occult practices listed in Deuteronomy 18:10. Necromancing is the
delving into contacting the dead. Go d said all such practice was an
abomination to Him.
Some may reply, "But we only do this in fun...we don't practice
witchcraft." That which represents Satan and his domain cannot be
handled or emulated "for fun". Such participation places you in enemy
and forbidden territory and that is dangerous ground.
Through the ages, Halloween has gone by various names but all have
been tributes to the same dark force, Satan. There is no place in the
life of the Church or the Christian for such participation.
Mrs. Gloria Phillips Bay View Church P.O. Box 9277 Moblile, AL 36691
(used with permission)
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THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN
by Johanna Michaelsen
Last Halloween when the doorbell rang, I was greeted by an adorable
bunch of little kids doing their level best to look like gruesome
witches and vampires. I bent down as I distributed apples and oranges
in response to lusty cries of "trick or treat! "
"You kids want to know something?" I asked very softly.
"Yeah!" came the unanimous chorus.
"With the Lord Jesus there is no trick. He loves every one of you
very much.
Several little faces beamed up at me through their ghoulish makeup.
"That's neat!" exclaimed one little girl. "Yeah!" chimed in a few
others.
"This is Jesus' night," I said. Why, I'm not really sure. I was
poignantly aware of the fact that it is a night the devil has made a
point of claiming for himself.
"No it's not!" snarled a hidden voice. "It's Jason's night!"
A boy who was taller than the rest stepped out from the shadows. He
was wearing the white hockey mask of Jason, the demented, ghoulish
killer in the movie Friday The 13th and was brandishing a very
realistic-looking hatchet. I have to admit that the boy gave me a
start, but I stood my ground and dropped a banana into his bag.
"No, Jason, this is still Jesus' night!" I repeated.
Jason evidently resented the competition, however, for he ripped our
mailbox right out of the ground and left his banana squished on the
stair.
Most of us in the United States have grown up observing Halloween in
one form or another. From the time we're in preschool we make drawings
or cutouts of sinister black witches - the haggier the better. We make
paintings of gruesome black cats with g leaming, evil orange eyes; we
hang up smirking paper skeletons with dancing limbs; we glue together
ghost and bat mobiles; and we design demoniacal faces for our pumpkins.
For several years now, on thoughtful kindergarten teacher in
Southern California has even provided ghosts for her pupils to commune
with at Halloween. I spoke with one of the mothers from that school who
told me that her little boy was sent home with a note from the teacher
informing the parents that their child would be bringing home a
"special friend" the next day. The child was to nurture his "friend,"
name it, feed it and talk to it - all as a part of a special class
project that was designed to "develop the child's imagination."
The next day the little boy came home with a sealed envelope along
with explicit instructions that his parents were NOT to touch it; only
the child was allowed to open the envelope. Mom said, "You bet!" and
promptly opened it up. Inside was six inche s of thick orange wool
string with a knot tied a quarter of the way up to make a loop
resembling a head. The mimeographed "letter" that accompanied it read
as follows:
Haunted House
001 Cemetery Lane
Spookville
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your order. Your ghost is exactly what you ordered.
You will find that your ghost is attached to an orange string. DO NOT
untie the special knot until you are ready to let your ghost go. Your
ghost will tell you when it is hungry and what it prefers to eat. It
will sleep in the air beside you all day. It especially likes quiet
places where there are cobwebs, creaky boards and corners. If you
follow the above directions, you will have a very happy ghost. Yours
Truly, Head Ghost --
The mother, a Christian, didn't cotton to the idea of her son taking
in a pet ghost, however housebroken. So she confiscated the thing and
put it in the garage on a shelf until she could decide what to do with
it. The next day his sister was in the g arage on an errand, unaware of
the matter of the "ghost string." Suddenly she was frightened by the
sense of a threatening presence around her. She heard the sounds of a
cat hissing in the corner and something like a chatty doll mumbling
incoherently at her. Later that night they threw the "ghost string"
into the garbage pail and prayed to bind and remove the entity. They
were never bothered by the presence again. This family had no trouble
whatever believing that a spirit had indeed been sent home with their
little boy and that it didn't much like having been assigned to a
Christian household.
The Halloween ghosts were given out again last year by the same
teacher. The mother managed to get hold of the envelope, orange ghost-
carrier and all, and sent it to me. It is possible of course that the
teacher meant nothing sinister by it. Perhaps to her it was just a cute
exercise in imagination for her kindergartners. Nevertheless, in light
of the stated intent of many "transpersonal" educators to introduce
children to spirit guides, I can't help but be a little curious about
any teacher who sends the children home with imaginary friends.
Even in the church, Halloween is a time of spooky fun and games. Any
number of good, solid churches, ever mindful of their youth programs,
will sponsor haunted houses designed to scare the wits out of the kids.
In Bakersfield, California, Youth for C hrist's Campus Life, Pepsi,
Burger King and a heavy-metal rock radio station are yearly sponsors of
"Scream in the Dark," an event held every night for about a week before
Halloween. At least 20,000 people brave the chilly corridors and dark
passages every year to face ghoulish figures, terrifying tunnels and
screams in the dark.
A certain Assemblies of God church in Tampa, Florida, got more than
it bargained for in that department a couple of years ago when it
borrowed a coffin from a local mortuary for use at a Halloween fund-
raiser and found a long-forgotten corpse still i n it.
The Lawndale Christian Church in Lawndale, California, offers
discount coupons for "The House." The advertisement reads: "You are
entering at your own risk. Young children strongly recommended NOT to
enter The House. Children under 12 must be accompa nied by an adult.
Persons with heart conditions, health problems or pregnant women are
not allowed."
Church-sponsored horror isn't a particularly new phenomenon. My
husband's Lutheran church in New York always sponsored a "Chamber of
Horrors" when he was a boy, complete with fluorescent skeletons, scary
pop-ups, peeled grapes to simulate dead eyebal ls and a bowl of cold
spaghetti that was supposed to be... well, you know.
Halloween has become a full-fledged national children's play day,
but for hundreds of thousands fo people in the Western world Halloween
is a sacred time, the ancient pagan festival of fire and death.
The origins and traditions of Halloween can be traced back thousands
of years to the days of the ancient Celts and their priests, the
Druids. The eve of October 31 marked the beginning of the Celtic New
Year. The Feast of Samhain was a fearsome night , a dreaded night, a
night in which great bonfires were lit to Samana the Lord of Death, the
dark Aryan god who was known as the Grim Reaper, the leader of the
ancestral ghosts.
On this night the spirits of the dead rose up, shivering with the
coming cold of winter and seeking the warmth and affection of the homes
they once inhabited. And even colder, darker creatures filled the
night: evil witches flying through the night, hobgoblins and evil
pookas that appeared in the form of hideous black horses. Demons,
fairies and ghouls roamed about as the doors of the burial sidh-mounds
opened wide, allowing them free access to the world of living men.
These loathsome beings were usually not in a particularly good mood by
the time they arrived, and it was feared that unless these spirits were
appeased and soothed with offerings and gifts they would wreak mischief
and vengeance by destroying crops, killing cattle, turning milk sour
and generally making life miserable.
So it was that the families offered what was most precious to them:
food - a "treat" that they fervently hoped would be sufficient to
offset any "trick" the ghostly blackmailers might otherwise be tempted
to inflict.
The ancient Celtic villagers realized, however, that merely feeding
the spirits might not be enough to speed them on their way. The
ghoulies might decide it would be rude to eat and run, as it were, and
might just be tempted to stick around. That sim ply would not do. So
arose the practice of dressing in masks and costumes; villagers
disguised themselves as the creatures, mystically taking on their
attributes and powers. The "mummers," as they were called, cavorted
from house to house collecting the ancient Celtic equivalent of
protection money, and then romped the ghosts right out of town.
They carried jack-o'-lanterns to light their way - turnips or
potatoes with fearful demonic faces carved into them, which they hoped
would duly impress, if not intimidate, the demons around them.
As part of their ancient New Year's ritual, massive sacred bonfires
were lit throughout the countryside of Wales, Ireland and France -
fires from which every house in the village would rekindle their hearth
fires (which had been ritually extinguished , as they were at the end
of every year). The villagers would gather and dance round and round
the bonfire, whose light and heat they believed would help the sun make
it through the cold, dark winter.
But the great fires served another purpose as well: On this night
unspeakable sacrifices were offered by the Druid priests to the Lord of
Death. In his Commentaries, Julius Caesar speaks of the great wicker
images "in which the Druids were said to bu rn scores of people alive."
Last Halloween, I watched a rerun of "Garfield's Halloween
Adventure." Garfield, the feline comic strip character, is thrilled at
the realization that Halloween is a night when he gets to rake in free
candy. "This is the night I was created for," he exclaims, with as much
enthusiasm as Garfield ever seems to muster.
He decides to sucker poor unsuspecting Odie, an exceedingly dumb
doggie, into going with him so that Garfield can double his personal
candy haul. Well.... maybe he'll give Odie one piece of candy for his
troubles.
Then suddenly Garfield pauses in his Machiavellian musings and
wonders, "Am I being too greedy? Should I share my candy with those
less fortunate than I? Am I missing the spirit of Halloween?"
Wouldn't it be nice if that were in fact the spirit of Halloween!
The spirit of Halloween is more accurately discerned in the horror
movies and videos traditionally released in honor of the season.
Cinematic thrillers so popular with teenage boys today like Halloween,
Friday the 13th, Thriller, Faces of Death, Nigh tmares on Elm Street,
and any number of other slasher, blood-and-gore, murder-and-terror
flicks are truer to the original spirit of Halloween - the spirit of
murder and death - than is the sight of Linus sitting all night in his
"sincere" pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin.
Modern witches would vehemently deny that their celebration has
anything to do with the demonic horrors depicted in such films as
Friday the 13th. To them, Halloween is one of the four greater Sabbats
held during the year. Halloween for them is a tim e of harvest
celebration - that season in which the Great Goddess goes to sleep for
the long winter months, giving way to the Horned God of Hunting and
Death, who will rule until her return on the first of May. It is a time
of ritual, a time for ridding oneself of personal weaknesses, a time
for feasting and joyful celebration. It is also a time for communing
with the spirits of the dead.
While the witches spend the Halloween season tucking in their
goddess for her long winter sleep and frolicking in joyful communion
with the spirits of the dead, there is another religious group that is
equally serious about its Halloween celebrations : the satanists.
Halloween to them is a more sinister and direct celebration of death
and Satan. Unlike the witches, most of whom do not even acknowledge the
existence of Satan, the satanists are quite candid about exactly who
the dread Lord of Death happens to be, and they celebrate Halloween as
one of his two highest unholy days.
As is the case among witches, different "denominations" of satanists
have their own peculiar traditions, beliefs and practices on this
night. For some of them Satan is not a real, specific entity, but
rather the personification of evil resident withi n all men.
Other satanists however - cult satanists - understand that Satan is
very real indeed. To them the sacrifices he demands are not symbolic at
all. They believe that the blood sacrifice of innocence that Satan
demands as the ultimate blasphemy and sign of devotion to himself must
be very literal indeed.
At Halloween the sacrifices of some of these satanic cults are
unspeakably vicious and brutal. Lauren Stratford, in her powerful and
important book SATAN'S UNDERGROUND, relates the horror of the practices
of the particular satanic cult that victimize d her for many years. It
was their practice to begin the Halloween ceremonies five weeks before
the night of Halloween. In the fifth week the group performs the ritual
murder of a tiny infant or a very young child. The child is often the
offspring of a female member of the coven or a victim who has been
impregnated for the purpose of turning her child over for the
sacrifice. Because of its innocence and frailty, a tiny child is viewed
by these satanists as the perfect sacrifice to their master. The infant
is seen as representative of the Christ child, and it is He whom they
are blaspheming.
The night of Halloween another child, as well as an adult female,
will be slaughtered. Not all satanist groups participate in activities
of this kind, but some certainly do.
Halloween is thus a day in which virtually everything that God has
called an abomination is glorified. Christians have no business
participating in that at any time, much less in the name of fun.
There are any number of creative alternatives that can be provided
for children on Halloween without participating in the ancient
religious traditions of the witches and the satanists.
Parents or churches could hold parties and have kids come as Bible
heroes. Some families view the occasion as a witnessing opportunity and
hand out gospel tracts with the treats. Some churches are now
sponsoring "Bible houses," which kids go through to hear different
Bible stories read or acted out - a godly alternative to the haunted
house.
Christian parents can also make a difference in the way schools
attended by their children celebrate Halloween. In the fall of 1987,
The Eagle's Forum reported a story about parents in Colorado who
protested the traditional celebration of Halloween i n several public
schools on grounds that it is a "high holy day in the satanic religion,
and as such is an inappropriate holiday for schoolchildren." One mother
said that she "would like to see the same measures applied to the
Halloween parties as have been taken with the Christmas parties."
One thing that Halloween should NOT be for the Christian is a time
of fear. It should be a time to rejoice in the fact that "the son of
God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the
devil" (1 John 3:8, NASB). Spend at least pa rt of this night
worshipping God by singing hymns. Above all, spend time in prayer and
intercession for the children.
Too many of our children have been vulnerable to a spirit of fear
and to the occult because we have for so long believed Halloween to be
an innocent season of fun. But Halloween is not at all innocent. After
the repeal of the Witchcraft Act in Englan d in 1951, the witches and
satanists experienced a revival which is currently in full swing.
You might not know too much about witches or satanists or Jason or
Freddie Krueger, the killer in the horror film NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.
But I guarantee you that most of your kids do!
Johanna Michaelsen is concerned about the effect of the occult on
children today. This article is taken from her new book titled LIKE
LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER, which is published by Harvest House. Other
chapters in the book look at occultism in the cla ssroom, yoga, spirit
guides, toys and what parents can do. The book is available at most
Christian bookstores.
Johanna Michaelsen is the author of The Beautiful Side of Evil and
Like Lambs to the Slaughter. An expert on the occult, she lives in
Southern California.
Reproduced by Computers for Christ #22 (The Light), Silver Springs,
FL, (For electronic distribution only!) with permission from the
following sources:
Charisma Magazine, October, 1989, pgs. 46-54, published by Strang
Communications, Altamonte Springs, FL.
Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR.
Johanna Michaelsen, Torrance, CA.
Please do not remove these credit lines if you distribute this
article.
Thank you!
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