"Halloween- What it is From A Christian Perspective"

30 10 2007

Tonight I’m posting this. I know in the rest of the world Halloween is tomorrow, but where I live it is tonight. I really think that this is a good article. Don’t go trick or treating tonight.

Halloween What It Is From a Christian Perspective

Written by: Phillips, Gloria Posted on: 04/29/2003

Category: Cults / Sects / Non Christian Religions and Topics

Source: CCN

Halloween What It Is From A Christian Perspective

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 the originate?

The custom of Halloween is traced to the Druid festival of the dead. Then the Roman 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 place 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 mischievious 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 of 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 realm 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. God 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 in this holiday.”





Devotion Talk 10/29/07

30 10 2007

Tonight I read Mark 14.

This chapter is extremely similar to Matthew 26, but my main point here tonight is- Jesus knows all.

When Jesus told Peter after he swore to not disown him, “30 I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” The most amazing thing about this is that after Jesus was taken away, Peter did disown Jesus, exactly three times. Amazing! God knows all!

Now I’m just going to put up some stuff from Matthew 26:

“This passage is mainly the story about Jesus’s betrayal and his predictions about that betrayal. A couple of parts stood out to me. First- when Jesus knew that Judas was the one to betray him. How did Jesus know this? How did he find out. If Jesus were not the son of God, how could he know? The Bible tells nothing about Jesus overhearing a conversation between Judas and soldiers. How good Jesus know. He is omniscient. Jesus knows all. God knows all. That is how.

23Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

25Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?”
Jesus answered, ”Yes, it is you. ” ‘ “





Devotion Talk 10/28/07

29 10 2007

Tonight I read Mark 13.

Two really huge points I need to highlight here.

1. First, shown from verse 1-31, we need to be ready to face the false idols that are going to come. Some choose to be the form of a fake Jesus, or a fake prophet. Now, they come in video games, girls, movies, anything that is there and not Godly. We need to be strong like Jesus said, because he will always be with us:

11Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”

2. Secondly, shown in verses 32-37, we need to be ready for the return of Jesus. We can’t sleep through Jesus’s return, because we will miss it. We will go to hell. We need to be ready. We need to be vigilant and ready to do anything in response to anything.

“35‘Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37What I say to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!” ‘ “





Devotion Talk 10/27/07

28 10 2007

Tonight I read Mark 12.

Two things I want to highlight:

Love God with All Your Heart: What does this mean? This means that we must all love God completely. We cannot love anyone or anything else. It is just that simple. But, it is impossible for any of us to do it. With sin in our lives, there are so many temptations that we go and follow after. It is sin not to think about God for 2 seconds. Amazing. We have a savior that takes care of this for us. Praise the Lord!

29‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” ‘ “

The Widow’s Offering: Plain and simple. Give your all for God. Even, if it is two silver coins. Two silver coins out of two silver coins is better than 1000000 silver coins out of 1000000000 silver coins.

43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.’ “





Devotion Talk 10/26/07

28 10 2007

Last night I was at a late Church Function. I didn’t get a chance to update it.

Tonight I read Mark 11.

This chapter is another example of faith. It shows so many examples of faith, and some examples of no faith. The fig tree, was cursed so Jesus could see if his disciples had faith in him. They didn’t. They didn’t believe that it would die. The colt, faith was shown by the people who asked what was going on.

22‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. 23‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’ “





Devotion Talk 10/25/07

26 10 2007

Tonight I read Mark 10.

Sections: There are three parts of this chapter I want to highlight.

The Young Rich Man: A story of faith this is. When Jesus tells the young man to give up all his riches in order for him to go to heaven, he can’t. God gave up all he had for us. He had an empty, vast universe, where he could do anything he wanted, but he decided to make us a home. He gave up that peace to create us, so we could exist and fill his world. We have to give up our all to show our complete loyalty to God, seeing that he did it for us.

23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!’ “

The Request of James and John: The request of Jesus’s disciples is a very very very sacrificial one. Think hard. Would you be able to say that you can be Jesus’s right hand man. Of course not. First, we’re not holy and second, we wouldn’t be able to handle it. If we were to be exactly like Jesus, what would be the purpose of Jesus?

Blind Bartimaeus Receives his Sight:

52‘Go,’ said Jesus, ‘your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.”

All powerful. Jesus is all powerful. I have been finding these examples everywhere. In the Bible and in my life. Jesus is capable of doing anything.






Devotion Talk 10/24/07

25 10 2007

Tonight I read Mark 9.

The greatest point in this story that I have been striving on is that Jesus can do anything. In this particular chapter, Jesus is angered that some still do not believe he can drive out an evil spirit. All these people of Jesus’s time always claimed they believed Jesus and they knew Jesus, but this was not. They still had doubts about his power. I read in a book called “A Gospel Primer for Christians,” one section focused in on who needed to read the Bible and learn more about Jesus and his works and deeds. It said that we need to read it as much if not more than non-Christians. Well, why do we have to do that? We may get full of ourselves sometimes and need to go back, and even thought you are a Christian already, you always have to read the Bible no matter what.

22‘It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.’

23‘ “If you can?” ‘ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for him who believes.’ “





Devotion Talk 10/23/07

24 10 2007

Tonight I read Mark 8.

The feeding of the four thousand is similar to Feeding of the Five Thousand. Almost every story in Mark are symbols that Jesus can do anything. He can touch anyone and heal them. He can feed millions of people with a single loaf of bread. He can give enough blood to millions of people to save them. Jesus died for us. He gave us his body, and his blood so that we could live forever.

9About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, 10he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

11The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12He sighed deeply and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.’ 13Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.”





Devotion Talk 10/22/07

23 10 2007

Tonight I read Mark 7.

This chapter has 2 key points.

1.

18‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him “unclean”? 19For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.’ “

This point, I believe is the most important. Earlier in the chapter, a tradition of washing yourself and things continually, because they thought that evil spirits could enter their bodies through them. Jesus explained why he and his disciples did not follow this tradition. We are the cause for our uncleanliness towards God. Nothing can enter our body and make us “unclean.” Only ourselves can make ourselves “unclean.”

2.

“31Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.

33After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ (which means, Be opened!’ ). 35At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.”

What this chapter means to me is that whoever has faith in Jesus can be healed by Jesus. We have to believe in Jesus’s holiness to save us. Jesus came to die for all of us. We have to believe in him and trust him.







Devotion Talk 10/21/07

22 10 2007

Tonight I read Mark 6.

This chapter4 is eventful: section time.

John The Baptist Beheaded: I found this a bit confusing. My understanding is that the girl and the mother did not believe in Jesus or the acts of John the Baptists and just wanted to see him dead. This is horrible. This man prepared the way for Jesus, who came to die for us. He shouldn’t be imprisoned or beheaded. We are horrible people. The human race deserves to go to Hell, but Jesus died for us so that we can go to heaven.

Jesus feeds Five Thousand/ Jesus Walks on Water: I grouped these two because I believe they both have the same message. Jesus can do anything. Jesus was sent here to show God’s power. He can heal you if you just touch his robe. He can walk on water. He can turn a meal for 3 to a meal for five thousand. Praise the Lord. He is almighty. He is powerful!