In October 1999 at a small church in Kirbyville, TX, I overheard my pastor and others, discussing what the church should do at Halloween. I told them we shouldn’t celebrate it at all, and recited what little I knew of its origins. They said they’d never heard that Christians shouldn’t participate, and the pastor asked me to speak about it at the Wednesday night service before Halloween. I didn’t have a computer at the time, so I was a constant visitor at the library. The Christian web sites agreed on some things, but gave scant information. They were also conflicted on the name and definition of the Celtic god. So, I decided to visit the Druid web sites. There are more Druid sites now than there were in 1999, and the ones I visited are gone now. I do have some wise advice for anyone delving into the dark side—if you’re just reading it out of curiosity, or feel pulled to it…stop! You’ll be opening demonic doors that could be difficult to close if you don’t know to use your God given authority. Pray for the LORD to protect your mind.
Anton LaVey, founder and high priest of the church of Satan in San Francisco, was once quoted as saying; “I am glad that Christian’s let their kids worship Satan at least one day each year. I know that the Christian church thrives on hypocrisy, and that man’s carnal nature will win out.” (He passed from this world on October 29, 1997)
The very root, or origin, of Halloween can be found with the Celts (pronounced kelts)—they lived in the area of Britain and Germany about 2,000 years ago, and nearly defeated the Romans at one point. Later, after they were in turn conquered by the Romans, they slowly split up into three different peoples over the centuries—English, Irish, and Scots. The Celtic year ended on October 31st, and the Celtic priests (Druids) and the people celebrated a joint festival for the sun god and the “lord of the dead,” which was called Samhain (sah-van), summer’s end.
This was the most magical time of the year—the “day which did not exist.” The name of their sun god was Lugh, and he had a dark side. Pronounced “loo,” it is derived from the Celtic root, lugios meaning oath. The Irish word Lugh connotes ideas of blasphemy, cussing, lies, bond, joint, binding oath. Three days before the month of Samhain, his Tanist, the “lord of mis-rule,” his other self, kills his good side. With his good side dead, he transitions to the dark lands of Under Wave where he then resides as lord of mis-rule, or death. He was also known as Lugh-of-the-long-hand, son of the sun.
Back to the Celtic ceremony…everyone in the community would extinguish all lights in their houses, then go to an appointed place where the priests were waiting with sacred fire to light each person’s torch. The people would then go back to their houses, re-lighting lamps and fireplaces. By this act, they were establishing that Lugh was the light of their world. Afterwards, they had a great feast, which included telling fortunes, dancing, and playing games. By this time, no doubt, it was dark, and all attention was turned to the lord of the dead.
The Celts believed that the souls of those who had passed away the previous year, roamed the earth on that day, and also that these souls could play bad tricks. To be alone and missing at this dangerous time was to expose your spirit to the perils of the chaotic Otherworld. So the Celts would go about the serious business of dressing up in scary costumes, masks, and face paint to scare away demons, or appear to be one, so they wouldn’t be frightened. But since the lord of the dead had authority over these souls, the priests would appease him by offering sacrifices, such as prisoners of war, criminals, and animals. These were burned alive in weird-shaped baskets. The priests would foretell the future by observing the deaths of these people and creatures as they writhed in agonies.
After the Romans conquered the Celts, the empire declared the practice of burning people and animals illegal in 61 A.D. The sacrifices continued in secret as late as 400 A.D., but the rest of the practices of Samhain continues to this day. By the 4th century, Christianity was declared legal, but the church was having a hard time persuading the Celts that their gods, rites, and symbols were evil. So the church compromised by giving them new meanings, and names, and some churches even allowed the parishioners to parade their animal sacrifices down the aisles of the church! By the 7th century, the church notices that pagans had more holidays than they did, so they set aside All Saints Day in May, in memory of early Christians. In the 8th century, it was changed to November 1st, and officially entered in the church calendar. In the 10th century, November 2nd was set aside for All Souls Day, and later celebrated in the tradition of ancient Samhain.
All the modern traditions of Halloween, as we know it, came to America in the 18th century by the Irish and Scots (Celt descendants). Concerning Druid holy days, they claim that “death came before life in the Druidic cycle, because before new growth can occur, there must be room for it” (direct quote from Druid web site). This is illogical logic—death didn’t exist until after Satan attempted high treason against God. The first death of a human occurred when Cain murdered his brother, Abel.
So, death did not exist before life, because God is the giver of life, Who was, and is, and is to come.
These are the ugly roots of a holiday that none of God’s children should participate in. Satan is a copy-cat. If you come across a spell, DO NOT speak it aloud (Proverbs 18:21)! If you have in your possession “The Book of the Dead,” or “The Tibetan Book of the Dead,” or “Necronomicron,” or a book of spells, you should burn them, according to Acts 19: 18-20. Don’t throw it in the trash for someone else to find, just burn it! When you look up that scripture in Acts, you see that when the people repented of their sorceries, an unidentified person counted the cost of the books, which totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. That word, silver, refers to the coinage of the day—drachma, or shekel. The obsolete drachma (GRD) was replaced by pound sterling, so in todays dollar they burned up $68,615.00 worth of books. Or in Israeli money (ILS) $15,594.45. God uses fire to destroy and punish evil, and when His Word is fulfilled, this old world will be destroyed by fire, then re-created into a new world.
If you’re hesitant to destroy the books because you spent a lot of money on it, don’t allow that to become a barrier to be rid of it. This world runs on a monetary system that often blinds us to the cost in the spirit realm. None of Satan’s toys are harmless. Celebrating Halloween is not a “right,” it’s participation in the kingdom of darkness. We’re to worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:23,24), but Halloween is a spirit of death, lies, and deception. If your church offers a substitute celebration that includes candy, apples, loud music, dressing up, anything which parallels the trappings of Halloween, arm yourself with the Word of God, and question it. Like the 4th century church, we are once again compromising our integrity…and perhaps our souls.
Just like the church from centuries ago who threw up their hands in dealing with the Celts, a compromise was made with the world, so Christian children could celebrate an unholy holiday, and have fun like everyone else. Hell House, is an audience participation live play, which deals with a character “dying” and going to hell—someone also plays the part of “Satan.” Trunk of Treats, or Trunk or Treats, is the most popular among the churches. Parishioners contribute candy, volunteers decorate their cars, advertisements are put out ahead of time, and people bring their children to the church parking lot to load up on as much candy as they can carry. The only caveat, is to politely stay and listen to micro-sermons, and/or receive any pamphlets handed out. A head count is made, and if anyone decides to repent, those are counted too, and joyfully told to the congregants the following Sunday. It’s all justified. So, what’s the beef?
The church readily admits that trunk of treats is an alternative to Halloween. The word, alternative means, to offer another choice. So, trunk of treats is just another way of celebrating Halloween. But, Halloween is all about death, and witches, and ghosts, and vampires, and frightening people, and dressing up as something you aren’t, and getting candy from strangers. Ironic isn’t it, that it’s okay to take candy from strangers once a year, when mother’s still warn children not to do so. (Pedophiles used this ploy to lure children, now they just steal them out of their yard.) Candy, full of sugar, has more than two-hundred side effects. And, Halloween is also a “high holiday” for witches, and warlocks, and satanists. In fact, satanists consider Halloween to be Satan’s birthday. Whether or not one chooses to believe it, doesn’t change the fact that countless cults firmly believe it. Which means, that churches are offering an alternative to celebrating Satan’s birthday. Why not just educate the children early on, about this evil day—teach them that it’s satanic, and you’re going to ignore it and treat it like any other day? We have 364 other days of the year to tell people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. If churches/Christians adamantly ignore sound council and persist with Halloween alternatives, then maybe they could have trunk of treats on each of the satanic holidays.
You can look up their holidays for yourselves, but I’ll warn you, the descriptions of what they do on those days are sexually graphic. Like everything else Satan hates, he also hates the laws of God concerning sexual purity. Theirs is another world, a polar opposite from Christianity. A former witch who spoke at another church I attended told us that witchcraft and Satan worship always leads to blood. You work your way up the ladder and begin sacrificing. First with things, then with animals, and if you stay with it long enough, humans. Why? Because of the power. They’re able to do incredible things, and as they grow more powerful, it’s like a drug. Not all witches (wiccans) are like that, but those who crave the power, it must lead to blood. Read about the miracles the old prophets performed through the power of God. And the miracles of Jesus, and the miracles of the new testament church. Satan is a copy cat, and he allows such things to those who totally reject God and His Son. But in hell, he won’t share or give anything to those poor souls, because he’ll be too busy burning in the lake of fire. Those people are deceived. Because the truth is, Jesus died for us. He doesn’t require us to die for Him, or kill persons or animals for Him. The Father and Son only wants our love, our friendship, our obedience. So why continue to compromise once a year with this wicked holiday? And please don’t justify it with scripture, that’s insulting. And may I add, ditto for Easter.
Below are some pictures taken from church websites.
My first thought was, really?! You want sinners to see God as a ginormous spider, waiting for you to get caught in His web, and suck you dry?? (Would this qualify as blasphemous?)
John 4:23, 24 