Should Christians Observe Halloween?
By Robin Sampson

 

Halloween is not just a time for cornstalks, pumpkins, apples and cute costumes. There is much, much more. Before deciding to celebrate or not celebrate any holiday, it is important to understand the history of that holiday.

Halloween’s roots come from the ancient Celts, a tribe living on the British isles in northern France from 200 B.C. to about 200 A.D.

They were first described as a fierce, warlike, terrifying people, many of whom would have strings of human heads tied on their bridles.Halloween was their main holiday, called Samhain. A festival that honored Samhain, the Celtic lord of death. The celebration marked the beginning of the season of cold, darkness, and decay. The Celtics related this with human death; they believed the Samhain allowed souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes for that evening. On the evening of the festival, the Druids, the priest and teachers of the Celts, ordered the people to put out their hearth fires.

The Druids built a huge New Year's bonfire of oak branches, which they considered sacrificed. They burned animals, crops, and even human beings as sacrifices. Then each family re-lit their hearth fire from the New Year's fire. The lighted Jack-O-Lanterns used today are symbols of fires and torches. During the celebration people wore costumes made of animal heads and skins. They told fortunes by examining the remains of the sacrifices.

These pagan Celts believed that evil spirits lurked about as the sun god grew pale and the Samhain grew stronger. The Celts believed the evil spirits would come to your house and you treat them or they would trick you.

The Romans conquered the Celts in A.D. 43 and ruled what is now Great Britain for about 400 years. During this period, two Roman autumn festivals were combined with the Celtic festival of Samhain. Both pagan rituals, one of them, called Feraila, was held in late October to honor the dead. The other festival honored Pomona, the Roman Goddess of fruit and trees. Apples became associated with Halloween because of this festival.

Regional Halloween customs developed among various groups of Celts. In Ireland, for example, people begged for food in a parade that honored Muck Olla, their sun god. The leader of the parade wore a white robe and the head of an animal. In England, families sat by the fire and told stories while they ate treats such as apples and nuts.

In the United States, many early American settlers brought with them various customs such as the above. However, because of Christianity among so many of the settlers, Halloween celebrations were not celebrated until the 1800s when several immigrants from Ireland and Scotland introduced their Halloween customs.

All Saints Day, a day the seventh century church set aside for memory of early Christians who died for their beliefs, was first celebrated in the month of May. By the year 900 the date was combined with the pagan rituals to be celebrated November 1. Another name for All Saints Day was All Hallows. October 31 was known as All Hallows Eve which was shortened to Halloween. The church made a grave mistake trying to combine pagan worship with Christianity. This is not scriptural! Because of that unwise decision, Halloween remains a holiday in America today.

Scriptures warn us that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the third and fourth generations. “You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.”
Exodus 20:5

Those who disregard God’s warning and make contact with occult spirits risk terrible repercussions in the form of misery, sickness, insanity and even early death.

Why do people living in this age, especially Christians, desire to be a part of any pagan worship? This pagan belief, even celebrated by Christian churches, celebrates the union of gods and a goddess in the universe that supposedly control the seasons, bring fertility to crops and animals, and bestow magical powers on their followers.

What Does God Say About Halloween?

Joshua 24:14

Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

Click to read the rest of the Joshua 24

Halloween is not just a time for cornstalks, pumpkins, apples and cute costumes. Witches have eight special holidays during the year. Halloween is their day above all days. Witchcraft is not child’s play. It is an abomination to the Lord. Johanna Michaleson, former occultist and author of The Beautiful Side of Evil said, “For a true Christian to participate in the ancient trappings of Halloween is as incongruous as for a committed Satanist coming from blood sacrifices on Christmas Eve to set up a nativity scene in his living room singing Silent Night, Holy Night with sincere devotion to baby Jesus!”

Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God. Our Lord Jesus would not go to a party to honor the feast of the Samhain. Moses did not come down from Mount Sinai and combine the Israelites Passover holiday with the idol worship that was going on.

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people. Therefore Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."

The verse says, “come out from among them, says the Lord.” Does that mean come out from among them--but don’t deprive your children from all that fun and candy -- celebrate the same pagan ritual in your church building? The Bible is very clear about Christians being involved in such celebrations. Ephesians 5:8-11 says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”

One thing 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. This is a time of spiritual warfare. October 31 should be spent in prayer for the community and children; a time of worship by singing praise to the Lord. This can be a good time to teach our children to sacrifice by not sharing in the rituals because you love the Lord. Whatever your family decides to do on this day, ask yourself, “Does it glorify the Lord?”

“…they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons."

Good Evening, Everyone!

I have always loved keepig up with my children...especially in the arts and crafts and nature journaling department. Here' s my own first 'scrapbooking for school' page...

It's been forever since I've posted here, but , thus far, we've had a great first week of school! I just wanted to share these photos of our first attempt at scrapbooking for school. Our plan is to scrapbook one assignment per week. Our first assignment was "The Eastern Hemisphere" which is what we are studying in Old World History and Geography. Here's Tony with his first two-page spread...

My goodness! It's been quite a while since I've posted here, and a lot of things have happened since then! I don't know that I could ever catch up, so, I will just share the highlights.

Of course, the holidays came and went. We had a really nice Christmas this year...several of them, in fact.

January brought lots of snow and ice, and, towards the end of the month, my husband, John, had surgery. He almost didn' make it, and it was very scarey for all of us. He's recouperating now, and faces several weeks of recovery time, but, praise the LORD! He's doing well.

My biggest problem right now is, I wan't SPRING to arrive!!! This has been such a long winter!

Well, it was nice visiting with you all, even though it's been a short one. I'll try to remember to post here more often. God bless all here!

~Rebecca

This was sent to me by a friend today and I wanted to share...

By the mile it's a trial, by the yard it's hard; by the inch it's a cinch!

What if you were presented with the challenge of losing 10 pounds?  Or
perhaps you were challenged to develop a strategic business plan for a new
company, or learn a foreign language?  You would receive no monetary reward
for accomplishing this goal, but you would experience the satisfaction of
accomplishing something you had always wanted to do.


Now suppose in order to help you lose 10 pounds you were locked in a health
and fitness club for 13 days with the most advanced exercise equipment and
three balanced meals each day.  To help  you draft your business plan you
would be locked in the library for 13 days with the most current business
books and periodicals.  And to help you learn a new language you would be
locked in a comfortable, isolated room for 13 days with the best
instructional video and audio tapes.  No doubt you could accomplish all of
these goals under such extreme circumstances.

As much as the latest exercise equipment, business materials and
instructional tapes would help you successfully reach these goals, probably
the most important element is the difference 13 uninterrupted days would
make.

Of course, most of us do not have 13 days we can devote to accomplishing our
goals, but we could devote one hour a day, six days a week.  While an hour
may not seem like much time, six hours per week multiplied by 52 weeks
equals 312 hours.  Three hundred and twelve hours equals 13 days.

I have a personal goal of reading 25 books per year.  Instead of
sporadically trying to accomplish this goal, I try to dedicate an hour each
night too reading.,  That way my goal of 25 books broken down into daily
doses becomes much easier to achieve.

There are few goals you cannot accomplish by dedicating 312 annual hours to
them.  If you want to realize your dreams, spend an hour or two a day
working on them.  You'll be surprised at the results that consistent daily
effort will produce.

Remember:  If you reach for your goals one hour at time, they'll soon be
within your grasp.

Happy Labor Day to all who read this. I pray that your weekend has been a good one and that all is well with you and your family.

I am so looking forward to fall...the sights (beautiful falling leaves...red, yellow, and brown, cornshocks in bundles, and big, orange pumpkins), the sounds (squirrels chattering, acorns and walnuts falling from the trees, and geese honking high overhead), and the smells (smoke from a roaring campfire, cool, crisp night air, and the aroma of good soups and stews). We've spent the whole day working outside...getting the yard ready for it. I can't wait for it to arrive in all it's autumn splendor!

Have a great rest of the week!

~Rebecca

The latest issue of HEARTH AND HOME is out. Feel free to check it out at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rebeccas_Hearth_and_Home/

As many of you here know, there have been big changes in our family within the past year. It started with the death of a close cousin and an uncle in March of 2005. Then, my mother passed away on the 26th of June. Right after that the babies started coming...a cousin's baby on July 2nd, a granddaughter was born to us on the 5th of July, another granddaughter came on the 9th of July, and, yet another granddaughter, was born to us on August 17th. During the months of September, December, and January three of my husband's closest aunts died, and somewhere in there, one of his cousin's had a baby, and the baby died shortly thereafter. Needless to say, it's been a bitter-sweet year all the way around. And the changes keep coming!