[Rev. M. Rodimer]

Roy Wickoff of the American Family Association shared a wonderful treatise on Helloween today. What happened? What else, God-mockers flooded the site with hateful commentary!

1 Thess. 5:22, tells us to “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” So please wake up Christian Church, listen to God’s Word. This is a night of evil and those who love the Lord should have nothing to do with it. But the church and its members have embraced it as a fun time and do not see it for what it really is.

Halloween has never been a Christian holiday, and has no place in the life of a born again Christian. As we study the history of this day we find that its roots come from paganism, Satanism, Heathenism, and the occult. The current modern view of this day is no better than its earlier incarnations.
The festival of death marks the Celtic (pronounced KEL’ tic) New Year and goes back to a time when celebrating the end of the growing season was important to everyone in Ireland. So the god of the Celtics was to call up the spirits of the wicked dead who had died during the past year. It is reported (either true or false) that other so-called evil spirits arose and went about the countryside harassing people. So history teaches that the Celtics expected to be harassed by evil ghosts and demons on October 31st. Bonfires were lit to guide these so called demons to their own towns and of course to ward off evil spirits.

It was not fun and games to them. Our modern view of this evil day is represented in stores and television by ghosts, witches and all sorts of displays of carnage.

So where does our trick or treating get its start? Let’s talk about the Druids, who were the priests of the day for the Celtics and members of pagan orders in Britain, Ireland and Gaul. From these Druid priests who went from door to door demanding certain foods and anyone who refused was then cursed by them for the next year. So as it went, the Druids would hollow out large turnips and then carve demon faces on them as charms to protect them from the evil they would summon. Each Druid priest assumed that a demon spirit guided them personally and they resided in these turnips. It was his little god, so to speak.

Fortune tellers and those who practiced divination found that they had their greatest success on these nights as well. They even called on Satan to bless their efforts.

Several centuries before Christ, sacrifices were made to the gods, especially the god of death, Sam Hain (pronounced Sah Ween). Sacrifices all the way from vegetable to human were offered. This was a very gruesome event that many in that day thought would protect them from evil and the demons. This practice still goes on in some areas of the world today. They believed Samhain was a time when the division between the two worlds became very thin, when hostile supernatural forces were active and ghosts and spirits were free to wander as they wished.

To the Celtics, the bonfire represented the sun and was used to aid the Druid in his fight with dark powers. The term bonfire comes from the words "bone fire," literally meaning the bones of sacrificed animals, sometimes human, were piled in a field with timber and set ablaze. On Samhain, all fires, except those of the Druids, were extinguished and households were levied a fee to relight their holy fire which burned at their altars. During the Festival of Samhain, fires would be lit which would burn all through the winter and sacrifices would be offered to the gods on the fires. This practice of burning humans was stopped around 1600, and an effigy was sometimes burned instead.

When Christianity spread to parts of Europe, instead of trying to abolish these pagan customs, people tried to introduce ideas which reflected a more Christian world-view. Halloween has since become a confusing mixture of traditions and practices from pagan cultures and Christian tradition. Even today we find many churches who have decided to do some type of anti-halloween event such as fall festivals at their churches and even let the small children dress up as Bible characters. Such confusing activities tell our children this practice is okay. When they go out to their schools and homes, it is hard to tell the difference from church practices and the October 31st event. (Jeremiah Project web site)

The festival of death has pretty much survived all the efforts of the church to stamp it out. A counterfeit for this time of the year is giving in to the time of halloween. Satan has deluded the saints into believing they can somehow circumvent the evil by playing along in some small ways.

Today’s present day celebration is bigger than Christmas in stores and in the minds of most children. Isn’t the theme of this day one of evil, death, fear and threats? We see the stores with supposed fun stuff like witches, ghosts, skeletons and monsters and we just take it all in stride as just plain fun. Since when have these things ever really been fun? Many will say, “We don’t take it seriously.” But satan does and so does God. What about churches who build house of horror in the fellowship halls and think that this does not lead to confusion on the parts of our children?

So wake up church, and let us never, ever embrace anything, other than the Church of God and the precepts of faith set up by our Savior Jesus Christ.

What could be wrong with this? Check out some of the hateful comments!

10/7/2010 5:19:12 PM
Halloween or "All Hallows(Saints)Eve" originally was a celtic practice of leaving gifts outside of town to prevent evil spirits from coming in.The next day is dedicated to the Saints. It was believed that the evil ones would simply take the offerings & leave. What is important is what is in the heart. If one worships evil...one will find evil.. if one seeks Gods truth, then they will find it. I can't see any harm in the make believe of halloween as long as there is perspective provided for the younger crowd!

10/7/2010 4:04:47 PM
Absolute rubbish !!! If the author of this diatribe will do some research on Celtic Studies, they will find out that the people were protecting themselves from "evil",AND not celebrating it.This is what happens when one Christian sect wants every Christian to believe as they do. Learn the facts !!!

10/7/2010 3:19:19 PM
Why give the pagans the holiday?! why surrender? as a protestant, I wil be celebrating Reformation Day, Oct 31. The recovery of the Gospel happens to correspond to that day, and should be celebrated! at most halloween is a "meat sacrificed to idols" issue. a day has been sacrificed and set up for pagans, Christians have the right to abstain, but not the right to judge and condemn other Christians whose conciences are not pricked. Paul makes the point that idols aren't really gods anyway, the druid and celtic gods and traditions aren't real anyway. GO get candy and support your local dentist!

10/7/2010 3:18:52 PM
Roy - I think your first mistake is using secular resources like Collier's and Columbia Encyclopedia. The word "Halloween" itself comes from "All Hallow's E'en [evening] which is the Catholic Church's celebration the night before All Saints' Day. One needs to understand the fear of the common man during pre-Reformation times to know the significance of this holy-day. A study of the architectual features of a cathedral is also helpful to realize the purpose of grotesque gargoyles. I say use the "day the LORD has made" to do something significant in your community.

10/7/2010 3:16:02 PM
I thought it was all saints day and all souls day and in mexico, which is very religious, there is dia de los meurtos or day of the dead where they remember their ancestors - only in a fun way instead of the depressing way we do it here. No christian who is celebrating halloween is worshipping pagan gods or doing evil. People have to lighten up - it is a day for kids to dress up and get candy...

10/7/2010 3:07:15 PM
I think we as Christians need to lighten up on the October 31st event. I don't think we should participate in any evil-like promotions, but the more we protest it the more credence we give it. I hope we all know as Christians, with the power of the Holy Spirit, that evil spirits have no power over us unless we give it to them. When we get so concerned about evil we are giving it power and demonstrating our lack of faith in the Power of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing wrong with having a party at church that evening as an alternative. The kids will have fun and will be less likely to be subjects to ridicule at school the next day. They can say, I went to one place, had a lot of fun, food and, yes, lo

10/7/2010 3:06:50 PM
Those of you who feel that you are honoring and celebrating Satan and evil should without a doubt stay way from Halloween. The rest of us Christians who use this time to have fun with our families and have no evil thoughts or inclinations during halloween will enjoy this holiday as the celebration it has become which is a kick off to winter and the promise of rejuvination and life to come in the spring.

10/7/2010 2:51:00 PM
Very amusing, is this website the religious version of the Onion?

10/7/2010 2:35:55 PM
Do some real reasearch. There was no such celtic god as Samhain. It means "summers end" in old Irish. Are you even for real??? Nothing like using fear tactics... Was Jesus born on Dec 25 for real? Howabout your Christmas Tree??? How about Easter eggs?? Give me a break.

10/7/2010 2:26:21 PM
GOD, looks at what's in your heart. If your thoughts are evil then you project your evil thoughts onto everyone else. Work out your OWN salvation with fear and trembling.

10/7/2010 2:12:28 PM
That's silly. Halloween is now just a costume celebration. No one says you need to dress like an evil character. Why not dress your kids like your favorite Bible hero or like their favorite cartoon character or something.

10/7/2010 2:01:42 PM
As a child growing up it was a night to dress-up and receive..That's all it was and that's all the kids today think it is. It is the adults who have turned this fun evening into something evil. Think back on how much fun you had as a kid and try and let the children today be kids. Afterall it is a night for children to trick-or-treat!

10/7/2010 1:37:29 PM
If you do a similar study on the origins of Christmas and Easter, you will find similar pagan background. I, also, do not celebrate Halloween, and do celebrate Christmas and Easter, but let's be careful about digging up background so exclussivly. I see Halloween as having no redeeming 'Christian' virtues, where Christmas and Easter at least have been 'sanctified' by the 'Church', and currently are more related to Christ than the worship of the sun god. I'm not sure that makes it all OK, though.

The hate of these atheists, false Christians, and God-mockers is disgusting.

[Seth Campbell]

Have you ever noticed that when an atheist/God-mocker/False Christian tells you to "do some research" it really means "listen to me and no other sources"? They do it on here too, and then stick their fingers in their ears (metaphorically) when you try and explain how well yes you have done your research.