About six months ago my Father-In-Law gave me a teaching series by Perry Stone. The series was called "Satan's Counterfeit Feasts". On the front cover it showed all kinds of "Halloweeny" images to which I just rolled my eyes and took with a grain of salt. I pushed it aside as my Father-In-Law trying to discourage me yet again about letting the kids trick or treat, no big deal.
My family and I drove the 14 hour drive to Myrtle Beach in May. Several hours into the trip I looked around to see my husband snoring beside me and my daughter sawing logs behind me. I'd already listened to my new Misty Edwards cd like 100 times and was completely hyped up on wanting to get to our hotel. So, instead of pulling over and taking a nap, I put in the Perry Stone cd with the mindset of I was not defeated in my view of trick or treating/Halloween, I was just bored.
I am extremely thankful for the things that I learned in the two hours of Perry Stone's teaching. First, it showed me that my Father-In-Law loves us enough to try to get us informed. Most importantly, it showed me that the reality of our lives are more than what we see. It's kind of like an iceberg, only about 10 percent of the iceberg actually sticks out of the water but the real danger is the other 90 percent below that we can't see. On the surface, my prior view of the traditions of Halloween were fine. It wasn't until I dug a little deeper that I realized what exactly I was letting myself and my children be a part of.
A summary of Perry Stone's "Satan Is a Counterfeiter" is this:
WHY DOES IT SEEM LIKE OPPRESSION AND DEPRESSION STRIKE PEOPLE MORE AT CERTAIN TIMES OF THE YEAR? SATAN IS THE MASTER COUNTERFEITER. GOD SELECTED SEVEN TIMES EACH YEAR WHEN ISRAEL WOULD SET ASIDE AN APPOINTMENT WITH HIM. IN THE OCCULT WORLD, SATAN HAS INSPIRED HIS FOLLOWERS TO SET ASIDE CERTAIN DAYS IN A YEAR TO BE "SATANIC HOLY DAYS." CHRISTIANS NEED TO UNDERSTAND SATAN'S COUNTERFEIT FEAST DAYS, WHICH ARE MARKED EACH YEAR, AND KNOW HOW TO REINFORCE OUR TIME OF PRAYER AND FASTING DURING THESE SEASONS. WE CAN OVERCOME OPPRESSION, DEPRESSION AND FEAR BY UNDERSTANDING WHEN THESE SATANIC CYCLES OCCUR!
I'm not going to go over all the dates and counterfeit feasts, just Halloween. This is something I feel God has laid heavily on my heart because of Halloween being right around the corner and because I know that so many people really just don't know what the big deal is or where these traditions even stem from.
WHAT IS HALLOWEEN AND WHERE DID IT COME FROM?
History traces Halloween back to the ancient religion of the Celtics in Ireland. The Celtic people were very believed to be very conscious of the spiritual world and had their own ideas of how they could gain access to it - such as by helping their over 300 gods to defeat their enemies in battle, or by imitating the gods in showing cleverness and cunning.
One of their two main feasts was Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) at the end of summer (Nov. 1). 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.
"During this interval the normal order of the universe is suspended, the barriers between the natural and the supernatural are temporarily removed, the sidh lies open and all divine beings and the spirits of the dead move freely among men and interfere sometimes violently, in their affairs" (excerpt from "Celtic Mythology", p. 127).
The Celtic priests who carried out the rituals in the open air were called Druids, members of pagan orders in Britain, Ireland and Gaul, who generally performed their rituals by offering sacrifices, usually of crops and animals, but sometimes of humans, in order to appease gods; ensuring that the sun would return after the winter; and frightening away evil spirits.
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 view. Halloween has since become a confusing mixture of pagan culture and Christian tradition.
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. During their rule of the Celtic lands, Roman festivals were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The Romans observed the holiday of Feralia, intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made sacrifices in honor of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made oblations to them. Another festival was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
As the influence of Christianity spread into Celtic lands, in the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs, to replace the pagan festival of the dead. It was observed on May 13. In 834, Gregory III moved All Saint's Day from May 13 to Nov. 1 and for Christians, this became an opportunity for remembering before God all the saints who had died and all the dead in the Christian community. Oct. 31 thus became All Hallows' Eve ('hallow' means 'saint').
Sadly, though, many of the customs survived and were blended in with Christianity. Numerous folk customs connected with the pagan observances for the dead have survived to the present.
In 1517, a monk named Martin Luther honored the faithful saints of the past by choosing All Saints Day (November 1) as the day to publicly charge the Church heirarchy with abandoning biblical faith. This became known as "Reformation Day," a fitting celebration of the restoration the same biblical faith held by the saints throughout church history.
Trick or Treating
This can be traced back to pagan ritual for Samhain, the supreme night of demonic jubilation. They believed spirits of the dead would rise out of their graves and wander around, trying to return to the homes where they formerly lived. Villagers who were frightened tried to appease these wandering spirits by offering them gifts of fruit and nuts (treats). They put their finest foods in front of the home on plates, as gifts, to appease the hunger of the ghostly wanderers. They believed if the ghosts were no pleased they would kill destroy their land and kill their livestock (this is the trickery from "trick or treat").
The problem was if the souls of dead loved ones could return that night, so could anything else,human or not, nice or mean. The only thing these superstitious people knew to do to protect themselves was to dress up themselves as one of the demonic hoard, and hopefully blend in unnoticed among them. Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening the face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around. (This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, imps, ogres, and other demonic creatures.)
In many parts of Britain and Ireland this night was known as ''Mischief Night'', where people were free to go around the village playing pranks without fear of being punished. Many of the different customs were taken to the United States by Irish and Scottish immigrants in the nineteenth century, and they developed into 'trick or treat'.
JACK O'LANTERNS
The Jack-o-lantern is the festival light for Halloween and is the ancient symbol of a damned soul. Originally the Irish would carve out turnips or beets as lanterns as representations of the souls of the dead or goblins freed from the dead.
When the Irish came to America they couldn't find many turnips to carve into Jack O'Lanterns but it they found pumpkins in abundance. They used the pumpkins as a substitute for the turnips and they have been an essential part, if you will, of Halloween celebrations since.
Pumpkins were cut with faces representing demons and were originally meant to frighten away evil spirits. It was said that if a demon or such were to encounter something as fiendish looking as themselves that they'd run away in terror,thus sparing the houses dwellers from the ravages of dark entities. They would have been carried around the village boundaries or left outside the home to burn through the night.
**snipit of info that's not that important. Even Bats, Owls and other nocturnal animals that are now popular in Halloween theming were feared back then because they believed these animals were able to communicate with the dead.**
I could go into the whole "Witch" part of the tradition but I'm not going to because I figure, as Christians, we already know that this isn't okay.
COUNTERFEIT FEAST
In Perry Stone's teaching he talks about Halloween being one of satans ATTEMPTS to duplicate a holy day as a day that serves his agenda. Perry goes on to talk about how because this day is such a big deal to satan that demonic energy is working overtime. Meaning that on this day we need to be more on guard and prayed up for the things we cannot see. God, in His infinite wisdom, has allowed Satan to operate in this world (within the boundaries God has set for him) and has allowed Satan to operate with an agenda. Satan has an agenda for October 31st even without all the historical backing of Halloween. It's important that we remember there is more to our world than what we can see with our physical eyes. We should be careful of the things we partake in and weary of opening up a door that let's the enemy get a foothold on our life. We are the enemies of darkness, we can't expect them not to come after us. We can't expect if we open up a door for them to come in that they will turn away. Be aware of the reality, be aware of what's beyond your human eyes.
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV) "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
Be assured, Halloween is serious business for Satanists and witches. Those who oppose Christ are known to organize on Halloween to observe satanic rituals, to cast spells, to oppose churches and families, to perform sacrilegious acts, and to even offer blood sacrifices to Satan. While some may say, "But we only do this in fun...we don't practice witchcraft," those things that represent Satan and his domain cannot be handled or emulated "for fun". Participation places you in enemy and forbidden territory and that is dangerous ground.
Tom Sanguinet, former high priest in the Celtic tradition of Wicca said "The modern holiday we call Halloween has its origins in the full moon closest to November 1, the witches’ New Year. It was a time when the "spirits" (demons) were supposed to be at their peak power and revisiting the earth planet." He went on to say, "Halloween is purely and absolutely evil, and there is nothing we ever have or will do that would make it acceptable to the Lord Jesus." [The Dark Side Of Halloween]
BACKIN' IT UP WITH SCRIPTURE...JUST SAYIN'
As believers, we are called to "Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil." (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22) Come on, witches, monsters, vampires (even the sparkling ones), ghosts, ghouls, goblins, devils and demons all portray evil. Christians are supposed to"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." (Ephesians 5:11)
So I had to ask myself, is Halloween just an time of dress up and candy fun for the kids that does no harm? Police officials everywhere report a great increase of disturbances on Halloween (you can Google it if you want). There are horrifying accounts of poisoned candy and fruits booby-trapped with razor blades and needles. Some hospitals offer free X-rays of Halloween treats in order to prevent children from being harmed. Who but Satan could inspire such monstrous actions?
When we celebrate the Festival of Samhain and the powers of darkness by dressing up as evil creatures or decorating our homes with occult (pagan) symbols, Satanic power is glorified.
The sort of practices celebrated on Halloween are what defiled the ancient nations (check out Leviticus 18:24-30). The Israelites were warned against such practices when they entered the Promised Land, "When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there." (Deuteronomy 18:9)
Are we embracing an evil day of satan, with the pranks, demon faces on pumpkins, clothing of ''death'' being worn, and calling it fun? By participation in Halloween are we sending the message to our children that witchcraft, demonism, satanism and the occult are harmless? Or worse yet, fun? One of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis, wrote that one of Satan's most deceptive tactics is to convince people that he doesn't exist. Apparently he has done a good job in his deception. Many people I've talked to think of the devil simply as a "symbol" of something evil.
A year ago I was the person who not only participated in this days festivities but I also defended it by saying it was "harmless".
The Bible says, "Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." (John 3:19-20)
RANDOM FACTOIDS I FIND DISTURBING
**Americans spend $21 million on Halloween candies yearly second only to Christmas in total sales.
**Halloween is the Number 1 season for selling humorous greeting cards.
**In North America, some 25 million cards are sold annually. (Peter Smith, "By the Numbers," The Toronto Star, 2002-OCT-27.) **Halloween is the third-largest party occasion next to Christmas and New Year's Eve.
SIMPLIFIED AND AMPLIFIED
Halloween does not have even one single redeeming virtue. It is custom born out of pagan superstition. It is a demon-inspired, devil-glorifying, occult festival. It is an evening holy unto evil, death, and divination. The Scriptures tells us to "Abstain from all appearance of evil." (1Thess. 5:22)
Let's wake up as Christians and realize this is a night of evil and as the beloved of Christ we should have nothing to do with it. I STRUGGLED with giving it up because it was "fun" and my children LOVED the opportunity to dress up and get candy. It's important to remember that we are all accountable for our choices and decisions. But this is my conviction and you don't have to take my word for it. Pray and ask God to show you what He would have you do. Something as simple as:
Heavenly Father, I turn my will and my life over to Your care, and may Your Holy Spirit lead and guide me in all the things I think , do and say. I'm Yours and You are mine. Father, please use me that I might help others come to know and love Your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for saving me. Amen
