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From:          hadavar@juno.com
To:            heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject:       Halloween

Dear Eddie,
Below is an article I wrote regarding the origin and history of Halloween.  It is followed by discussion questions which may be used by small groups or individuals.  If interested, perhaps you would like to share it with your newsgroup.

Shalom,
Ruben Barrett
HaDavar Ministries
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HALLOWEEN
(c) 1998 by Ruben Barrett

HALLOWEEN, a holiday celebrated in various countries, can initially be traced back to the 9th century when Pope Gregory III moved All Saints Day from May 13th to November 1st. All Saints Day, or Hallow's Day, was to commemorate all saints who did not have their own day of remembrance. This was done in part because for about a thousand years that day had been celebrated by the Celts and British islanders as a feast of their own, and the Pope wanted to stamp out remaining pagan influence among that group of people. The term Hallowe'en is a gloss form of Hallow Even, short for Hallow Evening, because it preceeds Hallow Day.
 
Before the Church tried to convert this pagan holiday it was known as Sahmain (pronounced SahWEEN or SAHwin), a word meaning "end of Summer." When the Romans conquered the British Isles in the first century the Celts had already been celebrating Sahmain for several hundred years. The Romans did not object to it because it coincided with a similar feast of their own called Pamona, named for the goddess of fruits and gardens. In certain areas the Romans and Celts lived among each other and Sahmain may have been merged with or at least influenced by the Roman holiday.

The Celts were ruled by a mysterious order of people called Druids, who controlled both civil and religious life. An agrarian society, the Celts celebrated four distinct fire festivals: Ormelc, Beltane, Lughnasad, and Samhain, which commemorated the final harvest and functioned as a New Year celebration. Each festival corresponded with one of the four seasons, and the Druids believed that each seasonal change thinned the veil between the spiritual and material worlds. Like many cultures in that day, the Celts followed a lunar calendar. Like the Jewish tradition,
the Celtic day began at sunset. Thus October 31st evening was actually part of November 1st. Since Samhain represented the end of the harvest and seasonal death of their crops,etc., it was also a time to acknowledge, remember, and possibly consult with the spirits of the dead as well.

This was the time of year when departed and/or troubled spirits, faeries, goblins and ghosts could most easily cross over into the material world. People dressed up as these beings and went from house to house asking for food so that they might be appeased. Others wore scary masks in order to ward off them off. The festivities were marked by animal sacrifices, offerings to the dead, and bonfires in their honor.

By the time of Pope Gregory III the Celts were no longer a physical threat to the Empire, and the Druids had long since disappeared. Only the traditions remained. With the conversion of Sahmain into All Saints Day, old traditions took on new meanings, yet little actually changed. Instead of appeasing ghosts and faeries, trick-or-treaters gathered food in honor of the saints. The more food that was given assured more prayers to be said at mass the next day. One interesting tradition involved the carving of potatoes or turnips with scary faces, and inserting candles inside to serve as lanterns. The Jack-o-lantern commemorated a fellow named Jack, who supposedly was unable to enter Heaven or Hell and was stuck wandering about with his lantern until Judgment Day.

This day was further immortalized when on Hallow's Day 1517 the parishioners of All Saints (Castle) Church in Wittenberg, Germany came to the Hallow Mass surprised to find nailed to their church door a tract contesting some of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, and specifically the Pope himself. They were placed there by a priest who decided to be true to the Holy Scriptures, even if that meant breaking with the culture he lived in. His name was Martin Luther. This paper, called the 95 Theses, sparked the eventual Protestant Reformation and
significantly affected church life.

Only two decades before this was the New World discovered by Columbus, and when people flocked to America years later they looked down upon Halloween as well as other holidays. In early America people did however celebrate the Fall harvest in what were called Autumn play parties. People assembled for feasting, offering thanksgiving for their food, dancing, plays, raising of barns, etc. The late 1800's brought a boom in immigration from Europe, many being from Ireland. These Irish immigrants (predominantly Catholic) brought their long held tradition of Halloween with them. They found pumpkins more plentiful than turnips, and turned them into Jack-o-lanterns.

Those who celebrated Halloween pushed for it to be a recognized holiday, and when it finally showed up on the calendars it took off in popularity. In 1921 the first all-city Halloween celebration took place in Anoka, MN with New York and Los Angeles shortly following suite. By the mid-part of the twentieth century advertising marketers had caught on to the craze,
and Halloween became a major money maker. The demand for costumes, candy, decorations, greeting cards and pumpkins gave it a niche in the business world to be taken advantage of. To this day Halloween is celebrated voluntarily. The U.S. Government does not recognize it. There is no national observance. It is not a paid holiday. It is kept alive through retail marketing, local school districts, city governments, and houses of worship. People just do it.

Since the 1960's there has been a tremendous revival in the occult, satanism, witchcraft, New-Age groups and neo-paganism, all of which hold Halloween night in high regards. Satanic ritual abuse, animal sacrifices, arsons, poisoned candy, cruel tricks, graffiti, etc. all get attention around Halloween due to their increase. So then, how should the Christian respond? Traditionally there are three options:

(1.) TOLERANCE - Do nothing differently than an unbeliever would. Decorating the house with images of the occult, witches, skeletons, etc. and dressing your children in costumes does not negatively affect your faith. You pass out candy to visitors, wish others a happy holiday, and enjoy the spookiness of the occasion. Even if you don't care to celebrate it, you enjoy seeing children having fun. The images or history of the day mean nothing to you and you don't believe there's anything wrong with observing it.

(2.) ABSTINENCE - Total rejection of anything associated with Halloween. Do nothing differently than on any other night. You find Halloween to be satanic or at least offensive. You believe it is spiritually wrong to celebrate it, and want others to know about its dark history. You see it as a poor Christian witness to be associated with such darkness.

(3.) COMPLIANCE - You are uncomfortable with Halloween's dark history, but question how something as simple and innocent as giving out or taking candy could be wrong. You recognize the difficulties of raising your children against the holiday while having to face public school carnivals or at the very least, any retail store. You accept Halloween as just a day, and make what you want of it. You avoid scary costumes, treat it asa fall festival, offer thanks to God for the year's crops, and maybe even use it as an opportunity to share your faith.

Which one are you?

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About HaDavar:
HaDavar (The Word) Ministries exists to promote that Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1), namely Messiah Yeshua--Jesus the Christ, so that people might know the Word, both written and living. Ruben Barrett is a member of Brit Hadasha Messianic Synagogue in Memphis, TN  Email: hadavar@juno.com
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From:           David G. Hallowell
To:                heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject:       Some information about Halloween


                                HALLOWEEN

Halloween has every appearance of evil, yet some Christians celebrate it. Why? Historians, anthropologists, encyclopedias and the media tell us that Halloween and its traditions are rooted in
witchcraft and Satanism. Why don't all Christians see this? Can they not see the houses decorated with witches, demons, ghosts, vampires, sorcerers, devils, death, mutilation and horror? Can they not discern that celebrating Halloween is out of the question for a Christian?

Of course they can. But level of spiritual discernment is not the problem when Christians continue celebrating a day devoted to Satan. What's at issue is obedience, and their unwillingness to suffer shame and ridicule for refusing to celebrate a popular holiday. If you are a Christian who says that Halloween practices are "harmless," have "lost their original meaning" and are "just some fun for the kids," this letter is for you. If you beg to differ, take issue with the sources cited, especially God's word, the Bible.


                      ORIGIN OF HALLOWEEN IS EVIL


ROOTED IN PAGANISM

"For the ancient Celts it [Halloween] was Old Year's Night, and the night of all the witches." [Dunkling, Leslie. A Dictionary of Days. New York: Facts on File, 1988. p54.]

"October 31: All Hallow's Eve, Halloween, Hallowmas or Allhallow Even, the night when spirits, witches and other supernatural agencies are abroad; a popular belief having its origin in pre-Christian times." [Frewin, Anthony. The Book of Days. London: Collins, 1979. p332.]

"It is clearly a relic of pagan times." [Chambers, R. ed. The Book of Days. London: Gale, 1967. p519.]

"Halloween, a festival of Scottish-Irish origin, held on All Hallows Eve, the night of October 31. Elements of the customs connected with Halloween can be traced to a Druid ceremony of pre-Christian times." [The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol 13. Connecticut: Grolier, 1991. p725.]

"All Saints' Day was originally a pagan festival of the dead that began at sundown." [MacDonald, Margaret Read. The Folklore of World Holidays. London: Gale, 1992. p518.]

"In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints' Day to replace the pagan festival of the dead." [Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. New York: Facts On File, 1992. p4.]

HALLOWEEN IS CHARACTERIZED BY WITCHCRAFT, IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITION

"The Celts had festivals for two major gods-a sun god and a god of the dead (called Samhain), whose festival was held on November 1, the beginning of the Celtic New Year." [The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol 13. Connecticut: Grolier, 1991. p725]

"Halloween . . . is derived from the rites of the druids celebrating the day of Saman, when the Lord of Death called together the souls of the wicked who had died during the past year. The theme of theharvest, which runs through modern Halloween celebrations, comes from both the old druidic celebrations and the old Roman festivals in honour of Pomona, goddess of fruit, which were brought to Britain during the Roman occupation." [Collier's Encyclopedia, Vol 12. New York: Macmillan, 1991. p192.]

"November Eve, All Hallow Eve, the Gaelic fire festival of Samhain or Samhuin, strikes a more eerie note than the other festivals. It is summer's end, when the powers of the underworld are felt to be growing, with its gates opened and all its forces let loose-the evil as well as the good." [Farrar, Stewart. What Witches Do: A Modern Coven Revealed. Washington: Phoenix, 1983. p88.]

"Halloween was thought to be the most favorable time for divination concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes." [The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 5. 15th ed. Chicago: Encyclpedia Britannica, 1992. p646.]

"Certain fortunetelling methods began in Europe hundreds of years ago and became an important part of Halloween." [The World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. Chicago: World Book, 1993. p25.]

"According to a medieval Irish document, the Druidic priests burned live children on the Samhain fire [precursor to present-day Halloween bon fires] to gain favour of the gods they worshipped." [Halloween: Trick or Treat? Pagan Invasion: Vol 1. Jeremiah Films Inc, 1991.]


PRESENT-DAY HALLOWEEN IS EVIL STILL ROOTED IN PAGANISM

"The festival of the dead was gradually incorporated into Christian ritual." [The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol 13. Connecticut: Grolier, 1991. p725]

"Most of Halloween's customs are the remainders of pagan superstitions relating to Samhain, the Druidic New Year. The Druids were the influential sorcerers, magicians and priests of the nature religions that prevailed in early Northern Europe." [Halloween: Trick or Treat? Pagan Invasion: Vol 1. Jeremiah Films Inc, 1991.]

"Many of the customs of the Celts survived even after the people became Christians. During the 800s, the church established All Saints' Day on November 1. The people made the old pagan customs part of this Christian holy day." [The World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. Chicago: World Book, 1993. p25.]

"Thus it is clear that the main celebrations of Hallowe'en were purely Druidical, and this is further proved by the fact that in parts of Ireland the 31st of October was, and even still is, known as Oidhche Shamhna, "Vigil of Saman." [Encyclpedia Britannica, 11th ed. Cambridge: University Press, 1910. p858.]

"Even after November 1 became a Christian feast day honouring all saints, the peasants clung to the old pagan beliefs and customs that had grown up about Halloween." [Compton's Encyclopedia and Fact Index. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1984. p12.]

"Numerous [Halloween] folk customs connected with the pagan observances for the dead have survived to the present." [Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. New York: Facts On File, 1992. p4.]

From the video, Halloween: Trick or Treat?

All of today's seemingly innocent Halloween customs have their origin in the ancient Celtic Day of the Dead:

Trick-or-treating is from Celtic tradition, where people gave food in exchange for blessings from spirits of the dead. Failure to supply treats would result in demonic retaliation.

Jack-O-Lanterns grew out of the Celtic tradition of carving the faces of demonic spirits on turnips and, later, pumpkins. The World Book Encyclopedia says that the apparently harmless lighted face of the Jack-O-Lantern is actually an ancient symbol of a damned soul.

Candle-lit pumpkins or skulls at a home once signified that the occupants were sympathetic to Satan and therefore received mercy by trick-or-treaters on their Halloween rounds. Bon fires stem from the Druidic ritual midnight fires in which adults and children were thrown into huge fires while the celebrants danced around them in demonic fits of abandon. The Druids believed that black cats were reincarnations of the evil dead and were possessed with supernatural power and knowledge. Bobbing for apples was part of the Druidic new year sexual divination ceremony of fertility.

Witches' broomsticks and hats were originally considered phallic symbols. When used in the rituals of witchcraft, these objects supposedly transformed the sexual energy released during orgasm into psychic energy. [Halloween: Trick or Treat? Pagan Invasion: Vol 1. Jeremiah Films Inc, 1991.]

HALLOWEEN STILL CHARACTERIZED BY WITCHCRAFT, IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITION

"Witches celebrate eight major festivals or sabbats each year. . . .The first is Yule, 20 or 21 December .. . . 31 October is Samhain or Hallowe'en." [Russell, Jeffrey B. A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, and Pagans. London: Thames and Hudson, 1980. p168.]

"The leading idea respecting Halloween is that it is the time, of all others, when supernatural influences prevail. It is the night set apart for a universal walking abroad of spirits, both of the visible
and invisible world." [Chambers, R. ed. The Book of Days. London: republished by Gale, 1967. p519.]

[Halloween: Trick or Treat? Pagan Invasion: Vol 1. Jeremiah Films Inc, 1991.]

"Modern witches do the same [as in the past], deliberately trying to contact dead friends and relatives [on Halloween]-all too successfully." [Farrar, Stewart. What Witches Do: A Modern Coven Revealed. Washington: Phoenix, 1983. p88.]

From the video, Halloween: Trick or Treat?

While Halloween is largely a secular holiday, true witches and followers of witchcraft still preserve the early pagan beliefs and consider Halloween a sacred and deadly powerful time." Glenn Hobbs, a former Satanist, says that children all over the world are sacrificed on Halloween night during Satanic rituals. He witnessed child-sacrifice as a boy.

Detective Kurt Jackson, of Beaumont Police Department in the United States, confirms that humans are sacrificed every year on Halloween.

There are confirmed cases of women who were used by Satanists as "breeders" of children who were later sacrificed to Satan. Halloween is the one time of the year when Canadian and American community service organizations warn that children and animals are most likely to be abducted. [Halloween: Trick or Treat? Pagan Invasion: Vol 1. Jeremiah Films Inc, 1991.]

HALLOWEEN PRACTICES ARE CONDEMNED IN SCRIPTURE FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION

IN THE BEGINNING "And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life" (Gen 3:14).

HISTORICAL BOOKS "And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger" (IIChron 33:6).

THE LAW "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer" (Dt 18:1-11). "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live"(Ex 22:18).

PSALMS "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood . . . . Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance" (Ps 106:37-40).

PROVERBS "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil" (Prov 8:13a).

WISDOM "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil" (Ecc 5:1).

MAJOR PROPHETS "And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin" (Jer 32:35).

"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?" (Isa 8:19).

MINOR PROPHETS "And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers" (Mic 5:12).

GOSPELS "When the even was come, they brought unto him [Jesus] many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses" (Mt 8:16, 17).

ACTS "And [Paul] said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" (Acts 13:10).

"Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver" (Acts 19:19).

CHURCH EPISTLES "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred . . . . they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal 5:19-21).

"The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils" (1Corinthians 10:20).

PASTORAL EPISTLES "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness . . . from such withdraw thyself" (ITim 6:3-5).

GENERAL EPISTLES "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (IPet 5:8).

IN THE END "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Rev 21:8).

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO NOW?

These Scriptures lead you to the following conclusions about Halloween:

1 You are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them (Eph 5:11).

2 You are to abstain from all appearance of evil (IThess 5:22).

3 You are to keep no company with people who call themselves Christians while living in open sin (ICor 5:11).

4 You are to have no fellowship with devils (ICor 10:20).

5 You are to withdraw yourself from every brother that walks disorderly (II Thes 3:6).

Any non-Christian you care to stop on the street will tell you that the energizing person behind Halloween is not God. Surely no Christian can say that he or she celebrates Halloween "as unto the Lord." Any Christian who celebrates a day that is consecrated to Satan, sins. Will you obey God's word? Will you have nothing to do with Halloween, but rather reprove it?

God Bless you,
Kelly

(passed on with my blessing, David G. Hallowell)
May His peace in you increase,
David

Ukraine, Crimea
Rev. David Gerry Hallowell

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