From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 1997 12:10 AM
To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: The History of Halloween
From: David G. Hallowell
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Some information about Halloween
Dear thoughtful Christian friend
Here is something timely to think about, David in Crimea
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Halloween
October 17th, 1997
Ok let me begin by saying that what you are about to read is something
the Lord put on my heart to send. I did this last year as
well. After doing it some people on this list were upset. I have come to
realize that we can't worry about how upset man may
get we must follow the Lords leading. What you will read is to educate
you on what Halloween is really all about. It is not to tell
you what to do. That is between you and God. But as believers we
SHOULD be responsible to find out exactly what HOLY
day we are celebrating and the roots of that day BEFORE we actually
take part.
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 the
harvest, 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 favourable 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 Encyclpedia 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
(IIThes 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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