We can see from His Word how God feels about witchcraft, sorcery, divination, and other things demonic in nature. He is against those things. And if He is against such things, why would He be for events which symbolize pagan practices—even “just for fun”? Just because a tradition has developed in our culture to go out and “trick or treat” does not mean God winks at little Christians dressed up as Harry Potter, ninja turtles, and devils. We need to learn that it is ok not to conform to the world. Some Christian parents compromise with their children--embracing worldly entertainment to appease them (and themselves), then scratch their heads in derision when their child call the psychic hotline. Hello. I recently googled “Christian hypnosis” and I am floored as to how many Christians think practicing hypnosis is ok. Of “what” power do you think you are manipulating? Power from God (yet you cannot manipulate Him) or power from Hell? The more garbage we let in, the more new age practices will be accepted and unquestioned. Like the moral degradation of prime time television shows, rot comes in by stealth. In gradual increments satan feeds slime to unsuspecting people, to the point where it begins to look and taste good, and we see nothing wrong with it anymore. We should honor God before all things, certainly over a holiday celebrated by many in the occult today to worship their false gods.
DEUTERONOMY 18:10-12
10 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,
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:22
Abstain from all appearance of evil.
ISAIAH 47:12-15
12 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast labored, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.
2 Kings 17:17
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
2 Chronicles 33:6
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.
From Wikipedia:
Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain; from the Old Irish samain).[1] The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes [2] regarded as the "Celtic New Year".[3] Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.[4][5]
History of name
The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening", but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day",[6] which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,[3] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day…
The following article below comes from The Good News website:
How Did a Pagan Holiday Become a 'Christian' Celebration?
Originally Halloween was a pagan festival oriented around fire, the dead and the powers of darkness. Most everyone knows that Halloween takes place on Oct. 31. Far fewer, however, understand the connection between Halloween and the next day on the calendar, the festival of All Hallows' or All Saints' Day, celebrated by some churches and denominations Nov. 1.
One author surmises that All Saints' Day was established to commemorate the saints and martyrs of the Roman Catholic Church and was first introduced in the seventh century (Man, Myth, and Magic, Vol. 1, 1983, p. 109). Oddly enough, history shows that Halloween—this ancient, thoroughly pagan holiday with its trappings of death and demonism—is inseparably tied to All Saints' Day.
Pagan festivals from time immemorial have had a curious way of worming their way into Christianity over the centuries. The Encyclopedia of Religion explains that "the British church attempted to divert the interest in pagan customs by adding a Christian celebration to the calendar on the same date as the Samhain [the ancient Celtic name for the festival that eventually would be renamed Halloween].
"The Christian festival, the Feast of All Saints, commemorates the known and unknown saints of the Christian religion just as the Samhain had acknowledged and paid tribute to the Celtic deities" (1987, Vol. 6, p. 177).
How did this strange turn of events come about—the Catholic Church transforming an ancient pagan festival into one to supposedly honor deceased saints?
The 1913 edition of The Catholic Encyclopedia records this about All Saints' Day: "In the early days the Christians were accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighboring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast. Frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration.
"In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all. [Eventually] Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for 1 November" (Vol. 1, p. 315).
Pope Gregory's choice of Nov. 1 for this celebration was significant. Author Lesley Bannatyne explains: "That the date coincided with Samhain was no accident: the Church was still trying to absorb pagan celebrations taking place at this time . . .
"Villagers were also encouraged to masquerade on this day, not to frighten unwelcome spirits, but to honor Christian saints. On All Saints' Day, churches throughout Europe and the British Isles displayed relics of their patron saints. Poor churches could not afford genuine relics and instead had processions in which parishioners dressed as saints, angels and devils. This religious masquerade resembled the pagan custom of parading ghosts to the town limits. It served the new church by giving an acceptable Christian basis to the custom of dressing up on Halloween.
"In addition, the Church tried to convince the people that the great bonfires they lit in homage to the sun would instead keep the devil away . . ." (Halloween: An American Holiday, An American History, 1998, pp. 9, 11).
Later a second celebration, All Souls' Day, was instituted on Nov. 2. Eventually these two holidays merged into the present observance on Nov. 1, which was also called All Hallows' Day. The name of All Hallows' Even (evening) for the night of Oct. 31 evolved into the name Hallowe'en, or Halloween as it is called today.
This is a brief history of how men rationalized taking an ancient pagan festival rooted in death and demonism and adapting it for use as a "Christian" celebration. Regrettably, it flies in the face of God's explicit instruction to not use pagan practices to worship Him.
He clearly states in Deuteronomy 12:30-32: ". . . Do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods . . . Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it." GN
