~Halloween’s Origin~

In 100A.D. the Roman Pantheon was built by Emperor Hadrian as a temple to the goddess Cybele and other Roman deities. This became the principle place of worship where Roman pagans prayed for the dead. When Rome was captured then the Pantheon fell into disrepair.

The Emperor Phocas re-captured Rome and gave the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV in 609A.D. He consecrated it to the Virgin Mary and resumed using the temple to pray for the dead, only now it was “Christianized”, from this point men added the unscriptural teaching of purgatory.

In 834A.D. Pope Gregory IV extended the feast for all the church and it became known as All Saint’s Day, still commemorating the dead. This feast is still in practice by some church’s today.

However the actual customs of Halloween (A.K.A. “All Hallow’s Eve”) are traced back to the Druid festival of the dead.

It starts with a Druid god of the dead, named Samhain, was honoured at Halloween in Britain, France, Germany, and other Celtic countries. Samhain called together all wicked souls who died within the past year and that were destined to inhabit animals. This celebration of the dead honoured the god of the dead on this particular night.

The Druids believed that souls of the dead returned to their former homes to be entertained by the living. Bonfires were built atop hills so they might find their way. Suitable food and shelter was provided for these spirits or else they would cast spells, cause havoc, steal infants, destroy crops, kill farm animals and create terror as they haunted the living. These spirits demanded placating by giving them a type of worship and offering.

The “Trick-or-Treat” of today emulates this action . The Samhain celebration used nuts, apples, skeletons, witches and black cats. Divination and auguries were practiced, as well as magic to seek answers for the future. Black cats were considered reincarnated beings with the ability to divine the future. During this Festival, supernatural beings terrified the populace. Even today, witchcraft practitioners declare October 31^st as the most advantageous time to practice their black arts.

At this point in time the only major Christian church was only the Roman Catholic Church. It tried to eliminate the druid celebration of the dead by offering All Saint’s Day as a substitute. This became a common practice as Christianity spread over Europe, the British Isles; it attempted to replace the pre-existing pagan cult worship of Apollo, Diana or Ymir with Christianised ceremonies, but to no avail. This explains why throughout Europe there is such a diverse and sometimes weird group of Christianised ceremonies usually connected to the Catholic Church. E.G. “The Running of the Bulls.” This also happened with the Aztec’s and Native’s of South America.

Although the outward forms of such worship disappeared, the belief in these deities did not. In Europe and the British Isles they found an outlet during the time of Middle Ages with the open practice of witchcraft which is presently enjoying a revival in many countries, including Australia and the United States.

As a matter of fact in Germany the occult is considered more prevalent than it was in the Middle Ages. The deistic cults held periodic meetings known as witches sabbaths, and it is the same today with October 31^st being of more importance. Pranks and mischief began to be played out to represent the mischievous behaviour attributed to witches and the fairies.

“Trick-or-Treat” comes from this an ancient Druid practice. One of the basic doctrine in witchcraft is to control the will of another by the use of fear. Even if this is done in jest, when one threatens to punish if a treat or offering is not given, they are imitating an occult practice of controlling the will of another by use of fear. During the Irish Druid event of trick-or-treat, prosperity was promised to all that were generous donors, however there were only tricks to all who refused. The contributions demanded were in the name of Muck Olla, another early Druid deity.

Traditional Halloween symbols started to appeared in the U.S. during the late 1800’s. Witches, black cats, death’s heads cut from a pumpkin, skeletons, candles, masks, parties and pranks were all used. In rural areas, aggravating and destructive acts were done, such as removing gates and placing them atop barns. The same was done with outhouses and wagons.

The uninformed Christian has no idea that there truly are demonic spirits that are contacted and activated as people call out to them even though they think it a jest or fun. Every act around Halloween is paying honour and homage to false gods; they are also attracting spirits from the realm of the satanic. Those who have been deeply involved in witchcraft and other satanic practices and who have now been freed, declare that even those who say they worship spirits of nature are in actuality contacting the satanic realm without knowing it. EG: Mother Earth.

Throughout the ages, Halloween has gone by various names but all have been tributes to the same dark power, satan.

To pray to the dead is against scripture. Yet some church’s has been doing it since 609A.D. The Bible instructs us to have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness. Both Christian and Jew are forbidden to participate in the occult practices listed in Deuteronomy 18:10-13: “There shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, ¹¹or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. ¹²For whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD; and because of these abominable practices the LORD your God is driving them out before you. ¹³You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.” (RSV.).

Necromancy is the bringing back the soul of the dead as Saul caused to happen in I Samuel 28. God said all such practices are detestable to Him. This would also include the use of things like Ouija Boards and Tarot Cards. Some may say, “but we only do this in fun, we don’t practice witchcraft.” Those that represent satan and his domain cannot be handled or emulated “for fun”. Such participation places you in forbidden enemy territory and that is extremely dangerous ground.

In America many Christians allow and even encourage their children to pay respect to the devil on October 31^st without even knowing they do so. Some Churches will fully sanction the event with parties that are decorated with witches, cats, broomsticks, jack-o-lanterns and bobbing apples. After all, what’s the harm????

I have noted that over the last couple of years that this practice is creeping into our country by way of the almighty dollar. We need pray and take a stand against this before it takes a hold in the Great Southern Land of the Holy Spirit. There is no place in the life of the Church or the Christian for such participation