THE TRUTH ABOUT HALLOWEEN

“Who in the world ever thought of the idea of walking around in weird costumes, trick or treating, and/or putting a carved-out pumpkin in your window?”  The Romans worshiped various gods and on October 31, a special feast was held in honor of Pomona, goddess of the fruit trees. Later, the Druids, an ancient order of Celtic priests in Britain, made this feast an even more extensive celebration by also honoring Samhain, lord of the dead. These Druids believed that on the night before November 1 (October 31) Samhain called together wicked souls or spirits which had been condemned to live in the bodies of animals during the year which had just transpired. Since they were afraid of these spirits, they chose October 31 as a day to sacrifice to their gods, hoping they would protect them. They really believed that on this day they were surrounded by strange spirits, ghosts, witches, fairies, and elves, who came out to hurt them. In addition to this, they also believed that cats were holy animals, as they considered them to represent people who lived formerly, and as punishment for evil deeds were reincarnated as a cat. All this explains why witches, ghosts, and cats are a part of Halloween today. People started dressing up in evil costumes, such as witches, demons, etc., in hopes that the evil spirits would think that they were with them and not harm them. The custom of trick-or-treating and the use of “jack-o’-lanterns” comes from Ireland. Hundreds of years ago, Irish farmers went from house to house, begging for food, in the name of their ancient gods, to be used at the village Halloween celebration. They would promise good luck to those who gave them food and made threats to those who refused to give. They simply told the people, “You treat me, or else I will trick you!” This is where the saying” Trick or Treat” came from. The apparently harmless lightened pumpkin face or “jack-o’-lantern” actually is an old Irish symbol of a damned soul. A man named Jack was supposed to be unable to enter heaven due to his miserliness, and unable to enter hell because he had played practical jokes on the devil. As a result, he was condemned to wander over the earth with his lantern until judgment day (i.e., the end of the world). The Irish were so afraid that they would receive an identical plight, that they began to hollow out pumpkins and place lighted candles inside to scare away evil spirits from their home.During the Middle Ages (about 600 years ago), the Roman Catholic Church at that time, decided to make the change-over from pagan religion to Christianity a bit easier, and therefore allowed the new converts to maintain some of their pagan feasts. It was agreed, however, that from now on they would be celebrated as “Christian” feasts. So instead of praying to their heathen gods, they would now pray to, and remember the deaths of saints. For this reason the church decided to call November 1 the “Day of All Saints,” and the mass to be celebrated on that day “A all hallow mass.” In consequence of this, the evening prior to this day was named, “All Hallowed Evening” which subsequently was abbreviated as “Halloween.” In spite of this effort to make October 31 a “holy evening,” all the old customs continued to be practiced, and made this evening anything BUT a holy evening! Halloween was not celebrated in the United States until after 1900, and the first city to celebrate was Anoka, Minnesota in 1924. On October 31st, in the year 1517, Martin Luther gave the Bible to the common people. How can we as Christians who say we believe that Jesus Christ is the light of the world celebrate this day the same way that the devil has deceived the rest of the WORLD into doing? Why not turn it around and dress your kids up like Angels, and pass out Bible tracts door to door, or take the kids too some Christian events at churches. Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32). “Depart from evil and do good; and dwell forevermore.” (Psalm 37:27). The Catholic Church made a lot of money from indulgences which meant they told the people that they could buy their loved ones out of hell and purgatory if they would pay money to the Catholic Church. They didn’t even want the common people to be able to read the Bible for themselves, and only the Priests could read the Bible because it was in Latin so they could tell them all most anything and the people would believe it. No doubt their treasury greatly increased when the people were afraid of bad spirits at Halloween times and the worship of the dead. So this was a motivation for the Catholic Church to promote Halloween to scare the people into giving them more money. Why would you want to celebrate Halloween? Now that you know what it’s all about.

Say this prayer to be saved: Jesus, I want to know you, and to live forever in Heaven, I know I have made mistakes and done bad things- and I am sorry. Please forgive me. I know I don’t deserve it, but I accept your love and I accept you as my Saviour. I believe you died on the cross for my sins ,and rose from the dead. Please come into my heart and life and fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me peace. Amen.

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