The October 31st holiday that we today know as Halloween has strong roots in paganism and is closely connected with worship of the Enemy of this world, Satan. It is a holiday that generally glorifies the dark things of this world, rather than the light of Jesus Christ, The Truth.

Have you noticed how costumes and masks are getting generally more bloody, gory, and depraved each year? Unfortunately, the gruesome and grotesque and the occult are increasingly glorified in American society, not only on Halloween, but throughout the year in horror movies and in television programs.

My family does not celebrate it or participate in it. We do not believe that our children are "missing out," and neither do they. Other days are used for costumes and parties. Happily, all of our children have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We have found that Halloween provides an excellent time to remind our children that, as Christians, we are different, and not of this world (Heb. 11:13-16; 1 Pet. 2:11).

What about church "Harvest Festivals" held on October 31? Although we understand the rational and good intentions behind them, we don't think they are the best approach. Our family tends to agree with the author of an article called " Are 'Harvest Parties' for Christians?" (written by a self-avowed former witch and now active Christian). Harvest parties on October 31 tend to assume that "our children need something to take the place of Halloween, since they won't be participating in the secular and pagan celebrations. It suggests our kids are missing out on something. And indeed they are, if we allow them to spend Halloween in celebration." There are better things to do on Halloween than partying.

Also, we need to teach our children that "the fight isn't against occultists, non-Christians, Christians who feel differently than we about Halloween, or institutions that promote Halloween, but" "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV).

Relevant scripture on the issue of Halloween and Christians:

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 ("Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.") James 1:27 ("keep oneself from being polluted by the world") 3 John 1:11 ("do not imitate what is evil") Romans 12:9 ("abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.") Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (do not learn to imitate detestable ways, including spiritists, sorcerers and witchcraft) Ephesians 5:11-12 ("Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness" / "live as children of light") 1 Timothy 4:1 (don't "follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons") 1 Corinthians 10:21 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 ("what fellowship can light have with darkness?") Philippians 4:8 (think about pure, lovely, noble things) 1 Corinthians 11:1 ("follow the example of Christ") 1 Corinthians 10:31 ("whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God")

James 4:7-8 (submit yourselves to God / resist the devil / purify your hearts) Ezekiel 44:23 ("…teach my people… to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.") Proverbs 22:6 ("train a child in the way he should go") Matthew 18:6 ("if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin…") Hosea 4:6 ("My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.") John 3:19-20 (people love darkness instead of light) Romans 13:12 ("put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.") Ephesians 6:11-18 ("take your stand against the devil's schemes.") 1 John 5:19 2 Chronicles 7:14

Are "Harvest Parties" for Christians?
originally published in the Colorado Christian News, October 1995
(author's name not published)

"What are you doing for Halloween?" Ask a Christian parent this question, and be prepared to hear an answer like, "Nothing! We don't celebrate Halloween." Thunder crashes, and you creep away, embarassed for even asking.

"What are you doing ON Halloween?" Ask the same parent this slightly altered question, and their whole manner and response brightens. "Why," they begin, as birds begin to sing and sunshine breaks through the cumulus clouds. "We're all going to the Harvest Party at church!" A choir sings. A trumpet sounds. You feel privileged just knowing these saints.

Let's take a look at the typical Harvest Party.

• It is a celebration.
• It is chaperoned (usually).
• It may have costumes.
• Games are played.
• Contests are held.
• Food abounds.
• Music blares.
• Everyone enjoys themselves.

Certainly, nothing to get concerned about, right? The problem, however, lies in the billing. The Harvest Party is usually referred to as the Christian alternative to traditional Halloween hijinx. Alternative, however, implies substitute. It assumes our children need something to take the place of Halloween, since they won't be participating in the secular and pagan celebrations. It suggests our kids are missing out on something. And indeed they are, if we allow them to spend Halloween in celebration.

If we are to train our children to be soldiers in the army of Christ, why would we sign a pass for them to go on leave when the battle is escalating on the front lines?

As a child of four, I contacted the first of many spirit guides (read: demons) while playing with a Kindergarten classmates' ouija board at a chaperoned Halloween party. This spiritual assault ignited an intrigue with the supernatural that culminated in my lifestyle as a practicing witch: divination, necromancy, channeling, astrology, psychic ability, and spell working. It wasn't until I was twenty that I met the real Jesus Christ, and was released from the trap that Satan had set for this young prisoner of war sixteen years earlier.

There are too many casualities on Halloween and far too few troops fighing the enemy. Instead of partying on Halloween, teach your children how to fight. Keep them aware that the fight isn't against occultists, non-Christians, Christians who feel differently than we about Halloween, or institutions that promote Halloween, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers or darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12).

How do we teach our children to wrestle spiritually?

• Discourage them from participating in traditional Halloween activities (2 Timothy 2:4). Then tell them why.

• Encourage them to pray on a regular, daily basis (Ephesians 6:18). Let them know first hand the power that we have in prayer. All Christians should know how to fight on their knees.

• Remind them to be alert and self-controlled (1 Corinthians 16:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:6). Give them the discipline of knowing it is their responsibility to keep watch. They, themselves, might also become casualties in the war.

• Make certain they are prepared for battle (Ephesians 6:11). Do they know the truth? Stand on the Word of God? Have faith? Know the gospel? Are they righteous? Are they saved?…

Instead of celebrating, what's a Christian to do on Satan's feast day? PRAY! Intercession and spiritual warfare should be the first item on our agenda. It is NOT a last resort!

• Join with other families in the church. Have the pastor announce a night of spiritual battle. Organize a group of Christians parents and students from your children's school or homeschool group. As a family, designate the seven nights before October 31 as Family Prayer Outreach nights.

• Pray for protection. Pray over both those who engage in prayer warfare and over those who will be out trick-or-treating or at Halloween parties. October 31 is a prime recruiting time for witches and Satanists…and a time for interested kids to experiment. Pray that the Lord keeps our kids from falling prey to those who worship the enemy.

• Pray for discernment. Let the Holy Spirit direct you to specific prayer requests. Pray that the children who are "out there" will somehow "know" to keep away from certain activities. I have relatives who, even though they were not Christians, "knew" that ouija boards and levitation games were dangerous.

• Pray that the Lord hinder the occult rituals. For four years, I lived in a building which over looked a cemetery where occult ceremonial markings were often found. ON certain occult feast days, usually between midnight and 3am, I would look down into the darkness and kneel at my window binding the demons that controlled the ceremonies. I'll never know this side of heaven what effect my prayers had. Maybe a potential sacrifice escaped. Maybe the occultists weren't successful in summoning their demon. Maybe a new, young recruit decided that this was not the lifestyle he thought he wanted.

• Pray for the salvation of the occultists. Jesus Christ died for those whom Satan holds captive and deceived, for those who mock Him, who deny His deity or His existence. He doesn't want them to perish, but to come to Him calling Him Father, Lord. Pray the veil is lifted from their eyes, the Lord allows them to see clearly their spiritual condition and their only hope lies in Jesus Christ. Pray also, about whether the Lord would have you take a more active role in bringing the gospel to Satan's servants.

• Let your children know that this is effective warfare. They must know their prayers are heard and acted on by our Father. Let them know they can make a difference. Come October 31, they'll know they have a job to do.

Every year on the evening of Oct. 31, millions of families celebrate a distinctly odd holiday know as Halloween. For your own good, you need to know what lurks behind the mask of Halloween.
 
 
Halloween is undoubtedly one of the strangest holidays people celebrate, with its symbolism of witches, devils, skeletons, bats and black cats. Is it not a little bizarre that children are taught to dress up as ghosts and monsters to go from house to house demanding “trick or treat!” (with the threat of a trick or prank constituting a playful form of extortion)?
            While tricks are no longer the norm in most places, it used to be common in many areas that refusal to give trick-or-treaters candy invited minor acts of vandalism, such as having one’s windows marred with a bar of soap, trash dumped on the lawn, toilet paper unrolled across tree limbs, and raw eggs thrown against the house and car.
            Where, how and when did such strange customs begin? And why do they continue?
            Many parents encourage their children to celebrate Halloween, assuming it to be harmless and innocent fun. But why? Would parents honor this holiday if they knew what’s behind it-behind the mask?

Halloween’s origins

  Few people really understand the origins of Halloween. However, many clues are obvious from the trappings of the holiday- witches, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, skeletons and the like.
            History shows that behind the dark mask of this popular children’s holiday reside the terrors of an ancient Celtic festival renamed All Hallows Eve. It was originally a holiday making the mythical time when the dead supposedly rose from their graves to walk the earth.
            To better understand the origins of Halloween one needs to be introduced to the ancient pagan festival of Samhain (usually pronounced sow-en0.
            In The Encyclopedia of Religion, under the heading “Halloween,” the authors link Halloween to the eve of Samhain, “a celebration making the beginning of winter as well as the first day of the New Year within the ancient Celtic culture of the British Isles.”
            This encyclopedia explains, “the time of Samhain comprised the eve of the feast and the day itself (31 October and 1 November). This event was a crucial seam in the social and religious fabric of the Celtic year, and the eve of Samhain set the tone for the annual celebration as a threatening, fantastic, mysterious rite of passage to a new year” (1987, p. 176).  
Both the eve and day of Samhain were thought to be a time when the barriers between the human and supernatural worlds were broken, allowing passage between the two. “Other worldly entities, such as the souls of the dead, were able to visit earthly inhabitants, and humans could take the opportunity to penetrate the domains of the gods and supernatural creatures.

            “Fiery tributes and sacrifices of animals, crops, and possibly human beings were made to appease supernatural powers that controlled the fertility of the land. Samhain acknowledged the entire spectrum of nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during the period”(ibid.,p. 177).  

            The Encyclopedia of Religion then explains the origin of the bizarre customs that survive in today’s Halloween: “Divination activities remained a popular practice. Adults, dressed in fantastic disguises and masks, imitated supernatural beings and visited homes where the spirits of the dead” (emphasis added).

Halloween comes to the New World

God unmasked Halloween

                Does the Bible have anything to say about strange customs and holidays such as this? In fact, it does—and none of it is good.

Are you a born again Christian? Are you sure?

     Jesus says, "Verily, verily, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God".  John 3:3 Many Christians believe they are born again Christians, but are they? Jesus also says, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven". 1Corinthains 15:50  When Jesus says a man must be born again he means born in the spirit not in flesh, so if you are yet flesh and blood how can you be born again? 

The Mystery of God!

     Revelation 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets.  What is the mystery of God?  1Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery, We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed. 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

     The mystery of God is the rapture of the church, at the sounding of the seventh (last) trumpet we must be changed both dead and alive on order to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Then we will be born of the spirit (born again). Jesus will already have returned to earth at this time.

     According to Revelation 6:12-17 At the opening of the 6th seal there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood; and the stars fell to earth. Revelation 6:16 says that all of the kings and great men as well as others on earth will try to hide themselves from the wrath of the Lamb (Jesus). Compare Revelation 6:12-17 to Matthew 24:29-31 These scriptures puts to rest the belief that there will be a secret rapture of the church before the great tribulation as many believe.

More to come...

I have been told by pastors as well as others that Jesus will rapture the church before the Tribulation. But no one has been able to show me any scripture to support that theory. So I did some reading for my self and found plenty of scriptures that say just the opposite.

Jesus said in Matthew 24:29-31

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:  and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

According to the Bible and the Anti-christ will have dominion for 42 months or 3 1/2 years.  Daniel describes a horn that came up on the head of a great beast the fourth beast.  This beast had ten horns and another came up and uprooted three of the other horns. This horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them. Dan 7:21.  How can this be if the saints are already raptured away?

Paul said speaking of the return of Christ in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day will not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;  4. Who opposeth and exhalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

More to come