.
Heart-2-Heart
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Pastor Lynda MacDonald, Nova
Scotia
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HORRORS
–HORRORS
Halloween-
it’s just a fun kids time!!! Or is it? As believers, we need to carefully
consider every aspect of our daily lives as we are mirrors (shadows) of Yeshua.
Thus, we need to set aside our thinking and seek the mind of Messiah in all
things lest deception rule us.
So- the question arises first –what
really is the origin of Halloween? We need to go to a reliable source
-The Encyclopedia Britannica -"..It [Halloween] was
the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the process of nature.
In addition, Halloween was thought to be the most favorable time for
divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the
only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such
purposes.." (Volume IV, page 862)
Further information of the history of Halloween -Halloween is
filled with all sorts of pagan characters and customs that Christians need to
avoid.
The black cat, for example, was believed by the Druids to be
evil spirit friends of witches, and even witches themselves. These cats were
often kept in wicker cages and burned in animal sacrifices.
Witches are worshipers of Satan, and they are an abomination
to God (Exodus 22:18; Deut. 18:10-11). Why would a God-fearing Christian want
to dress-up their child like something that God hates?
Scary masks were worn by the Celts to scare away evil
spirits. The jack-o-lantern was used for the same purpose, although a turnip
was originally used.
What the world thinks of as "ghosts" are not the
spirits of dead people, but rather EVIL spirits which we are warned about in
the Bible (Lev. 19:31; 20:27; II Kings 23:24; Mat. 10:1; Mark 3:11; Acts 8:7;
Rev. 16:13). Why would a Christian want to decorate their home with such
wickedness? Does God want you to dress your child up like an evil spirit?
Even the orange and black colors of Halloween have a wicked
origin. At the Druid Festival of Death for Samhain huge bon fires were used for
offering human and animal sacrifices. So the colors of the night were orange
flames glowing in the dark.
Trick-or-treating finds its origin in the custom of peasants
going house to house begging for money to purchase necessities for a feast for
Muck Olla, the Druid sun god. A blessing was promised to generous givers, while
threats were often made to those who were stingy.
Apple bobbing probably comes from the Roman festival of
Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees. This festival was merged with the
festival of Samhain after Rome conquered Britain. In honor of Samhain, subjects
were forced to bob for apples in boiling hot water. Those who lived through
this ordeal were set free.
Now that I have offered one source plus
more info –what else can I offer you- the reader- that hasn’t been said before?
I
want to open to you something that has deeply impacted me in how I decide
whether things are right or wrong –my perspective vs. God’s perspective.
I cannot trust my own wisdom for I am
already greatly influenced from past information, teaching and home
environment. I need to go to the only one who can give truth –God. His view and
mine differ a lot of times. I have found that when that happens –I am always
wrong and He is always right. So –let’s go to the source of truth.
In Exodus 32:5-8, Aaron (the spiritual
leader) and Israel (both Jew and Gentile) decided that they wanted to worship
the God of Israel with something they added.
Verses 2-6 “Aharon
said to them, "Have your wives, sons and daughters strip off their gold
earrings; and bring them to me." The people stripped off their gold
earrings and brought them to Aharon. He received what they gave him, melted it
down, and made it into the shape of a calf. They said, "Isra'el! Here is
your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!" On seeing this,
Aharon built an altar in front of it and proclaimed, "Tomorrow is to be a feast for ADONAI." Early the
next morning they got up and offered burnt offerings and presented peace
offerings. Afterwards, the people sat down to eat and drink; then they got up
to indulge in revelry.”
The people didn’t plan to disrespect
Yahweh or commit pagan worship- it was meant to be “acceptable worship”. That
was their perspective! How did God see it? What was his perspective and do we
accept that His perspective was the truthful one?
Verses 7-9, ‘ADONAI
said to Moshe, "Go down! Hurry! Your
people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have become corrupt! So quickly they have turned aside from the way
I ordered them to follow! They have cast a metal statue of a calf, worshipped
it, sacrificed to it and said, 'Isra'el! Here is your god, who brought you up
from the land of Egypt!'" ADONAI
continued speaking to Moshe: "I have been watching these people; and you
can see how stiff necked they are”
Notice one characteristic that God saw
in Israel was their ‘stiff necked” ness –It manifested itself by haughtiness
and stubborn-ness. Two not so godly traits!
God said that He saw their acts of
worship as corrupt. The dictionary defines “corrupt” as “to make evil; morally
degenerate”.
In Psalm 51, a
psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him after his affair with
Bat-Sheva and having had her husband killed in battle: David wrote this
–“Against you (God), you only, have I sinned and done what is evil from your perspective; so that
you are right in accusing me and justified in passing sentence.”
How
careful we need to be in deciding what is right and wrong. Both Aaron and David
has sinned but loved God deeply. They acted from their own perspective –Aaron
as the “minister” and David as “ruler” but their acts were “evil” according to
Yahweh.
So-
what can I offer to you in regards to Halloween? I can say that even if it
carries ‘the appearance of evil” God warns us to stay away.
1 Thess 5:22, “Abstain from all appearance of evil..”
Ephesians 5:7-12 Don't participate
in the things these people do. For though your hearts were once full of
darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should
show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and
true.
I
Tim. 4:1 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the
latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits,
and doctrines of devils;"
Rom.
13:12 "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us
therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of
light."
Believers –you cannot “redeem” Halloween
any more than you can redeem the devil, murder or adultry.
Here is a comment I read on the internet and I so agree;
“Sadly, many genuine Christians are guilty of CELEBRATING
Halloween. Believers are supposed to set the standard, not imitate the
world and have a "Christian" version of everything like we see is so
common today. In an age where there are professed Christian rock stars,
Christian comedians, Christian lesbian ministers, Christian porn stars, and
even Christian magicians...is it any surprise that professed Christians are
also trying to Christianize Halloween? Not at all. It is tragic!”!
In conclusion I would like to offer these two thoughts-
Since when has the direction of the
world been in a Godly course? Why do we care about our children’s consumption
of “junk food and sugar” and their exposure to greed and horror but find ways
to excuse all of it for one night called Halloween?
Wake up believers!
