Halloween, America’s favorite holiday.
- Ancient Celtic priests, priest known as druids (magicians, wizards and witches)
- Pagan religion (heathen religion) – a major holiday was Vigil of Samhain, god oh the dead, satan
- Oct 31 – Celts new years’eve – crack in time when the dead could revisit living – The takeover of god of the dead for winter
- Priest-class druids religious rites – druids thought they would gain favor with samhain
- Ritual included: priest wearing black robes and grotesque mask to fool spirits. There were great bonfires to ward off spirits.
- Treat – you gave family member to be sacrificed & they gave you a pumpkin with human oil in it to ward off evil spirits.
- Trick – painted pentagram, spirits would kill member of family between October 29-31
- Halloween today – Roman Catholic Church created Feast of All Saints day, November 1st
- All hallows (concentrated) – halloween is eve of all Hallow – see blending of Christian and pagan religions
- Jack o’lanterns – Irish man named jack trick the devil to paying for drink
- Jack barred from heaven and hell till judgement day – so jack supposedly roamed the earth
- Pumpkins with candles where suppose to keep jack away – pumpkins – special lanterns
- Scary face of pumpkin used to ward off evil spirits
- Trick or treat – November 2nd became Feast of All Souls – Christian children go ‘a-souling’ – if they didn’t get soul cake, kids played tricks.
- Ghosts are familiar spirits – occults (witches & satanist) holiest day. Customs represent the underworld’s spiritual realities.
- Our view has changed on harvest parties – High holiday for occultists – Night of the dead, even before catholicism.
Mixture begins.
- 280 years ago Christians persecuted, but Emperor Constantine converts to Christianity and in 313 AD, the Edict of Milan, religious toleration.
- Mixture of Roman paganism and true Christianity brought unity to the Roman empire.
- Merged religious holiday (high, holy days) with pagan days – Halloween was one of them.
- Acts 9:31– The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. and with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.
- The Ecclesia – Kata – throughout, holos – all or whole – idea of universal
- Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream of image – Daniel 2:10 iron & clay toes, don’t mix well would become the final empire. It would become to be known as the Holy Roman empire – 1,000 yrs – 1806 ends.
Mixture begots mixture.
- While we can’t avoid mixture – religious mixture needs to be avoided. John 17:15-19– not to remove ourselves from the world but to be kept from evil one sanctified by truth.
- 1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
- We are talking about sin
- Yet we are experimenting with everything but fully turning over the reigns.
- Mixture comes via – everything but syndrome – societal pressures – fear – deception.
- Mixture causes weird religion – James 1:27 – Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted (NO MIXTURE) from the world.
- Religion is man’s attempt to approach and appease the supernatural – Every religions intros some truth
It’s about who you give legal right!
- We are the light of the world – Matthew 5:14
- The Ecclesia, the 70, what is given the authority to do this – Luke 10:18-19– It’s a legal thing in the spirit realm
- We are the battle plan – no condemnation – Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
- It is the rock that breaks up this party of mixture and He can break up any mixture in your life.