Showing posts with label All Souls'. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All Souls'. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Who Will Go to Hell?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Hell. This follows this post about Jeroboam. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.


Who Will Go to Hell?

Login or Create an Account

With a UCG.org account you will be able to save items to read and study later!
Sign In | Sign Up
×
It’s a word that few really understand, yet most people will go there. It is usually considered the location for the incorrigibly wicked. It might be used to express anger or frustration. It may be used as a destination to assign to those you do not like. However, the hell that is described in the pages of the Bible is a very real place. You may be surprised to learn who goes to that location!
Some Christians believe hell is the place for the souls of the wicked. Others think hell is a state of mind. Some don’t believe hell exists at all. As we’ll see, there are three hells described in the Bible. One of these is hot enough to consume the “soul.” We’ll also see that there is a hell for the fallen angels or demons.
Have you ever attended a funeral and been unsure of where the deceased was headed? Most preachers, out of kindness, do not assign a deceased person to hell. However, many in the audience may wonder about the deceased’s future considering his or her lack of genuine spirituality while alive.
What is hell? In the Bible the word hell is mentioned 54 times. It is translated from four different words. The only one in the Old Testament— sheol in the Hebrew—and one in the New Testament— hades in Greek—have the meaning of the grave, a pit or the abode of the dead. Sheol is the only word in the Old Testament from which hell is translated in the King James Version of the Bible. It is translated “hell” 31 times. Hades is translated “hell” 10 times in the New Testament.
In Psalms 6:5 Psalms 6:5For in death there is no remembrance of you: in the grave who shall give you thanks?
American King James Version×
and 30:3 the psalmist speaks of sheol as the grave. Amos the prophet uses sheol to state that one may dig into “hell”—indicating the grave that was in the earth (Amos 9:2 Amos 9:2Though they dig into hell, there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, there will I bring them down:
American King James Version×
, King James Version throughout). When Jonah was in the belly of the great fish (or whale as wrongly translated), he was said to be in “hell” (Jonah 2:2 Jonah 2:2And said, I cried by reason of my affliction to the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and you heard my voice.
American King James Version×
). All of those words for hell are translated from the Hebrew word sheol .
We see in 1 Corinthians 15:55 1 Corinthians 15:55O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
American King James Version×
the word grave translated from hades . In the book of Acts, King David is said to have been in “hell.” Since David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 1 Samuel 13:14But now your kingdom shall not continue: the LORD has sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be captain over his people, because you have not kept that which the LORD commanded you.
American King James Version×
) and will rule with God in His Kingdom (Jeremiah 30:9 Jeremiah 30:9But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.
American King James Version×
), he would not have gone to the hell that is traditionally pictured for the incorrigibly wicked. Notice Acts 2:27 Acts 2:27Because you will not leave my soul in hell, neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.
American King James Version×
, 29 where David is in “hell” or the grave, but with the promise that he will not remain there forever. He will be resurrected from “hell” (hades) or the grave.
So, the first “hell” we’ve looked at is simply the grave—the place of the dead, both good and evil!
Another “hell” of the Bible is far hotter than the traditional view of hell. The second “hell” is translated from the Greek word gehenna and literally means the Valley of Hinnom, a place outside Jerusalem where trash was burned. Gehenna is also associated with fire and is called hell fire (Matthew 5:22 Matthew 5:22But I say to you, That whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
American King James Version×
) or the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15 Revelation 20:15And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
American King James Version×
).
This second “hell” is a place where the incorrigible will be sent as a final punishment after the last judgment. If they have deliberately turned from God, they will be resurrected and cast into gehenna (hell) and burned completely (see Revelation 20:14 Revelation 20:14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
American King James Version×
and Malachi 4:1-3 Malachi 4:1-31 For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yes, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, said the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, said the LORD of hosts.
American King James Version×
, which describes the wicked as ashes under the feet of the righteous). God will destroy all those who deliberately refuse to submit to Him once they know Him.
The third “hell” refers to the restraint of the demons. Tartaroo is used in only one place in the Bible (2 Peter 2:4 2 Peter 2:4For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved to judgment;
American King James Version×
) and is used only in reference to the demons being chained or restrained until the time of their judgment by God.
The concept of heaven and hell in traditional Christianity heavily depends on the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Yet, in the Bible, the phrase immortal soul is nowhere to be found.
On the contrary, the word soul is translated from the Hebrew and Greek words nephesh and psuche , which mean “life.” Animals are called nephesh , and nephesh (whether human or animal) can die (see Genesis 1:20 Genesis 1:20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
American King James Version×
, 24, where nephesh is translated “creature”; Ezekiel 18:4 Ezekiel 18:4Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.
American King James Version×
, 20; 22:27; Psalms 33:19 Psalms 33:19To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
American King James Version×
). The psuche can also die as shown in Matthew 10:28 Matthew 10:28And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
American King James Version×
and Revelation 16:3 Revelation 16:3And the second angel poured out his vial on the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
American King James Version×
.
So, we see that human beings will go to hell (the grave) when they die, but they will be resurrected from the grave. Some will be resurrected to eternal life and others to judgment. Those who have deliberately rejected God and His ways will be burned up in gehenna (hell) fire (Revelation 20:14 Revelation 20:14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
American King James Version×
). The demons await the time of final judgment in yet another “hell”—tartaroo —their condition of imprisonment here on earth, restrained from venting their full fury on mankind and reserved to judgment at the end (Jude 6).
Thank God the day is coming when there will be no more death or sorrow (Revelation 21:4-5 Revelation 21:4-54 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
American King James Version×
). At that time, there will no longer be a hell—the grave—for human beings.

You might also be interested in...

Is it a place of agony, separation from God, superstition or something else...

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Consider the "Sins of Jeroboam"

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about the Israelite king Jeroboam. This follows this post about Halloween. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.


Consider the "Sins of Jeroboam"

Login or Create an Account

With a UCG.org account you will be able to save items to read and study later!
Sign In | Sign Up
×
Throughout the history of the kings of Israel, one bad king set the standard for the onslaught of evil kings to follow: King Jeroboam. Subsequent kings were measured by whether they continued in the “sins of Jeroboam” (1 Kings 15:34 1 Kings 15:34And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.
American King James Version×
, 1 Kings 16:19 1 Kings 16:19For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin.
American King James Version×
, etc.), and no king achieved a higher degree of infamy. Jeroboam did many evil things, but the most distinctive offense, the one that really belonged to Jeroboam, was changing God's Feast of Tabernacles!
After Solomon's reign, God split the 12 tribes of Israel into two distinct nations. God chose Jeroboam as the first king of the newly formed “house of Israel,” consisting of the 10 northern tribes, and promised to bless him with an enduring line of kings if he would follow God's law (1 Kings 11:38 1 Kings 11:38And it shall be, if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with you, and build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.
American King James Version×
). However, many of God's commandments revolved around worshiping at the temple in Jerusalem - located in the rival “house of Judah” consisting of the southern two tribes. Specifically, God commanded the people to return to Jerusalem each year for His appointed festivals, and Jeroboam feared that these annual visits would sway the allegiance of the people (1 Kings 12:26-27 1 Kings 12:26-2726 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: 27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.
American King James Version×
). As a result, Jeroboam decided to replace the problematic laws of God with a counterfeit religious system that consolidated his power.
Jeroboam set up temples full of idols for the people to worship and established his own priesthood (1 Kings 12:31 1 Kings 12:31And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
American King James Version×
). As sinful as these actions were, they were nothing new and were certainly not unique to Jeroboam! The people of Israel had been committing idolatry ever since the golden calf at Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:1 Exodus 32:1And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
American King James Version×
), and they had already defiled the office of the priesthood by setting up their own priests (Judges 17:5-6 Judges 17:5-65 And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
American King James Version×
). Though he instituted much evil, there is only one “sin of Jeroboam” that was truly original:
“Jeroboam ordained a feast on the 15th day of the 8th month, like the feast that was in Judah… in the month which he had devised in his own heart ” (1 Kings 12:32-33 1 Kings 12:32-3332 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like to the feast that is in Judah, and he offered on the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. 33 So he offered on the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast to the children of Israel: and he offered on the altar, and burnt incense.
American King James Version×
).
The “feast that was in Judah” is the Feast of Tabernacles, which begins yearly on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month. The sin which truly set Jeroboam apart was changing God's commanded Feast of Tabernacles from its appointed time to “the month which he had devised in his own heart .” Many Israelites were led astray by this deception, but did you know that an even greater deception now afflicts the majority of Christianity? Have you ever wondered why Christmas and Easter are not mentioned by name in the bible, and why there is no command to celebrate these events? Like Jeroboam's feast, these holidays were devised in the hearts of men as a counterfeit of God's Holy Days!
The Feast of Tabernacles, the very observance that Jeroboam infamously turned Israel away from, just ended. God wants Christians to worship Him in “spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24 John 4:23-2423 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
American King James Version×
). Take the time to learn the ugly truth about the holidays that you have been taught, and even more so the amazing truth about God's Holy Days that you have not been taught!





Monday, November 2, 2015

Editorial: Reject the "Day of the Dead"

Editorial

A new, corrupt holiday is now being foisted upon the American people called the "Day of the Dead." This is a multicultural attempt to get Americans to learn the sacrificial practices of the Aztecs.

From Vdare.com, this is a brief summary.


http://www.vdare.com/articles/the-fulford-file-the-many-wars-on-halloween 

  • Mexicans’ War On American practices: It’s Now The Day Of The Dead, Gringos!
When reporter Daniel Hernandez wrote Day of the Dead: Your New American Holiday, FasterTimes.com, October 31, 2009,  he talked about cities “Mexicanizing”. When we say that, it’s Hate. Hernandez wrote:
Day of the Dead is increasingly becoming a United States holiday, with people of all backgrounds in Mexicanizing U.S. cities adopting the parties and customs of Mesoamerica’s cousin to Halloween. Just check out the annual scene at Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles. There are political touchstones to the holiday as well; In El Paso they are observing Día de los Muertos with a vigil for migrants who have died attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
day-of-the-dead-celebration-sugar-skullRight! But as I wrote at the time, in a sense there’s nothing new here–most people don`t seem realize that the Day of the Dead is just All Saints Day and All Souls Day in a slightly different garb. Halloween, the Eve Of All Hallows, is part of the same festival.
Nothing wrong with that, although Americans can`t be blamed for finding the Mexican festival, with its candy skulls and Aztec associations slightly more bizarre than the American Trick Or Treating, the Great Pumpkin and Treehouse of Horror.


Friday, October 30, 2015

What a Former Witch Told Me About the Dark Side

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about witchcraft. This follows this post about Halloween.  This follows this post about "Christian" alternatives to Halloween. This follows this post about Purgatory. This follows this post about the Devil infiltrating churches. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
Please follow me here for continued posts.


Dear World News and Prophecy Subscriber, Halloween is this weekend, in case you haven’t noticed. But it’s hard not to notice. Halloween has become the second-largest retail holiday in North America. It’s second only to Christmas in sales generated by the strong consumer desire to party with the dead and macabre elements. Imitating ghosts and demons may seem like harmless fun. It’s not. Playing with the darker elements of this world is inviting strong forces into your life. You do this at your own peril. I recently interviewed a lady who spent 20 years as a practicing witch. Her story was the centerpiece of a Beyond Today program called “Dancing With the Dark Side.” The program aired last week on WGN America and drew considerable comment from viewers. One viewer wrote asking for help counseling a child who wished to become a witch. Another wrote detailing the disastrous impact on his family from involvement with the dark, satanic world. As my interview with “Mary” (the pseudonym for the woman who was once a witch) shows, you do not want to go down that road. Here is part of that interview. McNeely: What do you think you were looking for when you entered into that world? Mary: Power. To be special, to be unique. McNeely: You think that’s what other people are looking for, as well? Mary: Oh yes. Yeah. I mean, you get into it seeking power to control your life, manifest or will things into your life, but the bad thing about it is after it progresses, it starts taking on a negative tone. I started out with Wicca. I started out with thinking I was just worshipping the earth because I wanted something tangible, something I could see, something I could adhere to. The equinox, the sabbaths in Wicca. It soon didn’t feel like enough. I felt compelled to check out or read books about necromancy and voodoo, and like I said, I was in it for about 20 years and there toward the end, I felt like if I hadn’t had the car wreck, I would’ve been gone, because I would’ve opened myself up to channeling. I’d already started using my own blood in my own rituals, in my own spells. I’d already started making voodoo dolls and casting bad spells on people. McNeely: Did you actually see those spells come to pass? Mary: Mhm. McNeely: You did? Mary: Yes. McNeely: Things happened? Mary: Yes. Things always happened. Mary went on to explain that people who dabble with the dark arts are looking for a power to control their lives and that of others. They end up being controlled by a darker power they do not understand. Fortunately for Mary, she escaped the hold of the dark side and is building a better life for herself. She finally is in control of her life, in a right way. Why not watch the entire Beyond Today video, “Dancing With the Dark Side,” on our BeyondToday.tv Web site? Is There Really a Devil?Satan offers a clever counterfeit path to power for those who venture into his dark world. But the tragedy is that his path is a dead-end street filled with wrecked and broken lives. Evil is a very real force in this modern world that scoffs at the existence of a spiritual dimension. This Halloween, instead of celebrating a holiday for the dead, why not educate yourself in the truth? Our booklet Is There Really a Devil? provides solid biblical teaching on the subject. Though the media often trivializes it today, there is indeed a dark spiritual world, and it wants to deceive and destroy you. Don’t let it happen. Resist it, and cling to the incredible future God has prepared for you. Keep watching!

Thursday, October 29, 2015

How did Halloween come to be considered a "Christian" celebration?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Halloween. This follows this previous post about it. This follows this post about "Christian" alternatives to Halloween. This follows this post about Purgatory. This follows this post about the Devil infiltrating churches. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
Please follow me here for continued posts.


How did Halloween come to be considered a "Christian" celebration?

Does the Bible say anything about All Hallows' or All Saints' Day?


Login or Create an Account

With a UCG.org account you will be able to save items to read and study later!
Sign In | Sign Up
×
Most people know that Halloween takes place on Oct. 31. Far fewer understand the connection between Halloween and the next day on the calendar, the festival of All Hallows’ or All Saints’ Day, celebrated by some churches and denominations Nov. 1.
One author concludes that All Saints’ Day was established to commemorate the saints and martyrs of the Roman Catholic Church and was first introduced in the seventh century (Man, Myth, and Magic, Vol. 1, 1983, p. 109). Oddly enough, history shows that Halloween—this ancient, thoroughly pagan holiday with its trappings of death and demonism—is inseparably tied to All Saints’ Day.
Pagan festivals have had a curious way of worming their way into Christianity over the centuries. The Encyclopedia of Religion explains that “the British church attempted to divert the interest in pagan customs by adding a Christian celebration to the calendar on the same date as the Samhain [the ancient Celtic name for the festival that we call Halloween].
“The Christian festival, the Feast of All Saints, commemorates the known and unknown saints of the Christian religion just as the Samhain had acknowledged and paid tribute to the Celtic deities” (1987, Vol. 6, p. 177).
How did this strange turn of events come about? How did the Catholic Church transform an ancient pagan festival into one to supposedly honor dead saints?
The 1913 edition of The Catholic Encyclopedia says this about All Saints’ Day: “In the early days the Christians were accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr’s death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighboring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast. Frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration.
“In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all. [Eventually] Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for 1 November” (Vol. 1, p. 315).
Pope Gregory’s choice of Nov. 1 for this celebration was significant. Author Lesley Bannatyne explains: “That the date coincided with Samhain was no accident: the Church was still trying to absorb pagan celebrations taking place at this time…
“Villagers were also encouraged to masquerade on this day, not to frighten unwelcome spirits, but to honor Christian saints. On All Saints’ Day, churches throughout Europe and the British Isles displayed relics of their patron saints. Poor churches could not afford genuine relics and instead had processions in which parishioners dressed as saints, angels and devils. This religious masquerade resembled the pagan custom of parading ghosts to the town limits. It served the new church by giving an acceptable Christian basis to the custom of dressing up on Halloween.
“In addition, the Church tried to convince the people that the great bonfires they lit in homage to the sun would instead keep the devil away” (Halloween: An American Holiday, An American History, 1998, pp. 9, 11).
Later a second celebration, All Souls’ Day, was instituted on Nov. 2. Eventually these two holidays merged into the present observance on Nov. 1, which was also called All Hallows’ Day. The name of All Hallows’ Even (evening) for the night of Oct. 31 evolved into the name Hallowe’en, or Halloween as it is called today.
This is a brief history of how men rationalized taking an ancient pagan festival rooted in death and demonism and adapting it for use as a “Christian” celebration. Regrettably, it flies in the face of God’s explicit instruction to not use pagan practices to worship Him.
He clearly states in Deuteronomy 12:30-32 Deuteronomy 12:30-3230 Take heed to yourself that you be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before you; and that you inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. 31 You shall not do so to the LORD your God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. 32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
American King James Version×
: “Do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods… Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”
For more understanding, please read our booklet Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Observe?
 
 
 

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Halloween Behind the Mask

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Halloween. This follows this post about "Christian" alternatives to Halloween. This follows this post about Purgatory. This follows this post about the Devil infiltrating churches. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
Please follow me here for continued posts.


Halloween

Behind the Mask

Login or Create an Account

With a UCG.org account you will be able to save items to read and study later!
Sign In | Sign Up
×
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)?
Would God be against something as harmless as Halloween, especially since it allows children to have fun and enjoy a little entertainment? Can’t we let them have a little harmless fun? 
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 marking 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-en ).
In The Encyclopedia of Religion, under the heading “Halloween,” the authors link Halloween to the eve of Samhain, “a celebration marking 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 that “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 that 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 occupants would offer tributes of food and drink to them. A fear of nocturnal creatures, such as bats and owls, persisted, since these animals were believed to communicate with the spirits of the dead” (emphasis added).

Halloween comes to the New World

Centuries later, Irish and Scottish immigrants brought the custom of Halloween with them to the New World. After massive immigration of the Irish to the United States during the great potato famine in Ireland (1845-46), Halloween eventually became a national event.
Today, says The Encyclopedia of Religion, “modern Halloween activities have centered on mischief making and masquerading in costumes, often resembling otherworldly characters. Folk customs, now treated as games (such as bobbing for apples), have continued from the various divination practices of the ancient celebrants of this occasion. Supernatural figures (such as the ghost, the witch, the vampire, the devil) play a key role in supplying an aura of the mysterious to the evening, whether or not they originally had an association with the festival.
“Children are particularly susceptible to the imagery of Halloween, as can be seen in their fascination with the demonic likeness of a carved and illuminated pumpkin, known as the jack-o’-lantern. In recent times, children have taken up the practice of dressing in Halloween costumes and visiting homes in search of edible and monetary treats, lightly threatening to play a trick on the owner if a treat is not produced …
“There also has been renewed interest in Halloween as a time when adults can also cross cultural boundaries and shed their identities by indulging in an uninhibited evening of frivolity. Thus, the basic Celtic quality of the festival as an evening of annual escape from normal realities and expectations has remained into the twentieth century” (p. 177).

God unmasks 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.
While God’s Holy Days in the Bible celebrate the role of Jesus Christ in bringing mankind to salvation in the eternal family of God (as explained in the following article and our free Bible study aid  God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind ), Halloween is a celebration of the opposite—of demonism, witchcraft, death and evil spirits.
God’s Word makes it clear that no one should dare entertain witchcraft or act as a sorcerer. “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD” (Deuteronomy 18:10-11 Deuteronomy 18:10-1110 There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
American King James Version×
, emphasis added throughout).
God pronounced death on any Israelites who would dare dally with demonism or Satanism: “A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:27 Leviticus 20:27A man also or woman that has a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be on them.
American King James Version×
). “You shall not permit a sorceress to live” (Exodus 22:18 Exodus 22:18You shall not suffer a witch to live.
American King James Version×
).
Why such a harsh penalty? God did not want such perverted, demonic practices to spread among His people and corrupt others. “But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst” (Deuteronomy 13:5 Deuteronomy 13:5And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he has spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust you out of the way which the LORD your God commanded you to walk in. So shall you put the evil away from the middle of you.
American King James Version×
).
Would God be against something as harmless as Halloween, especially since it allows children to have fun and enjoy a little entertainment? Can’t we let them have a little harmless fun?
Frankly, Halloween is anything but harmless. It focuses one’s attention on witchcraft and demonism, which flies in the face of the holy God Almighty! When parents not only allow but also encourage their children to celebrate witches and goblins, they are teaching them that it’s acceptable to deal in demonism.
And we have seen what God thinks of that. God is a God of light and truth (1 John 1:5 1 John 1:5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
American King James Version×
). Satan, “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4 2 Corinthians 4:4In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them.
American King James Version×
), is a very real being—a being of darkness, deception and death (Revelation 12:9 Revelation 12:9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
American King James Version×
; John 8:44 John 8:44You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stayed not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
American King James Version×
). We are to have nothing to do with his ways. (To learn more, request our Bible study aid Is There Really a Devil? )
Do not assume that Halloween is a harmless holiday. God hates mankind’s dabbling in the spirit world of Satan and his demons!
If there were no other reason available, that should be enough. But there are more reasons. Halloween keeps humankind, and many Christians, confused, disoriented and separated from the one and only true God.
God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33 1 Corinthians 14:33For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
American King James Version×
). Nor is He the author of Halloween or any other “Christianized” pagan holidays (Amos 5:21 Amos 5:21I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
American King James Version×
). Why would the only true God who loves mankind support any worldly holiday that blinds human beings to Him and His truth and that holds men, women and children captive to deception?

What does God expect from you on Halloween?

You now know what lurks behind Halloween’s mask: Satan the devil! God will one day unmask the ritual and tradition of Halloween to all people (Hebrews 8:10-11 Hebrews 8:10-1110 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
American King James Version×
).
If you believe that God exists and you understand that He is highly offended by the holidays designed and perpetuated by the god of this age, then you have a choice: whether you will begin honoring God the way He expects to be honored and be blessed for doing it, or whether you will ignore the truth revealed in history and His Word. Don’t wait!
God is not a god of masks, but a God of truth. God says that if you honor Him, He will honor you (1 Samuel 2:30 1 Samuel 2:30Why the LORD God of Israel said, I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD said, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
American King James Version×
). Ignore God and He will leave you subject to the god of this world and all that entails. God expects all who love and honor Him to repent from dead works and turn in faith toward Him, the only true God.