You’ve heard the stories, the legends, and the church debates… but do you really know where Halloween came from? Before you carve that jack-o’-lantern, you must uncover the hidden history of Halloween and understand what this day truly means for those walking the path of faith!
In this eye-opening teaching, we pull back the veil on the ancient origins of this autumn tradition. Is it harmless fun, or does its past hold lessons we must heed? We reveal what history and Scripture truly have to say. You will gain an informed, Biblically-sound perspective on Halloween’s history, from its beginnings to its modern-day expression, allowing you to walk in truth and wisdom.
This is more than just a history lesson; it is an empowering message for believers seeking to honor Yahweh in all things. This isn’t about fear or superstition; it’s about understanding. It’s about walking in light, not darkness. So join us as we learn the God Honest Truth about Halloween.
Are you ready to be strengthened in the Truth?
#HistoryOfHalloween #HalloweenOrigins #Samhain #HalloweenFacts #GodHonestTruth
Transcript
Teaching Introduction
You’ve known about it all your life. It’s the holiday of Halloween. But where did this holiday come from?
Where did the traditions and the concept — and things like that — come from? And how does that jive or coincide with Christianity and the Bible?
Well, stay tuned as we go through this teaching about Halloween: where it came from, how it relates to Christianity, what the Bible has to say about it — all that good stuff — so you’ll be more equipped to make an informed decision for you and your family regarding this holiday of Halloween.
So stay tuned for the God Honest Truth about Halloween.
Video Start
So, this teaching is going to be all about Halloween — what the Scriptures have to say about such a practice, where this whole tradition and holiday of Halloween came from, how it connects to the ancient Celts and Catholicism — a whole bunch of stuff is going to go into this.
So definitely make sure to stay tuned and to have your notebook ready.
If you would like even more notes than what we have put forth here in this particular teaching, then go check out the article post that we have provided for you on GodHonestTruth.com.
There you’ll be able to find the on-demand video. You’ll be able to find the draw slides that you see here on your screen. You’ll also be able to find the notes that we took for this particular subject — and it has been increased dramatically. So, go check that out definitely.
There’s also on that article post going to be the transcript if that is beneficial for you as well. But it’s all right there for you on GodHonestTruth.com.
And of course, like always, the best way to get to it is going to be to go down below — it doesn’t matter if you’re watching on a video platform or an audio podcasting platform — go down below in the description.
We’ve placed a convenient link down there for you. If you click on that, it’ll take you directly to the article post on GodHonestTruth.com.
Teaching Overview
Now, just a quick overview of what we’re going to be getting into in this particular teaching.
We’re going to start out and lay a foundation for what it is that we’re going to be studying — a few of the terms — just so we are understanding what we’re speaking of when we use those particular terms in tonight’s teaching.
We’re going to examine how the Romans venerated their dead, because they had several different ways of doing so. We’re going to examine the evolution of the veneration of the dead within, quote unquote, the church.
And by that, I generally mean the Roman Catholic Church, which started in 325 at Nicaea, and then eventually broke off into splinter denominations and congregations such as the Eastern Orthodox, such as Protestantism, etc., etc.
Then we’re going to take a quick look at the Celts and their festival of Samhain. We’re going to take a bird’s-eye overview of the evolution of Halloween — where it started from, all the way up to today’s celebration of this particular holiday.
Just a quick and broad overview of the different events that led up to what we now know as Halloween.
Then we’ll take a look at some Halloween traditions that we are all familiar with — where they came from, and some quick background on each of those.
And then, the most important part of the entire teaching: we’re going to look at the Scriptures — what the Scriptures tell us regarding Halloween, regarding purgatory, regarding the veneration of the dead, regarding pagan customs, etc., etc.
So there’s a bunch of information there — a whole bunch of Scriptures coming your way during that section. Get ready for it. Get rested up. Be prepared.
And finally, we’re going to summarize and quickly go over all the various things that we learned during this teaching there at the end of the video.
Laying A Foundation
So now, let’s go ahead and lay a foundation and go over a few terms that we’re going to be using throughout this particular teaching, so you know what we’re talking about when we mention these terms.
The first up is the word Halloween. Now, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, you know all about Halloween.” But we’re hoping and praying that someday in the future there will not be any such thing as Halloween — and people will look back and think to themselves, “Well, what is Halloween?”
This is why we’re putting “Halloween” up there for posterity’s sake — so that hopefully one day in the future, when it’s obliterated, they can look at this video and understand what Halloween used to be.
Now, that right now is going to be in the past — but that’s starting to get complicated. We’re not going to do that.
Anyway, Halloween is defined by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as, quote:
“A holiday observed on October 31st and noted for its pagan and religious roots and secular traditions, celebrated with parties, spooky costumes, jack-o’-lanterns, pumpkin carvings, and the giving of candy.”
Wikipedia.org defines Halloween as, quote:
“A celebration observed in many countries on 31 October. Halloween has become a celebration of horror and is associated with the macabre and the supernatural.”
And finally, from good old Merriam-Webster:
“October 31st observed especially with dressing up in disguise, trick-or-treating, and displaying jack-o’-lanterns during the evening.”
When we mention the word Halloween or the concept or the holiday of Halloween, that’s what we mean when we say the word “Halloween.”
Now, let’s go ahead and look at the Celts. Who were the Celts? Are they still around? What were they all about?
Well, this is just a brief overview of who the Celts were, just so you have a general idea of who we’re talking about when we mention the Celts.
From Wikipedia.org, quote:
“The Celts, or Celtic peoples, were a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia. Major Celtic groups included the Gauls, Celtiberians, the Britons, the Picts, the Gaels of Britain and Ireland, the Boii, and the Galatians.”
Now, you’ve probably heard of the Galatians before, right? When Paul was writing to the church at Galatia, he was speaking to the Galatians.
Anyway, going on to the Encyclopaedia Britannica:
“Celt — a member of an early Indo-European people. Their tribes and groups eventually ranged from the British Isles and northern Spain to as far east as Transylvania, the Black Sea coast, and Galatia in Anatolia.”
And finally, from the World History Encyclopedia:
“The ancient Celts were various tribal groups living in parts of Western and Central Europe.”
So that is a general, really brief overview of who the Celts were. They weren’t an actual empire; they weren’t a nation as we think of nations today.
The Celts were actually a people group — composed of various tribes of Celts. Each tribe had different ways of doing things, but they were generally united in various things such as speech, religion, and language.
Those common threads are what connected them — and that’s why they’re all considered to be Celts. But they weren’t one large, powerful nation like America, Russia, or China today. They were simply a widespread people group.
That’s who we’re referring to when we talk about the Celts.
Later on, we’ll show you a map of where the Celts lived so you can get a better visual representation of where they actually were.
Now, moving on — and somewhat related to the Celts — are the Druids.
I’m sure you’ve probably heard the word Druid before. But who exactly were the Druids? Well, here’s a brief, bird’s-eye overview of who the Druids were.
From Wikipedia.org, quote:
“A Druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lore-keepers, medical professionals, and political advisers.”
And from Encyclopaedia Britannica:
“Druid — a member of the learned class among the ancient Celts. They acted as priests, teachers, and judges.”
Within the society of the Celts, the Druids were the head honchos, as it were — the people who ran the show.
They were in charge of the religious aspect of Celtic life. They took care of political leadership and many other matters. They were also the ones who kept the history and the religious practices.
In order to be a Druid, you had to dedicate yourself to the whole Druid lifestyle. You would learn under a master Druid or something of the sort, and they didn’t write anything down. They kept no written records of their practices or beliefs.
Instead, they memorized it all, and then they would return to their tribe or region and continue practicing and teaching the Druidic way.
The reason we have the information we do about the Druids and Celts is because at one point in history, the Roman Empire expanded into Europe proper — even into Britain and Ireland — and they encountered the Druids.
When they did, they recorded their interactions and what they observed of the peoples they conquered.
We have information from writers like Julius Caesar, who went up into Europe and Britannia decades before the first century, and he wrote about what happened during his campaigns. That’s how we have knowledge of the Celts and Druids.
So, it’s not firsthand from the Celts or Druids themselves — it’s from others who encountered them.
That’s a quick overview and summary of the terms that we’re going to be using — especially the more important ones. I’m sure you know who the Romans are already. I’m sure you know who the Roman Catholics are already. So, no reason to define those here.
Roman Veneration of the Dead
Let’s move on to our next section and look at the Roman veneration of the dead, because unfortunately, just about every single culture throughout time and throughout the world has had some sort of celebration or veneration of the dead.
You might be asking, “Okay, well, what about the Bible? What about Scripture?” Hold your horses — we’ll get to that here in just a little bit.
Right now, we’re going to look at the Roman veneration of the dead, because that plays into our study and our understanding of the history of Halloween.
Starting out, we look at one of the many celebrations or festivals for the dead that the Romans had. This was called the Feast of Parentalia.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica:
“Parentalia — Roman religious festival held in honor of the dead. The festival began at noon on February 13th and culminated on February 21st.”
End quote.
And from Wikipedia.org:
“The Parentalia, or Dies Parentalis, was a nine-day festival held in honor of family ancestors, beginning on 13 February.”
End quote.
So this feast or festival that the Romans had — Parentalia — was to celebrate, honor, and venerate the dead within their own families. Not everyone, not strangers or outsiders — this was to honor family members who had already passed on.
That was one way the ancient Romans venerated the dead.
But when they reached the last day of Parentalia, they didn’t stop there. Instead, they held another festival or feast called Feralia.
This comes from a fascinating website named Dinosaurs and Barbarians:
“The ancient Romans had several days in their calendar dedicated to honoring the dead. Among these was a period known as the Parentalia. The final day of the Parentalia mourning period was February 21st, the date of the Feralia — a remembrance festival for all those who have died, whether related to you or not.”
End quote.
And from LearnReligions.com:
“On the final day of Parentalia, a public feast called the Feralia was held.”
End quote.
So, just to recap — Parentalia was a festival to honor deceased family members. When it ended, the Romans immediately held Feralia, which honored everyone who had died — related or not.
Notice how they moved from the specific (family) to the general (everyone). Keep that in mind — because that pattern will appear again later.
Now, the Romans didn’t stop there. They had yet another celebration for the dead, called Lemuria (sometimes written “Lemuralia”).
From The Free Dictionary:
“Lemuralia was a holiday in the ancient Roman religion, which scholars date back to the 6th century BCE. The festival of the dead known as the Lemuralia was held on May 9th, 11th, and 13th. The lemures were the wandering spirits of the dead who returned to visit — and sometimes to threaten — their kinfolk.”
End quote.
Just as a quick reminder, the ancient Romans were pagans. This entire veneration of the dead — all of it — was pagan practice.
Now, remember those dates for Lemuralia: May 9th, 11th, and especially May 13th. Keep that one in your mind, because it’s going to come into play in just a little bit.
So, as you can see, the Romans went from honoring the specific dead (family members) to honoring the general dead (everyone) — and they had several festivals throughout the year to do just that.
That’s the pagan backdrop against which the later church began adopting similar practices — something we’ll turn to next.
‘Church’ Veneration of the Dead
All that in mind, it’s going to come into play here in this next section. We talk about the church’s veneration of the dead or the evolution of the church’s veneration of the dead. And once again, when I talk about, quote-unquote, the church, I’m talking about the Roman Catholic Church that was started and initiated in 325 AD and then of course split off into various daughter congregations and denominations like the Eastern Orthodox, like the Protestants, etc., etc.
So looking at the church’s veneration of the dead and this is something as Christianity grew as more and more people converted to Christianity various things crept into the church which some really shouldn’t have but they brought their pagan ways in. Instead of changing themselves to conform to the Bible they instead wanted to change the Bible and Christianity to conform to their pagan ways. But I digress.
Getting into this veneration of the dead by quote-unquote the church we look at All Saints Day and from wikipedia.org or quote, “All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows Day, the feast of all saints, the feast of all hallows, the solemnity of All Saints and All Hallows, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honor of all the saints of the church, whether they are known or unknown. In the 9th century, some churches in the British Isles began holding the commemoration of all saints on 1 November. And in the 9th century this was extended to the whole Catholic church by Pope Gregory IV. On 13th May 609 or 610 Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the martyrs ordering an anniversary. It is suggested 13th May was chosen by the pope because it was the date of the Roman pagan festival of Lemuria. Some liturgiologists suggest that Lemuria was the origin of All Saints based on their identical dates and their similar theme of all the dead. End quote.
So, just to give you a general overview of what’s going on here is that in 609 on the 13th of May, the Pantheon — and for those of you who don’t know what the Pantheon is, it was this building that was supposed to hold the images or statues of all the gods of the pagan Romans. This Pantheon was given over to the church and upon doing so Pope Boniface IV — and I’ve used that word pope very loosely — Pope Boniface IV took this Pantheon and consecrated it for supposedly Christian purposes. This pagan defiled building he took and tried to consecrate it for good and righteous purposes. He consecrated this Pantheon to the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the martyrs and then ordered that an anniversary be held every May 13th. And this May 13th was known as All Saints Day.
And at the beginning it was the people who were martyred and then it got into the veneration of saints and in the Catholic church there’s a whole process behind being sainted and there was more than enough saints to fill up every day of the year. They took one day and venerated all the saints on that day and that’s what’s called All Saints Day. Now eventually it came to include what’s known as All Souls Day which included not only the martyrs and the saints but all of the faithful believers of the quote-unquote Roman Catholic Church.
Now this is something — well we’ll get into that later — but this whole All Saints Day, All Souls Day, All Martyrs Day — this was something that was created by the Roman Catholic Church, not something that comes from Scripture, comes from the Roman Catholic Church.
Now if you remember when we did our teaching or our episode on birthdays, if you’ll remember way back in the early days — especially like the early second century and stuff like that — remember reading about the followers or the students of Polycarp. And once Polycarp had died, they actually took his bones and stuff like that. And they held a memorial or a celebration or veneration of Polycarp on the anniversary of his death. And they called it his birthday into the new life. They didn’t celebrate the birthdays like we do now. They celebrated his martyrdom, his death. And that was just a celebration or veneration of a specific person.
It then moved on into more general to the martyrs, the people who died for the faith. Then it moved on into even more general into the saints and then even more general into the all souls, all the believers. That was who they were venerating at that point. You see how it moves from the specific to the general. And also you see how this whole All Souls Day — I’m sorry this All Saints Day — was on May 13th. Keep that in mind because it’s going to change and just as it was originally created on a pagan day for the dead. It’s also going to be moved in accordance with a pagan day of the dead. So keep that in mind.
Anyway, looking at the church’s veneration of the dead or the evolution of such, looking at the Catholic Answers Guide from Catholic.com. Quote, “All Saints Day celebrated on November 1st in the Roman Catholic Church. On this day, the church honors all saints, both those formerly canonized and others who have attained heaven. Initially, Christians would celebrate martyrs on the anniversaries of their death because those days marked their birthdays into eternal life with Jesus in heaven. Beginning in the 4th century, the church established a common day to honor all martyrs. At Edessa on May 13th in the year 609 or 610, Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin Mary and all martyrs, choosing to commemorate the saints on May 13th. Later, Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica to all saints and moved the celebration to November 1st. Pope Gregory IV made November 1st the official date for the feast of all saints.” End quote.
This is something that did not happen overnight. We look at, you know, 609–610 and that’s when All Saints Day was first established when the Pantheon was consecrated in Rome and that was established on May 13th to syncretize with Lemuria, the pagan festival for veneration of the dead. But then later on in the 700s — I’m sorry, the 800s — this whole All Saints Day on May 13th was actually moved.
Now, curious enough, up in the British Isles, there was an abbot, I think it was, who had started doing venerations, stuff like that on November 1st. And remember this whole British Isles thing contained a bunch of Celts. It’s one of the locations where they were living. So Celts had some influence there as well because the Celts held November 1st in high esteem as well. We’ll get into that in just a minute.
Anyway, this abbot that was up there in the British Isles started venerating the dead on November 1st and eventually this went — made it a requirement for all of the churches or parishes in within his realm and it spread to the rest of the Roman Catholic Church and eventually this All Saints Day was moved from May 13th to November 1st and that’s what we know of today as All Saints Day. We’ll get into the reason for that here coming up shortly.
But there is a reason for the All Souls Day as well just like the All Saints Day and it’s based on a particular Roman Catholic doctrine. It’s called purgatory. Anyway, looking at the reasoning for All Souls Day from the Catholic Encyclopedia and it says, quote, “The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine that the souls which on departing from the body are not perfectly cleansed from venial sins or have not fully atoned for past transgressions are debarred from the beatific vision, and that the faithful on earth can help them by prayers, alms deeds, and especially by the sacrifice of the mass.” End quote.
Basically, what they didn’t say the word purgatory, but basically what they’re describing there is the concept and doctrine of purgatory. There’s a whole lot of wrong there. This is so messed up. Let’s look at it real quick.
The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine that the souls which on departing from the body — they’re assuming that a soul can survive and still be conscious without a body and without the spirit. Again, go look at our “What Happens After Death” teaching. They’re not perfectly cleansed from venial sins. Okay? There’s no distinction in Scripture about venial and other than venial sins. No. In Scripture, in the Bible, it just talks about sins in general. You do a little sin, it’s still a sin. If you do a big sin, it’s still a sin. And when you come to Yeshua and you’re washed in the blood, you’re born again, you’re saved. The sins that you have are washed and cleansed. There’s — you don’t need a church. You don’t need a priest. You don’t need a pope to fully cleanse you of this. You have our Messiah, Yeshua. So once you do that, you’re atoned. There is no need for purgatory.
And hence why you don’t find any hints of purgatory in the Scriptures, but we’ll get to that in just a minute. But yeah, that’s the whole concept or the whole reasoning for the All Souls Day and the All Saints Day, especially the All Souls Day is this whole doctrine or concept of purgatory from the Roman Catholic Church.
Celts & Customs
So now moving on into the Celts, let’s look at some areas where they were living, where they occupied just to give you a better idea of the geographical location. As I said, the Celts normally lived within the confine or within the lands of Europe proper and the British Isles. Here is a map of what they put together of where the Celts were living in the 4th century B.C.E. They were around for a long time and they’re actually still around. They have descendants now, but obviously. Here is a map of where the Celts lived during the 4th century B.C.E. Here is a map of where they extended to and where they lived during the 3rd century BCE. And finally, here is a map of where the Celts spread pretty much at their heights where they were at. You see here they went all the way down into what we know of as Spain. They went all the way down into the Middle East down there near Gong means Galatia, Antioch, places like that. They were all over Germany and France or where we know of as Germany and France nowadays. But they pretty much spread all over Europe proper. So there’s little doubt and it’s easy to understand how and why the Romans came into contact with the Celts when the Romans started to take over parts of Europe and the British Isles. There’s a visual representation of where the Celts were. So hopefully that helps. I’m a visual learner, so things like that really do help me.
But these Celts, they had a special veneration and a special honoring of various days in the year because they were pagans, and they made these kind of things up because they were superstitious like that. And one of the days that they celebrated was the time between October 31st and November 1st. And this particular time was called samhain. If when you look at it in English, you start thinking, okay, well, maybe that’s Samhain, Samhain, something like that. But it’s not going to be that easy. It never is, right?
Anyways, looking at this word and you want to pronounce it correctly and you want to get, you know, some like me, you want to get semantic over all this stuff, little stuff. It’s actually pronounced Saing Saing. But anyways, from the website pronounceit.com. Whoa. samhain is a Gaelic festival of Celtic pagan origins celebrated between 31 October and 1 November. This celebration then developed merging with the Christian All Saints Day to become Halloween. The pronunciation of samhain varies depending on the Gaelic language it is pronounced in. The correct pronunciation of samhain in Irish is samhain. The first part is pronounced like the sao, the female of a pig. The proper pronunciation of samhain in Irish, which would equate to Saing. End quote. Takes some practice. And I’ve been practicing all week. Still don’t think I have it down, but it’s close enough. That’s the proper pronunciation of Saing. Not Samhain, it’s Saing.
And this comes from the new Larousse Encyclopedia of mythology talking about samhain, and it says quote, there were four main feasts in the Celtic year. samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh. Of these four, samhain and Beltane were the most important. The beginning of the Celtic New Year was a particularly important event. On the eve of the feast, time appeared to belong neither to the old year nor to the new. There was a feeling that this lack of distinction in time was matched by a similar indistinct boundary between the world of man and that of his gods. The stories of attacks by hostile supernatural powers and of sacrifices are indicative of this insecurity and the need for propitiation. End quote.
So these pagans, these Celts, they had various celebrations throughout the year. And this samhain that we’re looking at specifically tonight is one of their more important feasts, if not the most important celebrations or feast of the Celtic or Druid new year.
One more time from Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World. Quote, The people of Europe celebrated festivals that marked the seasons dividing the year. The summer and winter solstices and the spring and autumn equinoxes marked the year’s turning points and were occasions for feast and parties. Ancient Europeans divided the year into two halves, the dark winter half and the bright summer half. The festivals known as samhain and Beltane in Ireland marked the dividing lines between these two halves of the year. The Celtic year began at the end of autumn and the beginning of winter around October 31st. This festival was known as samhain in Ireland. Tribes gathered at this festival to hold political discussions, horse races, and markets and to exchange spouses. Animal sacrifices were common in Roman Gaul. This harvest festival blended with the Roman festival. This autumn festival gradually transformed into the modern festival of Halloween. End quote.
So there is samhain it for you. It was a pagan demonic feast celebration about the dead. Wasn’t necessarily venerating the dead, but they were scared the dead would come and do bad things to them for whatever reason. So they had this feast or this celebration of samhain, and they did various things that they probably shouldn’t have done. This whole animal sacrifices to these demonic gods or pagan gods should not have been done. This whole exchanging of spouses—Lord, I’m not entirely sure how that goes into the propitiation of the ghosts, but anyways, something they did.
And another thing that they did was something called a wicker man. And pagan altars were places of human sacrifice and murder. Horrifically, the Celts believed the spirits of nature also demanded human sacrifices. I want to know who the Celts would have chosen for such a terrible fate and why such extreme violence was necessary. Each method of killing was designed to appeal to a different god. The more that were used, the greater the number of deities that would be pleased. It’s a bit different from the Christian Holy Communion, isn’t it? Sacrificing one life may seem barbaric enough, but there were times the Celts believed this was not enough.
I’m about to find out the horrifying measures they took to appease their gods when threatened with invasion. Ritual slaughter on an almost industrial scale for use only in the direst of crises. The Wicker Man is a terrifying Celtic construction that respected classical writers described. It’s thought it was like a colossal pagan altar built in the form of a hollow wooden man. Once constructed, it would have been filled with people and animals and set ablaze. The Wicker Man was an act of mass human sacrifice, a desperate cry for help. And for Sir Barry Cunliffe, it’s stark evidence the Celtic gods were bloodthirsty and cruel.
Do you think people thought the gods looked after them personally? Not at all. There’s no sense of the uh the loving god or anything like that or the loving gods. They were tricky. You could never trust a god. They’re not nice, are they? Not nice at all. No. They could demand things of you. They could trick you in every way. And if you didn’t do it right, if you didn’t get the ritual right, you’d had it. So, so you were in fear of the gods the whole time. It’s possible the Celts built wicker men as mass human sacrifices to their gods of war.
Do you think people would have gone in kicking and screaming or do you think that there might have been a sort of self-sacrificial element to it? There could well have been a self-sacrificial element. One or two of the classical writers say that they use criminals and if they couldn’t find criminals, they’d use anyone, but there is quite a lot of evidence that people went willingly to their death. People would have thought it was the right thing to do to sacrifice themselves for the wellbeing of others. Volunteering to be burnt alive inside a wicker man would have been the ultimate act of Celtic religious devotion.
Isn’t it fantastic? You could almost feel the power of that structure standing there. Their futures were hanging on it. They wanted the gods to love it. They wanted the gods to love them. And these weren’t people who were used to bloody spectacle in the way that we are on television and in the films. Absolutely not. No, they were used to human sacrifice, but that was on a much smaller scale. This was human sacrifice on the most colossal scale.
The lighting of the wicker man would have been a moment of divine hope for spectators and unimaginable fear for the sacrificial victims inside. Wow. So when the brand was actually thrown into the wicker man, all hell would be let loose. Literally all hell would be let loose with the burning, the crackling sound, the screams, and the smell. The smell would have been awful. You can imagine the the roasting bodies. Every every sense would have been attacked. This was the moment when the souls or the spirits were going to go up to the gods of the sky.
Look at it go. Look at it go. Everything going up to the gods. Look at that. If the wicker man was a final plea to the gods of the Celts to stop the Roman invasion, it failed. Even a thousand years on, Christians still honor pagan festivals. Think of the winter solstice at Christmas and the spring equinox at Easter and one heavenly entity. I don’t think so. What about the Virgin Mary and the huge pantheon of Christian saints? Paganism has shaped our history and in many ways paganism lives on.
Progression of Halloween
So now let’s look at the progression of Halloween, where it started all the way down to today, to the holiday that we all know of and probably a lot of us have celebrated in the past. But where it started from all the way down to today and the events in between that led to this point, starting out and way back in the day. Like I said, it started with the Celtic Druids and as early all the way back to 500 BC or somewhere around there. But this is where they held the festival of Samhain. They tried to appease spirits. They tried to hide from the spirits and honor their gods, and venerate the dead, etc., etc. So that started—that was the festival of Samhain—that’s the roots, that’s where it all got going.
Then in the first and third centuries, these early Christian communities would start commemorating the anniversaries of martyrs’ death. And remember, specific people, martyrs, not everyone, not great people of the faith, not everyone of the faith, just specifically martyrs. They started commemorating the anniversary of a martyr’s death at their burial site.
Then in 313, this is where things really changed in more than one way. But in 313, the emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan and granted tolerance to all of Christianity. For the most part, this was good. But in another aspect, this really opened the door to infighting a lot of times and bringing stuff in that he really shouldn’t have. Once Christians in that time period didn’t have to oppose the authorities, the Romans didn’t have to worry about being killed or martyred for their faith once they had their freedom. They then turned unfortunately against each other. If you look at the 4th century, the back and forth they had over various dogmas and beliefs and the horrid things that Christians done to each other during the 4th century and then even beyond is it’s horrific. Uh anyways, 313 the Edict of Milan was issued by Emperor Constantine granting freedom and tolerance to Christians and Christianity.
Then in 609, as we discussed earlier, Pope Boniface IV dedicated and consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the Virgin Mary and all martyrs, specifically all martyrs, and this is on May 13th.
Then in 731 or thereabouts, Pope Gregory III expanded All Saints Day to not just be about martyrs. It wasn’t All Martyrs Day anymore. Instead, Pope Gregory III expanded All Martyrs Day to All Saints Day to include all saints. So, we’re getting more general now. So, from specific to more general, this is All Saints Day on May 13th.
And then moving on, we look at the year 837. And this is Pope Gregory IV. And he officially moves All Saints Day to November 1st. Remember before this, other people were celebrating All Saints Day, the veneration of the dead, on November 1st, even though the official date was May 13th. But in 837, Pope Gregory IV officially moved All Saints Day to November 1st. And why did he do that? Because they got that date from another pagan festival named Samhain. Now it’s official. All Saints Day is on November 1st. That happened in 837 and it’s lasted all the way up until today.
Then moving on to 998, we have the Abbot Odilo of Cluny and he established November 2nd as All Souls’ Day. And this was a day to pray for the dead in purgatory. Again, it’s a Roman Catholic doctrine specific to them. And that’s another study on its own, but just understand and know that purgatory is not a biblical teaching.
Then going on into the 1000s CE and looking at medieval European church, the three-day observance of Hallowtide, which is October 31st, All Hallows’ Eve, and then All Saints Day and All Souls’ Day, becomes prominent. So that’s October 31st, November 1st, and November 2nd.
Then moving on to the 12th and 15th century, again looking at the medieval church and European folk traditions, we have the practice or the tradition of what’s called “souling” or “mumming.” And this emerges and people offer prayers for the dead in exchange for food. Disguises and processions on All Hallows’ Eve become common in Europe. This is not something the Catholics invented or came up with. This is something that these Catholics there in Europe adopted and brought in from the Druid paganism. Remember, the Druids and the Celts have been celebrating Samhain and venerating the dead ever since long before the first century. So by the time we get to the 12th or 15th century in the common era, this is not something new they’re doing. They’re taking these pagan practices and they’re adapting it to suit their desires. And what it turns out to be is these supposed Christians dressing up in pagan ways and doing pagan things, but calling it souling or mumming to pray for deceased loved ones in purgatory. Pagan ways of doing things for essentially pagan reasons for a made-up doctrine. I mean, how much more ridiculous can you get? There’s so much in scripture to learn about, so to do, and things like that. There’s no need to add in all this other nonsense stuff, but that’s history for you.
Moving on, and we look at the 16th century, and this gets into the Protestant reformers, and they didn’t really like the whole All Saints thing too much, but a lot of people didn’t really listen to them. Anyways, the Protestant reformers reject prayers for the dead in purgatory. Good on them, reducing observance of All Saints and All Souls’ Day in Protestant regions.
Then in the 18th and 19th century, the Irish and Scottish communities came over to America because I think it was the potato famine brought them over in larger numbers than they had before. But anyways, in the 18th and 19th century, these Irish and Scottish communities brought their Samhain customs with them, including things like bonfires, divination, “guising,” which is dressing up in the costumes, things like that. They brought that with them and it really even more at that point blended with the Christian, quote-unquote Christian, celebrations on those days and those practices as well. And that’s another thing comes up. What they brought over too was the whole jack-o’-lantern. And we’ll get into that in just a little bit as well, how that progressed and where that came from.
But then when they brought it over, this whole concept of trick-or-treating wasn’t always benign. It wasn’t always cutesy little store-bought costumes that kids wore and went to various people’s houses. In the early days, this whole concept of trick-or-treating was actually very malicious. And these kids would go around and actually do mean tricks to people in order to get them to appease them by giving them treats. So they would do something malicious and then they would tell the homeowner, “Hey, give us a treat or we’re going to do another trick.” And we’ll get to that in just a minute.
But anyways, in 1921, this is where it all started changing and started getting more towards the benign aspect that we know today of trick-or-treating. But in 1921 in Anoka, Minnesota, the uh they host one of the first organized Halloween celebrations in the US, which included parades and community events. And it really marked the holiday’s secularization from that point on. And once it became like a widespread celebration amongst the general population of America, the maliciousness of trick-or-treating really went down and it kept going down until we get to pretty much how we know it today.
1920 to 1950s. This really transitioned, like I said, Halloween from a rowdy, sometimes destructive street festivities to a community-centered, a family-friendly and child-friendly sort of holiday that we know now. It’s still pagan, still has pagan roots, but it’s much more friendly than it used to be.
And then from the 1950s on, due to Hollywood and the media and stuff like that, and especially post-war consumerism, it popularized Halloween and really started producing cheaper and larger quantities. Things like costumes and candy and decorations and stuff like that made it easier for people to acquire these things, even the lower class. And so this whole Halloween thing became more widespread because more people were able to afford to do it at that point and because it had become more family and child friendly. So it wasn’t the maliciousness of years past.
But that’s a bird’s-eye overview of the progression of Halloween, where it came from, the events that happened leading all the way up until today. And one thing you’ll notice as we went through that overview of the progression of Halloween is how it went from a pagan secular festival or celebration of pagan feast and it was sort of, kind of, mostly adopted into some sort of Christian observance, and that went on for a while with the whole mumming and souling and All Saints Day moving and all that. So it was somewhat considered Christian at that point, but then it eventually went into a more secular route that we know today.
The whole religious aspect is still held to by those within the mother church, the Roman Catholic Church, but very little by anyone else. Most of the Baptists and Methodists and denominations like that that I know of don’t really consider Halloween to be a religious holiday, but yet they don’t accept and understand the paganism of it and they still celebrate Halloween. Now, some people, some churches around here will have what they call a “trunk-or-treat.” They won’t call it a Halloween. They won’t call it trick-or-treating, but it’s the same thing. I mean, if it walks like a duck, it talks like a duck, it looks like a duck, it smells like a duck, it’s a duck. If it looks like Halloween, it acts like Halloween, it smells like Halloween, it’s Halloween. You can call it whatever you want to. And as Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name smells just as sweet.” Yeah, we know what you’re doing, churches. It’s still a Halloween celebration.
‘Halloween’ Traditions
So, now let’s go ahead and look at some Halloween traditions that we’re all pretty familiar with and some symbols as well. And we’re first going to take a look at the jack-o’-lantern. And this comes from an old, I think it’s Irish, but don’t hold me to that, story or folk tale about someone named “Tricky Jack.” And as the story goes—we won’t get into the whole story here—as the story goes, Tricky Jack got into some trouble with the devil and actually made a deal with the devil. Actually, the devil made a deal with him to get out of a bind. And various instances like that happened between Tricky Jack and the devil where eventually Tricky Jack was barred from hell, essentially. And so Tricky Jack was not allowed to be in hell, and because of all the bad things he done, he wasn’t allowed to be in heaven. So he was just set after his death to wander the earth, as it were.
But when he went to hell, this is the story where the whole jack-o’-lantern comes from. This comes from Halloween.com. Quote, “The way was dark and Jack, unable to see his way out from hell, requested something to light his path. The devil then tossed a hot burning coal ember for Jack to carry. This ember would never burn out since it was from the flames of hell. Since the coal burnt his hands, Jack looked for a vessel to use to carry his coal and eventually came across a turnip which he carved to create a lantern.” End quote.
So, in the story of Tricky Jack, he actually ends up carving out a turnip to use as a thing to hold the ember that he was given to light his path. And that was the first jack-o’-lantern. It was a carved out turnip. And if you’re looking on the video, here is a picture of an original jack-o’-lantern carved out from a turnip. It’s very disturbing looking. And that’s more in line in my thoughts with the whole macabre or demonic aspect of Halloween, more so than a pumpkin.
But when the Irish came over to America in various places, they brought their customs and their traditions and their festivities with them, including things like Samhain and this whole jack-o’-lantern thing. That’s where the name Jack-o’-Lantern comes from, actually, is from the whole story of Tricky Jack. Once they come to America, something that was easier to carve and more abundant and easier to find was the pumpkin. So this whole jack-o’-lantern carving from a turnip eventually evolved into carving out a pumpkin, and that stuck and became the jack-o’-lantern that we know today. But originally jack-o’-lanterns were carved out turnips. That comes from the story of Tricky Jack.
Moving on into costumes and trick-or-treating. This comes from History.com. Quote, “During some Celtic celebrations of Samhain, villagers disguised themselves in costumes made of animal skins to drive away phantom visitors. Banquet tables were prepared and food was left out to placate unwelcome spirits. In later centuries, people began dressing as ghosts, demons, and other malevolent creatures, performing antics in exchange for food or drink.” End quote.
So this process or this whole activity of trick-or-treating that we know today originally began with the pagans in their celebration of Samhain, dressing up to ward off these evil spirits. That was adopted and adapted by the Roman Catholics into souling and mumming to get food and sometimes coins, but mostly food, in exchange to pray for loved ones in purgatory. And then it goes on into the secularization that we have today of people just dressing up because they think that’s what they’re supposed to do on Halloween without understanding the history or the roots behind the whole holiday. But that is costumes and trick-or-treating, or a little bit about trick-or-treating.
But anyways, moving on into some more about trick-or-treating. This comes from History.com. Quote, “Poor people would visit the houses of wealthier families and receive pastries called ‘soul cakes’ in exchange for a promise to pray for the souls of the homeowner’s dead relatives, known as ‘souling.’ The practice was later taken up by children who would go from door to door asking for gifts such as food, money, and ale.” End quote.
This is what I was talking about earlier. Some people, they try to equate trick-or-treating with a Catholic Christian practice. That’s not true. Where the Catholics got it from was from the pagans. They adopted it. They syncretized it from a pagan practice, brought it into Roman Catholicism, aka Christianity, and then it came down to what we know of as today. So, it’s originally rooted in paganism, but as time went on, it wasn’t this pagan ritual of warding off spirits. It wasn’t a Catholic adaptation to pray for dead loved ones in purgatory. It became an excuse or an opportunity for mischievous people to be mischievous.
Like we were saying earlier, this is a quote or an excerpt from the Bay City Times in November of 1928. And the headline is “Trick or Treats.” And it says, quote, “The peaceful citizens lived in terror of the time each evening when they should be summoned to their front doors to hear the fatal ultimatum, ‘tricks or treats,’ uttered in a merciless tone by some small child who clutched in one grubby fist a small chunk of soap capable of eliminating the transparency from any number of windows.” End quote.
Now, rubbing soap on someone’s window is aggravating, but at least it’s not harmful or destructive, but, you know, it’s still malicious. And people would give these mischievous children a treat, some kind of food or candy or money or something like that to keep them from doing any more tricks. That was the mischievous part of the whole history of Halloween. But like I said, eventually it got more common and it got more benign and it became family and child friendly, to the watered down version that we know of today.
But another tradition or another symbol commonly associated with Halloween is that of witches. This comes from Halloween.com. Quote, “Witches have been around for eons and were often thought to have mystical powers partly because of their connection to Satan or the spirit world. Their most notorious gatherings were thought to happen during the two major season changes on April 30th and of course October 31st.” End quote.
Yeah, these witches are part of satanic rituals, satanic world, satanic, demonic way of doing things. So it makes sense they would be also associated with pagan things like Samhain and Halloween. There’s also many other traditions and symbols that go along with Halloween that you’re probably thinking of right now, but there’s no time to get into those. And as you can probably guess, they more than likely have a pagan source. But even if they don’t, it doesn’t really matter. The whole holiday itself is rooted in paganism.
Scripture
So now let’s get into the biggest part, the meatiest part of our entire teaching here. And this is what scripture has to say about things that we’ve been discussing already: Halloween, veneration of the Dead, Purgatory, etc., etc. So, have your notes ready. If you have a Bible, have it out. If you have your Bible software, get ready to start punching in verses and looking these up. But here we go. What scripture has to say regarding these subjects that we have been covering tonight.
The Silence of Scripture on Halloween and Purgatory
Number one, no scripture is even remotely close to the celebration of Halloween. There’s no scripture at all that’s even remotely close to celebration of something like Halloween. There is no scripture that’s even remotely close to a veneration or a celebration of the dead. In fact, there is no scripture that’s even remotely close to the concept or the doctrine of purgatory. You look this up and you start asking educated or learned Catholics about purgatory. The thing they point to is a verse in Second Maccabees. Now keep in mind that people like Roman Catholics still consider what we would consider Apocrypha to be part of their canon. So Second Maccabees would be part of the canon for Catholics. But even when you read that verse or that section in Second Maccabees, the way I read it, it still doesn’t talk about any kind of concept of purgatory like they teach nowadays. But anyways, let us suffice that there’s no scripture in all of the Bible that comes even remotely close to a concept of purgatory like is taught nowadays.
In fact, what you find in scripture—we’ll get to a lot of these verses here in just a minute—what you find in scripture is the Tanakh or the aka Old Testament teaches that the dead go to Sheol, the grave, under the earth, in a tomb, etc., etc., which is a place of unconsciousness and silence and rest. They’re not wandering the earth. They’re not anywhere else conscious. They’re just asleep as scripture puts it.
Number two, Yeshua himself, our Messiah, speaks of a resurrection and judgment after death, not a purification. There’s not one single time that our Messiah said anything close to resembling the doctrine of purgatory.
Number three, Paul, the Apostle Paul himself, affirms that when we die, we quote-unquote sleep until the resurrection, which is completely in line with the rest of scripture and what it says about what happens when we die.
And finally, there’s no in-between place that’s taught in scripture like purgatory. There’s only the grave and the hope of resurrection. So when we die, we go into the grave where we go to sleep. Our soul goes unconscious. No purgatory. There’s no immediate going to heaven. There’s no immediate going to hell, anything like that. We all just go down to the grave. We’re unconscious. We are asleep as scripture puts it. And that’s something that happens for both the righteous and the unrighteous. And then there’s the hope of the resurrection. And remember our teaching on the what happens when we die. There is two resurrections. There’s the resurrection of the just and then there’s the resurrection of the unjust. But the same process happens for us all. We die. We’re asleep or unconscious. And then we’re resurrected. The righteous are resurrected to eternal life. And the unrighteous are resurrected unto damnation and annihilation, to be burned up in the lake of fire. There’s no in-between. There’s no bosom of Abraham. There’s no purgatory. Nothing like that. And that is what scripture teaches. Like I said, we’ll get into the verses here in a minute. There’s a whole bunch of verses coming up. There’s a whole bunch of verses that we did not include, but is on the notes list on godhonesttruth.com. So, go check out that article post.
Unused Rationalizations
Now, with all the other things that the church brought into Christianity and to the church, all these other things they brought in, there was rationalizations for it and stuff like that, but there’s no rationalization for Halloween. And there’s all kinds of things they could have brought up in order to rationalize it and try to make it seem or sound legit.
Number one, when in Matthew 27 when Yeshua dies, and it talks about the saints or the souls or the people who were buried in the tombs, they got up and they walked around and spoke to other people around there in Jerusalem. That could have been a rationalization for the celebration of Halloween.
Number two, they talking about the end times when the dead will rise, both the righteous and unrighteous. That could have been a rationalization for Halloween, but it’s not. They didn’t use that. It wouldn’t have worked.
Anyways, the instance in scripture where it talks about Saul speaking with Samuel after Samuel had died and Saul went to the witch, the medium, the psychic, and supposedly raised up Saul from the dead. Even though in my personal opinion and other people’s opinion, that was actually a conjuring up of a demon, but that’s a story for another time. They could have used that story of Saul speaking with Samuel as rationalization for Halloween.
And finally, they could have used the examples in scripture, the numerous examples in scripture, of people like Lazarus who were raised from the dead. But they didn’t use that either. And one thing to remember and keep in mind on that aspect is that once these people were raised, they were not dead anymore. They were alive. So that wouldn’t be veneration of the dead like Halloween or All Saints, All Souls, stuff like that. So they could have used these rationalizations, but they didn’t. So glad they did. Still would have exposed them either way. Anyways, I’m not helping you Catholics. Sorry.
The Scriptural Position on the Dead
So going on, let’s look at the scriptural position on what happens when we die. The scriptural position on the dead. Have your notes ready. Have your Bible ready because here we go.
Looking at Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 and verse 10.
For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not, nor do they have any more reward. For their remembrance is forgotten. Also their love and their hatred and their envy have now perished, and they no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun. All that your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.
That comes from Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verses 5-6 and 10. So this is one of those verses, one of the many verses that tells us when we die, we go to Sheol. Everyone does. And what does the passage tell us? Well, it tells us that once we go to Sheol, once we are dead, we know nothing because we’re dead. We’re unconscious. We’re not lying around in heaven wearing diapers and playing harps. We’re not in hell being eternally tortured. We’re not roaming the earth like the pagans and the Romans and etc., etc. believed and haunting various people. No, when we die, we are asleep as the Bible puts it. We are unconscious. And this is one of those passages that proves and teaches just that.
Another one, Psalms chapter 6:5,
For in death there is no remembrance of you, who gives you thanks in Sheol?
Once again, no one gives Yahweh thanks in Sheol because no one in Sheol is conscious to give Yahweh thanks.
John 5:28-29.
Do not marvel at this because the hour is coming in which all those in the tombs shall hear his voice and shall come forth. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have practiced evil matters to a resurrection of judgment.
So this is Yeshua himself telling us about the end times and telling us about what happens when we die. Probably inadvertently so, but this is something we can still draw from what he told us here. He says that in the end times that those who are in the tombs, where are they? Are they flying around in heaven playing harps, wearing diapers? Nope. Are they eternally being tormented in hell? Nope. Are they wandering the earth and making people’s windows creek, haunting people on the earth? No. No. What Yeshua tells us, what our Messiah teaches us about life after death and what happens when we die, is that people go to Sheol and that’s where they stay until the resurrection. That’s the words of our very own Messiah.
Looking at Acts 2:34,
For Dawid did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself said, ‘Yahweh said to my master, “Sit at my right hand.”’
Even King David, as exalted as he is in scripture, as exalted as he is within Christianity, within Judaism, etc., etc., as great as a man as he was and all the great things he did, even David himself is not in heaven. That just goes to further reinforce the fact when we die, we do not go to heaven. We do not go to hell. We do not wander the earth haunting loved ones. No. When we die, we go unconscious. We go asleep as the Bible puts it until the day of resurrection when we’ll be resurrected either with the righteous or the unrighteous. And that’s what happens with the dead. So there’s no reason to venerate the dead because they know nothing, as scripture puts it. They are asleep or unconscious. So it does us absolutely no good to venerate the dead or pray to the dead or anything like that. But again, there’s no teaching in scripture that comes even remotely close to purgatory because all these verses we just read completely negate and oppose the doctrine of purgatory. So there’s many other verses besides that that teach the exact same thing about what happens when we die. Once again, go look at our teaching that we did on that very same subject of what happens when we die to learn all about it.
Abominations: Necromancy and Consulting the Dead
There are other aspects of Halloween that scripture, the Bible teaches against as well, and that is the concept of necromancy or consulting with the dead, venerating the dead, etc., etc.
Looking at Deuteronomy 18:10-14.
Let no one be found among you who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices divination, or a user of magic, 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 whoever does these is an abomination to Yahweh. And because of these abominations, Yahweh your Elohim drives them out from before you. Be perfect before Yahweh your Elohim. For these nations whom you are possessing do listen to those using magic and to diviners. But as for you, Yahweh your Elohim has not appointed such for you.
Again, do not go to these people. He even calls the people who are the mediums, the spiritists, the psychics, the fortune tellers, the tarot card readers, the palm readers, etc., etc., and those who call up the dead, refers to them as an abomination. What other things can you think of that the Bible refers to as an abomination? Homosexuals are referred to as an abomination. Those who engage in bestiality are referred to as an abomination. And likewise in that very, very same class are the people call up the dead or who consult with spiritists, who consult with mediums, who consult with psychics. They’re referred to as an abomination just like homosexuals and those who perform bestiality. Exact same level according to scripture. Remember abomination means utterly detestable, utterly disgusting, something like that. That gives you the opinion of scripture on people who venerate or pray to the dead or call up the dead or spiritists, psychics, mediums, stuff like that. That’s what scripture thinks about those kind of people.
Went on looking at another passage, Leviticus 20:6 and 27.
And the being who turns to mediums and to spiritists to go whoring after them, I shall set my face against that being and cut him off from the midst of his people. And a man or a woman in whom there is a medium or who is a spiritist shall certainly be put to death. They are to stone them with stones. Their blood is upon them.
So just like other things that are considered abominations, those who engage in various forms of necromancy, who consult the dead, venerating the dead, who are spiritists, who are mediums, who are psychics, etc., etc., they’re referred to as abominations. And just like the other kinds of abominations listed in scripture, the penalty for engaging in such a thing according to scripture is the death penalty, is stoning. So again, that just reinforces the position that scripture holds about these people, these spiritists, these mediums, these psychics, these communers of the dead, etc., etc. That’s what scripture thinks about all of them.
Rejecting the Ways of the Pagans
And more than that, scripture goes on in multiple, multiple locations that tells us do not learn the ways of the pagans. Do not learn the ways of the Gentiles. Do not do it. Here are just a few verses. There’s many, but here are just a few.
Looking at Jeremiah 10:2,
Thus said Yahweh, “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles, and do not be awed by the signs of the heavens, for the Gentiles are awed by them.”
Deuteronomy 12:29-30.
When Yahweh your Elohim does cut off from before you the Gentiles which you go to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, guard yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, “How did these Gentiles serve their gods? And let me do so, too.”
So, we’re told time and time again, “Do not learn the ways of the Gentiles. Do not learn the ways of the pagans. Do not learn the ways of the heathens, etc., etc., whatever name, whatever term you want to use, pagan, heathen, gentile, it’s all the same thing. We’re told time and time again, do not learn their ways. Instead, we are to learn the ways of Yahweh, what he has told us in the scriptures, and not learn and go after the ways of the pagans. What’s a way of the pagans that we have been talking about tonight? Samhain, right?
Darkness, Death, and the Demonic
So moving on, when we look at Halloween, we think about Halloween nowadays especially, but it’s really been this way ever since its inception. But Halloween is a celebration or a how should I put this? One of the major themes with Halloween is darkness and death. I’m sure everyone out there listening to me right now would agree with that. The big themes are darkness and death. And that’s not something that the Bible, the scriptures have a good view on either. Let’s look at that real quick.
Second Corinthians chapter 6:14-17.
Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness and lawlessness? And what fellowship has light with darkness? And what agreement has Messiah with Belial? For what does a believer have with an unbeliever? And what union has the dwelling place of Elohim with idols? For you are a dwelling place of the living Elohim, as Elohim has said, “I shall dwell in them and walk among them, and I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be my people.” Therefore, come out from among them, and be separate, says Yahweh. And do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you.
So the ways of darkness, the ways of death, scripture speaks against because it talks about, you know, what fellowship has light with darkness. The light can be thought of as these scriptures, the righteous way of doing things, our Messiah, the believers, etc., etc. And what fellowship does those in the light have with things that are in the darkness? Things like Halloween, pagan rituals, etc., etc.
Again, 1 Corinthians chapter 10:20-21.
No, but what the Gentiles slaughter, they slaughter to demons and not to Elohim. And I do not wish you to become sharers with demons. You are not able to drink the cup of the Master and the cup of demons. You are not able to partake of the table of the Master and of the table of demons.
There are—I should have put this in there—there’s other verses that refer to pagan ways or these gentile ways as being slaughterings or offerings to demons. So the pagan ways are demonic ways. The only righteous ways are those of scripture. So do not become sharers with these demons. Do not become sharers with pagan ways. Learn your feasts and your festivals and stuff like that like we’re doing tonight with Samhain or Halloween, like we’re doing in our series on Christmas. Learn these things and that which comes from paganism. We need to reject and not become sharers with such demonic things and activities.
Now those—like we said, one of the themes of Halloween is darkness—but there’s another theme is also death. So, is there a celebration in scripture around death? Is there a celebration in scripture about those who are dead? Let’s look at that real quick.
Proverbs 8:35-36.
For whoever finds me shall find life and obtain favor from Yahweh, but he who sins against me injures himself. All who hate me love death.
Let me say that again. All who hate Yahweh love death. Get it? Halloween has a theme of death. And those who hate Yahweh love death. Take that for what you will. That really spoke volumes to me when I came across that while back, especially in regards to this whole study of Halloween and things like that. All those who hate Yahweh love death. Keep that in mind. Write it down. Underline it. Things like that.
A Former Satanist’s Testimony
Former Satanist who is now a pastor says no. Christians should not celebrate it. Well, 25 years, eight years old boy, little boy, 8 years old, demon church, learn being trained by high ranked devil worshiper, warlock and spiritual witches. I sold my soul to the devil. Got married in Halloween. Had a demonic wedding in Halloween. I baptized my daughter to the dark side at the age of 11. I breathed, ate, and slept witchcraft. Knowing what you came from and what you used to do, you’re pretty um discouraged that you see Christians celebrating Halloween. Why?
Yeah, I, I, I, I, I, I don’t know how you can cheat on God. Why would you put your kids, your family? Why would you put your purpose, your destiny? Why would you put your whole eternity in a demonic altar? And and on top of that, Anton LaVey said out of his mouth, you know, he he used to he he was the ruler of the church of Satan, right? Out of his mouth, he said, “I want to thank every Christian parent for allowing their child to celebrate Halloween one time a year, the devil’s holiday.” That is the trick of the devil. I’d rather be right with God. You be mad with me, but at least you make heaven. Yes. God told me to speak the truth. You know, I’m just a mailman. Amen. But when I leave this world, I’ll make Yeshua Messiah proud. Amen. And heaven will rejoice. Hell will rejoice because I left the battlefield.
Summary
So now in summary, just to wrap things up and go over real quick what we learned during this particular teaching.
Number one, Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31st, originating from pagan sources and various pagan sources, but it includes and mainly from Samhain.
The Celts were a people group spread out over Europe and the British Isles. The Druids were a high-ranking class within the Celts who functioned as religious leaders, legal authorities, adjudicators, lore-keepers, medical professionals, and political advisers.
The Romans had many days for the veneration of the dead. And the three that we cover tonight were Parentalia, which is the veneration of deceased family members. And that occurred from October 13th—I’m sorry, February 13th to February 21st. Then it ended with Feralia, which was the veneration of all who have died, which occurred on February 21st, the final day of Parentalia. And the final, the third one we covered tonight was the festival or the feast of Lemuralia, which is the festival of the dead, and that occurred on May 9th, May 11th, and May 13th. Remember, keep that date in mind.
Early believers originally commemorated the death of individual leaders like we covered with Polycarp. Then they expanded that to include martyrs and then saints, people who were sainted, and finally all believers that passed on, whether they were martyrs, saints, or not. And due to syncretization, Catholicism adopted the pagan Lemuralia, including the date of May 13th, and renamed it to All Saints Day.
Samhain was a Celtic pagan festival at the end of what they considered summer and celebrated between October 31st and November 1st. Halloween as we know it was a gradual evolution within Christianity adopted from several pagan origins such as venerating the dead, the dates for doing so, and the traditions the pagans used during their veneration of the dead.
Scripture includes nothing, nothing at all about celebrating Halloween, venerating the dead, or purgatory. The scriptures emphatically teach that the dead are not conscious, much less walking around threatening the living or responding to any prayers. Scripture is clear in its prohibition of necromancy or communing with the dead. Time and time again, scripture tells us to not learn the ways of the Gentiles and how they worshipped their gods. And finally, we are not to become partakers of demonic ways, traditions, or holidays. That’s what scripture says. And that’s just a God honest truth.
