Did you enjoy the music that was playing when you came in? Were you looking over your shoulders for Jason or Michael Myers? Was Freddy Krugger stalking you? All of these of course were characters from famous horror films.
We love to be frightened. Last week we went to Scarowinds on Friday night. It was packed. People and monsters intermingling in the most frightening atmosphere imaginable. Saturday afternoon we went back to Carowinds for the kids Pumpkin Patch celebration. For those who don’t know, Carowinds closes at 5:30 and reopens at 7:00 as Scarowinds. As we were leaving, I noticed the front gate was already packed with people who were willing to stand in line for an hour and a half to get in. They had to love horror a whole lot.
I discovered this week that in the list of the 10 top grossing low budget movies, four were horror flicks. “Halloween” was produced on a budget of $325,000, made $70 million for a return of 11,000%. The original 1950s “Night of the Living Dead” was produced on a budget of $114,000, made $47 million for a return of 13,000 %. “The Blair Witch Project” was produced on a budget of $600,000, made $248.3 million for a return of 20,000%. And the number one film of all, not just horror, was “Paranormal Activity” which was produced on a budget of just $15,000. It brought in $197 million for a return of 665,000%. I guess being scared counts for something.
Of course, scary movies and themes do much better around this time of year. Halloween is known as the devil’s holiday along with ghosts and witches. But where did it start? Well, I am glad you asked.
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain (sow-in), when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future, thus the birth of fortune-tellers.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic gods. During the celebration, they wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires in their homes, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain (sow-in). The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, thus explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples.
On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.
In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 1 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain (sow-in), with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-Hallowmas. And the night before began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
Winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.
Years later All Souls’ Day parades in England became popular. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.
Another popular activity was to sit around the bonfire and tell frightening stories, such as this one.
It was a very dark night in the middle of a storm as the man stood on the side of the road hitch hiking. No cars had passed for several hours. The storm was so strong, he could hardly see a few feet ahead of him. Suddenly he saw a car come towards him and stop.
The guy, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door to realize that nobody was behind the wheel. The car started slowly. The guy looked at the road and saw a curve coming his way.
Scared, he began praying and begging for his life. He hadn’t come out of shock, when just before he hit the curve, a hand appeared through the window and moved the wheel. The guy, paralyzed in terror, watched how the hand appeared every time before a curve.
Finally, he gathered enough strength to jump from the car and run to the nearest town. Wet and in shock, he ran into a bar and asked for two shots of tequila, and started telling everybody about the horrible experience he went through. A silence enveloped everybody when they realized the guy was crying and wasn’t drunk.
About half an hour later, two guys walked into the same bar, and one said to the other. "Look, that’s the guy who climbed into the car while we were pushing!"
Ghost stories, scary movies, music that may have made you cringe. All fun but not as terrifying as the truth. People can get worked up against Halloween, declaring it a day of Satanic worship. But the truth is everyday is Halloween. Everyday we are threatened by spiritual influences of an evil nature. It would be great if we would only have to worry about Satan one time a year. But he’s always around and always after us. And when he comes at us, there is no music playing in the background. I think one of the most horrifying scripture in the Bible is Luke 22:31. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.”
Can you imagine anything more frightening than to know that Satan has asked for you by name? He didn’t ask for Peter, the Rock. He asked for Simon, the frail fisherman. He asked to put Simon through the ringer, to stick a pitchfork in him and throw him in the air. He asked to stomp on his faith and shake his beliefs to the core. Imagine Jesus looking you in the eye and telling you this. Would your blood run cold? Would you break into a sweat? Would your heart beat out of your chest?
But what if the statement He made next was “I hope your faith will be strong when he is finished with you?” In other words, “I’m turning you over to him.” Can anything be scarier?
I want to assure you that probably not one of us has been worth Satan’s time to ask for us by name. He has enough evil, demonic spirits whispering in our ears and tempting us that he doesn’t have to waste his time on the ordinary Christian. And if Satan ever asks for you by name, you had better pray that God refuses. Because Satan is able to bring about complete destruction on our lives. Just ask Job. He was another man that Satan asked for by name.
Job was a rich man, a man of complete integrity. Job did his best to live a sinless life before God. He owned more cattle, had more servants, owned more land than anyone around him. He worried about his 10 children and how well they obeyed God. So after every party that one of then threw, Job would offer up prayers and offerings of repentance in case they had sinned.
One day God allows Satan to enter into the heavenly court to give an account to his latest escapade. God asks, “Where have you been.”
I can see a leer on Satan’s face. “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on. I have seen the mess your creation is in. I have seen the people in rebellion against you.”
God doesn’t deny it. He doesn’t strike Satan with a lightening bolt. Because He knows that Satan has seen someone that has gotten under his skin.
Job 1:8 “Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”
God asked him have you noticed Job. Of course he has. Job is a phenomenon. Satan already knew about Job. He looked for flaws and saw none. He searched for secret sins hidden from the world and could not find any to expose. When Satan finds sin in a man’s heart, it is as if he discovered one of his children. He could not find any of his children in Job. But Satan had a plan for Job. His plan was to create chaos in Job’s life that would lead to worry. Because worry shows a lack of trust in the goodness of God and leads to a lack of praise.
While Satan could not find a chink in Job’s character, he did know what flaws were prevalent in man. He knew that man’s greatest concerns were possessions, family, and health. He approached God with the plan to rob Job of all three. He asked for Job by name.
His plan was to attack Job at his weakest moments. His weapons would be Job’s friends and Job’s wife. They would burden him with guilt, attempting to make him question his relationship with God. His own wife would encourage him to commit suicide.
God’s response was to turn him over to Satan.
Job 1:12 “‘All right, you may test him,’ the Lord said to Satan. ‘Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.’ So Satan left the Lord’s presence.
When that plan did not work, Satan switched to plan two. Again, God turned him over.
Job 2:4-6 “Satan replied to the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life. But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!’
‘All right, do with him as you please,’ the Lord said to Satan. ‘But spare his life.’”
Job will suffer. He will spend many days before his accusers. He will become impatient with them, which will lead him to become impatient with God. God will confront Job, not to chastise him for his weakness but rather for him challenging God’s authority over his life. In the end all was made well for Job.
Job 42:10 “When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!”
Simon would also fail. He would give into fear and deny even knowing Jesus. But Simon would be restored. Peter would rise again from this frail man and be twice the witness for Christ that he was.
Satan knows us very well. He may not ask for us by name but his demonic spirits are constantly watching us. They know our weaknesses. Our actions speak about our state of mind and relationship with God. They notice what we elevate above God by our devotion to that object or person. They analyze our position in the world and look for doors of jealousy or envy that they can enter through. They marvel at us. Often they marvel at our dedication to God. Often they marvel how quickly we can fall back into a sinful state.
But, just like in the movies when there seems to be no hope for the hero, someone saves them. Amidst our triumphs and failures is a God who knows our limits and tells the enemies, “This far and no further.”
And, just like in the movies, there will be a sequel because Satan will never give up trying to destroy us. And he will attempt this with no warning track of music.
