A Clever Disguise
Eph 6:12, Lev 17:7, 1 Cor 10:20-21, 1 John 1:5, Acts 19:18-19, Eph 5:11
October 11, 2000
I. There are very few sermons that I preach twice and there are none that I preach as much as I have preached this one, but it is something that I have felt strongly about for a long time.
A. In the year 2000 a Wiccian minister lead the prayer the Dallas City council meeting.
1. There are Wiccian groups that are being allowed to meet in high Schools now, and children and Teenagers are recruited on school campuses now to be a part of Wiccian groups.
2. The Internal Revenue Service has given tax-exempt status to the church of Wicca which is the official church of Witchcraft.
3. Today, Wicca is one of the fastest growing cults in America. Wicca is based on the symbols, seasonal days of celebration, beliefs and deities of ancient Celtic society.
4. Wiccans, if you are not aware are witches. Modern witches celebrate eight main holidays, the most important of these is Samhain (Halloween).
5. Samhain is considered the most important because they consider it to be the time that dividing line between the world’s of the living and the dead is at its thinnest point in the year, making communication easier. The souls of the dead are reported to come to the land of the living during Halloween.
B. In addition to this, Halloween is the High Holiday of the Satanic church in America.
1. Anton Lavay, who is the author of the "Satanic bible" and held the position of high priest of the Satanic church in America is quoted as saying, "Halloween is the most important day of the year for a Satanist."
2. Rose Warnke , says,"Halloween is to the Satanist what Christmas is to the Christian."
3. Doreen Irvine, a Christian who was the former "ruling witch" and wife of a Satanist, says, "If Christian parents had any idea what Halloween really is, they wouldn’t even mention the word to their children."
C. More and more we are surrounded by things that are not Godly, and more and more Christians are being chastised for their beliefs
D. I know that some people might not like what I have to say about this and some of you have heard it before, but I believe that it is my responsibility as a pastor to make our church aware of things that are a danger to our families.
E. We are faced more everyday with influences in our lives and the lives of our children that go directly against what God has said is right. More and more God us being pushed out of our public schools and groups of Witches and satanist are being allowed to have open meetings.
F. The lines that used to divide what we see as right and wrong are becoming more and more vague.
G. Halloween is a holiday that Christians have participated in for years, that I believe we shouldn’t.
II. I want to remind you that we as Christians are at war against the powers of evil in this world. Satan the leader of the powers of darkness, is our enemy and God’s enemy.
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
A. I am going to go back to the origin of Halloween and some of the things that are associated with it.
B. 300 to 800 Hundred years before Jesus was born, there was a civilization of people on the British Isles that were called the Celtics. As a matter of fact that is where some of my family came from.
C. The Celtics were controlled by a group of Satanic priests known as the Druids.
D. Druids were Satanists that worshiped "Samhain" (sa-man), who was the demonic god of death.
E. He was pictured as a skeletal figure in a black robe with a long sickle, who later be came known as the grim reaper.
F. The Druids controlled the people’s lives through fear and sorcery. Their power and control was great and their practices were completely demonic.
1. They practiced black magic and all sorts of divination.
2. When a Celtic king became too weak to lead in battle or father children, they would cut him open while he was still alive and remove his internal organs for the purpose of casting magic spells.
3. Human sacrifice was also a part of their religious practices.
III. I tell you all of this because these are the people that began the celebration of Halloween.
A. Halloween, October 31, was the Celtic New Year. It was the time of the celebration to the god of death, Samhain.
B. It was their belief that the god of death was growing stronger be cause all the trees were losing their leaves and the days were growing shorter.
C. According to them, this day was the day that the evil spirits were the strongest.
D. If any witch was having problems with a spell, this was the day that it could be accomplished because the day, or the holiday, was dedicated to all that was evil and the power of darkness.
E. On this day every year, human sacrifices were offered to the god of death,. People were put in baskets and burned alive in huge fires, that came to be known as bone-fires, because of the bones left when the fire was gone. Which is where we get the word bon-fire.
F. The Druid priests would watch eagerly to see how those sacrificed died because they believed that they could predict what would happen in the next year by the way they died.
G. The Druids carried a hollowed out turnip on a string with a hideous face carved out of it, and a candle inside.
1. This represented their personal demon or evil spirit who was supposed to be the source of their evil power.
2. These familiar spirits, as they were called, were known as Jock of the lantern which is where we get our jack-o-lantern.
3. Also the houses that were considered to be houses where the people worshiped the god of death had what we would know as a Jack-o-lantern in front of them to show that they were sympathizers with the Satanic worshipers of Samhain.
H. The Druids also believed that black cats were the spirits of the evil people that had died in the last year and that they had strong demonic powers.
I. Witchcraft was also very popular at this time, and witches and warlocks were very involved in the celebration of the god of death because of the presence of the power of the demonic.
IV. On October 31, the Druids would come out at dark, dressed in the most hideous and gruesome costumes that they could imagine and build their bone fires on the hills.
A. People would put hollowed turnips in front of the houses that were dedicated to the god of death and what we would know as the Satanic.
B. They would wear the turnips that represented their personal demonic power and they would go to houses and demand certain foods for their own consumption (the first trick or treaters).
1. But if the people could not give them the things that they asked for, they would curse them by the power of the demonic to bring sickness and death to their families, or at times they would burn the house down or castrate all the males in the house..
C. I know I have done this many times but since there are people here who were not here before, I feel that I need to do it again. So let’s go back and experience Halloween the way it was when it started..
D. Spiritual darkness covers the land, like a gloom over all the people’s lives. Life is hard, especially for the peasants.
E. And the presence and fear of the Druids has become a way of life.
F. But now the darkness and fear is greater, because it is the day that many dread all year long. It’s October 31, the festival of death.
1. The celebration will begin at dark, but the climax will come at midnight when the powers of darkness are considered to reach their greatest power.
2. As the sun begins to sink low and darkness begins to flood the valleys, the people become more and more silent, doing the things that they have to, but not speaking because they know what’s coming.
3. The fires are already being prepared in the hilltops. Strange cries are heard and other muffled sounds.
4. Chores are done hurriedly and doors are shut early. Lamps are turned out early because soon it will be time for the Druids to be out.
G. As full darkness comes, the fires blaze higher and higher into the air. Strange figures move around the fires, dancing and chanting.
H. Then the screaming of people being burned alive, and the screams of the animals being burned alive are heard.
1. Then the most paralyzing fear of all. The druids appear out of the darkness.
2. They are coming dressed in their hideous costumes. Each one has a cord hanging from his arm with a hollowed out turnip with a grisly face carved in it representing the demonic power they believe lives inside.
3. The people in their homes tremble with fear, barely breathing, hoping that they will pass by and move on to another home. But they don’t.
4. Children grab their parents burying their faces in their parents clothes. Then comes the knock, and the chanting outside the door.
5. The Druids are demanding food, and if it is not given, then the chants of the curses go up, the house may be burned and parents fear for their lives and the lives of their children.
I. Then as midnight approaches, the fires roar higher, cats screech and howl, human sacrifices areburned and cut open. Black magic, witch craft and sorcery are at full power.
1. After daylight, people begin to stir cautiously. The fires have burned down; nothing is left but ashes and the bones of those sacrificed. Another festival of death has come and gone, but they have survived.
V. How we feel about it, and what we think does not change the fact that, that is what Halloween is about. It is the same holiday with the same influences.
A. There is nothing God-glorifying about it. It is and was established to be the celebration of evil.
B. In the dark ages, there was a law passed by the emperor that said that anyone who was not a member of the church would be put to death.
C. The Pagans that were forced into the church demanded that they be allowed to celebrate their festival of the dead, so to justify it as a church holiday the Roman Catholic priests ordained a church holiday on November 1, called All Saints Day. THUS SATAN WRIGGLED HIS WAY INTO THE CHURCH.
D. But the men who founded our country saw it for what it was, and it was against the law to celebrate the holiday in the United States until 1845, then a flood of immigrants from the British Isles came to America and began to push for acceptance of the celebration of the holiday.
E. This is the high holiday of Satan. Have you ever seen an army that has a celebration to the enemy? Ephesians 6:12 says WE ARE AT WAR WITH THE POWERS OF DARKNESS!!
F. The Satanic church is on the rise.
1. Satanists are recruiting children and teenagers. Our children today are in more danger from the occult than any American generation.
2. Can we tell our children that being apart of things like that are wrong when we are the ones that take them to be a part of it every year.
3. Yes we can tell them but the real question is can we convince them, and I think the answer to that is NO!
4. How are we going to tell our children that witchcraft and satanism is wrong when we teach them to celebrate it and give them their first taste of it?
5. God says that we are to have nothing to do with such things.
(Deu 18:9-13 NIV) When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.
(1 Cor 10:20 - 21 NIV) No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.
(1 John 1:5 NIV) This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
G. And new Christian converts that were involved in these things gave them up when they became Christians.
(Acts 19:18 -19 NIV) Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
H. As much as it might not sound like it, I am not trying to tell you what to do, but I am making the information available to you, so you can make your decisions.
1. I am trying to do what God told Paul we should do.
(Eph 5:11 NIV) Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
I. I don’t believe that we should hide in fear, because satan has been defeated, but I do believe that with Wiccan groups being formed in schools, and Wiccan Priest leading prayers in City council meetings, and the rise of a stand against things that are Christian we need to be informed.
J. I am not saying that you are a terrible person if you participate in Halloween with you kids, but I am saying that in the times that we live in we better be careful what we put our stamp of approval on where our kids are concerned, because we may have a hard time convincing them that other things are different when they are older.
K. I know that there are a lot of people who don’t dress their kids up as ghouls, but as other things, but the thing that I am concerned about is that with the increased danger and influence of the occult why would we as parents want to involve our children in something that is associated with the occult.
L. I hope that you will think about it
