Sunday, October 29, 2017 - Should Believers Celebrate Halloween?
Pastor Roger Marcos
October 29, 2017
Halloween History
Halloween is on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was originally a pagan holiday, honoring the dead. Halloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago. All Hallows Eve is the evening before All Saints Day, which was created by Christians to convert pagans, and is celebrated on November 1st. The Catholic church honored saints on this designated day.
Origin of Halloween
While there are many versions of the origins and old customs of Halloween, some remain consistent by all accounts. Different cultures view Halloween somewhat differently but traditional Halloween practices remain the same. Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. Roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was annually on October 31st to honor the dead. Samhain signifies "summers end" or November. Samhain was a harvest festival with huge sacred bonfires, marking the end of the Celtic year and beginning of a new one. Many of the practices involved in this celebration were fed on superstition. The Celts believed the souls of the dead roamed the streets and villages at night. Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly, gifts and treats were left out to pacify the evil and ensure next years crops would be plentiful. This custom evolved into trick-or-treating.
When Did Modern-day Halloween Get Started?
In the early 1900s, the migrating Irish and Scots brought Halloween traditions to the United States.
The popularity of Halloween has increased year after year. Television, movies, and other media outlets have helped Halloween grow into America’s second largest commercial holiday, which brings in an estimated $6.9 billion dollars annually. Watching horror movies and visiting haunted attractions, real haunts or haunted theme parks is a popular modern way to celebrate the evening
To let you know, ..
Halloween is rooted in paganism, but this is not the main reason I discourage its celebration. There are much better Biblical reasons to avoid Halloween.
WHY SHOULD WE NOT CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN?
I. BECAUSE IT PROMOTES DEATH. First it is important for us to realize that death does not come from God..did you know that? That’s the reason Christians should not participate.
Death is a result of man’s own choosing. The Scripture plainly tells us, Genesis 2:16-17
16 He told him, “You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, 17 except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.”
God told Adam the only thing he was not to do was to eat from this tree, but if he did, he would die.
Adam’s choice led to death which came to a human race. Death brought anguish, pain, separation to family, distance, and hatred especially to those who don’t understand death.
Adam was just like you and I, he had to touch and taste the untouchable. How many of you see a “Wet Paint Please do not touch” sign yet, feel the need to touch it?
Mr. Adam made a decision to eat and Romans 5:12 tells us the result of his actions,
Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”
NYCC, people God is not the cause of death, Man Is the cause so that’s why DEATH is an ENEMY....
When my dad, died- there was a loud cry from my sister saying No No, followed by sadness.
We are in a battle with an enemy called death. But why is death our enemy?
It is because it destroys life, it takes life away, whereas God is the Creator and Author of life. In God’s original creation there was no sin nor pain, disease or death. Remember, man chose to sin. It was recorded in the Bible every question we have so the Bible teaches that death is the enemy of mankind. DO YOU HEAR ME?
I Corinthians 15:26 “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” 26 The last enemy to be defeated will be death. GNT
Death Is Scary
Psalm 55 is a poem written by a man named David during a very tough period of his life. Even though he loved God, here's what he writes in verses
4-5: "My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling has beset me. Horror has overwhelmed me" (NIV)
Christ was subject to the great enemy of man: death. Note that death is the last enemy that will be destroyed.
Death has an end; death will cease to be; the reign of death will be stopped. Jesus the solution for every problem of every human.
1 Cor.15:24-26
24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
Man shall be delivered once-and-for-all from death. Death will be swallowed up in victory.== There’s a victory in Jesus!
Here’s the proof:
“He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it” Isaiah 25:8
“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes” Hosea 13:14
“So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” 1 Cor. 15:54
“[God’s purpose and grace] is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” 2 Tim. 1:10
“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” Rev. 20:14
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” Rev. 21:4
II. BECAUSE IT HONORS DEMONIC EVENTS
God is not honored on Halloween. God is not even mentioned. Satan, witches and demons are honored. The Bible teaches that Satan and demons are the enemies of mankind.
I Peter 5:8. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
He is “the god of this world” who blinds men’s minds 2 Cor. 4:4
Satan’s purpose is to hurt and cut the heart of God. Why? Because God has judged and condemned him for rebelling against Him. Therefore, Satan does all he can to get back at God. The best way he can do this is to turn the hearts of people away from God and lead them to sin and to follow the way of evil.
But the Bible says “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” 1 John 4:4; and,
“If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31
III. BECAUSE PEOPLE SIN ON HALLOWEEN.
People dress in horrible, occultist costumes. All of this is sin. It’s considered the holiday of hell, and the bad boys come out for it! In NM they would kill people’s livestock and drink the blood on this date, and kidnappings is always a great fear on this night.be very careful!
I Corinthians 10:20. But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
Participation in idolatry is fellowshipping with devils. The devil and his angels or demons are behind all idolatry, whether the idolatry of a heathen society or of an educated society. Scripture definitely declares:
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Ephes. 6:12
“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” 2 Cor. 11:14-15
It is utterly impossible to participate in the true worship of God and in the worship of devils.
“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s-table and of the table of devils” 1 Cor. 10:21
“Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them” Deut. 11:16
God is broken by man’s sins.
“I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations” Ezekiel 6:9
God is grieved by man’s sins.
“Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways” Psalm 95:10.
For forty years I was disgusted with those people. I said, ‘How disloyal they are! They refuse to obey my commands.
God is grieved to the depths of His heart with man’s sins.
“And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” Genesis 6:6
Acts 15:29 (ASV) that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled...
Conclusion:
Man was God’s creature, the most noble and dignified creature ever created, but man abused God’s love and purpose in creating him.
Man rebelled against God: he rejected God’s love and purpose in creation. Man chose to reject, ignore, neglect, and deny God, his Creator.
Make the right choice today and choose to put sin aside and turn to Jesus...!