Halloween is a demonic, pagan feast day that many, even Christians, celebrate. Our seasoned broadcaster of freedomtruthseekers.com gave the following sermon. He exposes the evil origins of this feast day and challenges Christian leaders to stand up and denounce these demonic days as well as the demonic material on television and in the movies. Here is the only slightly edited version of his sermon notes.
Something “Wicca” This Way Comes
We are about to be besieged by ‘trick or treaters.’ No, I’m not talking about another election campaign. Halloween occurs on October 31st. Most neighbourhoods have houses that have been decorated for the event – for weeks. Store displays have been out for most of the last month. The world is in readiness for the annual celebration of death, pagan rituals and Satanism!
All Hallow’s Eve, or Halloween, originated in the seventh century AD. It was first observed May 13 as a night for remembering deceased saints and martyrs. So – in essence, a night for celebrating – death! The Bible tells us to celebrate – life – Jesus’ life IN us.
That May 13th date was soon changed to November 1 in order to Christianize the pagan holidays of Beltane and Samhain, or festivals of summer, winter and fire. Throughout Europe Halloween is a night that marks the transition from autumn to winter, and is also that time of the year when the souls of the departed revisit their homes to ‘warm themselves by the fire.’ The folklore goes that these “ghosts” would wander the countryside retrieving the offerings of food and drink (treats) supplied by living family members. There were still darker forces that roamed the night as well. Demons, hobgoblins, witches on broomsticks all haunting the night with acts of mischief (tricks).
The Titan Earth mother of wizards and witches, Hecate, illustrates better than any other ancient goddess, the connection between Wicca, the Celtic Halloween traditions, and evil supernaturalism. Hecate was the goddess of witchcraft, and was worshipped as Isis, with impure rites and much magical incantation. Her name was derived from the ancient Egyptian word “Heka” which means ‘sorcery’ or ‘magical.’ Heka is also the name applied to the Egyptian frog goddess, a fact that also explains why frogs are associated with witchcraft, and why they are shown as evil and demonic in the Bible.
Hecate’s devotees practiced their magic wherever three roads, or paths, joined, so the Romans referred to her as “Trivia.” ‘Tri’-- meaning three and ‘via’ – roads; later when the Latin church fathers compared the magic of the goddess Trivia with the power of the Gospel, they found it to be inferior, and thus the pursuit of Hecate’s ways became known as Trivial Pursuit, or inconsequential. However, Hecate’s followers sincerely believed in and feared her magic. Her presence was legendary. It is still worshipped to this very day, and this year it will be celebrated on October 31. The connection between ancient paganism and modern day Halloween customs and costumes is pretty easy to trace. The Celtic occultists’ adoption of Hecate’s ways, show up as part of pop culture, symbolism and traditions.
- People showing up on Halloween night at neighborhood homes represent the dead in search of food (treat).
- Masks of devils and hobgoblins represent evil spirits seeking mischief (tricks).
- Those who pass out candy represent the homes of those visited by the dead, or may also represent worried individuals seeking to appease Hecate and other night time terrors
- The Jack-O-Lantern (will- o-the wisp, fox fire, fairy fire, etc.) is the wandering soul stuck between heaven and hell. Others say Druids left Jack-O-Lanterns on doorsteps to ward off evil spirits.
Granted most children who put on the masks and go door to door are only interested in the candy they are going to receive. They could care less about the symbolism; however, parents should know what this time of year means. Adults, recently, have become more involved in the Halloween festivities through house and club parties, and need to consider the spiritual implications before participating in these occult rituals.
Right now, society has opened itself up to the celebration of the wickedness of this event in more ways than have ever been prevalent. It is because we are in the end times. Satan’s realizes his reign is ending and he is intent on deceiving and taking with him as many as he can to the ‘dark side.’
There is a global explosion of ancient occultism combined with this wicked fascination for ghosts and all things paranormal, especially in the U.S. In America there are over 200,000 registered ‘witches,’ and as many as 8 million unregistered practitioners “of the craft.” On college and high school campuses, vampires, werewolves and other “creatures of the night” are esteemed as objects of desire. They are idolized by young men and women as cult icons, and envy their mystical powers. There’s been a surge of Satanism within the ranks of the church. Many high level witches (warlocks) are running our churches.
Recently we have heard of a trend of people being killed and attacked by those referring to themselves as ‘vampires’ and “werewolves.” A Texas man was arrested for breaking into a woman’s home throwing her against a wall and trying to suck her blood. Within the last couple of months, a Florida teenager was charged along with 4 other people in the beating death of a 16-year-old boy. The 16-year-old leader of this gang is a girl; and she claims to be a vampire/werewolf hybrid. Police investigators acknowledge that she and other suspects appear to be a part of a vampire cult. This is an unprecedented time; Christian leaders need to take a stand and speak out on this issue. This month that culminates on Monday would have been ideal for churches and Christian organizations to step up and come against the evil wickedness that has overtaken the world. Did you hear, or see anybody addressing publicly the danger of occult activity?
Apart from a some contributors to our ‘Freedom Blogs” I haven’t noticed anyone. Women, psychologically, seek out strength in men. It is a desirable trait that their man should have. However this natural and God-given overriding need in young women has been twisted and perverted in this modern age to seduce them of their innocence. Young girls, particularly, have become completely enamored with what are everlastingly damned creatures that have been mysteriously glorified in books and movies to become pop culture heroes. These creatures though are portrayed in books as ‘eternal.’ It is a very subtle and fascinating twist for people who are unaware that the perversion is a mockery of what Jesus did for us through His sacrificial death. So, those who are hooked into these books seek out their fantasy and are drawn into and snared by fiction that is deeply demonic, deeply occult and deeply offensive. Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse are just the tip of the iceberg. There are related Internet fan sites, music videos, magazines, TV shows and movies dedicated to sexual or romantic obsessions with these demons in the flesh.
TV shows are everywhere across the dial. Being Human, The Gates, Underworld, The Vampire Diaries, and True Blood are just a few of them, Apparently parents, pastors and youth pastors haven’t been paying attention because these shows have been produced and are being shown in prime time without any sort of contention. Rolling Stone Magazine, a hugely popular publication with the youth, recently ran a feature article called the Joy of Vampire Sex. On the cover – the COVER – 3 nudes, bathed in blood, with the promise to readers that vampires are: ‘Hot. They’re sexy. They’re un - dead.”
Some people might argue, and do, that focusing on this kind of pop culture is an over assessment of the danger – after all, it’s ‘pop culture’ and the fads and trends will fade. Some argue that this obsession with vampirism and witchcraft movies, like our grandparents’ obsession with playing Cowboys and Indians will run its course and there is no need to worry. We say not so. Mass media, and social media, including Internet, television, film, radio as well as other communication systems have traded in the old Bela Lugosi-vampires of former years and the just plain silly Abbott and Costello Frankenstein and Mummies, which could all be sent scurrying away with Christian symbolism, for monsters of profound demonic character that are depicted to be virtually unaffected by the power of Jesus. And that is so far from scriptural truth that we need to remind ourselves and those who are tending to lean toward accepting these depictions as real, that they are not. This is not some kind of Rocky Balboa story, where Rocky is getting beaten to a pulp, and somehow at the end gets in one lucky punch and dramatically snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. The power of Jesus’ Blood and His Body, plus His Name is greater than any dark forces. Yet, just the opposite has become symbolic of the very dark supernaturalism that has seeped into every corner of the world today.
And mass media continues to condition the masses to simply accept the inevitable. Today’s youth has exchanged yesterday’s popguns and wearing their hair in pigtails for pentagrams and blood covenants aligned with dark, dark forces that previous generations could not have imagined. It is just another sign that this age is under complete demonic influence. If more could see through this veil into the realm of the supernatural, we would be able to view a world alive with good versus evil, with the ultimate prize being the soul of this generation. There are legions warring for control of people and cities.
Church leaders and professing Christian leaders need to care enough about those families and the youth within their control to take a stand – or stand down. Vampire and occult ‘entertainment’ has gone too far. It’s been allowed to without so much as a protest from those in positions to challenge the norms of society with the truth of God’s Word. I saw an episode of ‘Ghost Hunters’ on TV the other day and ended up just shaking my head in disbelief as to what the entire program was about; there is an actual travel agent who will book a vacation of sorts for whoever wants to go and spend time in a haunted house. You pay your money and you go and spend a night or two or however many you desire in a haunted house. It’s a tour. The agent sets it up and you can visit several different places where ghosts are known to hang out. He’s doing huge business because people are intrigued by this supernatural, paranormal phenomenon. I can see why there would be an attraction. People want to sort of tickle the dragon’s tail, so to speak. They want to see how close they can get to something unknown and not being terribly afraid. People love to do those kinds of things – sort of ‘live on the edge.’ They like to test their own strength in order to see where their boundaries are. Or maybe it’s the adrenalin rush on which they thrive, I’m not sure. However, this is becoming an epidemic; this sense of going out to hunt ghosts. People are buying sophisticated electronic recording devices and going out to see if they can actually record the voice or sound of a ghost. You know, go out and sit in a cemetery at 2 in the morning with your digital recording device and say something like: “Is anybody out there?” And then listen and record and return home and playback your ‘recording’ to see if anybody can be heard responding – BUT – if there is a sound/voice, is that REALLY a ghost?
And there is a new debate among Christian theologians right now: is there anything such as a ‘ghost?’ Well in (Isa.29:4), it says:”And thou shall be brought down and shall speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as one that has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.” Some of the modern Bible translations say: “And your voice shall come out of the ground as a ghost.”
This is the Hebrew word ‘ob.’ Ob can refer to a spirit, however more often it refers to a person, or the medium through which the spirit spoke. In 1 Samuel 28 Saul goes down to Endor because he heard there was a `maiden of the ob` living there who he might want to visit. She was known to be able to speak with the dead. And Saul uses her abilities and through them speaks with, some say Samuel, others a familiar spirit. Now this latest debate among theologians does not take away from the fact and truth that the Bible says we are NOT to be doing this kind of thing. We are prohibited from doing this sort of thing. Whether it is possible or not, is not really the point. The point is God’s instruction is do not do it. Are we going to obey Him or not? Saul got in big trouble for just trying to do it. Big trouble!!!! So, why shouldn’t we even try? Because, people, and we include those who profess to be Christians, would have NO clue about whom, or what they have contacted. The ‘other side’ is filled with all kinds of spiritual intelligence and much of it is not good and we would not have any idea to what or whom you were talking and inviting into your home. That’s why God tells us not to do this. Still people do, especially at this time of year. These dark spirits specialize in trickery. They are masters of imitation, counterfeit, or ventriloquism; they pretend to be someone, or something they are not to get access to us.
We are told we are to put on our spiritual armour; we have been informed recently what our tools of the trade are as Journeymen Believers so we can walk forward in the power of Jesus, because without it, we are setting ourselves up for disaster and destruction. This lack of desire to learn the truth and operate in it is precisely upon what Satan is counting. We have heard how much our world loves to be lied it; it loves the deceit and trickery that is in our faces mocking the One True Real God and prefers to continue walking in that ignorance. This time of year is another prime example of how the spirit of stupidity has lulled people into experimenting in areas that God says we are not to go. The Holy Spirit of God is the utmost power on the face of this earth, and still the majority of people do not believe that fact, and truth. They would rather believe pagan ritualistic, occult traditions that glorify death and Satanic rites.
This is one of the main reasons why the Church has been declining for years, not just in numbers of attendees, but also in content of what is being preached and taught. The truth of God’s Word being taught is becoming rare and being replaced by warm, fuzzy stories about how to endure life’s challenges and to just persevere and sooner or later, your ‘luck’ will change. As we have come to understand ‘luck’ is derived from the root word, “Lucifer” – and not from the blessing and empowerment of God to be able to do all things through Jesus who strengthens us. Most churches are moving away from even preaching the gospel. New Age teachings and believing in ourselves as having ‘Christ consciousness’ and therefore responsible for making our own way in life have become more and more prevalent. Even Eastern mysticism teachings are being championed in modern marketplace churches. Removing the gospel from Church doctrine removes the power. And this is another level of Satan’s plan to totally dilute, divide and conquer so-called Christianity. The Bible warns of this; it tells us, “A House divided against will not stand.” The devil knows the Bible better than most who say they know and love God.
And now that the church and the Torah Truth of God’s Word continue to decline, we are seeing an explosion in the occult and dark arts. Another way for these spirits to manifest is what is referred to as ‘kryptos’ – or more accurately, ‘cryptozoology. The sighting of Chupahcabras has been reported for years. They are very bizarre looking small demonic creatures predominantly residing in South and Central America as well as the Southwest U.S. – predominantly New Mexico and Mexico. We also have lake monsters that have been reported. Loch Ness in Scotland, ‘Nessie,’ very fondly spoken of by hundreds who have spotted her. Yet, strangely whenever an expedition is mounted, all these lake monsters disappear, like Big Foot. People say they’ve seen Big Foot, yet no one can find him. However, not only have people seen Nessie, they have also taken very elaborate and sophisticated sonar gear and recorded enormous ‘blips’ of something on the screen moving through the water, and then suddenly, it’s gone! And this goes way back in history to ‘sea farers’ – sailors – and those who were not over served of the Navy Rum at the time, making record of ‘mermaids’, another manifestation of which we are talking, and these “dragons” that are referred to in these days as Lake Monsters. We are talking of Nessie, OhGo Pogo, and the like.
So, do we believe in dragons? The Bible calls Satan that dragon of old; is it too much of a stretch to think and believe that Satan has progeny of dragons that exist today – underneath the earth? Subterranean dragons that have been seen, yet, have never been traced or tracked? Many places in the world have been locations where people have routinely spotted these Lake Monsters, such as Okanagan Lake, Loch Ness as well as several Irish bodies of water, including Lake Champlain. There is a lake in China where there is a lake monster that is routinely seen, and all have been described as long, sinewy, reptilian beasts that have a horse like head with little horns; and most witnesses of them have been terrified because these creatures are all possessed by a demonic spirit. The Bible calls these beasts Leviathan.
Jesus talked to Job about Leviathan. He asked Job whether or not he could tame Leviathan; it exists in the waters of today’s world. Isaiah talks about Leviathan as a symbol of the world’s spirit, and as the Spirit of God diminishes in these last days, the spirit of Leviathan (the world spirit) will continue to increase. In fact, in Revelation, an evil man is typified as a beast rising up out of the water. What all of this is really describing is ‘hyper-dimensional’ intelligence. We know angels exist and that is precisely what they are. Hyper-dimensional entities; they came and visited with Abraham, for one. They manifested into our realm and appeared as ‘something.’ Now, this biblically verifiable account would also explain why, for example, Big Foot has left footprints. Researchers have found hair samples of Big Foot that have not, and cannot be matched to any known existing animals, bears, mountain lions, or any creatures of the areas in which these samples have been discovered.
These Big Foot sightings, specifically around the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. have even been caught on film, and still no one has ever tracked or traced one. Movies have been made about them and one beer company has targeted their entire ad campaign and marketing strategy around Big Foot, which is just another manifestation of the phenomena about which we are talking. Another one of the rapidly growing dark arts is shamanism, ‘psi-spies’ – where people are clairvoyant, medium ship, where people claim to be able to see things at a distance, these types of phenomena are growing in leaps and bounds. There is even a school in the U.S. where interested people can enroll in a school and take a class in “remote viewing,” which is using your mind to see things at a distance. All of these are of the occult and the dark arts that were practiced by Hecate and her followers and are the basis of Halloween. The Bible thoroughly discourages this type of ‘medium ship’ – however, the practice of it is becoming increasingly popular. There are even DMT churches that have sprung up. DMT is a hallucinogenic, or what the Bible, in Revelation 13 refers to as ‘pharmakeia.’ It is sorcery, which is used to stimulate certain portions of the brain in order to open up the 3rd eye which is centered between our eyes in the forehead. It is a chakra point! Shamans would refer to it as the 3rd eye to open up perceptions that could make contact with the spirit world. It would be an entry point, or portal in our body to allow these spirits to access our temples. This is what the Bible calls sorcery or ‘pharamkeia’ and what it says is forbidden by God. It is part of the forbidden sciences and what was taught to mankind by the fallen angels, particularly, Azazael. This is why God reacted so severely towards those angels who left their first estate and has them in chains under the earth until the final day when Jesus’ return. These fallen angels taught mankind medium ship and remote viewing, clairvoyance, and shamanism.
This season of the year is way more than candy and playtime for so many who take what we have been sharing and describing very seriously. Rose and Tamara, the former high level witches who have become part of the Freedom Blog entries have displayed so much wisdom and knowledge of the Bible and the truth of God’s Word. They should be inspirations for all to seek after Jesus more diligently because those who are part of Wicca and the dark arts of witchcraft are not just messing around. They are totally serious. It is a lifestyle choice and they study it.
For most of us, Halloween just comes and goes, however for those who are members of Wicca, which is one of the fastest growing religions in the world, this season of Samhain is magical. It is the witches’ favourite time of year; in fact it is the witches’ New Year. The Halloween sabbat (celebration) ends Nov.1 with the final turn on their year wheel. Mother Earth says good-bye to the ‘god’ who will be reborn at Yule (Dec.20) at which time the life cycle starts all over again. “Sam” and “hain” mean ‘end of’ and ‘summer’ to the Celts. They only observed two seasons of the year; summer and winter. So Samhain (Halloween) was celebrated as the transition of these seasons. It is the third and final harvest; the dark winter half of the year commences on this Sabbat. It is one of the two ‘spirit-nights’ of the year – the other is Beltane. To witches, Samhain is one of the four High Holidays, or Greater Sabbats . Because it is the most important High Holiday of the year, it is often called the Great Sabbat. Pagans consider Samhain as the most ‘magical’ night of the year. It occurs at the exact opposite to Beltane on the Wheel of the Year for those who are in Wicca. Witches observe this day as a religious festival, and consider it a memorial day for dead friends and family. It is a night to practise various forms of the “divining dark arts” such as scrying (similar to water mirror gazing) and rune casting. Tarot card readings are most sought on this night. Samhain is thought to be the ideal time to wrap up old projects and sort of take stock of one’s life and consider new projects and endeavours for the upcoming year. Witches will gather on this night around a hearth fire or bonfires and candle gaze into the flames to meditate and revisit their ancient heritage. An altar is set up on this evening and adorned with apples, pumpkins, squashes, as well as other seasonally late food and flowers, which is symbolic of the time of year. Also set up is the Wicca 8 spoke wheel. And to aid in remembering the nearly and dearly departed, pictures of them, if needed.
Those assembled are to think of an aspect of their life that needs change; witches use their ‘spell paper’ to write down what they desire to be changed. It could be bad habits such as anger, illness, guilt, worry, and the like) – sound familiar? And, as part of the rite, later the paper is burnt up to rid the person of the negativity associated with what they want out of their life.
Ceremonial attire includes a necklace or crown of acorns, cones and dried flowers. Root wines are consumed; particularly ginger or wines containing ginger. Apple or ginger cider that is made specifically for this festival is something that is very prevalent and foods eaten at this time are plenty of beet root, turnips, apples, nuts, grains, pumpkins and there is always much ginger bread.
It is a time of aromatherapy because many herbs and essential oils are featured. Blackberry, blueberry, Cinnamon, Coconut, Raspberry, Pomegranate, Rhubarb, Vanilla, Strawberry, Sugar Cane, Tobacco, Cedar, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Myrrh, and Sandalwood.
According to the Celtic Almanac, the Wicca year begins immediately after Halloween. They have their seasons that are reminiscent of the earth goddess and dying god cults of ancient civilizations.
Yule, on or about Dec.20, (the Winter Solstice) celebrates mother earth, the goddess, giving birth to the sun god. This is the time immediately after the shortest day of the year and the most darkness that the days start to lengthen.
The next season is “Imbolc” and this is representative of the recovery of the goddess after giving birth to the sun god.
Then there’s the Spring Equinox (Ostara/Astarte/Ishtar/Easter) to mark the first day of spring and the awakening of the goddess; the days growing longer with more sunshine and daylight hours, so the goddess fills the earth with fertility.
Next is Beltane, which celebrates the transformation of the boy into manhood. He is filled with lust for the goddess (not love) so he lies with her in the grass and the earth becomes pregnant with her vitality, so the crops begin to grow and flowers bloom!
Then its’ Litha, as midsummer arrives and the powers of nature start to escalate. The earth Mother is filled with fertility and this is when Wiccans practice all kinds of magic.
Next season is Lughnasadh or time of the first harvest; now the wiccan god is beginning to lose his strength because the sun is rising higher each day and the days are becoming shorter – nights longer and the god is starting to die.
Mabon is the completion of the harvest. The Wiccan god suffers death; draws back into darkness and waits to be re-born at Yule.
This is a yearly, seasonal Wiccan cycle. The principle idea was, with the ancient pagans, and still is today with Wiccans, that Mother earth is this sentient being. They think of it as a living, breathing, very real entity; the ‘Living earth’ as so many call it. A fertile mother conceptualized in many ways and various goddess myths and images throughout the ancient world. The ancient pagans did not consider ‘Mother Earth’ as just an agricultural and herb supplier, they thought of her as a person; the ‘eldest of all beings.’
They called her the ‘holy goddess’ – or bountiful spirit. She was the all-nourishing mother of all men who manifested herself in all of the popular idols and mother goddesses. This is exactly what modern day Wiccans and neo-pagans think of the earth. The name they have given her is Gaia, or a living, caring entity. They are told that people are just one of Mother Earth’s species, not her dominates. And what does God tell us? We have ‘dominion over the earth’ – we are able to speak increase and are supposed to into the earth and its’ resources so it can be replenished. For Wiccans, this time of year, the Halloween (Samhain Sabbot) is when pagans celebrate the time when the veil between the living and the dead is at its’ thinnest and a time when these spirits beneath Gaia’s surface can more easily communicate with the living.
The Bible does agree that the earth contains many spiritual forces. (Rev.9:14): “the four angels which are bound in the great River Euphrates.”And in (Job 26:5): “Dead things are formed under the waters.” The literal Hebrew translation says, “The Rafa (fallen angels) are made to writhe from beneath the waters.”
There are additional places in scripture and verse that makes it clear that the earth is kind of a holding cell, or tank, for those God has chosen to imprison. (2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6) are among passages that show us that God has restrained these fallen spiritual forces that continue to seek to communicate with, or participate in, mankind’s activities. The Hebrew people were warned that the earth’s spirits, pretending to be gods, might very well seek to commune with us. And we just mentioned how Saul sought out the witch of Endor in (1 Sam.28:13) it didn’t turn out too well for him.
There is most assuredly a dynamic, or energy, behind the earth-goddess-spirits of Halloween that is very real and the Bible tells us that is identical to the legions of fallen spiritual forces bound within the earth. Those who practise modern paganism are guilty of worshipping ‘devils’ (Rev.9:20). What those who are part of Wicca do is teach and participate in “doctrines of demons.” In 1 Cor.10:20, Paul said: “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils.”
In Acts 7:42 & 42 it tells us that those who worship idols as joining themselves to the “army of heaven.” The word is ‘stratos’ and means ‘fallen angel army.’ And Psalms 96:5 concludes: “all the gods of the nations are idols” The Hebrew word is “elilim” – in the Greek it is “daimonia” (demons). So, pagan images, such as those that represented the ancient gods and goddesses were, ‘elilim’ (or empty, nothing, vanity) but behind the empty idols were the living dynamics of idolatry, and spiritual objects of pagan adoration: demons!
Because the Bible clearly defines such goddess worship as ‘doctrines of demons’ and since demons are eternal personalities, that desire worship from mankind, it is just to characterize Wiccan deities, such as the god and the goddess, as neo-pagan titles attributed to demon spirits.
Part Two of our Bibles, the “New” Testament tells the story of presenting the gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus to the pagan, and it records many conversions to ‘the way’ of Jesus and the complete abandonment of earth-centered goddess cults. In fact, so powerful was the spread of the early faith once given for all to the saints that pagan religions that had dominated the Middle East for thousands of years, crumbled. The cold embrace of Mother Earth could not match the warmth and hope and truth of the love of Jesus! In fact, the last recorded utterance of the Oracle at Delphi, seems to indicate the spirit of the Olympians understood he was no longer any threat to Jesus. From the book, Man, Myth and Magic this quote:
“Apollo delivered his last oracle in the year 362 AD, to the physician of the Emperor Julian, the Byzantine ruler who tried to restore paganism after Christianity had become the official religion of the Byzantine Empire. ‘Tell the King’, said the Oracle, ‘that the curiously built temple has fallen to the ground, that bright Apollo no longer has a roof over his head, or prophetic laurel, or babbling spring. Yes, even the murmuring water has dried up.”
The worship of Diana in Ephesus was another stronghold of earth-centered goddess cults. Diana was the Roman version of the occult Queen Isis of Egypt and the Babylonians Semiramus, or Astarte. It’s the same goddess – just a different geographical region. All these entities represented the ‘goddess of heaven.’ “Mother Mary” is the Catholic’s version of this identical goddess. ‘Dianic’ witchcraft was the greatest unifying religion of all pagan people up to that time. It took 220 years to build the massive temple to Diana in Ephesus. Yet, when Paul preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God that Jesus had taught, to the Ephesians. It says in Acts 19:17-20: “Many of them which also used curious arts, brought their books together and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.”
That’s encouraging. We need not shrink back in the face of the world’s evil wickedness, especially at Halloween. We need to be bold in our faith; we need to be like Jasmine. One of our members was recently telling me that the teachers and everyone else at the school her daughter attends were questioning her about what and who she was going to be at Halloween, to the point that Jasmine was fed up with all the questions, and telling everyone she doesn’t ‘do Halloween’ – and then a teacher asked her why she didn’t participate in Halloween; she said: “Because I don’t celebrate death.” And the response was: “Oh, OK! Never thought of it that way – hmmm, that makes sense.” However, it took standing up and declaring God’s truth on the matter and boldly remaining steadfast on that truth. When we share what God says with others, it makes a difference. It cuts like a knife to the core of what this world walks in and just simply accepts as tradition, without knowing the deep, dark, satanic reasons behind why there needs to be some light shed on that darkness.
And we are called to be the lights to the world; we are reminded to be the ‘salt of the earth.’ If we don’t start doing more of that, then who is? Mainstream Christianity has had the ideal opportunity this month to step up and be news makers; they’ve had the chance to blaze a trail, not just follow along in the path that has been there since ancient pagan times, and haven’t!
We need to be as in your face as those who ‘celebrate’ Halloween; we need to be just like Jesus when He walked this earth—bold, in their faces with the truth of God’s Word. However, we need to do it in love. We need to serve the kingdom of God and display its’ power through demonstration of how it was originally set up. We need to be like this girl and tell her school mates and her teachers that she doesn’t honour and celebrate death. And to do those things takes courage; it takes knowing who we are in Jesus. He told us that He would be with us “always, even unto the end of the age.” So – it really is up to us.
We’ve been given everything we need to ‘step out of our comfort zone – into the realm of the unknown’ – in faith and with the knowledge, wisdom, discernment and truth of God’s Word. We need to apply the tools of the trade as Journeymen Believers and show our Father that we are indeed His Sons and Daughters, so He can tell all of heaven: “In them, I am well pleased. Something Wicca, indeed, does this way come; however, we have something much more powerful, much more worthwhile and eternal to share with everyone. And it’s time we do display what we have been trained up to display, so as to be a witness to whom we are, and whose we are.
Prayer: Father – thank You for Your light and truth that illuminates all darkness. Thank You that Your favour protects us as a shield, always and in all things. Thank You for Your Word that is alive and active today, and able to accomplish everything you sent it to do.
Thank you for Your unfailing love and for Your faithfulness and your amazing patience. And thank You for reminding us that because of Jesus we can be bold and wise in Your Words and ways for they are proven to be right and righteous. Thank You for Your peace that is far beyond the peace of the world, and thank You that we are able to walk with confidence knowing that you will never leave us or forsake us. Thank you for loving us – in Jesus’ name, amen!