Halloween at Our Home
Posted By Jacque on October 8, 2009
Druids, Hanging Heads, Animal and Human Sacrifice…
Robin asked a question about Halloween at Heart of Wisdom Blog in her post: Should Christians Observe Halloween?
She discussed the who, what, where and when of Halloween, which I already knew and have known for over 20 years. I don’t have time to come up with all the info in my own words, so I am just referring you to her blog.
Some things are just facts, and if you really want to know them, you will and believe them. If we want to do our own thing and choose to turn a blind eye, well… there are Scriptures for that, mostly referencing fools and foolishness and turning away from our HOLY God and to other gods. There are also references to what happened to Israel when they did that, like bondage to other nations for 400 years and such…
Her final questions to Believers are:
Did your family put away Halloween? How did your children handle the decision? How does your church handle this holiday? Is there anything wrong with compromising and promoting a Christian Halloween?
My short answer is this:
We didn’t have to put halloween away. I accepted Jesus as my Saviour 5 months before we were married. I had been a Catholic (in name, mostly, though I had attended a Catholic school grades K-6)and obviously, lived for the world before my life was renewed in Jesus/Yeshua.
When this happened, I saw evil for what it was. Period. There is no other way to put it. When you go from living a life of sin and immorality, delving into things that are evil, you can recognize it when you see it. Witches, black cats, skeletons, all the pagan harvest items… they are simply a reflection of the evil of Halloween.
Today, the more evil and grotesque the better…Fortunately, my husband grew up under the Scriptural instruction of his Grandmother who walked and talked Scriptures and recognized spiritual things.
So, our children grew up knowing that halloween is an evil, pagan holiday that we, as Believers do not celebrate. AT ALL. Not even at church.
You asked, Is compromising and making it christian ok? Well, let’s apply that to other pagan and evil practices. It making evil christian ok? NO.Why do we do it and justify it? Because we do not know a HOLY God. We know God, and we know the grace of the Saviour, so we figure that the grace must be the covering for what we deem the “rigidity” of a Holy God. We don’t consider that he MEANT IT.
However, when you see evil as he sees evil – vile, disgusting and not to be played around with and sugar-coated, you see that he really did mean it, and we really are to be Holy and perfect in HIM. SEPARATE from partaking of Evil of all kinds.Evil is evil. We cry out and become disgusted at evil we deem evil. It is time we deem evil as a HOLY GOD does.
We never celebrated Halloween as a family and had to explain why we were no longer going to celebrate it. We HAVE done this with Christmas and Easter though. It was a smooth transition. They understood that we are learning and walking as Yehovah has commanded us to, like our Messiah did. If you train them to accept his Scriptures as holy, then that is good enough. It is a good way to study the Scriptures and walk and talk with them, teaching them his ways.
As for the topic of Halloween, I am not sure I need to have a longer answer. The comments and her post cover so much as far as pagan origins and practices, I would suggest you read through them. I DO believe we need to put aside all that is evil in our lives as Believers. Does this mean if you celebrate Halloween that we can’t be friends? Of course not. Do I think this makes me holier than you? No, of course not. Don’t go there. Are there other pagan practices in the lives of Believers – myself included – that need to be weeded out You betcha’. We are working on that. Are you?
I am in need of much understanding in the Scriptures as are all Believers, but this I have read and studied. And, when we apply the wisdom of the Father’s commands, and the discernment of the Holy Spirit, and do NOT follow in the ways of the world, we find that there is a difference between our desires and those of a HOLY God. His ways are NARROW, and ours are not. The world’s are WIDE, and this is the path that our flesh most desires.
be blessed as you walk closer to him and turn from the ways of the world~
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I contemplated leaving comments closed on this post, because I don’t need a pat on the back for my convictions, nor do I need further explanation of why Halloween is an ok holiday to celebrate as long as there are no evil things involved and it is “redeemed”. So, as long as the discussion is civil, I will leave them open. Other than that, comments will be deleted. I also don’t have time to research questions much, but will do so if led by the Spirit to do so. Please use Scripture, and IN CONTEXT, if you want to leave a comment about this topic Biblically in reference to the life of a Believer.
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40 Responses to “Halloween at Our Home”
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Thanks for the post! In Britain it is rare for born-again Christians to celebrate Halloween (many churches hold ‘light parties’ instead to try to encourage children to not be seduced by Halloween) and I was very surprised when I discovered that it was quite common in the US! I think in the US Halloween is more cute-ified but this makes it all the more dangerous. Satan is subtle in his wickedness and loves nothing more than to fool Christians into following his evil practices. Rest assured, your brothers and sisters in the UK (and elsewhere of course) are praying hard as Halloween approaches, that more and more Christians would see the light and not celebrate Halloween.
Jade´s last blog ..How sweet freedom is!
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October 8th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Thanks for this info Jade. It is a good thing for Americans to take a look at other places, since we seem to have a “the world revolves around us” attitude most of the time. It is sickening what Americans allow. It is becoming worse and worse.
May Yehovah help us all, and may we learn to walk in HIS WAYS alone!!
blessings to you ~
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I thank God that my parents have always been against Halloween. Even though as a child, I couldn’t understand it, I can appreciate it now. I admire your family’s total commitment to following Yehovah!
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Thank you for that post!
I have a question that is off of the Halloween subject.
What do you use or have you used for Spanish?
Thank you,
Janet
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October 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
We have the A Beka older sets and are currently using that right now.
I did find a site online that offers Free Spanish Tutorials at http://www.studyspanish.com/
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We don’t celebrate it or have our kids go out or anything, but I do very much enjoy sitting on our porch and handing out candy to the children who do celebrate (because they don’t know any better). It is our opportunity to be a light house. It is evil, and I hate it, but I also choose to shine in the darkness.
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October 9th, 2009 at 3:27 am
Sarah, I must tell you, since you brought up the Scripture about being a light to the world, that this is not what Jesus would do. He surely would sit and eat with these families, and he surely would teach them and help them out, but he would not, in any fashion, celebrate a pagan holiday with them. Not in the slightest. He just wouldn’t and didn’t. To do so is to break the commandments of the Father, and he would not do that. He couldn’t. He said that if we know the Father, we will know him. He did not go against what the Father said, but, instead, he showed us how we could also walk in the Father’s commands by giving us a living example of doing so.
We need to be careful we are not adding in the pop-culture church doctrine of today when we decide to do something based on a cliche of Scripture. Many things Believers hear and believe and act upon today are perversions of Scripture. To say that you are shining your light by participating in a Halloween giving out of treats is a perversion of what Jesus said when he said to be a light and to glorify the Father. To break his commandments is in no way to glorify him. If we want to follow Jesus’ own words and follow his example, then we must obey the Father as he did.
Celebrating Halloween, even by handing out candy, does not make you a light on a hill, proclaiming The Saviour or God. It also does not cause praise to the Father in heaven, which is what being a salt and a light is to lead to.
“You are salt for the Land. But if salt becomes tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except being thrown out for people to trample on. 14 “You are light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don’t cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew Chapter 5
Giving out candy on halloween tells the children -your own and the others- that you are celebrating halloween by giving them candy. It makes you like the world, and not separate from it.
There are many ways to be a light without participating in Halloween. You may think that handing out candy is a simple thing, but the commandments of God are set up to keep us pure and holy, and we all know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. We cannot participate in sin and call it holy – or ministry.
If we want to minister and shine our lights, let’s start by showing our children that we are separate, set apart for a Holy God, based on the commands of a Holy God. We do not need to make up ministries or use Scriptures to justify participating in things he calls sin.
Be a light and teach your children the Scriptures in truth. Be a light to the neighborhood children and show them the Scriptures in truth also so that they will find the Saviour and glorify God in Heaven. Give them rent money or food they need. Do something else on a day that is not the celebration of a pagan holiday. Handing out candy to greedy children who are celebrating a holiday that your God is vehemently opposed to(whether it is their fault or not) does not glorify our Father in heaven.
When we remain separate in holiness, and love people in other ways, we are being a light to those who God has entrusted to our care to raise in HIM and in holiness – Our Own Children. It is tough to live in this world and be separate from its evil. We need to give our children practical applications of following God’s ways AND loving those who do not know him. Violating his commands does not do that effectively. It places a question on the commandments of, “Do we really have to follow?”… like saying, “Did God really say?” And, we know where THAT question got us! Right out of the Garden! Let’s hold to the standards of the Scripture, and then our children will not grow up to compromise these things.
I hope that this doesn’t sound unloving. We just cannot compromise the Scriptures. We cannot make them fit what we believe. They must stand on their own merit and standard. I am telling you this because I love the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit who calls us to be holy as the Father is holy and has commanded us to also be holy – according to HIS holiness, not our description of holiness – no matter what the motives.
May you be blessed as you walk in his ways… they are narrow…. no room for our own opinions… that path is the wide one.
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Very interesting comment about Britain. Wow speaks volumes doesn’t it?
Great post Jacque, thanks for sharing.
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October 9th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Yes, although in a lot of ways the US is a more faithfully Christian country than the UK, we are very lucky here to have Christianity and Christians protected by the law. For instance, all UK schools must teach the Bible and have Christian worship, and Christian groups are allowed to go into schools to give talks and run after-school clubs. Also, as the UK has Protestant Christianity as its official religion, church representatives have seats in the House of Lords (the upper chamber of Parliament).
Obviously there is a lot wrong in the UK but in the schools in particular, Christianity has a lot of support from the government and the law. I would like to homeschool any children I have in the future, but if my husband was against it then it would not be difficult to find a state school that had a strong Christian ethos and taught the Bible.
Jade´s last blog ..How sweet freedom is!
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Great answer Mrs. Jacque!
(Btw, I didn’t know you were Catholic, and 5 months before getting married. Almost all my family are.)
Blessings!
Leandro´s last blog ..Blog paradão
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October 9th, 2009 at 3:56 am
Yep, born into Catholicism, went to church each Sunday, confession on Saturday…
I left the church on Christmas Eve when I was 18. I saw a hypocrisy I had never seen before, and I left the midnight Mass asking God what he had for me, since this could simply not be it.
And, he started leading me and showing me from that point.
I am thankful for the upbringing I have in that I always knew there was a God and Jesus was the Saviour of the world though…
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Dear Jaque,
I’m sorry that I don’t have the time to go through you whole blog, so just a quick question. Do you indeed not celebrate Christmas and Easter? Why? Do you celebrate the Jewish Holidays? But what about the rising up of Christ? When do you celebrate that? ( if at all?).
Quite a lot of questions, I know, but it just piqued my curiosity.
Thanks in advance, Eliza
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October 9th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Dear Eliza~
Yes, we really do not celebrate Christmas and Easter. The holidays we celebrate are considered to be Jewish Holidays, but we do not celebrate them because they are Jewish Holidays. We celebrate the Feasts that are commanded by God-Yehovah to his people. When they were commanded to be celebrated, the people were known as Israel or Hebrews, not as the Jews. This did not come until later, when the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah were divided and they had their own kings.
We are celebrating the Holy Days and commandments that God-Yehovah gave to all Believers in the Scriptures. The celebration of the resurrection is included in those feasts. The Feast of Passover was a foreshadow of what was to come as deliverance for all men, the death and resurrection of the Messiah. We celebrate Passover-Pesach. Also surrounding that day is Firstfruits – Yom HaBikkurim, which is representative of the resurrection. Jesus-Yeshua is the Firstfruit of the risen to glorify the Father.
I wrote about this here, if you are interested: These Are Designated Times of Yehovah God: http://jacquedixon.com/?p=5409
There is also a link to a webpage that explains this in detail on this post.
Be blessed as you learn more about Him and his Holy Days!
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Jacque – thank you for your thoughtful and detailed response…much to think over…
sarahmae´s last blog ..I Like This…I Want It…I’m Asking God For It
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October 9th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
You are welcome Sarah. It is a lot to think over. There are so many things that we have learned about what and how we learned as Believers compared to what the Scriptures really say. It was a sad realization that we have Believers for over 20 years and are just seeing much in the Scriptures that is unspoken of by mainstream Christianity. We really, really, HAVE to be Bereans and seek out the truth for ourselves without everyone else’s influences. And, from what I can see, the churches are just sliding further and further from Scriptural truths in many cases.
Be blessed as you seek his truths!
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From my point of view Halloween is a very American affair – and contagious. We don’t celebrate Halloween in Finland nor in Nordic countries in general. Only in last few years marketeers have tried to sell this “holiday” to Finns – and unfortunately it seems to possess more people year by year.
Sad. Those who celebrate Halloween don’t even know the roots, not even the most shallow ones. To them it is just some ‘funny thing from America’.
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I am so happy you posted this. I am currently writing my post about the same topic! Frankly because I am sick to death of being questioned about Halloween. Can you believe the ONLY people who give me a hard time about it are other Chrisitans? Geesh..I’ve sinned enough and I will sin again the least I can do is stay away from the obvious. What sickens me more is how churches handle it. My church will have a costume night for the kids. They don’t even try to hid the idea that it is trick or treating or halloween. My family is the ONLY family that does not partcipate. My mom also thinks I am crazy. She even took my kids to a Halloween store…not sure why. UGH. Glad I am not the only one..I getting really lonely. lol.
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i agree.
I do however disagree with Jade. I also live in the UK and Christians are persecuted by this government. Although the schools are permitted to teach about Christianity, it is in a watered down way and they promote halloween and the most wicked sex education. I would say our schools are aas bad as yours in the US.
There have been many cases where Christians have been persecuted in the workplace here. You have probably heard of a few.
jenny´s last blog ..Living life at a relaxed pace
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As a child I never liked Halloween. It scared me to walk in the dark
in neighborhoods… not being able to see other people’s faces. My
mother thought it was harmless fun. Pagan Christmas traditions were
also loosly handled…. and I was so confused about Jesus and Santa
Claus.
I am the first in my family of 50 people… and the only person in my or
my spouse’s family who has chosen to stand apart from these pagan
holiday rituals of Halloween and Santa worship.
Pray for me… as my mother has already discussed with my five year
old about dressing up as a ghost. My mother was very upset I had
told both my children the TRUE meaning of Christmas… and what was
real and what was pretend. ( I resented greatly that adults had lied to
me for years and made a fool of me… to have me believing in some man
that dresses up in red and brings gifts down a chimney ). It taught me that
I could not trust adults or anyone around me to tell me the truth… and for
a while, I doubted if Jesus was real…. since Santa wasn’t.
Standing for the truth and the word of God means having to not care
what even your parents or family members will think of you… or say to you.
Pray for us this season…. as we always endure some sort of verbal
persecution and belittling from family and friends. I have yet to find a
church that truly separated itself from these pagan practices either.
Good post… Thanks!
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I think a problem in many places in the US and Canada (especially rural villages, like where I grew up) is that it is only seen as “harmless” fun and just as a day where kids dress up and go out and get candy (well plus all the “witch” stories). We don’t “see” the “other side” of Halloween.
Last year a lady I know told us that they take their kids swimming on Halloween mainly because they used to live somewhere else where there was a lot of the “other side” going on that night. It really put it in a different perspective for me, knowing that stuff like that actually goes on.
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“Does this mean if you celebrate Halloween that we can’t be friends? Of course not.”
I am struggling with this q/a because how can two who do not agree walk together? How can light and dark fellowship? I’m not saying that we cannot share with them or speak to them, but “friends” in the sense of close intimate fellowship, I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around that. Scripture warns us not to even eat a meal with fornicators. Eating is an intimate act of fellowship. Yes, Yeshua ate with sinners, but only *repentant* sinners.
How do you be friends with those who celebrate evil pagan holidays. Where is line? What am I missing?
Michelle´s last blog ..Feast of Tabernacles
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October 10th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Nope, we can’t be inner-circle friends. We can be friends in the fact that we are loving and kind to each other, help each other out if needed. What I mean is that we do not have to be enemies. When we started learning more about Yehovah’s ways and walking in them, a friend whom I considered a VERY dear friend got immediately offended, freaked out and deleted me from all our social groups online. She completely broke everything off, because she said we are heretics and denying the grace of God. Of course, we know much differently…
Now, that relationship is being restored to at least a civil relationship and forgiveness, but what I mean is that we ARE to be at peace with one another, not enemies because we disagree. We do not have to be best buds, but we also do not have to shun each other and run from something like that. We are to be in the world, but not of it. We must live here, and we must still walk in HIS ways and teach our children to do the same.
We DO shelter our children. Always have. Always will. Their spiritual and physical protection is more important than an adult’s feelings to the contrary about what we believe. But, I have always had Christian friends who watch and listen to media that is secular and ungodly, teach their children things that are unbiblical, go trick-or-treating, etc. etc… but I love these friends and know that they are making their relationship with their Lord as I was making mine with mine. They were just different, and I still loved them as people.
This IS a dividing thing when it comes to faith, but not when it comes to civility and love. I will say that one of the dearest IRL friends who was a kindred spirit of mine allowed her children to read and watch Harry Potter, sent her children to public school, had no issues about immunizations or babysitters, having others train her children. I love her dearly today, but I will tell you that her children have turned out just as they were trained… and are very different from ours… sadly.
I do agree about being unequally yoked. I guess I have always been strong in WHATEVER I believe and not easily dissuaded in Scriptural things. *Gets me into trouble sometimes!*
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I agree with that. We are to still love our neighbor even if we don’t agree. *Ü*
Michelle´s last blog ..Feast of Tabernacles
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[...] Finally, something to ponder… Jacque of Walking Therein answers the Robin Sampson’s question: Should Christians Observe Halloween? with Halloween at Our Home. [...]
Michelle – grace my friend, grace. Everyone learns and matures at different times and as the Lord sees fit to lift the veil. He is ever patient with us, may we be ever patient with other believers.
sarahmae´s last blog ..Red Letter Words Giveaway! (My Kind of Artsy Fartsy)
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October 15th, 2009 at 12:05 am
I am approving your comment Sarah, but I do not agree with the whole “grace, grace, grace movement”. Yehovah is a Holy God and has many sins listed in the New Testament alone that Believers will be floored to find out will keep them from spending eternity with him.
Yeshua said to BELIEVERS: “Depart from me, I never knew you!”
We are not to be legalistic, but I, for one, do not consider following the scriptures and expecting others to have discernment to be legalistic. It is NOT legalistic to follow Scripture (or Yeshua himself IS a legalist, as is the Father). Legalism comes from adding to the Law of Yehovah and his commandments, not by practicing them.
We allow for far too much foolishness and sin in America – in the church.
If new Believers were taught the truth of the Scripture and more seasoned believers practiced what they are convicted of instead of excusing it, we would not need to try to cover those sins ourselves with grace.
Really, grace is not ours to take. It is Yehovah’s to give when we sin, but we are not to expect it. It is kind of arrogant that we would expect grace for our sins, but he can’t expect holiness from his people as GOD of the universe.
Yes, we can give grace to others in their sin, but not at the cost of the Scriptures. In love, we can go to them and not shun them, but if they deny the Scriptures, we actually are to shun them (Matt. 18), and we are to be separate. We are not to be yoked with them – inner circle friends whose beliefs influence our family.
We have GOT to get back to the Scriptures and get out of this pop culture man-made doctrine!
Scripture is TRUE and pure. It says it divides truth as though it were dividing the marrow from the bone (and you really can’t just do that!). AND, doing that is a painful process… as with all decisions to follow absolute Scripture absolutely. It is not a fluffy, feel-good, let’s-not-offend Gospel. We are told we WILL offend, as our Messiah did. AND it will be painful.
In other words, we must balance and not be legalistic, but not be all grace either. Extend love and grace, but stand on truth at all times.
be blessed as you walk in him~
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Of course.
Michelle´s last blog ..Feast of Tabernacles
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“Yes, we can give grace to others in their sin, but not at the cost of the Scriptures. In love, we can go to them and not shun them, but if they deny the Scriptures, we actually are to shun them (Matt. 18), and we are to be separate. We are not to be yoked with them – inner circle friends whose beliefs influence our family.
. . . AND, doing that is a painful process… as with all decisions to follow absolute Scripture absolutely. It is not a fluffy, feel-good, let’s-not-offend Gospel. We are told we WILL offend, as our Messiah did. AND it will be painful.”
Thank you so much for this. I really, really needed to hear all that you said this morning. May Yah bless you.
Michelle´s last blog ..Feast of Tabernacles
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I love grace and am so thankful that Jesus died for my sins so that I could live with Him forever, an undeserving wretch – oh how beautiful is the truth of grace!
I am all grace grace grace. I am also all truth truth truth. They go hand in hand, otherwise, Jesus died for nothing. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast…”(Eph. 2:8,9).
I so appreciate your sincerity for the Lord and in seeking to obey Him – you have inspired me much! Oh how good obedience is! However, let us not forget where we came from…perhaps 10 years ago, perhaps 5, perhaps yesterday. It takes time to mature. In the real life world many just don’t know the truth, so we don’t run from them, we engage them, and lovingly guide them to the scriptures. We let the Holy Spirit convict as we guide. I know that I am not the same today as I was yesterday, and I know that I will have much more maturity and wisdom in the years to come. It is the sanctification process – doesn’t happen over night. Salvation does though, when we truly believe that Jesus, the Word wrapped in flesh, God, died for our sins and then rose again, and then we choose to follow Him, the best we can, as He patiently shows us the way.
Holy and set apart, absolutely.
But please, I implore, let’s not expect everyone to have it all together. Even God, in His kindness and mercy is patient with us (hello Isreal!). And let us also remember His love for us – He sent His son to die on our behalf!
“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1
Sorry for the super long comment, I just wanted you to understand that I love and hold dearly to truth…as well as the glorious grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.
sarahmae´s last blog ..Rare Appearance Of The Babes
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October 16th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Thanks Sarah, for your sincere and honest comment.
I am not forgetting where I have come from, and I certainly do not expect others to have it all together. Most of the Believers I know are seasoned Believers, not new ones who need more grace as they learn the way. I suppose I am referring to those who have had a chance to learn and have continued on their own path, ignoring the Scriptures.
I have been SO blessed in the past year to meet so many new friends who truly love Yehovah God and also have a humble and sweet spirit-like yours- when it comes to new revelations of Scripture. I am seeing a hunger like I have never seen in the past 21 years of my faith. I am SO thankful HE has shown this to me and allowed me to be a part of it all.
I am truly blessed!
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“Are there other pagan practices in the lives of Believers – myself included – that need to be weeded out You betcha’. We are working on that. Are you?” I’m curious as to what you see as other pagan practices?
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[...] No, this post is not about Halloween, which IS evil. That post is here. [...]
Thanks for answering my questions. Answering question like this often lead to blog posts!
Thanks for sharing.
Robin @ Heart of Wisdom´s last blog ..Producing Spritual Fruit in Our Children
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Praise the Lord everyone! It seems that in today’s time, there is more paganism celebrated within the “Christian” community that Christ. Its indeed tragic. I believe in this day there are many who have strayed from the pure, unadulterated doctrine of the Lord by compromising the Word of God to make others feel “accepted”. II Timothy talks about a time when people will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. I want to share something that the Lord allowed me to see and its scary to say but spiritually America has become the New Babylon. Babylon in biblical times was always the center of false religion, heresy and wickedness. And its increasing exponentially as the years go by. We, definitely including myself, must stick to and adhere to the apostolic doctrine and take a stand against the works of the Antichrist by being equipped the power of the Holy Ghost. Grace and peace be with you all!!
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January 23rd, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Nick, I believe that you are absolutely correct that America is the new Babylon. She is proving to be the Mystery Babylon of Revelation 18. I disagree with some of what you said in that it is more than a spiritual Babylon. Mystery Babylon, in prophecy has physical attributes that cannot be denied and just called spiritual.
To say that Mystery Babylon is a spiritual entity alone is not following the context of the Scriptures.
In addition, as Believers, we must read what YAHVEH has told his people to do and do it.
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Christmas trees are also Pagan in roots, part of the winter celebration of Yule, which is observed on the solstice. Jesus wasn’t born in winter (there are no lambs in winter in the northern hemisphere, only in late spring and early summer), yet his birth is celebrated to overlap Yule? The time and the tradition of decorating trees were both taken from Pagans. But yet you celebrate his birth in the winter with a tree, correct?
The Pagan autumn holiday is Samhain, which has nothing to do with witches and sorcery. It’s simply a day celebrating the dead as animals were traditionally slaughtered for meat through the winter. It is also a day for reflection and accepting that there are things over which we have no control, such as death. There are no black cats or people flying on broomsticks. That is purely an invention only going back to the Victorian times.
Those godly Victorians were obsessed with death for a while (notice how death-lockets and rings were immensely popular and that dark, gothic architecture was on the rise?). Samhain, or Hallow’s Eve, or Day of the Dead (which is widely celebrated by Mexican Catholics as a day to remember the dead) were never macabre holidays with ghosts and goblins. Thank CHRISTIAN Victorians for this idea, and it wasn’t meant to be demonic among them.
Even though death isn’t supposed to be seen as a bad thing (getting to go to the heavenly father and be in his arms, right?), somehow a celebration of the lives of those who have gone is seen as wrong. What kind of a message is this? That death (and subsequently going to god) is something that should be avoided?
Even Easter overlaps Ostara, which is celebrated as the beginning of spring. It is the celebration of the return of color to the world. According to history, including the bible, Jesus died in what is now called June. So why is his death celebrated in spring if not to usurp a Pagan holiday? The holiday in June, Litha, isn’t celebrated among all sects, nor even most, so nothing to usurp there. The nearest holiday otherwise, Beltane, in May, is widely avoided by Christians due to its strong free-love nature. Yes, the May Pole is indeed intended to be phallic, and the streamers and dancers represent fertility. Somehow this has never stopped the great Kings and Queens of England, defenders of the faith, from celebrating spring with a May Day complete with May Pole.
If you’re going to disrespect the Pagans, please do it in a way that uses facts about their holidays and correct history rather than myths. If you want to avoid any holidays connected in any way with Paganism, then you should petition for Christmas to be moved to spring (and no more decorated trees either!) and Easter to June. Otherwise there is no way around these holidays being connected with Pagan holidays. Since the connection with Paganism seems to be your biggest gripe with Halloween (while ignoring the religious aspect of the day and celebration by Mexican Catholics), I don’t see how you don’t find fault with Christmas and Easter.
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January 23rd, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Dear Lyric~
I am not sure if you just needed somewhere to spread your wisdom or if you are trying to start a fight. I will just suffice it to let you know that I know the pagan origins of Easter and Christmas, and tell you that our family celebrates neither for those reasons.
We celebrate the Feasts commanded by YAHVEH in the Scriptures as commanded to his people.
Christmas and easter are pagan holidays, and you may have them. We don’t recognize them as for our Elohim.
This was not to disrespect pagans. You may celebrate as you choose. I am calling Believers in the One True Elohim, YAHVEH, to stop celebrating the ways of the pagans and to come to a realization that the GOD they serve is not represented in your pagan celebrations.
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January 23rd, 2010 at 6:43 pm
You would be the rare Christian the who doesn’t embrace the celebration of Christmas and Easter, practicing what you preach, so to speak, and this is actually admirable. I am just deeply annoyed at the number of Christians (myself once among them) who choose to pick on the mainstream (at least in American) holiday for which there is no Christian holiday also being celebrated, citing any connection to Paganism, while ignoring the much stronger connection Christmas has to Paganism.
I agree with what you say here. The way for any religion to celebrate is not by essentially stealing celebrations or traditions from another religion which is usually done in an attempt to usurp another holiday. I’m not in favor of canceling Christmas nor Easter, and would oppose either being outright canceled. But even when I was younger and still a Christian, I did favor moving those celebrations to the time they would have actually happened. Some bit of the sacredness was dulled knowing the reason behind these celebrations occurring when they did. “We’re better than you are, so we’re going to take your holiday, and there’s nothing you can do about it. So there!” The bit of taunt that really comes with it, and I am not blaming modern-day Christians, just those who picked these days seemed childish and petty.
No, the Christian god isn’t represented in Pagan celebrations, which is a large part of why trying to take over Pagan holidays and symbols is doubly wrong. Using a god to try stamping down another religion just…it’s disgusting, and no god should be used in this way.
However Halloween and its purpose has been widely misrepresented. It really doesn’t help to see the “emo-goth kids” who run around thinking they’re all awesome for wearing black cloaks and pretending to drink blood and do other dumb stuff. These people aren’t Pagan. They are juvenile, immature brats who will one day grow up, but the damage they’ve caused to this holiday has been done. I’m not going to excuse the Victorians either for their depictions of Halloween being about ghosts and goblins with scary jackolanterns. I highly doubt the Christian god would be against a holiday to celebrate those who’ve past before us, nor a time to give thanks and honor the lives of the animals slaughtered for meat. Would he not be in favor of acknowledging the sacrifice of life so that humans can continue to live, rather than the mindless killing taking advantage of what’s here for us?
It’s not an evil holiday (and those jerks mentioned above don’t count). It’s simply a holiday of other religions and one particular cultural Christian denomination, much as many Christians view Hannukah or Rosh Hoshanna. I’m fine with not everyone participating in any festivities, but do ask that it not be is represented further nor protested as a holiday that should be banned (and I’ve known Christians who have tried having it outlawed). If it matters at all, I think it’s extremely stupid how many people protest any public displays of Christmas. No one has to participate, and no one should feel that they have to hide their celebrations that are joyful to them, as long as the festivities don’t result in people harming anyone else.
I’m asking for the same treatment for Halloween. When you get down to the nitty gritty, it’s interesting to see how many supposedly completely-conflicting religions have aspects of their core beliefs that interlock.
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January 23rd, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Actually, there are more and more who are finding that Christianity itself is not even following the Scriptures, nor is the Messiah correctly represented, nor is the GOD they claim to follow. They also do not celebrate christmas and easter, but adhere to the commanded Shabbat seventh-day Sabbath and other commanded Feasts.
That said, I will tell you that I used to dabble in witchcraft and have studied Halloween in its origins and its practices, both today by neo-pagans and also by those who do revere it as an evil holy day complete with blood sacrifice and other things we don’t need to further detail here.
Halloween is an evil representation of pagan practices and is a holy day to satanists. Those who do not practice it in that manner do not take away from that.
I cannot, though, say that easter and christmas aren’t also evil days due to the fact that they also do not represent what is true in the Scriptures as so many christians claim, making it a holy practice that YAHVEH himself does not honour. We are warned in Scripture to not take pagan practices and call them holy and say they now reverence HIM. HE is GOD, and we are not allowed to change HIS appointed holy days and Feasts.
According to Scriptures, all holidays that are not appointed by YAHVEH are not of him and are of a pagan origin.
That is just a Scriptural application, and I understand if that is not what you are looking for or believe, and that is ok. I am stating that to clarify it in a Scriptural reference on my blog, because that is the base and standard I adhere to.
Have a great evening!
Nick, that might not be so if the largest Christian holidays weren’t set to overlap Pagan ones, with Pagan traditions, such as the decorated tree, reappropriated as part of the Christian celebration. Even the halo is a rip-off of the Pagan sun god Helios. I doubt we’ll ever see a Christmas celebrated without angels with halos, and many nativity scenes depicting Jesus and Mary, at the least, with halos, and it’s nearly universal in the US for Christian homes to celebrate with decorated trees. A way to begin separating Christian celebrations from Pagan is to celebrate events during the season they happened and without the traditions that were taken from Pagans. Anyone who won’t do this really has no place to complain about Halloween. How right is it to steal with your left hand while using the right hand to hold a bible? The person is still a thief. You have to cast it all aside Just having one part abide by scripture doesn’t abolish the sin willingly and even joyfully performed by the rest.
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