THINK ON THESE THINGS - HALLOWEEN EDITION

The following article was written 10 years ago by elder Richard T. Ritenbaugh, son of pastor John Ritenbaugh who once pastored here in Illinois and Michigan. He wrote about an incident 10 years ago, when the Mayor of Fort Worth, Texas cancelled official "TRICK OR TREAT" so-called "celebrations" across the city!
Here is his essay on this day, Halloween:

HALLOWEEN RISING:

Howls of protest arose this past week because the mayor of Fort Worth, Texas, advised residents not to allow their children to trick-or-treat from door to door this year, due to the recent terror attacks on the U.S. 

His critics prated on several "how dare he?" themes: 

How dare he "cancel" Halloween? 

How dare he take such "fun" from our children? 

How dare he dampen our esprit de corps during our war on terrorism? How dare he further stifle our recessed economy? 

How dare he!

Though this happened in just a few places, it became a modest national uproar, even appearing as a major topic on national talk shows. A majority of Americans just love Halloween—many enjoy it more than Christmas, July Fourth, and Super Bowl Sunday! In terms of its impact on the economy, it already ranks second to Christmas, and it is comparable to Super Bowl Sunday and St. Patrick's Day in beer sales. Only Christmastime sees more sales of holiday decorations, and of course, candy sales are off the charts before Halloween!

What is the attraction? Are people really into ghouls, spirits, devilry, and monsters? Are Americans really that attracted to the otherworldly theme of the holiday? No, probably not. Polls to the contrary, most Americans do not believe in demonic or even angelic spirits enough to think of Halloween as some kind of celebration of them. 

The answer lies in the donning of costumes and the consumption of alcohol: Halloween is the year's biggest escape from reality!

The ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain (November 1), from which All Saints' Day and All Hallows Eve derive, was a kind of New Years holiday. Along with the days immediately before and after, it was special because the Celts believed that the boundary between this world and the spirit world relaxed or lifted, allowing spirits to cross between them more easily. As this idea terrified superstitious people, they mollified the spirits by leaving out food and treats so that they would not curse them. 

Some practiced various forms of divination to contact departed loved ones. Druids thought this to be the best time to seek guidance from the dead, and the bards sought otherworldly inspiration for their poetry and song.

Another interesting aspect of Samhain's celebration is that the Celts considered it to take place in "no-time," that is, neither in the old year nor the new. Since this "no-time" was a time to itself, normal laws, order, strictures, and customs were held in abeyance for these three days of merriment. People thus did whatever they pleased.

So, the fool held court as the wise man. The baseborn acted as the noble. The servant became the master. Women dressed as men, and vice versa. Farmers turned out their cattle, pigs, and sheep from their pens and pastures, allowing them to roam free. Some entered houses through windows rather than doors. No work was done because it was a time of total abandon: of revelry, feasting, drinking, taking dares, disguising oneself, and pretending to be something one was not. Those three strange days were "chaos time."

Our modern version, Halloween, is a "tame" descendant of this Celtic celebration, and its popularity is rising steadily. Revelers use the holiday as an excuse to escape their mundane, banal, yet stressful lives and "take a walk on the wild side." Laws, customs, mores and order cease for a short time, as participants indulge themselves in whatever they desire.

Probably most consider it "blowing off steam" or "having a good time," but self-indulgence is sin. Instead of releasing the pressure by coming out of a world conducting its affairs apart from God (Revelation 18:4), celebrants compound their troubles by adding on sin and its destructive consequences.

We have been called to a different life, one in which we "put off" our former corrupt, lustful conduct and "put on" new habits and behaviors that reflect the righteous and holy life of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:22-24). Paul concludes in Ephesians 5:8-12, 15-16:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), proving what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. . . . See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because they are evil.

(Image by Google

(Credit: Church of the Great God, Fort Mill, South Carolina) 

THINK ON THESE THINGS - SATURDAY

FROM THE BEREAN CALL (SATURDAY OCTOBER 29, 2011)

HALLOWEEN PAGAN THEMES FILL WEST'S VACUUM [Excerpt]*

Seems like Americans just want it to be Halloween all year. The holiday just keeps getting more popular. Seven in 10 expect to celebrate it in some way this Oct. 31, up from about six in 10 last year, according to a National Retail Federation report.  

This is the most in the nine years the NRF has been tracking. In 2011, Americans are also planning to spend more than other years, an average of $72 each. Total outlays by consumers are expected to reach $6.86 billion this fall.

Why the surge in popularity for an ancient harvest ritual? Some of the factors that account for it are as harmless and loveable as a new 12-pound pumpkin from the farm. Others have the capacity to spook.

Unmask Halloween, however, and you'll also find some disconcerting features. People value Halloween, like Valentine's Day, because they can tell themselves that it's not merely secularized but actually secular, which is to say, not Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim.

But as much as we'd like it to be, Halloween isn't secular. It is pagan. There's nothing else to call a set of ceremonies in which people utter magical phrases, flirt with the night and evoke the dead. One of my family's favorite Halloween props was a hand that moved, as though from the netherworld, when you reached to collect a few pieces of candy corn. Necromancy is a regular part of Halloween games. Zombie masks are one of this year's top- sellers. As grouchy theologians used to point out, the origin of Halloween was most likely Samhain, an ancient Celtic holiday on which the dead, in some accounts, supposedly returned to visit.

There's a reason for the pull of the pagan. In the U.S., we've been vigorously scrubbing our schools and other public spaces of traces of monotheistic religion for many decades now. Such scrubbing leaves a vacuum. The great self-deception of modern life is that nothing will be pulled into that vacuum. Half a century ago, the psychologist Carl Jung** noted the heightened interest in UFOs, and concluded that the paranormal was "modern myth," a replacement for religion.

**[TBC: Jung himself was heavily involved in necromancy and wrote /Septem sermons ad Mortuos/ (/The Seven Sermons to the Dead/) to mollify ghosts he claimed were harassing him (http://www.gnosis.org/library/7Sermons.htm).]

Children or adults who today relish every detail of zombie culture or know every bit of wizarding minutiae are seeking something to believe in. That church, mosque and synagogue are so controversial that everyone prefers the paranormal as neutral ground is disconcerting. There's something unsettling about the education of a child who comfortably enumerates the rules for surviving zombie apocalypse but finds it uncomfortable to enumerate the rules of his grandparents' faith, if he knows them.

*(Shlaes, "Halloween's Pagan Themes Fill West's Faith Vacuum," Bloomberg Online, 10/19/11).

THINK ON THESE THINGS - THURSDAY

CHRISTIANS AND HALLOWEEN

Next Monday October 31 is the national holiday of Hell! How dare I say that of that 'innocent fun day of Halloween'? Because I could! "But, Bernie, what's wrong with kids dressing up in costumes, going door to door for cheap candy etc etc...?"


Well, there is nothing wrong with candy or costumes as separate items. There is plenty wrong with being duped into thinking there is something innocent  about this day though! Therefore, from now unto October 31, most of the THINK ON THESE THINGS devotionals/posts will be dedicated to exposing the 'spirit' of Halloween. 


Today's message caused me some grief last year when I first posted it, but I think it is relevant in showing how our culture was slowly brainwashed into making Halloween one of the biggest celebrations in America, after Christmas and Thanksgiving!


“Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls…” 1 Peter 2:11 (NLT) 

Each year around this time, we go through this exercise – what  does a sold-out Believer in Christ to make of Halloween.  Each year men, fathers and radical Christians like me sound like fuddy duddys to the rest of the world….and that includes a number of Christians (professing and real)! 

However, I can take the blowback, as am used to being hammered and ostrasized for taking a bold stance for Christ. So basically, I have never allowed my own kids to trick or treat, celebrate Halloween or watch the horror show garbage on TV, each and every October, period.  

I don’t see how one can allow their kids to dress up like the devil or something sleazy, and then try to teach them to watch out for Satan who comes to steal, kill and destroy!! This is selective insanity. Halloween is an oxymoron – like “Christian Yoga”….which I will address next issue. 

AMERICA'S FIRST WITCHES - THROUGH COMEDY

Sin and darkness have been around since Genesis 3 and the Fall of Man caused by Satan. But some of the modern incarnation of the popularity of Witchcraft, Wicca and the like began with Ouija boards and the TV Show BEWITCHED!! Yes, BEWITCHED!!

For the 8 years it ran (1964-72), BEWITCHED brought a “sweet” All American family face to the an ancient evil by deception! Starring Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha the witch, who married a mortal named Darren Stephens, “Samantha” was portrayed as a normal suburban wife. Darren married her knowing she was a witch with the admonition/command to “not  practice any witchcraft in this house”!! Of course, a witch is going to obey you! The entire series was full of wizards, warlocks, spells, incantations and the like.  

Sam’s mother – Endora – is taken directly from the Witch at Endor whom King Saul stupidly visited to have a séance with the late prophet Samuel (see 1 Samuel 28:3-25)…and on and on. All the other worldly beings in this TV series were ageless beings who lived in the air! 

DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR??!! “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood enemies,  but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against EVIL SPIRITS in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, NLT). It is my contention that this TV series “boiled the frog” slowly by showing witchcraft as this harmless little lifestyle that was “oh, so cute…just look at Samantha and Tabitha (her daughter – another witch)”!  

Combine this with “I Dream of Jeannie”, only three TV networks for decades, and you have a cultural absorption into worldwide consciousness from the pit of hell! Think am overreacting?  I don’t believe so. 

The Spirit of God and the Word of God are EXPLICIT in their commands about this evil. Until we were saved and redeemed and knew better, we too thought these shows were funny….even though something did not quite feel right! What BEWITCHED and Jeannie opened up was an explosion in the ancient cult of Wicca…and not to mention a number of new brand of female TV shows with “nice” witches . 

Concerning Wicca – that involves prayer circles and seeking “help” from spirits of another world as well! Most practicioners are women. Most mature believers think that Wicca and other satanic rituals involving pagan “goddesses” appeal to women, because it gives a certain amount of Power to those seeking that kind of thing! Never mind this kind of empowerment leads straight to eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire! 

THIS MAKES WITCHES ATTRACTIVE TO TEENS!

Concerning other TV shows with attractive female witches, here is a short list: SABRINA, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, CHARMED AND TABITHA (offshoot of BEWITCHED).  The new book and movie phenomenon called TWILIGHT is also a demonic-induced attack on the mostly young female population of America. That story was given to its creator by what she called an “angel of light”!! 

Read here in the Bible to find out who the “angel of light” really is!! What does this have to do with Halloween? Everything! Halloween is a celebration of all these spirits – clean and unclean, which are not from the Real God.  

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

I am sure many well-meaning and Christians will disagree with me, and say celebrating Halloween or watching Sabrina or TWILIGHT is JUST entertainment..(more on TWILIGHT tomorrow).

Concerning our children – there are many other ways to have alternative activities for them at this time of year. This will take a proactive stand to live DAILY in the Word, and according to His Word (see Psalm 119). 

This can involve all like-minded members of the Body of Christ, in the Local Church. 

Finally, I close with what the Bible says in Philippians 4:8 (ESV) : "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think* about these things.”

*(THE WORD THINK HERE IS “LOGIZOMAI” (in the original Greek) OR consider , counted , credit , dwell on,  reason , reckon or  regard ,take into account ….these things)

All images are courtesy Google Images

BAD FOR THE SOUL?

Even the most grounded in the Bible Christian can feel the oppressive darkness..even evil...of the time.  Those who are walking in Light, know the presence of darkness when we are near or even in the middle of it!


I would not get into details here, but I have seen dead souls, bound for hell, in the eyes of women and men you would not believe. Driving through Rhode Island a couple decades ago, the spirit of death was so heavy in this one part outside Providence, we could not wait to leave that area. On further research, I found out this area was once an Indian burial ground. Their 'medicine men', as most of us know, are nothing more than witch doctors in feathers. Anyone who denies the absence of evil or the existence of Satan has already lost.


On October 31, America and a few other countries is getting fired up about the prospect of Halloween in a few weeks. All kinds of parties are planned. Costumes of ghouls, and devils and sleazy nurses and bloody beings from the netherworld are all over our stores and in our faces. October 31 carries the same high profile in marketing as Christmas, "Easter", Valentine's Day and the Fourth of July.


But people have no idea what they are doing and celebrating. If you mention this to average christian, they would accuse you of wanting to deny other people fun. Anyone is free to disagree with me and post their disagreement here. This is just what my spirit speaks to me, from the Oracles of God. This is just what I must share.

But think on these words for a minute. Think on them from NOW until October 31. Closer to Halloween, I will explain more about the origins of Halloween; why it is the Holiday from Hell and then how we were lulled into accepting this as normal.


THINK ON THESE (FROM PHILIPPIANS 4:8 KJV):
Whatsoever things are true........TRUTH!
Whatsoever things are honest.....INTEGRITY!
Whatsoever things are just.........JUSTICE!
Whatsoever things are pure........PURITY!
Whatsoever things are lovely.......BEAUTY!
Whatsoever things are of good report....REPUTATION!
...... if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.