Posted on 10/20/2005 11:09:48 AM PDT by Millee
An Ellettsville family whose home is decorated for Halloween contacted police after someone placed on its porch a flier that suggests Halloween praises the devil.
Dalene Gully told Indianapolis television station WRTV that she took offense to the flier, which was placed outside her home by the House of Prayer Church of Bloomington.
"I started reading it, and I was very, very upset by it. I found it very accusatory and very threatening," Gully said.
The church's pastor, Larry Mitchell, said the people who left the flier would have preferred to talk with Gully, but she wasn't there.
Mitchell said the church didn't intend to upset the Gully family, but rather tell people that Halloween isn't harmless fun.
"Halloween is not fantasy," Mitchell said. "We're training up our children, and obviously this lady was trained up in this. Halloween seems like it is taking just as much prominence as Christmas."
The Gully family filed a complaint with the Ellettsville Police Department. The incident also prompted the family to install an alarm system at the home, the station reported.
"This is my home, and I like Halloween. If I want to decorate my home, I have every right to decorate my home," Gully said.
Threatening? Warning them perhaps, but the threat, if any, comes from God. The Church was merely expressing a warning that Halloween is not entirely just another innocent benign holiday.
I suspect that the flyer was something like this:
An Invitation to the Occult?
Halloween - 1997
by Chuck Missler
This is always a difficult time for Christians, especially those with children. It has been suggested that for a Christian to be asked to celebrate Halloween is like asking a Holocaust survivor to celebrate Hitler's birthday!
It is also a dangerous time for some, since many of the seemingly "harmless" involvements associated with Halloween can also be "entries" for the occult, and can prove very tragic for the unwary.
Pagan Background
In ancient Britain and Ireland, the Celtic festival of Samhain was observed on October 31, the end of summer. November 1 was the new year for both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon calendars and was one of the most important and yet sinister calendar festivals of the Celtic Year.
Settling in northern France and the British Isles, the Celtic people engaged in occultic arts and worshiped nature, giving it supernatural, animistic qualities. (Much like our Federal government is attempting to enforce today.)
The ancient Druids were the learned priestly class of the Celtic religion. Many of their beliefs and practices were similar to those of Hinduism, such as reincarnation and the transmigration of the soul, which teaches that people may be reborn as animals. The Druids believed that on October 31, the night before their New Year and the last day of the old year, Samhain, the Lord of Death, gathered the souls of the evil dead who had been condemned to enter the bodies of animals.
The Druids also believed that the punishment of the evil dead would be lightened by sacrifices, prayers and gifts to the Lord of Death. (This begins to reveal the strange link between this holiday and the non-Biblical concept of purgatory.)
The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day, and the autumnal festival acquired a sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, black cats, fairies, and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature.
And, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther drove a stake into the heart of many of the prevailing non-Biblical concepts by nailing his famous 95 theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany, which started the movement known today as the Reformation-the single most important event in modern history.1 Appropriately, he did this on Halloween.
Modern Halloween Traditions
In early American history, Halloween was not widely practiced until the 20th century, when it was introduced by the Irish Catholic settlements. Gradually, Halloween became a secular observance, and many customs and practices developed. The carved pumpkin may have originated with the witches' use of a skull with a candle inside to light the way to coven meetings.
Since 1965 UNICEF, an agency of the United Nations, has attempted to incorporate into the Halloween observance the collection of money for the United Nations Children's Fund. This exploitation by the ungodly United Nations of this pagan holiday seems strangely appropriate.
The Occult is Increasingly Popular
Halloween is, for many, a "crossover" involvement in which innocent games can lead to serious entanglement with real witches, neo-pagans, New Agers, and other occultists.2 A common pastime is the use of a Ouija board to attempt to contact ghosts or spirits that are believed to be roaming about. This can lead to serious consequences including demon possession.3 Demons have a vested interest in Halloween because it supports the occult, and it also offers novel and unexpected opportunities to control and influence people.
Forms of the occult can include mediums, channelers, clairvoyants, psychics, spiritists, diviners, mystics, gurus, shamans, psychical researchers, Yogis, psychic and holistic healers, astral travel, astrology, mysticism, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, contact with the dead, UFOs, and thousands of other practices which almost defy cataloging.
Occultism includes Satanism, astrology, Kabbalah, Gnosticism, theosophy, witchcraft and many forms of serious magic. It includes activities seeking the acquisition of "hidden" things-which are expressly forbidden by God in the Bible.
The Biblical View
Halloween practices can open the door to the occult and can introduce forces into people's lives that they are not equipped to combat.4 There is genuine power in the occult, but it is demonic power.5
Any serious study of Biblical demonology will reveal Satan as the power behind false religion, witchcraft, idolatry and the occult.6 The Word of God makes it clear that these are all to be shunned as dangerous. There were many superstitions and false concepts in ancient Israel about which the Bible is silent. However, occultism, in any form, was punishable by death! Why?
The spiritual power and reality behind idols involves demons.7 The Bible commands us to shun occult practices. Mediums and spiritists are expressly prohibited.8 Nowhere are such practices acceptable.
A Halloween Project?
Every year, many people are perplexed as to how to deal with the children's celebrations surrounding Halloween. On the one hand, participating in the perpetuation of the usual pagan (and occultic) rituals are hardly the enterprise of a Biblical Christian. On the other hand, creating constructive alternatives can be challenging.
Many churches and families organize a "Harvest" festival with games, prizes, etc., as an alternative party opportunity. These are gaining widespread interest and are to be encouraged.
Organizing a drama event to involve the older children is an alternative candidate; such an effort could include Saul and the Witch of Endor, from 1 Samuel 28, as a play.
[The winning scripts resulting from a play-writing contest held a few years ago are available through K-House.]
Your Protection
Intellect alone is insufficient. "If it were possible, it would deceive the very elect." This is another example of the necessity to truly understand the Armor of God as outlined in Ephesians 6. This brief review was excerpted from our featured briefing package, Halloween: Invitation to the Occult?
* * *
Sources:
Missler, Chuck, Signs in the Heavens, The Mysteries of the Planet Mars Halloween: Invitation to the Occult? (briefing packages), Koinonia House, 1991-6.
Ankerberg, John, and Weldon, John, The Facts on Halloween, Harvest House, Eugene OR, 1996. A key reference for this article.
Sykes, Egerton, Who's Who in Non-Classical Mythology, J.M. Dent, London, 1993.
Patten, Donald Wesley, Catastrophism and the Old Testament, Pacific Meridian Publishing Co., Seattle WA, 1995.
Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, Harvest House, Eugene OR, 1996.
Also the video, Halloween: Trick or Treat, Jeremiah Films, Hemet CA
The sources we have on the Druids are very limited, mostly the Romans, who had an axe to grind after all. Much of what we "know" about the Druids was invented out of whole cloth by a fellow named Stukely who made a good living in the 18th century telling everybody what they wanted to hear.
The first book of the Oxford History of England series very kindly gathers all the threads together for you. And there is nothing in there regarding jack-o-lanterns (which are called "punkies" in Britain although they are usually made out of turnips) being fueled with human fat. Seems fairly preposterous to me anyhow . . . think of all the human sacrifices you would need to make given how poorly nourished folks were in those days . . . like the old joke "Do you know how many lawyers you have to kill to get a pound of brains?"
Well, that's a pretty atypical story, I'd think.
Still, self-righteous people who attempt to stop other people from celebrating a holiday are stupid in the extreme. Their silliness does nothing to promote their beliefs.
Christianity is not, or should not be, an angry, threatening religion. Sadly, some of its followers didn't get that message. Instead of spreading the "good news," they spread something else, and it's smelly stuff.
What about Christmas, which is clearly a reworked winter solstice festival? Or Easter, a spring fertility festival (rabbits, eggs)?
In many ways you are correct about Christmas and Easter.(christmas tree,candy canes, eggs to represent fertility, etc.)But, for these holidays Christians do have an actual reason for celebration. I'm not quite sure if Chrisitans hijacked Paganism or the other way around when it comes to these symbols of holidays.
You will hear sermons on the Christmas tree and think it was divinely provided. Not true at all.
Anyway, I still put up a Christmas tree(real one) and get gifts for the kids and the whole nine yards.
That being said, I do know the true "reason for the season"
Well, I don't know the church either, but nevertheless I personally agree that what they did was a crock. They'll convert no one by dropping "hate Halloween" flyers on front porches. None of us have nothing to go on except what the (possibly biased) article says. But knowing how some churches do preach hate above Christ, I wouldn't be suprised if it were mostly true...
Good one!
A friends Mom spent all, and I mean ALL the family 'house' money on tracts.
I mean, no groceries, but stacks and stacks and stacks of tracts. And the mean kind too---like GOD LOVES YOU but if you don't do what he wants YER GOIN' TO SUFFER FOREVER IN HELL (but he loves you!)
And yes, all three sons today are either Agnostic or Atheist.....no surprise.
So tracts DO have an effect....but mostly, the opposite of the intention.
Okay then, next question. Do you know the origination of Bobbing for Apples?
I'm being series here.
Pardon my bad grammar in the last post. I'll use my recent outpatient surgery as an excuse ;)
I need more cow bell baby!
Yup. That sounds like one of Jack Chick's tracts. You can order them by the bushel full on his web site. The Haloween one features a nasty little girl who scares her friend with visions of demons and the like.
Ugly stuff. You should visit his site and check out the tracts. They're all on there, fully illustrated. They're very popular, too, with some churches, and are very widely distributed.
I have 'em all.
Your statement seems reasonable. What could it hurt...
"Is Halloween just another innocent holiday that doesn't harm anyone? Is it really just childish fun? Police officials everywhere report a great increase in vandalism on Halloween. Worse yet are the horrifying accounts of poisoned candy and fruits booby-trapped with razor blades and needles. ..." Excerpted from Halloween.
And, to add balance, a more winsome treatment: Thanking the true Lord of the Harvest
Excellent post.
Oh, get freaking over it and change your diapers.
Geesh. How did the nation of pioneers who explored and conquered the West and built the most powerful nation on earth breed such whining crybabies?
I suspect this church may have a history of doing annoying things in the neighborhood, and that could be why the reaction is more than one usually sees over a flyer.
But I also think the content of the flyer gives more reason for aggressive reaction than most. Most flyers, even religious tracts like the Jehovah's Witnesses stuff, focus on promoting whatever the distributors are promoting, rather than directly attacking the beliefs or voting habits or purchasing habits of the recipients. It's one thing for a church to drop off a flyer touting the church's beliefs and practices, but another thing to drop off a flyer directly and very specifically attacking the beliefs and practices of the recipients. If a Jewish family was receiving flyers (especially if aimed at children, and especially if explicitly aimed at Jews) warning them that failure to accept Jesus as the Messiah and as their personal savior will result in burning in hell for eternity, they'd be pretty pissed, and I don't think anyone would think it was out of line for them to call police and ask for a cease-and-desist order. This church is essentially doing the same thing: leaving literature at a home, warning the residents that they urgently need to stop what they're doing, or else. If the literature is picked up and read by the children who live there (which it's probably designed to do, if it's like most of the tracts I've seen on this subject -- in the form of a cartoon, with Halloween-type characters prominently featured), that's a pretty direct attack on what the parents are teaching their children.
This sort of thing is rude and obnoxious, but not illegal the first time it's done. However, if it happens repeatedly, after the homeowner has requested the distributors to stop, then it's illegal trespassing and harassment. I suspect this family is putting in a formal complaint, in order to have it on the record that the church has been given notice that its literature and visitors are not welcome at the property.
If you ever get a chance, read a little book called Destiny Bay, by a fellow named Donn Byrne. The subject of ghosts comes up at one point, and he says that the sheeted kitchen ghost is a thing of unspeakable vulgarity, and as for forms of horror, the cross of Christ stands between us and them.
The Christian confidence in the Lord is based on avoiding the ungodly things like witchcraft or invocation of demons. If you sin and od not repent you can be CONFIDENT of punishment.
I am with you here...those who proclaim, much too loudly just how pious they are, always leave me wondering why they think I even care....and leaves me wondering what they are trying to hide...
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