“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The Bible is very clear about the destiny of the devil. Revelations 20:10 says “Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur…. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Notice that before he was tossed into the lake of fire, the Bible says that the enemy had deceived “them”. Who are them? The world. The devil is fully aware of his fate of doom, and consequently, he’s focused his attention on trying to take with him as many people as he can because he is a true hater. He hates God with a passion, and since he cannot defeat God, he goes after God’s most prized possession – man.
What I am about to share with you is actually a research paper I had written 10 years ago, back in 1999. The paper is titled, “The Origins of Halloween” and was put together as a result of a research I had conducted about this “holiday”. As with many other children, I was told by my Grandma, who was an evangelist, that Halloween was a day for Satan and this festival was not glorifying God. I had been cautioned to stay away from it, and even as a child I had strong convictions against Halloween after my Grandma explained this to me.
A lot of times we as people tend to go along with the majority, asking little to no questions. Many traditions, whether bad or good, often goes without being questioned on its origins or the real truth behind the tradition. I believe the general consensus is that if you’re celebrating this day in the spirit of fun, then it’s fine. But it’s not, especially in the eyes of God. The Bible tells us repeatedly to disassociate with all things of darkness, and Halloween glamorize, commercialize and even exalts darkness. Making matters worse is that we even have Christians who think that it’s OK to participate in the Day of the Dead or All Souls Day, as known to other cultures. I know many years ago I tried to adopt this way of thinking during my years of rebellion and backsliding. I will share my testimony with you as briefly as I can so you can go ahead and read the report.
About a year prior to writing this report (1998), I decided to throw my youngest son a Birthday Halloween party. I thought it was fine because I was doing it in the spirit of fun, and I thought the kids would enjoy it especially since we’ve never had a Halloween party before. I decided to go all out and it took me weeks to prepare for the party. And I was totally stoked. I had family coming into to town to be a part of the party. I had these different costumes and accessories for myself, husband and kids. However, in all of my preparation, I kept hearing this inner voice saying to me, “Don’t do this Naima. You know you’re NOT to do this.” This began once I decided to have the party and continued throughout the preparation process and onto the day of the party. Each time I heard this, I’d conveniently brush it off because I was determined to have this party.
I continued to plan and prepare for the party. I purchased and made costumes for everyone and was shopping in all the party stores for props. I even went as far as to go to a Botanica, a “religious” store, to purchase black candles, weird jewelry to go with my costume along with strange items to help set the mood for the party. Looking back now I see how incredibly low I had sunk in sin; so low as to betray my God in such a blatantly rebellious and disrespectful way. I am humbled and thankful for God’s mercy and grace!
The day before the event, as I was hanging up the cobwebs, I heard it again, “Naima, do not have this party” and had a strong sense that God did not want me to do this, but again, being rebellious at the time, I brushed it off and tried to forget about it. I tried to minimize the severity of my sins and rationalize or rather rational-lies that I wasn’t really doing wrong since I was doing this in the spirit of just having a good time. It’s amazing how we can rational-lies our wrongs.
On the day of the party, a lot of odd things took place within my household. First, my body was all of a sudden under the weather, but I was determined to push through it. Another thing is that my house was in disarray and utter chaos. This wasn’t the usual chaos that comes with planning a party or event. There was adversity and confusion in the air. My children and my nieces and nephews couldn’t seem to get along, which then brought tension between me and my sister. Yet, I was still determined to have this party. I focused on having everything set for that night and continued to resist the inner voice warning me against the party as well as the strong sense that I was doing something really wrong in the eyes of God.
As the day went on I felt increasingly worst from what I thought to be a cold so right before the party I had several shots of vodka—straight! By the time the party started, I was drunk but still somewhat functional. The house was turned into a tomb of terror and we even had eerie music playing in the background, mixed in with regular music so that everyone could dance. My husband and I were together at the time and we were dancing together along with everyone else. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, both children and adults. And then it happened. All of a sudden I went down for a split second and got right back up, having bumped into the edge of one of my living room sofas. I’m not sure if my leg gave out momentarily or if I tripped, but either way, I went down; however, I got back up so quick that hardly anyone noticed. When I got back up I felt the need to sit down for a while so I told my husband that I was going to sit down in our bedroom for a while, then I encouraged him to continue having fun. I went into my bedroom and sat on the bed, thinking to myself I just need a few and I’ll be fine. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, I am sweating really badly”, but I think I was too drunk to even wipe my face.
My husband decided to go into the kitchen to get himself something to drink but something within him told him to go check on me. When he opened the door he looked at me in shock and said, “Goodness, Babe, you’re bleeding!” I was like, “Really?” I had a gaping hole right above my right eye and didn’t even know it, and the perfuse sweating I was experiencing was actually blood running down my face. My husband tried to control the bleeding then he called my father-in-law and we all rode to the hospital. Once I reached the hospital and laid on the gurney, I passed out; then woke up at the time they were finished. My husband assured me that they did a good job in stitching me and that he was with me the whole time. I don’t think the reality of it all hit me yet. I requested he help me off the gurney so I could go to the bathroom. After using the bathroom and as I was washing my hands, I had seen where they had stitched me. I stopped what I was doing and stood gazing in the mirror, still heavily intoxicated, saying aloud to myself, “I have stitches on my face.” I repeated this several times. Reality finally set in. My mouth hit the floor and I was just surprised to see my face, and the fact that my skin tone is somewhat light made the black stitches stand out. I felt like Frankenstein. I know that’s a little melodramatic but back then that’s how I felt; as I was conceited and so incredibly vain. Consequently, I was more concerned with how my face looked rather than grateful that I was even alive or saddened at the fact that I had greatly defied God—at least not initially. Interestingly enough, though I was still very intoxicated, I knew without one shred of doubt that everything I experienced that day was a direct result of my disobedience and rebellion. I then became remorseful and grateful that I was spared from what could’ve ended really badly. Needless to say, I never tried doing that again.
That is my personal testimony. I was so incredibly rebellious and self-centered back then and by the grace and mercy of God A LOT has changed since then. I am NO longer the same person neither am I in that place. Halleluiah! The Bible says he who the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36); and Naima is free indeed. I am completely sold out to Christ and my life is lived consecrated onto God. I cannot express my gratitude to Christ for loving me and not letting me go. I am happy to report that I am absolutely, hands down, crazy in love with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I am sure I may have ridiculers who would like to judge what I’ve just shared. To them I encourage to read Luke 7:36-50, the story about the sinful woman who anointed Jesus feet with expensive perfume after cleansing His feet with her tears and hair. The religious people judged Jesus for allowing such a sinful woman touch Him, and Jesus responds:
Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”
“That’s right,” Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Halleluiah!
The Origins of Halloween
Introduction
Witches, Vampires, and bats are major icons of the holiday many love to celebrate. Like everything else, Halloween has origins, but because of tradition, many people have simply ignored questions about the peculiar day. Once learned, the origins of this greatly observed holiday may disturb a lot of people.
Origins
Halloween can be traced directly back to Samhain, the ancient Celtic harvest festival honoring the lord of the dead. The Celts, a tribal people who inhabited most of Western and Central Europe in the first millennium BC, practice a pagan religion know as Druidism. As Druids, they were well versed in astrology, magic, and the mysterious powers of the plants and animals.
Samhain, now called Halloween, began at sundown on October 31 and extended into the following day. According to the Druids, the spirits of those who had died in the preceding year roamed the earth on Samhain evening. They lit bonfires and sacrificed fruits and vegetables, hoping to win the favor of the spirits of the deceased and to avoid their punishments. Along with the bonfires at sacred hilltop sites, they would perform rituals, often involving animal and human sacrifices, especially children, to honor Druid deities. On Samhain, it was believed by the Druids to be the day when the sun’s power waned, and the strength of the gods of darkness, winter, and the underworld grew great.
By the end of the 1st century AD, the Holy Roman Empire had conquered most of the Celtic lands. In process of incorporating the Celts into their empire, the Romans adapted and absorbed some Celtic traditions as part of their own pagan and Catholic religious observances. In Britain, Romans blended local Samhain customs with their own pagan harvest festival honoring Pomona, goddess of fruit trees. Pure Celtic influences lingered longer on the western fringes of Europe, especially in area that were never brought firmly under Roman control, such as Ireland, Scotland, and the Bretagne region people converted to Christianity during the early Middle Ages, a period that lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. The Roman Catholic Church often incorporated modified versions of the older religious traditions in order to win converts. For examples, Pope Gregory IV sought to replace Samhain with All Saints Day in 835. All Souls’ Day, closer in spirit to Samhain and modern Halloween, was first instituted at a French monastery in 998 and quickly spread throughout Europe. Folk observances liked to these Christian holidays, including Halloween, thus preserved many of the ancient Celtic customs associated with Samhain. Thought it was renamed from Samhain to All Saints’ Day to All Hallows’ Day to Halloween, it still holds association to its origin.
Closing Remarks
Please let it be known that none of the information given was from a personal perspective; but that all information was based on a variety of books and encyclopedias that can easily be obtained at your local library. The purpose of this article is to educate people about a holiday that holds dark origins—both then and now.
Sources:
- The Columbia Encyclopedia -5th Edition
- The Encyclopedia Americana- International Edition –Vol. 13
- Man, Myth, and Magic- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology , Religion, and the Unknown – Vol. 3
- Holidays, Festivals, and Celebration of the World Dictionary -2nd Edition- Edited by Helene Henderson and Sue Ellen Thompson
- The book of Festivals – Marguerite Ickis
- The Book of Holidays-J. Walker McSpadden
- Compton’s Encyclopedia- Volume 10
- Curious Customs- The Stories Behind 296 Popu8lar American Rituals – by Tad Tuleja
- Celtic Myths and Legends
- Early American Life – October 1 Charles Squire
- Celtic Sacred Landscapes by Nigel Pennick
- Microsoft Encarta Encyclodia992-v23 n5 p60
- Halloween’s Unholy Origins – by Julia Vitulio- Martin in Knight Ridder/ Tribune News
Service, Oct. 27, 1998 n300 p 1027k838
- Holiday Symbols 1998- Edited by Sue Ellen Thompson
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
GREAT Story!
Love,
Biff
[Reply]
Thanks for your testimony and the info on Halloween
[Reply]