What Witches Do After Halloween

What Witches Do After Halloween

By Thomas Horn
RNU News Sr. Reporter

All Hallow's Eve Is More Than Candy and Playtime For Dark Members of Society.

RNU.com – (Raiders News Update) - Halloween comes and goes for most of us. But for members of Wicca--one of the fastest growing religions in the world--the season of Samhain is a magic time.

The Halloween Sabbat (celebration) concludes for Wiccans on November 1 with the final turn of the year-wheel. Mother Earth nods a sad farewell to the god who will be reborn at Yule (December 20), and the life cycle begins again. This is a time to honor the Earth Mother, remember the Ancients, and revere the Horned god of the Hunt.

According to the Celtic Almanac, the Wiccan year begins following Halloween. The seasonal scenario that follows is reminiscent of the earth goddess and dying-god cults of ancient civilizations.

* Yule is on December 20 and celebrates the goddess giving birth to the Sun god.

* The next season is Imbolc and marks the recovery of the goddess after giving birth to the god.

* The Spring Equinox (Ostara) marks the first day of Spring. The goddess awakes as the days grow longer and the light overtakes the darkness. The goddess fills the earth with fertility.

* Beltane celebrates the transformation of the boy god into manhood. He is filled with lust for the goddess and lies with her in the grass. The earth becomes pregnant with her vitality. Crops begin to grow. Flowers bloom.

* Litha (midsummer) arrives as the powers of nature escalate. The Earth Mother is filled with fertility. Wiccans practice numerous kinds of magic during this season.

* The next season is Lughnasadh, the time of the first harvest. The Wiccan god begins to lose his strength as the Sun rises higher each day. The nights grow longer. The god begins to die.

* Mabon is the completion of the harvest. The Wiccan god suffers death, draws back into darkness, and waits to be reborn at Yule.

The Wicca year-cycle described above is very similar to concepts held by early pagans, who viewed the natural world with awe and superstition. Ancients watched the changing of the seasons and wondered about the life and death of crops. They perceived such natural processes as mystic, and developed fertility cults with gods and goddesses who died and were reborn. The worship of the earth's "spirit" as a mother, and the incarnation of the earth's fertility forces within dying gods and goddesses, developed into one of the most widespread forms of paganism in antiquity.

Whether it was Inanna of the Sumerians, Ishtar of the Babylonians, or Fortuna of the Romans, every civilization had a sect of religion based on the embodiment of the earth's spirit as a caring mother-goddess. The Egyptians worshipped Hathor in this way, as did the Chinese, Shingmoo. The Germans worshipped Hertha as the great Mother Earth, and the apostate Jews idolized "the queen of heaven." In Greece, the queen of the Olympian goddesses and Mother Earth was Hera. Before her was Gaia (Gaea), the creator-mother earth, and beneath her were many other earth goddesses including Demeter, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Hecate.

MOTHER EARTH IN ANTIQUITY

The principal idea was, and evidently still is among Wiccans, that the Earth is a sentient being. The ancient and universally accepted idea that the "living Earth" was also a fertile mother was conceptualized in different ways and in various goddess myths and images throughout the ancient world. In The Golden Asse, by second century Roman philosopher Lucius Apuleius, evidence reveals that the spirit of the earth was perceived as a feminine force, and that such force incarnated itself at various times, and to different people, within the goddess mothers. Note how Lucius prays to the earth spirit:

O blessed Queene of Heaven, whether thou be the Dame Ceres [Demeter] which art the original and motherly source of all fruitful things in earth, who after the finding of thy daughter Proserpina [Persephone], through thy great joy which thou diddest presently conceive, madest barraine and unfruitful ground to be plowed and sowne, and now thou inhabitest in the land of Eleusie [Eleusis]; or whether thou be the celestiall Venus [or] horrible Proserpina, thou hast the power to stoppe and put away the invasion of the hags and ghoasts which appeare unto men, and to keep them downe in the closures [womb] of the earth; thou which nourishest all the fruits of the world by thy vigor and force; with whatsoever name is or fashion it is lawful to call upon thee, I pray thee, to end my great travaile.

The earth spirit responds to Lucius:

Behold Lucius I am come, thy weeping and prayers hath mooved me to succour thee. I am she that is the natural mother of all things, mistresse and governesse of all the elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chiefe of powers divine, Queene of heaven, the principall of the Gods celestiall, the light of the goddesses: at my will the planets of the ayre [air], the wholesome winds of the Seas, and the silence of hell be disposed; my name, my divinity is adored throughout all the world in divers manners, in variable customes and in many names, for the Phrygians call me the mother of the Gods: the Athenians, Minerva: the Cyprians, Venus: the Candians, Diana: the Sicilians, Proserpina: the Eleusians, Ceres: some Juno, other Bellona, other Hecate: and principally the aethiopians, Queene Isis.

One could assume, based on such texts, that a single spiritual source (or realm) energized the many goddess myths. Likewise, in the ancient Hymn, "To Earth, The Mother Of All," Homer illustrates how the earth-spirit was universally involved in the affairs and lives of nations. Through Homer's dedication to the earth we discover how far-reaching and omnipresent the mother-earth spirit was thought to be:

I will sing of well founded Earth, mother of all, eldest of all beings. She feeds all creatures that are in the world, all that go upon the goodly land, and all that are in the paths of the seas, and all that fly: all these are fed by her store. Through you, O queen, men are blessed in their children and blessed in their harvests, and to you it belongs to give means of life to mortal men and to take it away. Happy is the man whom you delight to honour! He hath all things abundantly: his fruitful land is laden with corn, his pastures are covered with cattle, and his house is filled with good things. Such men rule orderly in their cities of fair women: great riches and wealth follow them: their sons exult with ever-fresh delight, and their daughters in flower-laden bands play and skip merrily over the soft flowers of the field. Thus it is with those whom you honour O holy goddess, bountiful spirit. Hail, mother of the gods, wife of starry Heaven; freely bestow upon me for this my song substance that cheers the heart! And now I will remember you and another song also.

From these and other ancient records, it is obvious that the earth was more than an agricultural or herbaceous facility to the pagans. She was the personable and "eldest of all beings," the "holy goddess," the "bountiful spirit," the all-nourishing mother of men who manifested herself within the popular idols of the mother goddesses.

Modern Wiccans and other neo-pagans perceive the earth similarly, often referring to the earth as Gaia--a living, caring entity. We are told that people are just one of Mother Earth's species, not her dominators. She provides the living biosphere: the regions on, above, and below her surface, where created things, both physical and spiritual, live. During the Samhain sabbot (Halloween), pagans celebrate the time when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, thus spirits beneath Gaia's surface can more easily communicate with the living.

SOMETHING WICCA THIS WAY COMES

Wiccans might find it interesting that many Christian theologians also believe the physical earth contains spiritual forces. In the Book of Revelation, chapter nine and verse fourteen, we read of "the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates." Likewise, in Job 26:5, we find "Dead things are formed from under the waters." The literal Hebrew translation says, "The Rafa (fallen angels) are made to writhe from beneath the waters."

Additional biblical references indicate that the earth is a kind of holding tank, or prison, where God has bound certain fallen entities. (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6) That such fallen spirits seek to communicate with, or participate in the affairs of humanity, is defined in Scripture. The Hebrew people were warned that earth spirits pretending to be gods might seek communion with men, and, when the witch of Endor communicated with the same, they ascended up from "out of the earth" (1 Sam. 28:13). It would seem, based on such Scriptures, that the dynamic or energy behind the earth-goddess-spirits of Halloween is indeed real, and, according to the Christian doctrine, identical with the legions of fallen spiritual forces bound within the earth.

Sadly, as in antiquity, those who practice modern paganism worship "devils" (Rev. 9:20). The dogma once embraced (and still is through Wicca) as the wisdom of the goddesses, is defined in the scriptures as the "doctrines of devils." The Apostle Paul said, "the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils" (1 Cor. 10:20). 

In Acts 7:41-42 (Jerusalem Bible), we find those who worship idols joined to the "army of heaven" [stratos, the "fallen angel army"], and Psalm 96:5 concludes, "all the gods of the nations are idols" (elilim, LXX daimonia [demons]). Thus, pagan images, such as represented the ancient gods and goddesses, were "elilim" (empty, nothing, vanity), but behind the empty idols were the living dynamics of idolatry, and spiritual objects of heathen adoration: demons.

Because the Bible clearly defines earth-centered goddess worship as the homage of demons, and since demons are eternal personalities that desire the worship of humans, it is fair to characterize Wiccan deities, including the god, goddess, and Horned god of the Hunt, as neo-pagan titles attributed to demon spirits.

WITCHES ARE PEOPLE TOO

It is also true that many Wiccans are caring, intelligent people. Some claim to be former Christians.  As we enter a new millennium the Church must move with compassion to understand and reach such with the Gospel. 

I've asked myself before, were we not paying attention as some who are now involved in Wicca searched for spiritual meaning?  Did we look past them at church or on the job?  Do we continue to do so?  Not everyone will receive the Gospel, but Wiccans are everywhere and they are people for whom Jesus died.

The New Testament tells the story of presenting the Gospel to pagans. It records conversions to Christ and the abandonment of earth-centered goddess cults. So powerful was the spread of the early Christian faith that pagan religions that had dominated the Middle East for thousands of years, crumbled. The cold embrace of Mother Earth could not match the magnetic warmth of the love of God. The last recorded utterance of the oracle at Delphi seems to indicate the spirit of the Olympians understood he was no match for Jesus. From Man, Myth & Magic, we read:

"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. Dianic witchcraft was the greatest single unifying religion among all pagan people up to that time. It took 220 years to build the massive temple to Diana in Ephesus. But when Paul preached the Gospel of Jesus to the Ephesians, "Many of them also which 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" (Acts 19:17-20).

May we with joy declare such a life-changing Gospel. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).

© 2004 RaidersNewsUpdate.com 

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How does a person get to Heaven?

Ye Must Be Born Again! | You Need HIS Righteousness!

From Witch to Rich in Jesus!

From Witch to Rich in Jesus!

By Valerie Chiera

EARLY CHILDHOOD - SETTING THE STAGE

My story really begins in 1971, when I went into Kindergarten. I was four, going on five in November of that year. The occult was in vogue.

My television diet consisted of shows like "Bewitched," "I Dream of Jeannie," "Scooby Doo," "The Phunky Phantom," "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and others like it...cartoons aimed at children, which presented the occult as attractive, sugarcoated, desirable. Rather than presenting the occult as a real, spiritual path, it was presented as the stuff of children's fantasies. I also ate up thrillers like Saturday morning's "Creature Feature" -- whenever the program featured the supernatural, I tuned in. In the book stores at that time, astrology and witchcraft dominated the shelves. Linda Goodman's Sun Signs and other such books were abundant. For some reason, in my house, we had The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. Even at four years old, I was able to read and understand most of the entries, and I was fascinated by the pictures. I remember especially being attracted to a picture of Azaroth and Baphomet. The Cowsills were on the radio singing "The Age of Aquarius," and the occult was an accepted lifestyle; it was cool to be into this stuff. I had no reason to be afraid, even at four.

Parker Brothers sold a small game in toys stores across America called the Ouija board at the time, a divination tool with which one could speak with "spirits" - be they your departed Uncle Bruce, or Abraham Lincoln. Surely, it is playing with fire....even pagans warn against playing around with the Ouija board.
 

THE HALLOWEEN PARTY

While I was still four, I went to a Kindergarten classmate's Halloween party where the ouija board was among the fun things to do.

While the party was ending, and the children were being picked up by their parents, there remained at the party four children: me, my friend Cynthia, and two other boys. Having already bobbed for apples, showed off our costumes, and eaten half of our trick or treats, Cynthia brought out the Ouija board!

It was sleek, and interesting.....how wonderful! Imagine being able to speak to spirits! (By the way, Ouija means "Yes! Yes! in French and German---what are we saying Yes to?) Of course, now Christians have something similar called an Angel Board. How sad that Christians are embracing the Ouija board cloaked as an angel.

Here is how old I was when I used the Ouija board for the first time.

The board worked --it does work-- and to our amazement, it contacted a spirit which called itself St. Paul. I was brought up Catholic...I'd prayed to St. Paul before...and now St. Paul was talking back! It gained our trust immediately! Strangely enough, it only answered questions that I asked. This ticked off my three compadres, and one of them angrily asked the board, "How come you only answer Valerie?" The board spelled out the word PSYCHIC. I had no idea what that was, but the seed had been planted, and Mom was outside blowing her horn, so I left.
 

THE SPIRIT GUIDES

Along with the goodie bag from the party, I brought home three spirit guides called Patti, Jane and Maureen. They took the form of three older girls, about the age of my older sister, who is ten years my senior. I admired them. We fought, and made up, laughed and cried together...they became inseparable from me. I was very dependent on them.
 

MY SISTER... A WITCH?

I also brought home an ailment: seizures. I began to have what are called absence seizures on an almost daily basis. Most people mistook it for daydreaming.

Around this same time, my sister began to do what big sisters do to little sisters...she began to tease me. She began to tell me that she was a witch. She spun tales about meetings of witches, and how she would be taken from her bed against her will at night to attend these meetings...and I believed her. Every word, I believed. And it encouraged me to go a little deeper into what I was already immersed in. My sister, by the way, is a member of God's family now, redeemed and a new creation. God and I both have forgiven her for the teasing. =)

I told other kids in grammar school that I was a witch. My father would hear me speaking in my room to people he couldn't see...and no one ever thought to investigate. Parents, if your kids have imaginary playmates, look into it. It isn't always imaginary. I don't want to alarm you, but part of the deception is to get the kids involved in something the adults don't think twice about.

Patti, Jane and Maureen claimed to be protectors for me, although many, many times I was left to get hurt. An uncle's incestuous advances. Classmates physical beatings and verbal assaults. A brother's pornographic library took away my innocence, and helped fuel my experimentation with homosexual acts - all before the 6th grade! Satan never protects. Satan always takes great joy in our wounds.
 

FAMILY HISTORY: MOM'S FAMILY

My mother's stepmother was always referred to, in our family, as "the witch." I had always assumed it was a substitutionary euphemism for a similar sounding name... but she was into voodoo and spiritism, and was responsible for the death of my grandfather, long before I was born. My grandfather believed the talk of voodoo and spirits that would kill him if mom's stepmother didn't. My grandfather, who had been a child abuser throughout his life, was now being spiritually abused in his old age. His new, young wife held his belief in the occult over his head, and his life of abusive and his dabbling in the occult brought upon himself and the third and fourth generations of his family demonic strongholds, as the Bible says:

Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.

The Word of God is accurate. My grandfather and his wife brought their sins onto us. I experienced the full brunt of the spiritual deception which they wallowed in. Up till now, my life had been a training ground. Now the stage was set, and Act Two began.
 

MOM'S DEATH: THE PASSING ON OF DEMONS One day in February 1981, I stayed home from school. I had plans to go out that day, and I came downstairs at 9 in the morning to talk to Mom about where I planned to go. I couldn't find Mom that day. I looked in the basement. I looked upstairs. I looked in the living room. I walked through the kitchen, passing her half-empty cup of coffee on the table, and stood in front of the bathroom.

I called to her, "Mom!" There was no answer. I went to open the bathroom door, and it was locked. I got a nail file, and unlocked it, and could only open it halfway...Mom was lying in front of the door. She had a heart attack. I shoved the door open, and saw the signs of a struggle. She'd locked herself in the bathroom so that I couldn't see her. Her head hug behind the toilet, and when I grabbed her arm and pulled her up, her face was blue. I dropped her.

After I dialed 911, I shouted to her, over and over, "Mom, don't die! Please, don't die!" while I ran across the driveway to my neighbor's house. I was only 14 -- how could I handle this, my guides asked. They pressed, Why is God doing this to me? Why was I home when this was happening? God seemed distant, but not my guides. I didn't need to call for them -- they were there, looking frightened along with me.

When I got to my neighbor's house, there was a nurse there, who took care of his aging mother. She was drunk. I pulled her across the driveway and into my house, despite her objections. She yelled at me to help her get Mom up and into the kitchen, but I had phone calls to make. My brother, my sister, my father. I was the one who told them Mom was dying. Or maybe even dead.

EMS got there, and they worked on her. They got her breathing, and got her outside to the front steps, and she stopped again. They resuscitated her, and put her in the ambulance, bringing her to the hospital. When we got there, it was too late. My guides gave me strength. I had even brought a pair of rosary beads from the house for good luck.

Even though I was a practicing witch at this time, I considered myself a Christian witch (an oxymoron, like Jumbo Shrimp...it just can't be). I grew up in a Catholic family, and I believed that Jesus was the Son of God, and knew the phrase "Jesus died for your sins," although I didn't fully understand what it meant. I considered my guides, my "power," to come from Jesus. Never once did I assume I'd tapped into something evil.

Satan does not appear in a puff of red smoke with a pitchfork, hooves, horns and fire. If you saw him for what he is, you could easily reject him. He appears as a seduction. As a likable entity. As a good person. Satan is a sociopath. He is the charming killer -- the Bible says he appears as an angel of light.

2nd Corinthians 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

After my mother had died, and life returned to what could be considered normal, I reaped the fruit of my maternal grandfather's immersion into voodoo. After nine years of suffering with "daydreaming spells" and "fainting spells," I was finally diagnosed as idiopathic epileptic: Epilepsy with no known cause. My seizures began happening more frequently, and they were no longer absence seizures...they were generalized seizures, seizures where you collapse and convulse.

 

THE STUDIES INTENSIFY - COLLEGE

And my study of witchcraft and divination got more intense.

Junior year college, with the ring that was "too small for a flaw" prominently displayed.

I entered college, and my guides did their job in swaying all my decisions for the worse.

My second month in college, I met a sleazy guy I'll call Keith, he made Jack Nicholson look like a boy scout. The first time I saw him at a drama club meeting. His dark glasses barely covered up the fact that he was stoned. He was into fantasy role playing games, pornography, and drugs. The guides assured me that this was the guy for me. Within my freshman year, we were engaged to be married after my graduation. This pretty much sequestered me to Keith and Keith's circle of friends, who were a lot like Keith.

I began to study tarot cards. I told fortunes for many people, both their past and their future. I had many people who swore by my readings. I interpreted dreams for others, and gave advice as only an occultist can. I was sought after, I was offered money for readings, I got many hooked on the power that comes with occultism.

Up till college, you could have called me a "natural adept," a witch who has no formal training, who has been picked by the spirits to bestow gifts upon. But once in college, I came under the tutelage of another white witch, a friend of Keith's, surprisingly, who also considered her powers gifts from Jesus Christ. I learned how to communicate more effectively with each guide I had. I learned how to utilize the Ouija board more skillfully. More guides were added to my spiritual address book. I channeled a demon for the first time.

Does it strike you incredible that no one in my family ever knew about this?

Ask any member of my family. They will tell you they had no idea. I'll be glad to pass on a message for you. =)
 

SEIZURES SEIZURES SEIZURES

Throughout college, my seizures got progressively worse. Their frequency increased. My medication was upped and upped until I was toxic; I looked off balance all of the time. My guides assured me that it was their help that got me to drive each day to college without an accident. I also had auras, forewarnings of oncoming seizures. With these warnings, which my guides also took credit for, I was able to remove myself from a dangerous surrounding and put myself in a safe place, where I would be able to have my seizure without getting too hurt.

Keith graduated college in my Junior year, and moved back home, 2 hours away from me, in order to start saving for our wedding. It was then that I found myself alone at school. My guides were always there, but after seizures, they were quiet, and not helpful. I was alone. There was a quietness when I would come out of a seizure that is impossible to explain unless you are epileptic. It is like you are coming to after having been beaten unconscious by criminals. There is a fear there that blankets you when you wake up. It's a smothering.

During college, the school nurse, an epileptic herself, would pick up the pieces of Valerie, or Keith would, if he wasn't in class. But now, I was vulnerable.

I had a friend, however...

Stephen was a seminary student studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood during our college days. To me, he was always a flirtatious Priest in Training, a Father What-A-Waste. To him, I was the slightly loopy Valerie, who had odd ideas about religion. He became my Cavalry.

Whenever I had seizures, BAM! Stephen was there. He was there to drag me to the nurse, or drag me to the comfy hangout at the college, or drive me home, and we grew to be good friends. And for the first time since I entered college, I began to realize there was more to life than Keith!

I dropped Keith once I realized that I loved Stephen, and gave him back the ring that my father would describe as "too small to have a flaw" and our relationship began. And the spiritual sides of our lives clashed, and clashed and clashed!
 

CATHOLICISM VS. WITCHCRAFT

We would argue about how one would get forgiven of sins, why he was so hooked on Mary, what under the sun a scapular was...and both of us thought that we were serving Jesus! And both of us were dead wrong!

Anyway, one day, I brought Stephen home, and he got a chance to look at my bookcases. I believe you can tell a lot about a person by the books in their bookcases. My bookcases were filled with expensive texts on witchcraft, decorated with amulets and stacked with decks of tarot cards. Stephen got worried!

"Valerie," he begged me, "please go back to church!" And I thought, "Ugh. I don't wanna!" But I wanted to make points with Stephen, and so I promised him that I would go. Even though I knew I had a superior relationship with Jesus, I decided to go to mass, as a show of love for him.
 

MASS APPEAL

I am a short person, as you can see, and in any kind of a presentation thing, if I cannot see the stage or the altar or whatever is in the front of the room, I will nod off.

So, I would go to the front and watch the priests do their thing in their long vestments, perform what I considered an incantation over wine and bread, working a spell that would command God down from His heaven and turn the elements into the body, blood and divinity of Jesus Christ. Well, while that was cool, witchy like stuff, I still was bored stiff.

Finally, I told Stephen that if I attended one more mass, I would turn into a pillar of salt, very bored salt. He said to me, "Come with me to my church, Valerie, it's a Charismatic Catholic church."

Well, I'll try anything once, I figured, and went the next Sunday, along with Stephen.

It's a good thing I went with Stephen, because if I hadn't, I'd have run in the other direction the moment I stepped through the doors.

I'd never seen praise before, certainly not the open praise of these people! Their arms were raised, and their voices were loud, and it seemed chaotic. It was scary. I asked Stephen, "What are they doing?" He replied, "That's okay, they are just praising God." I thought, "Yeah, right..." and kept going, up to the front.
 

SALVATION

As I knelt in the front of that church, Stephen beside me, routinely going through his prayers, the others around me shouting and jumping pews, I was all alone with God. I felt like I was trespassing in the courtyard of the King. I felt dirty. I felt ashamed. I felt like I wanted to hide. I imagine I felt kind of like Adam felt when he hid from God in Eden, after having found out how sin separated one from God.

I began to sob. Great, loud, embarrassing sobs that almost rivaled the shouts of joy that surrounded me. The mass was beginning, but I was still in the courtyard of the King, and now, it seemed like I was directly in front of Him, at His feet. I was aware, for the first time, of the holiness of God. I was aware, for the first time, that I'd been duped by a counterfeit Jesus. I was aware that I had sinned so profoundly, I had no right to be forgiven. It wasn't owed me. I knew my destiny. I knew where I stood with God.

And I realized, I needed to ask forgiveness.

Halfway into the mass, still alone with God, I inwardly heard His voice for the first time. Clearly, unmistakably, He said, "You change now, or you will stand condemned."

Still sobbing a half hour into the mass, I choked on my confession, "Jesus, I am so sorry!" I repeated it over and over, knowing that my sins were so many, I could never list them all. All I knew was that, by my actions, I had separated myself from God for 20 years. Finally, I asked Him, "Please, Lord, forgive me!" and I meant it!

With that admission of guilt, I felt the cleansing of God. I felt Him remove my sins from me.

Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

I felt myself become a new creation! And suddenly, where I stood with God changed! I was beloved! I was now Valerie, Child of God! And my sobs of anguish turned to sobs of joy! I sobbed till the end of mass, confusing those around me, and that included Stephen. I'd knelt in the presence of God for the whole mass...God had chosen that place and time to reach me. Did He do it because I was in a Catholic church? No, He did it despite my circumstances or surroundings.

We left mass and I went home with Stephen and got out a garbage bag...and everything went into the bag. Rock records, witchcraft books and trinkets, clothing that was inappropriate .....everything that did not glorify God went into that bag, and I didn't have to think about it -- it was instinctive! It was like the Holy Ghost Housecleaner paid a visit, and took out all the dirt!

I didn't know what it was called, but I was born again on that day in 1988. I became a Super Catholic myself, since I was saved in a Catholic Church. After a year of being there and reading the Bible through and through, I found that I yearned for a church that taught only the Bible, and not the Bible and tradition, or anything else. We searched for, and found, a full gospel church. Stephen and I got married in 1989. In 1990, Stephen was born again, while attending my deliverance from the guides that were still sticking around trying to regain lost ground. God did so much -- fixed so much -- in my life!

My seizures, which had been occurring non-stop since 5 years old, came to an abrupt stop in 1990 at my deliverance. God gave me a respite -- He drove out the demons that exacerbated my epilepsy, and I stopped my medication cold turkey. I had no seizures for 4 years. After 4 years, He allowed the natural pattern of seizures to restart. My faith had grown so that having the seizures would not cause me to get shipwrecked with doubt and disbelief; I had to trust God, who certainly knew what He was doing. Now, any physical ailments I have, and I have a couple chronic thorns in the flesh, I know He is allowing for a purpose.

2nd Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

In other words, I would rather have my seizures and my other thorns in the flesh, because it is when He does great things in my life DESPITE these things that He is glorified more...there is no alternative....God has to be the one working because I CANNOT! What a faith builder is this! To be allowed to serve God with a built in proof -- God does it, God lives in me, God is the One doing it, God is in control!

And now, when you see me, you see a product in the works...a jar of clay still being formed by the hands of the Master. I won't be finished until He returns for us, or if my days end before then, I will be complete when I see Him as He is...because I will be like Him!

1st John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Allow me to end with this parable of sorts.

A boy scout, a minister, and the smartest man in the world hired a pilot to fly them from New York to California. Suddenly, one engine goes out. Then another. Then another. Then another.

The cockpit door bursts open and the pilot throws two parachutes on the floor.

"There's only three parachutes on this plane, and I'm taking one of them!" and out the door he goes!

The other three look at each other for a moment, and the smartest man in the world picks up another parachute.

"The world can't live without my brain; I've helped heads of countries solve problems, I've gotten nations through crises, I can offer far more to the word than either of you!" And out the door he goes!

The pastor looks at the boy scout and says, "Son, you go on, take the parachute-"

The boy scout says, "No, no, pastor-"

"Yes, yes, I know where I am going, actually, I can't wait to get there, now, so you go, you have your whole life ahead of you-"

"But pastor, you don't understand-"

"No, please-"

"Pastor! The smartest man in the world just jumped out of the plane with my backpack!"

Cute joke, I know, but....what's in your backpack? Is it something that looks like salvation and feels like salvation, but when it comes time for it to BE salvation, is it going to work? Did you pack your backpack yourself, or did God give you that backpack? Are you sure? Make sure you have a real parachute on when its time to leap from this world into death. The only type of parachute that works is the salvation given by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some people have chutes that say Jesus was a good teacher. Or a prophet. Or just a good man. Some people have chutes that say there was never such a person! But, remember the words of the Savior:

John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

END

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How does a person get to Heaven?

Ye Must Be Born Again! | You Need HIS Righteousness!

Making Halloween Holy?

Making Halloween Holy?
by David J. Stewart

 "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." -Ephesians 5:11

Where will this woeful apostasy in America lead? The answer is quite obvious...to our own destruction as a nation. At Family.org, a web site of Focus on the Family ministry, a book by Kim Wier and Pam McCurie is being promoted and sold titled, Redeeming Halloween: Celebrating Without Selling Out. On the Family.org website, under the "Resource Description" tab, they've put the words: "Seize The Day: making Halloween Holy."  Then the description continues, "Celebrate Halloween without selling out! Balance love with conviction, while creating treasured childhood memories for your children. Here is a guide to fun, guilt-free ideas on everything from costumes and decorating hints to original party suggestions." 

Trust me reader, they've sold out! The Word of God clearly condemns witchcraft as a sin in 1st Samuel 15:23. Halloween is a WITCHES HOLIDAY (holy day)! Halloween is the second biggest holiday for witches? Their biggest holiday is actually in May. Concerning the witches holiday of Halloween, one witch says at magikcauldron.com, "Magical Qualities: When the veil between the worlds is at it's thinnest. One of the prime Sabbats for doing all kinds of magic, including shapeshifting, astral travel, ancestral communication, honoring the dead, and working with the faeries." Now read the back cover of Redeeming Halloween: Celebrating Without Selling Out..."Halloween used to be a time of innocent fun for kids. Choosing a fun costume, going to neighbors' houses for candy --what could be better? But in recent years, Halloween has become a controversial subject among many Christians. Some parents see it as a pagan holiday with evil origins, some parents ignore it, and some let their kids go out trick-or-treating --hoping they won't run into anyone from church!" What a deceptive lie! Halloween was ALWAYS an issue with Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Christians! Because of the godless Harry Potter series, interest in witchcraft and the occult have flourished globally. The witches themselves admit. Here's a quote from a Satanist...

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“Harry in an absolute godsend to our cause,” said High Priest “Egan” of the First Church of Satan in Salem, MA. “An organization like ours thrives on new blood - no pun intended - and we've had more applicants than we can handle lately."

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So the "controversial" issue of Halloween may have been heightened by the evil's of Harry Potter's witchcraft, but the Truth is that Halloween was demonic from it's inception...

Encyclopedia Britannica:

Halloween, also called All Hallows' Eve  or All Hallows' Evening, a holy or hallowed evening observed on October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day. In modern times, it is the occasion for pranks and for children requesting treats or threatening tricks. In ancient Britain and Ireland, the Celtic festival of Samhain eve was observed on October 31, at the end of summer. This date was also the eve of the new year in both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times and was the occasion for one of the ancient fire festivals when huge bonfires were set on hilltops to frighten away evil spirits. The date was connected with the return of herds from pasture, and laws and land tenures were renewed. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day, and the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, black cats, fairies, and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature. In addition, Halloween was thought to be the most favorable time for divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes.

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"Halloween used to be a time of innocent fun for kids."

Halloween Was Never Innocent!

The author's of Redeeming Halloween: Celebrating Without Selling Out are foolishly wrong to claim that Halloween used to be "INNOCENT." Halloween was never innocent, any more than the innocent tiger who ripped his owner and trainer, Roy Horn (of Siegfried and Roy) to shreds in 2003. Christians who take their kids trick-or-treating (or let their kids go on their own) ought to feel guilty because Halloween is the Devil's day. No Christian should support such a wicked holiday. Just because nearly everyone does it doesn't justify it. Most people have no problem going down to the beach to watch people walking around 98% naked. This is sinful. Likewise, Halloween is of the Devil and any Christian who celebrates it to ANY extent should feel guilty. The two women who authored Redeeming Halloween: Celebrating Without Selling Out suggest appropriate "costumes" for kids to wear on Halloween. They ought to be ashamed of themselves if they are indeed true believers.
 

You Cannot Redeem Halloween!

Even the very title of their book tells on them..."Redeeming Halloween: Celebrating Without Selling Out." Why don't they write another book titled "Redeeming Adultery: Fornicating Without Selling Out?" or perhaps "Redeeming Abortion: Killing Without Selling Out?" How in the name of righteousness can you REDEEM a Satanic holy day??? How can you CELEBRATE a Satanic holy day without selling out??? You CANNOT!!!

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." -Ephesians 5:11

"Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." -1st Corinthians 10:21

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft..." -Galatians 5:19,20

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you," -2nd Corinthians 6:17

You CANNOT redeem Halloween anymore than you can redeem adultery or murder. There is absolutely NO WAY to make Halloween holy unto the Lord. I want to quote from the back cover of the book in question again...

"Halloween used to be a time of innocent fun for kids. Choosing a fun costume, going to neighbors' houses for candy --what could be better? But in recent years, Halloween has become a controversial subject among many Christians. Some parents see it as a pagan holiday with evil origins, some parents ignore it, and some let their kids go out trick-or-treating --hoping they won't run into anyone from church!"

The whole tone of this paragraph is against Christ-honoring parents who faithfully take a Biblical stand against HELLoween. "...Some parents see it as a pagan holiday..." IT IS A PAGAN HOLIDAY!!! The parents who DON'T see Halloween as pagan are either carnal believers or not saved at all. Redeeming Halloween: Celebrating Without Selling Out was written for carnal believers who want to celebrate a Satanic holiday that shouldn't be celebrated at all. What is there to celebrate on Halloween? The Devil? Evil? The blinded masses who allow their children to threaten people with a trick if they don't get a treat? If you think it's just harmless fun, think again!
 

Celebrating Halloween is Idolatry!

We read later that professed Christians took the observance and "Christianized" it. Continuing the MS Encarta Encyclopedia article above:

Origins, Halloween: By the end of the 1st century AD, the Roman Empire had conquered most of the Celtic lands (see Rome, History of). In the 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. Some scholars have suggested that the game of bobbing for apples derives from this Roman association of the holiday with fruit.

Pure Celtic influences lingered longer on the western fringes of Europe, especially in areas that were never brought firmly under Roman control, such as Ireland, Scotland, and the Brittany region of northwestern France. In these areas, Samhain was abandoned only when the local 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 older religious traditions in order to win converts. For example, 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 linked to these Christian holidays, including Halloween, thus preserved many of the ancient Celtic customs associated with Samhain.

So we see that the roots of this festival are found to be in demonic idolatry. Catholics tried to "Christianize" it to appease the idolaters, but who really converted who in this situation? It was the idolaters that converted the Catholics! Since Catholicism is the largest religion in America, Halloween is commonplace. Of course, Catholics are NOT Biblical beleivers because they trust upon the sacraments, Mary, and good works for salvation. ONLY through simple faith in Jesus Christ alone can anyone be saved. Catholics are NOT Biblical Christians!

Sadly, many genuine Christians are guilty of CELEBRATING Halloween. Believers are supposed to set the standard, not imitate the world and have a "Christian" version of everything like we see is so common today. In an age where there are professed Christian rock stars, Christian comedians, Christian lesbian ministers, Christian porn stars, and even Christian magicians...is it any surprise that professed Christians are also trying to Christianize Halloween? Not at all. It is tragic!

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." -Ephesians 5:11

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How does a person get to Heaven?

Ye Must Be Born Again! | You Need HIS Righteousness!

Infatuated with Witchcraft!

Infatuated with Witchcraft!

by David J. Stewart

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." -Galatians 5:19-21

My friend, witchcraft is an evil thing. The Bible is God's Word and expressly FORBIDS anyone from dabbling in witchcraft of any sort. 2nd Chronicles 33:1,2 and 6 reads...

"Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen...

And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger."

The Bible teaches that God became angry with king Manasseh over several issues, one being witchcraft. I'm amazed at the wickedness of even professed Christians who see no harm in Harry Potter. Are you nuts? God condemns and hates witchcraft! Christianity Today magazine even gives Harry Potter positive reviews. Has the Christian world vanished? Harry Potter is involved with the Occult. I hear people defending Harry Potter on the basis that "It's only fantasy." Friend, witchcraft is no fantasy...it is real...and it's of the devil.

Children across the world are being introduced to Satanism. How tragic! Many Christians are woefully ignorant concerning this. The Bible says...

"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." -Matthew 24:24

If Christian people across America see no harm in Harry Potter, then will they also follow the Antichrist when he arrives? Yes, they certainly will. Folks, it's time to put on the whole armour of God spoken of in Ephesians 6:11-18.

The mighty Bible teacher, Dr. M.R. DeHaan, states concerning the Antichrist...

"In considering the policy and claims of the personal Antichrist, we must remind you again of a key that will help much in understanding his methods. Remember that he is the Antichrist. As we trace his course through the Word, we find that, like the saints in Revelation, he follows 'the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' His purpose is to make men believe that he is the true Christ and God, and therefore he imitates Christ, making the same claims and doing many of the same miracles. For this reason both Jew and Gentile will readily accept him as the great master mind and coming deliverer."

SOURCE: THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS, pg. 140; by M.R. DeHaan; 1944; ISBN: 0-8254-2483-6

I was in a BestSeller book store the other day looking around. I wasn't too surprised to see the massive Harry Potter display when I walked through the front door. Harry Potter has been everywhere since it first crawled out of hell. As I looked around the book store, I noticed that there were book tables set up in the center isles. One of the tables had all sorts of books about Free Masonry. It was disgusting. Then I looked over to the table beside me and wanted to puke on their floor as I saw dozens of books about Astrology. I couldn't help but think to myself that the antichrist must be coming soon. Everything happening today is setting the stage for the beast, the antichrist. As I looked in grief, three Caucasian women (they seemed to be about in their late 20's) came over to this table beside me. As they looked through the Astrology books on the table, their faces lit up like kids in a candy store

The world will be totally deceived by the dragon and is obviously getting ready for him now. Never before in the history of mankind has there been so much interest in Satanism, witchcraft, psychics, the occult and other evil practices.

"And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast..." (Revelation 13:4)

The world is being prepared to worship the beast, Satan himself. Children all across the world are worshippers of Harry Potter. I stopped by a KB Toys Store for Christmas. There were Harry Potter Lego Blocks, Harry Potter action figures, Harry Potter lunch boxes, Harry Potter everything. The devil is out to get our children. The Harry Potter series promotes the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. I triple dog dare you to do a web search to enroll in Hogwarts School of Music. Here's one of 935 web pages on Google that came up where you can actually ENROLL in Hogwarts School of WITCHCRAFT! Harmless? Your an idiot if you think Harry Potter is mere harmless fantasy.

It is NOT a mere coincidence that the world has become infatuated with the occult, Satanism, Theosophy, New Age, Astrology and Witchcraft. It is all aimed at preparing people to worship the Beast when he is revealed...

"...with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." -Revelation 19:20

Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, as for me and my house...we will serve the Lord.

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." -Joshua 24:14

END

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How does a person get to Heaven?

Ye Must Be Born Again! | You Need HIS Righteousness!

Halloween - HELLoween

H a l l o w e e n
H E L L o w e e n

But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. — Isaiah 57:3

INTRODUCTION  

This introduction is particularly for the professed Christian reader who "celebrates" Halloween / HELLoween. The one who dresses their ignorant child like a devil, or a werewolf or a fairy witch or a magic-working purple dinosaur named Barney. Do you think this is GOOD in the sight of God? Perhaps you've never stopped to think about God's reaction to horror houses and creep shows and tarot card readers and witches. Perhaps you think Cinderella's fairy godmother is a "good witch". Maybe the "Wizard" of Oz is your favorite movie. Maybe in the old days you watched, "The Ghost and Mrs. (Somebody)". That's necromancy--intercourse with the dead. Necromancer is a Bible word (e.g., Deut. 18:11). I used to be very ignorant of all righteousness. When I was of the world, I probably watched more occult than most people. May I counsel you to shake the fuzz out of your head? What we often call "nostalgia" are the remnants of sorceries that have been worked on us. If you claim to know Christ will you stop to consider WHAT GOD THINKS?

Leviticus 19:31 REGARD NOT them that have familiar spirits, NEITHER SEEK AFTER wizards, to be DEFILED by them: I am the LORD your God.

20:6 And THE SOUL THAT TURNETH AFTER such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

2 Chronicles 33:6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and DEALT WITH a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, TO PROVOKE HIM TO ANGER.

Are you angry that these scriptures are before thee? Will you "celebrate" Satan's holiday anyway? If so, your rebellion fits right in with Halloween.

1 Samuel 15:23 For REBELLION is as the sin of WITCHCRAFT, and STUBBORNNESS is as INIQUITY AND IDOLATRY. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Sorcerers will go to the lake of fire. Do you allow your children to watch occultic "family" movies and videos? Do you let them read such books? You are selling your own child into the hand of the devil.

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

The rebellious may say, "But we are not practicing witchcraft," -- I wouldn't be so sure of that, but I won't argue with you because THE BIBLE SAYS DO NOT EVEN LEARN THE WAYS OF THE HEATHEN--

Jeremiah 10:2 Thus saith the LORD, LEARN NOT THE WAY of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

The latter part of the above verse speaks to astrology ("astrologer" is a Bible word as are "magician", "stargazers", "monthly prognosticators", etc.). People who claim to the know the Lord (and their children) call 900 numbers, get palms read, etc. They seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and that mutter (ref Is 8:19) INSTEAD of living righteously and seeking after God. By their fruits ye shall know them.  

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WHERE DID HALLOWEEN COME FROM?

Where Did Halloween Come From?

What is Halloween really all about?

Have you ever asked yourself, "Who in the world ever thought of the idea of walking around in weird costumes, trick or treating, and/or putting a carved-out pumpkin in your window?"

You will agree with me that Halloween is really one of the strangest days of the year, is it not? Perhaps you wonder how the celebration of such a day ever got started. In this pamphlet I would like to answer this question for you!


Where and when did Halloween customs originate?

The many customs we have today in relation to Halloween have their origins in the religious practices of the Romans and the Druids, therefore dating back many centuries. The Romans worshiped various gods and on October 31, a special feast was held in honor of Pomona, goddess of the fruit trees. Later, the Druids, an ancient order of Celtic priests in Britain, made this feast an even more extensive celebration by also honoring Samhain, lord of the dead. This was normally done on November 1 and it was therefore decided to conveniently honor both Pomona and Samhain on October 31 and November 1.

These Druids believed that on the night before November 1 (October 31) Samhain called together wicked souls or spirits which had been condemned to live in the bodies of animals during the year which had just transpired. Since they were afraid of these spirits, they chose October 31 as a day to sacrifice to their gods, hoping they would protect them. They really believed that on this day they were surrounded by strange spirits, ghosts, witches, fairies, and elves, who came out to hurt them. In addition to this, they also believed that cats were holy animals, as they considered them to represent people who lived formerly, and as punishment for evil deeds were reincarnated as a cat. All this explains why witches, ghosts, and cats are a part of Halloween today.

The custom of trick-or-treating and the use of "jack-o'-lanterns" comes from Ireland. Hundreds of years ago, Irish farmers went from house to house, begging for food, in the name of their ancient gods, to be used at the village Halloween celebration. They would promise good luck to those who gave them good, and made threats to those who refused to give. They simply told the people, "You treat me, or else I will trick you!"

The apparently harmless lightened pumpkin face or "jack-o'-lantern" actually is an old Irish symbol of damned soul. A man named Jack was supposed to be able unable to enter heaven due to his miserliness, and unable to enter hell because he had played practice jokes on the devil. As a result, he was condemned to wander over the earth with his lantern until judgment day (i.e., the end of the world). The Irish were so afraid that they would receive an identical plight, that they began to hollow out pumpkins and place lighted candles inside to scare away evil spirits from their home.

When did the modern Halloween celebration begin?

During the Middle Ages (about 600 years ago), the Roman Catholic Church at that time, decided to make the change-over from pagan religion to Christianity a bit easier, and therefore allowed the new converts to maintain some of their pagan feasts. It was agreed, however, that from now on they would be celebrated as "Christian" feasts. So instead of praying to their heathen gods, they would now pray to, and remember the deaths of saints. For this reason the church decided to call November 1 the "Day of All Saints," and the mass to be celebrated on that day "Alhallowmass." In consequence of this, the evening prior to this day was named, "All Hallowed Evening" which subsequently was abbreviated as "Halloween." In spite of this effort to make October 31 a "holy evening," all the old customs continued to be practiced, and made this evening anything BUT a holy evening!


Halloween today.

You would have to agree with me that also today Halloween is most definitely not a holy evening!! This annual event is far from the harmless, innocent tradition it is promoted to be. Many dread this "holy" evening as they think what could happen to them, their property, and/or their children! Consistent with its historical roots, this evening is characterized by fear, and frequently arouses dormant fears in many. The fear generated by this event is symbolic of the fear which plagues so many in our modern, morally bankrupt world. It is a gripping fear for an unknown and very threatening future, a fear caused by a gnawing inner emptiness.


An alternative for October 31

For many in this land, this day stands for the very opposite of fear!! On this day in 1517, a German monk and professor of theology, Dr. Martin Luther, courageously published the simple, straightforward truth of the Bible. God's Word, which he has rediscovered after a long and intense spiritual struggle. God used the truth of his own Word to give Luther the inner peace he had so desperately longed for. The Bible pointed him the way to God Himself, and when he found God through Jesus Christ, he found this peace which passes all understanding! He himself stated that it was as if he entered Paradise itself.

As a result of his courageous act on October 31, 1517, the Bible came into the hands of the common people again, and many, who as he, were deeply troubled by sin and it's consequences, found peace with God as well!

It was God himself, Who used Martin Luther to bring His message of deliverance into the hands and hearts of sinners, in order to bring them back to Himself, and give then TRUE peace!! It is therefore with deep gratitude to God that we wish commemorate October 31, as it reminds us of God's gracious and mighty deeds nearly five centuries ago.

It is the Word of God, and its precious truth, rediscover by Martin Luther, which still gives true peace to many today. In the Bible ALONE will you find the ONLY answer to the deep yearning of your heart. ONLY when God becomes your God through Jesus Christ, you will find rest at last and you will answer to the true purpose of human existence, namely, to honor, serve, and enjoy our Creator!!

Is the God of heaven and earth YOUR God? If not, seek Him TODAY, while He still may be found!!

God, manifested in Jesus Christ, invited you Himself in His Word. Turn to the gospel of Matthew and read chapter 11:28,

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest!"

Those who insist on seeking inner peace without being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, will have to endure eternal misery without God. God does not desire the eternal misery of man and therefore He also extends this invitation in Ezekiel 33:11,

"As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (i.e. Sinner) but that the wicked turn from his way and live! Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: for why will ye die?"

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How does a person get to Heaven?

Ye Must Be Born Again! | You Need HIS Righteousness!