James H. Cagle
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The Bible (KJV) says, ”There shall not be found among you any that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or useth divination, or an observer of time, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD” (Deut. 18: 10-12).
According to our text anything that pertains to or anyone involved with the occult is an abomination to God.
Being involved with the festivities that surround Halloween does not necessarily mean that one is actually involved with the occult. Celebrating Halloween, though innocent as it may seem to most, had its beginning in a Druidic and Celtic pagan festival in which both animal and human sacrifices were made.
The wearing of masks and costumes today originated with the people of ancient time wearing masks because they thought they could fool the demons into thinking they were another demon and then leave them alone.
Trick-or-treat came from the fact that the Druid priest would go door to door demanding a human sacrifice for their religious rituals. If one was not provided the house was marked with a hexagram. The priest would return later to burn down the house or work some evil against the family. The human sacrifices were tied and dragged behind a wagon until all the victims in the community were collected. A bonfire (bone-fire) would be built and the victim was asked if they wanted to be put to death immediately or would they like to try their luck at bobbing for apples in boiling oil. (Thus the origin of the custom of bobbing for apples.)
The Celts and Druids celebrated a three-day fire festival from Oct. 29th to Oct. 31st, ending with their high holy day. These bonfires or bone-fires were call Belteins or Bel’s fire. Bael or Beil was the Celtic god of light or Sun-god. “It has been usual to identify the worship of the Celtic Beal with that of the Baal or Bel of the Phoenicians and other Semitic nations.”
Halloween or Halloweven (hallow and even) is the name of the eve or vigil of All Saints. As the date of that vigil is Nov. 1, Halloween is the evening of Oct. 31.
Unable to destroy these pagan rites, Catholicism sought to give them some holy connotation by associating them with rites of their own. They either appointed a Catholic festival at the time of the heathen one, or tried to shift the time of a heathen one to one already fixed by Catholicism. For it was the policy of Catholic leaders to supplant heathen festival by Catholic observances.
Halloween is the wedding of an occult pagan festival with an unbiblical Catholic observance.
Participating in Halloween festivities doesn’t necessarily mean involvement with the occult, but it is a celebration of its dark origin and its forces of darkness.
