Holloween

What is Halloween?
Halloween is a festival that takes place on October 31. In the United States, children wear costumes on Halloween and go trick-or-treating. Many carve jack-o'-lanterns out of pumpkins. Halloween parties feature such activities as fortunetelling, storytelling about ghosts and witches, and bobbing for apples.
Hallow is the same word for "holy" that we find in the Lord’s Prayer, and e’en is a contraction of "evening." The word Halloween itself is a shortened form of "All Hallows Eve," the day before All Saints Day.

Halloween developed from ancient new year festivals and festivals of the dead. In the A.D. 800's, the Christian church established All Saints' Day on November 1 so that people could continue a festival they had celebrated before becoming Christians. The Mass said on All Saints' Day was called Allhallowmas. The evening before All Saints' Day became known as All Hallows' Eve, or All Hallow e'en.

History: The Celtic festival of Samhain is probably the source of the present-day Halloween celebration. The Celts lived more than 2,000 years ago in what is now the United Kingdom, Ireland, and northern France. Their new year began on November 1. A festival that began the previous evening honored Samhain, the Celtic lord of death. The celebration marked the beginning of the season of cold, darkness, and decay. It naturally became associated with human death. The Celts believed that Samhain allowed the souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes for this evening.

Halloween in the United States. Many early American settlers came from England and other Celtic regions, and they brought various customs with them. But because of the strict religious beliefs of other settlers, Halloween celebrations did not become popular until the 1800's. During that period, large numbers of immigrants arrived from Ireland and Scotland and introduced their Halloween customs.

What is All Saint's Day?
All Saints' Day. Many of the customs of the Celts survived even after the people became Christians. During the 800's, the church established All Saints' Day on November 1. The people made the old pagan customs part of this Christian holy day. The Catholic church later began to honor the dead on November 2. This day became known as All Souls' Day.

All Saint's Day
The purpose behind it (All Hallows Eve) has been lost—like celebrating New Year’s Eve without a New Year’s Day. Take away the saints and our beliefs about the dignity and destiny of human beings, and the only thing left is pre-Christian superstition regarding the dead.
The same way people gather today at the site of a tragedy on its anniversary to talk to each other and to reporters, the first Christians gathered on the anniversary of a martyr’s death to remember it the way they knew best: with the "breaking of the bread." They retold the stories to inspire each other at a time when faith meant persecution and more martyrdom. Not even death could break the unity in Jesus which Paul had named "the Body of Christ."
By the mid-fourth century a feast of "All Martyrs" appeared on local calendars. As persecutions grew less frequent, the feast was extended to include non-martyr "witnesses," Christians whose lives were "the gospel in action.”

In the 16th century at the time of the Reformation, most Protestants discarded both the doctrine of the communion of saints and the practice of praying for the dead. All Hallows Eve became "hollow" for them, the vigil of an empty feast day.
Death is not cute. Halloween began with martyrs, after all. At Halloween we need to use discernment to separate the symbols, to protect our children from very real dangers, to cut through the customs that contradict our relationship with God, including occult practices.
Most of all, be free from fear. We who are in Christ have nothing to fear, and we should be ready with an answer to those who act as if the devil were the equal and opposite of God. There is no "equal and opposite" of God.

Trick or Treat

“Trick or Treat" is thought to have come from a European custom called "souling". Beggars would go from village to village begging for "soul cakes" made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers could guarantee a soul's passage to heaven.

In John 14:6 Jesus said:
"I am the way the truth and the life;
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
"For by Grace are you saved through faith.
It is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast."
~Ephesians 2:8-9~

Another version:
In the Middle Ages there was a superstition that those who had died the previous year without being forgiven by you might rise to haunt you, appearing as will-o’-the-wisps or ghosts. They would jar you so you would release them by prayer and forgiveness. You might also appease them with "soul cakes"—cookies, fried cakes, "treats"—so they wouldn’t do you any mischief with their "tricks." Soon those who were living began to use the occasion for reconciliation. To wipe the slate clean for the coming year, they came, masked and unrecognizable, and boldly bargained for treats.
The connection between trick or treat and forgiveness deserves to be reclaimed, don’t you think?
Avoiding costumes and decorations that glorify witches and devils goes without saying. But, can skulls and skeletons be healthy reminders of human mortality? Can witches and devils symbolize the evil Christ has overcome?

"For God has not given us a spirit of FEAR but of power
and of love and of a sound mind."
~~~2 Timothy 1:7~~~

TRICK-OR-TREAT
The Devil has many TRICKS .....
• He says, "Don't believe in God." But, don't be fooled , the Bible says, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'." (Psalm 14:1)
• He says, "Wait until your're older to become a Christian." But the Bible says, "Now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2)
• He says, "Christians don't have any fun." But the Bible says, "I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (fully)." (John 10:10)
• He says, "You don't need Jesus."" But the Bible says, " I (Jesus) am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, except through Me." (John 14:6)
• He says, "God would never send anyone to hell" But the Bible says, "He who believes in Him (Jesus) is not condemned (judged); but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (Jesus)." (John 3:18)
JESUS has many TREATS.....
• JESUS LOVES YOU. "God is Love. In this the love of god was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. We love Him because He first love us." (1John 4:8,9,19)
• JESUS DIED FOR YOU. "Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)
• JESUS INVITES YOU INTO HIS FAMILY. " As many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become the sons (children) of God." (John 1:12)
• JESUS WILL FORGIVE YOU. Jesus promises those who turn to Him: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." (1John 1:9)
• JESUS WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU. If you will receive Him as your Savior, He promises, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

Why don't you make this a real Hallow--e"en (a hallowed evening) by accepting the best treat of all -- Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Then you can smile like the happy Halloween pumpkins. They have candles inside that glow and show up for blocks around. How much more then will your light (in Jesus) so shine before men.
"Let your light shine before men... You (Christians) are the light of the world." (Matthew 5:14,16)



The pumpkin is a vegetable related to squash. Most pumpkins weigh from 15 to 30 pounds (6.8 to 14 kilograms). The majority of pumpkins are orange, but many pumpkins are white, yellow, or other colors.






Scarecrows are used in the fields to keep the birds away from the crops. They are usually stuffed with straw and hung on a pole. We often see them used as a popular fall decoration.



The Jack O Lantern
The Jack O Lantern was originally a turnip that was carved out and a candle put in it. The word jack-o'-lantern is from an old Irish story. Once there was a man named Jack, who could not enter heaven because he was a miser. He could not enter hell either, because he had played jokes on the devil. When he died, he went to the devil. The devil threw Jack a hot coal and told him to put it inside the turnip he was eating. "This is your lantern," said the devil. As a result, Jack had to walk the earth with his lantern until Judgment Day.




Some Christians carve pumpkins with crosses or the name of Jesus or any other Christian symbol.


The Jack O Lantern (from a Catholic web site:)
The folktale of "Jack o’ the Lantern" arrived with early Irish Catholic colonists in Maryland. It quickly grew in popularity because of the independent spirit admired in this country. Jack has the cleverness to outwit the devil himself, but it isn’t enough to get him into heaven. He must roam forever between heaven and earth, holding his pumpkin lantern high. (Originally the lantern was cut from a turnip; after the story crossed the ocean, colonists changed it to the colorful vegetable they found here, the pumpkin.)
As you carve your pumpkin (or roast the oiled seeds at 325 degrees for 25 minutes), tell others the tale behind jack-o’-lanterns. Talk about what it means to be a saint and why Jack didn’t make the grade. Don’t be afraid to point out the "moral of the story" (which is why it was told in the first place). Jack was so self-centered he never helped another human being. He was given a good set of brains, but he used this gift only for himself. He knew about faith and the power of the cross, but he used it like a piece of magic instead of as the way of Jesus (see Luke 9:23). The cross is indeed strong enough to vanquish the devil. But embracing the cross is what brings eternal life.

Halloween also invites us to talk openly about death in a culture that labors mightily to deny it. Seventy-five percent of Americans do not have a valid will, much less a Living Will or an organ donor card. "If I die..." people say, instead of, "when I die." Do we think death is optional? Death is a fact of life.


My problem with this story:
In John 14:6 Jesus said:
"I am the way the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

"For by Grace are you saved through faith. It is a gift of God not of works lest
any man should boast." ~Ephesians 2:8-9~

The power is not in the cross itself, but in Jesus, the son of God.
He died that we might live!

The Tale of Jack O'Lantern
Jack, the Irish say, grew up in a simple village where he earned a reputation for cleverness as well as laziness. He applied his fine intelligence to wiggling out of any work that was asked of him, preferring to lie under a solitary oak endlessly whittling. In order to earn money to spend at the local pub, he looked for an "easy shilling" from gambling, a pastime at which he excelled. In his whole life he never made a single enemy, never made a single friend and never performed a selfless act for anyone.
One Halloween, as it happened, the time came for him to die. When the devil arrived to take his soul, Jack was lazily drinking at the pub and asked permission to finish his ale. The devil agreed, and Jack thought fast. "If you really have any power," he said slyly, "you could transform yourself into a shilling."
The devil snorted at such child’s play and instantly changed himself into a shilling. Jack grabbed the coin. He held it tight in his hand, which bore a cross-shaped scar. The power of the cross kept the devil imprisoned there, for everyone knows the devil is powerless when faced with the cross. Jack would not let the devil free until he granted him another year of life. Jack figured that would be plenty of time to repent. The devil left Jack at the pub.
The year rolled around to the next Halloween, but Jack never got around to repenting. Again the devil appeared to claim his soul, and again Jack bargained, this time challenging him to a game of dice, an offer Satan could never resist, but a game that Jack excelled at. The devil threw snake eyes—two ones—and was about to haul him off, but Jack used a pair of dice he himself had whittled. When they landed as two threes, forming the T-shape of a cross, once again the devil was powerless. Jack bargained for more time to repent.
He kept thinking he’d get around to repentance later, at the last possible minute. But the agreed-upon day arrived and death took him by surprise. The devil hadn’t showed up and Jack soon found out why not. Before he knew it Jack was in front of the pearly gates. St. Peter shook his head sadly and could not admit him, because in his whole life Jack had never performed a single selfless act. Then Jack presented himself before the gates of hell, but the devil was still seething. Satan refused to have anything to do with him.
"Where can I go?" cried Jack. "How can I see in the darkness?"
The devil tossed a burning coal into a hollow pumpkin and ordered him to wander forever with only the pumpkin to light his path. From that day to this he has been called "Jack o’ the Lantern." Sometimes he appears on Halloween!


The Witness bracelet

The bracelet has 6 colored beads on a 10 inch leather strip. Each color represents a part of the story of our Lord Jesus Christ and what H+did to save us, His children.
THE INSTRUCTIONS:
The materials are readily available from any craft store. You can get the materials in the craft section of Walmart.
For each bracelet: 1 leather strip about 10 inches in length You can substitute just about anything that will form a bracelet for the leather.

1 Yellow (or gold) bead
1 Black bead
1 Red bead
1 White bead
1 Blue bead
1 Green bead

At approximately 4 inches from one end of the strip, tie a single not. Now thread each bead in the order shown, that is, gold, black, red, white, blue and green, onto the strip. Tie a single not in the strip so that the beads will not fall off (at about 4 inches from the opposite end). Tie the bracelet around your wrist and you have finished. Or you can place the leather stripe and one bead of each color in a small baggy stapled on a paper explaining what each color represents.
The color of the bracelet: The gold stands for heaven, the black for sin, the red for the sacrifice of Christ, the white for purity (his and ours when he becomes Lord of our lives), the blue for the Holy Spirit and the green for everlasting last with Jesus Christ.