HALLOWEEN
1 Samuel 16:14-17
Ephesians 6:10-12
October 26, 2008

     Let’s talk for a minute about Halloween.  It’s a word that tends to divide conservative Christians just as effectively as baptism, or speaking in tongues, or church discipline.  I believe the two Scriptures we just read are proof that there is an evil presence in this world.  I believe they are proof that there is an ongoing spiritual battle between good and evil, and that most of us live our lives completely oblivious to how significant this battle is.  However, I also believe that the majority of the evil we see in this world is of our own creation, something we have done to ourselves. 

     The Lord God is omnipresent, which means he is in every place on the earth at all times.  There is no place, and there is no time, when God is not present.  The Devil, on the other hand, is not omnipresent (Job 1:7, Daniel 10:13).  He can only be in one place at a time.  So, he can’t be the source of all evil.  That means that most of the evil we see around us is man’s sin against his fellow man, it is not satanic.  I think we attribute way too much authority and presence to Satan.  Which brings me back to Halloween.  Is Halloween an acceptance and a worshipping of Satan, or is it just a harmless party?  Let’s take a look at where Halloween came from. 

     Although you would never know it to look at the faces of most evangelical Christians, the Lord God loves a good party.  He loves seeing his people laughing and celebrating.  And, to that end, when God set the nation of Israel apart he established several required parties.  In the Old Testament we call these festivals.  One of the required parties was a harvest festival that took place in late September or early October, after all of the crops had been collected and stored away for winter.  It was called the festival of Sukkoth.  Sukkoth is a Hebrew word that describes a portable, temporary dwelling – like a tent.  So, it was also called the festival of booths, or the festival of tabernacles. 

     Listen to how God describes this festival.  “You shall keep the festival of booths for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your wine press.  Rejoice during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns.  Seven days you shall keep the festival for the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose; for the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate (Deuteronomy 16:13-15).” 
Now, does that sound like a serious and dour observance?  Or, does that sound like a week long party and everyone is invited?  Here is a truth; seasons change.  The Lord God believes that it is alright to acknowledge the changes with celebrations and joy. 

     Our next stop takes place in Ireland, before the Catholic church had arrived, and while the inhabitants were clearly Pagan.  The Irish also observed a Fall harvest festival.  It was called Samhain, and it occurred every year exactly on October thirty first.   (Does that date ring a bell?)  Unlike Sukkoth and its joyous flavor, Samhain was centered around fear.  By the end of October it was clear that there was less daylight and more darkness.  The temperatures were dropping and Winter was obviously coming. What if the darkness and the Winter came, and they never went away?  Imagine what a frightening prospect that is.  If you don’t believe in a loving and compassionate God who will keep his promise to bring the Spring sun, then every Fall is a season of fear (Ecclesiastes 3:2, 12-14). 

     The Irish began to observe Samhain by taking certain items of produce, like a pumpkin, and carving scary faces on them.  They also began to wear scary masks on that day.  The idea was not to embrace evil.  This was not satanic.  The idea was to scare off darkness; to keep the evil of Winter away.  This is the Pagan way of saying, “I need some hope.  I need reassurance that something greater than myself is out there, looking out for me.”  When the Catholic church arrived they brought that hope.  But, old habits die hard – especially if you don’t speak Latin, and you’re not allowed to read the Bible for yourself.  And so, even though the country became Christian, they continued to observe Samhain. 

     Now we move into the thirteen hundreds.  The Catholic church begins to embrace the concept of Purgatory.  Purgatory is a fairly complex issue, but for our purposes we need to know that the average man and woman on the street came to believe that there were some souls which were trapped between Heaven and Hell.  There was not a lot of detail about Purgatory, but clearly it was not a good place.  And, if Purgatory was that bad, imagine how truly awful Hell must be.  Yet, the bible doesn’t give us a lot of information about Hell. 

     At this same time an Italian named Dante Alighieri wrote a three-part book called The Divine Comedy.   One part was called ‘Il Paradiso’ and was about Heaven.  The second part was called ‘Purgatorio’ and was about Purgatory. 
But, the most famous by far was ‘The Inferno’, which was about Hell.  In Dante’s drama Hell is a huge pit that you descend into.  There are nine levels or ‘circles’ of Hell.  Each level is worse than the one before. 

          The first circle of Hell is filled with Virtuous Pagans.  They never heard about Jesus during their life, so they cannot come to God, but they are not punished.  Their torment is that they have no hope.  The second circle of Hell contains the Carnal; those who gave in to passion.  They are trapped in a never ending tornado.  They are spun and tossed and whirled by the wind. The third circle of Hell is for Gluttons; they did not use their spiritual gifts, but instead spent their time wallowing in food and drink.  They spend eternity lying in a garbage mound, while the three headed dog Cerberus slobbers on them, threatening to eat them. 

     The fourth circle of Hell is for Hoarders (those who hoarded every possession they could get) and Wasters (those who wasted everything they were given); these two groups are constantly at war.  They have huge boulders strapped to their backs, and they run face first smashing into each other, over and over and over.  In the fifth circle we find both the Wrathful and the Sullen.  The Wrathful are buried waist deep in slime and sludge, and they spend eternity throwing handfuls of slime at each other.  Around them bubbles keep rising and popping.  The bubbles are coming from the Sullen who are submerged below the slime.  Since they refused to see the goodness of God’s light in life they are not allowed to see light in death.  The sixth circle is for the heretics, who denied the immortality of the soul.  It is a giant graveyard.  The heretics are buried alive in coffins that continually burn. 

     The seventh circle of Hell is for those who did violence against their neighbors; those who started wars, or murdered, or robbed.  Since they let blood run freely, they are submerged to their necks in a river of boiling blood.  The eighth circle is for the Malicious, Panderers, Seducers, and Flatterers.  Some of them are chased in a circle by horned demons, who whip them.  Some of them are buried to their necks in human feces.  The ninth and final circle of Hell is for traitors; those who betrayed a special trust or relationship.  It is a giant frozen lake.  Frozen from the waist down is Satan, who betrayed God.  He is beating his wings trying to free himself from the ice.  In his mouth is Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. 

     This book terrified the Christian church, and filled them with horror at the thought of Hell or Purgatory.  To their credit, the Catholic church tried to come back with a positive response.  Instead of focusing on the damned, let’s rejoice in the salvation of the elect.  They inaugurated All Saints Day, which was meant to be a joyous celebration of those who have preceded us into Heaven.  Be it bad luck, or an act of God, All Saints Day was to always be observed on November first.  Initially it was called All Hallows Day, hallow means holy.  We are celebrating the holy ones who are in heaven.  We still use the ‘Hallow’ word today in The Lord’s Prayer.  Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  May your name be holy. 

     The night before All Hallows Day would be Hallows Eve.  Just like Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas.  The Irish don’t use the word Eve, they use the word Een.  So, for the Irish, the night before All Saints Day became Hallow Een - Halloween, which was always October thirty first, which was also Samhain.  So, the Irish had to find a way to combine Pagan fear of the never ending darkness with the Catholic veneration of the Saints.  They began a practice called ‘souling’.  

     A family would bake a small cake, much like a cupcake.  They would give the cupcake to their neighbor as a gift, and ask them, “While you’re eating this cupcake would you please pray for the soul of my loved one – who might be in Purgatory.”  If you were really concerned you baked a lot of cupcakes and gave them to a lot of your neighbors.  This caught on, and soon all of your neighbors were baking cupcakes as well.  Now, from a practical standpoint, you could spend Halloween out delivering cupcakes to all of your neighbors.  Or, you could send your children out to your neighbors’ homes to collect all of their cupcakes.  What does that sound like to you, sending children door to door to collect sweets?  Remember, the purpose was to pray people into Heaven.  Unfortunately, it was motivated by fear. 

     In the early fifteen hundreds the Catholic church decided to cash in on some of this fear.  If people were really that motivated to get relatives out of Purgatory and into Heaven, maybe they would pay good money.  Pope Leo X hired a Dominican Friar named Johann Tetzel to travel through Europe selling indulgences.   Johann promised that if you paid enough money the Pope would let your loved one out of Purgatory.  He had a little rhyme he sang, “As soon as the coin in the bucket rings, the soul from Purgatory springs.”  As you can imagine, business got better and donations became larger as All Saints Day approached.  Families wanted their loved ones out of Purgatory before the celebration of the Saints.  That made Halloween the busiest day of the year. 

     Which is why Martin Luther chose Halloween day to file his formal protest against the Catholic church, and begin the Protestant reformation.  Luther picked that day to nail his 95 complaints to the door of the Wittenberg church.  Luther was adamant that we do not live in fear on this day; it is a day of joy and celebration - Sukkoth.  We do not run from the Pope or the Devil.  In fact, Luther is quoted as saying, “Devil, if you want to gobble me up, you can start with my butt.”   Of course, the Catholic church hired assassins to kill Luther, and he spent years hiding in the castle of a friendly landowner – which is where he wrote “A Mighty Fortress is our God”. 

     Where does that leave us today?  Spiritually, Halloween comes to us as an extension of God’s command to celebrate the goodness of God’s bountiful harvest.  To live in hope of the coming Spring, and not the fear of an enduring Winter.  To place our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, and never to fear Hell, whatever that might be.  To look forward to the gathering of the Saints with anticipation and joy.  To remember those who have gone ahead of us.  And, to do so with a party. 

     Practically, Halloween comes to us with carved pumpkins, the wearing of masks, and the collecting of sweet treats.  With acknowledging that there is one life, and then death, and then more.  Has there been some twisting of the intent and purpose of Halloween?  Absolutely!  Once the marketplace found out there was money in celebrating Halloween they totally reworked its purpose and emphasis for profit.  In terms of dollars spent; Christmas is the number one holiday, Halloween is number two, and Easter is number three.

     However, there is a Latin phrase, ‘Abusis non tollit usum’, abuse does not invalidate proper use.  You will notice that throughout its history Sukkoth, Samhain, Halloween has never been about Devil worship or Satanism.  It has always been about looking forward to the coming good, remembering people of faith, and celebrating.  If you are a person who has a distaste for Halloween, and you don’t want your children participating, I can certainly understand how you might reach that decision.  But, if you want to celebrate Halloween, yet you fear that it might contradict Christian values, I want you free from that fear.  Celebrate Halloween with my blessing.