Pagan Roots of Halloween

I am going through all the booklets I have on the topic
so you can read my resources. If you want to write
an article or book on the topic please feel free to use
as you like.

Rough Notes -WDHCF

• Where did Halloween originate from?
• How did we get it?
• Halloween was celebrated by pagans centuries before
  the First Century Congregation was founded.
• Introduced into the First Century Congregation centuries
  after the death of the Apostles, yet it was celebrated by the
  pagans centuries before the First Century Congregation was
  founded.
• From Halloween Through Twenty Centuries, by Ralph
  Linton, page 4, it says, "The American celebration rests upon
  Scotish and Irish folk customs which can be traced in direct
  line from Pre-Christian times. Although Halloween has become
  a night of rollicking fun, superstitious spells, and eerie games
  which people take only half seriously, its beginnings were
  quite otherwise. The earliest Halloween celebrations were
  held by the Druids in honor of Samhain, Lord of the Dead,
  whose festival fell on November 1."
• very distant from being righteous festival.
• pagan holiday masquerading as though it was a genuine
  custom of the true Congregation of Yeshua / Jesus Christ.
• parents allow their children to get involved in the spirit
  of the pagan custom.
• The Encyclopedia Americana states, "it's clearly a relic
  of pagan times."
• The Encyclopedia Britannica states, "It long antedates
  Christianity. The two chief characteristics of ancient
  Halloween were the lighting of bonfires and the belief that
  this is the one night in the year during which ghosts and
  witches are most likely to wander about. History shows
  that the main celebrations of Halloween were Druidical
  and this is further provided by the fact that in parts of
  Ireland October 31 is still known as Oidhch Shamhna,
  "Virgil of Saman.'"
• Halloween celebrated by the pagans long before
  Yeshua / Jesus Christ was even born.
• Halloween was celebrated by the Romans.
• Encyclopedia Britannica continues, "On the Druidic
  ceremonies were grafted some of the characteristics of
  the Roman festival in honor of Pomona held about
  November 1, in which nuts and apples, representing the
  winter store of fruits, played an important part."
• Halloween's pagan customs are widespread around
  the world to celebrate this season.
• The Book of Halloween by Ruth Kelley writes,
  "The pagan Druid priests taught the immortality of the
  soul, that it passed from one body to another at death ...
  They believed that on the last night of the old year
  (October 31) the lord of death gathered together the
  souls of all those who had died in the passing year and
  had been condemned to live in the bodies of animals,
  to decree what forms they should inhabit for the next
  twelve months. He could be coaxed to give lighter sentence
  by gifts and prayers. "
• Halloween Through Twenty Centuries page 5 writes,
  "On the New Year, their sins being expiated, they were
  released to go to the Druid Heaven."
• Wheel of the Year, picture found here
  illustrates Pagan festivals such as Samhain (Halloween),
  Yule (Saturnalia - Christmas), Imbolc, Ostara
  (Ishtar - Easter) Beltane, Litha, Lammas, Mabon, which
  some of their customs have been grafted into Christianity.
• Halloween / Samhain promoted the 'Doctrine of
  Immortality of the Soul" that the dead are not really dead.
• almost all heathen countries had festivals or days set
  aside to honor the dead.
• These festivals originated from the death of Nimrod,
  (Genesis 10:8-10) whom Semiramis said had resurrected
  from the dead when an evergreen tree grew out of a
  dead tree stump which is the origins of the Christmas
  tree associating Yule (Saturnalia - Christmas) to Samhain
  (Halloween).
• The meaning of the word "Halloween" - Allhallows or
  Hallowmas, or All Saints Day which is one of the festivals
  of the Catholic Church says Lintons Halloween Through
  Twenty Centuries, page 3.
• Samhain / Halloween was the evening celebration
  commencing at sunset, in anticipation of November 1,
  honoring the Lord of the Dead.
• Who is Lord of the Dead?
• Yeshua / Jesus Christ states in Matthew 22:31-32
  "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye
  not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying,
  I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the
  God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living"
• God is not God of the dead but in reality and in
  righteousness, Yeshua / Jesus Christ is Lord of the dead.
• the dead do not serve God (Psalm 6:5, 115:17), the
  soul that sins dies (Ezekiel 18:4), the dead know nothing
  (Ecclesiastes 9:5), the dead's thoughts perish
  (Psalm 146:4), only God has immortality
  (1 Timothy 1:17, 6:15-16), and only God can destroy a
  persons soul (Matthew 10:28)
• to consult the dead is an abomination.
  (Leviticus 19:31, Deuteronomy 18:9-12) and is part of the
  abominations of the nations. (Deuteronomy 18:9,
  1 Kings 14:24, Ezekiel 6:9)
• How is Yeshua / Jesus Christ Lord of the dead? He
  defeated death as atonement for our sins but also to become
  Lord of the dead (Romans 14:9)
• Yeshua / Jesus Christ through his resurrection obtained the
  keys to
  Hades or state of the dead. (Revelation 1:18)
• Who did Yeshua / Jesus take the authority of "Lord of the
  Dead" from? Satan / Lucifer ofcourse. (Hebrews 2:14)
• What is Yeshua's / Jesus Christ's function as Lord of the
  Living and the Dead?
• on the last day to change the righteous from mortal to
  immortal (1 Corinthians 15:51-58, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18),
  to resurrect the righteous to eternal life (John 3:16) and the
  unrighteous to resurrection of condemnation
  (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54, 11:24-26, 12:48, 5:28-30)
• Paganism make the "Lord of the Dead" other than
  Yeshua / Jesus Christ but give authority to deities such
  as Samhain, Baal, Nimrod, Hercules, Tammuz, Adonis,
  Achilles, Orion, Belial, Mithra, Horus, Osiris, Thor, Yule,
  Cronos, Kronus, Saturn, Odin, Bacchus, Dionysus, Molech,
  Deonius, Jupiter, Man the Branch, Wodan, Attes, Attis,
  and many others depending which variation of paganism
  the name derives from.
• Paganism really is worshiping Satan / Lucifer as
  "Lord of the Dead" , as Satan deceives the whole world
  (Revelation 12:9) and Satan / Lucifer is the Prince the power
  of the air (Eph 2:2) and god of this world (2 Cor 4:4).
• Giving these deities the authority of "Lord of the Dead"
  rather than Yeshua / Jesus Christ is glorifying Satan / Lucifer
  and is a form of Idolatry.
• In my opinion Halloween is Satanic.
• people today are deceived into believing that Halloween
  is harmless fun, but infact are honoring Satan on this day.
• most people know deep in their soul that Halloween is
  Occult, sinful, and honors Satan / Lucifer
• Apostle Paul states that this kind of worship is worshiping
  demons (Galatians 4:8)
• Halloween is not a righteous form of worship to worship
  God
• The True God demands that worshipers worship him in Spirit
  and in Truth. (John 4:23-24)
• What is the origins of All Saints Day?
• November 1st, derived from the pagans is celebrated by in
  hundreds of Churches to honor the dead Saints
• Pope Urban IV states All Saints day is "to honor all the
  saints, known and unknown, and to supply any deficiencies in the
  faithful's celebration of saints' feasts during the year" according
  to Reference Catholic Encyclopedia
• How did Christianity come to venerating saints come to be
  observed on the day in honor of the devil?
• The Catholic Encyclopedia continues, "... The Church, feeling
  that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common
  day for all."
• The Catholic Encyclopedia continues, "Gregory III (731-741)
  consecrated a chapel in the basilica of St. Peter to all saints and
  fixed the anniversary on November 1 ... Gregory IV (827-844)
  extended the celebration on 1 November to the entire church.
  The vigil (Halloween) seems to have been held as early as the
  feast itself."
• From Halloween Through Twenty Centuries Ralph Linton says,
  "All Saints' Day was introduced into the church calender because
  the year was not long enough to make it possible to dedicate a
  special day for each spirit of the Catholic Church, ... That the day
  chosen was one already associated in the popular mind with a
  thronging of spirits of the dead which was quite in line with
  church policy of incorporating harmless pagan folk ideas. "
• Protestant Churches observe All Saints' Day "since it was on
  this day in 1517, that Martin Luther posted his epoch-making
  ninety-five theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg,
  ... He chose Halloween night because he knew that the
  townsfolk ... would be coming to the church that night."
  (Halloween pp 9-10)
• What is the origins of "Trick or Treat?"
• Where did the prank of children knocking on peoples doors
  and shouting "Trick or Treat" come from?
• From Halloween Through Twenty Centuries Ralph Linton
  says, "... certainly it comes from pagan times. ... led by a man
  in a white robe wearing a horse mask. ... which indicated that this
  custom was a survival of a Druid rite."
• The horse head was sacred to the Sun God.
• The procession levied a contribution from the farmers in the
  perverted name of what probably was an old Druid god. Unless the
  procession was treated liberally with gifts, the farmers were tricked
  with the threat of a curse that would ruin following years crops.
• The custom of having processions at Halloween were further
  derived by wealthy churches during the Middle Ages copying the
  ancient Greek and Roman processions parading the relics of
  patron saints.
• Poorer churches could not afford to buy relics so they used
  caricatures of their patron saints
• Halloween Through Twenty Centuries page 103 states,
  "Those who were not playing the parts of the holy ones also wanted
  to get into the procession and so dressed up as angels or devils.
  The Allhallows procession around the churchyard eventually
  became a gay and motley parade."
• the "Trick or Treat" custom simply derived from these former
  degenerate absurd customs which came out of paganism, grafting
  them into Christianity labeling them with Christian names.

Shalom
Michael Grant

tags: Achilles, Adonis, Attes, Attis, Baal, Bacchus, Belial,
Branch, Cronos, Dead, Deonius, Dionysus, Easter, Hercules, Horus,
Ishtar, Istar, Jupiter, Kronus, Lord, Man, Mithra, Molech, Nimrod,
Odin, Oidhch, Orion, Osiris, Ostara, Pomona, Saman, Samhain, Saturn,
Semiramis, Shamhna, Tammuz, Thor, Wodan, Yule, deity, female, male,
of, sun, the, tree

What does the term Easter itself mean?

It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean
Babylonian origin on its very forehead. The
popular observances that still attend the period
of it's celebration amply confirm the testimony
of history as to it's Babylonian character. The
hot cross buns of Good Friday and the dyed eggs
of Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites
just as they do now. The "buns" known too by that
identical name, were used in the worship of the
Queen of Heaven, the goddess of Easter. The
prophet Jeremiah takes notice of this kind of
offering when he says:

Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the
fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead
their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven,
and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods,
that they may provoke me to anger.

From where comes the eggs?

The classic poets are full of the fable of the
mystic egg of the Babylonians and thus its tale
is told by Hyginus, the Egyptian, the learned
keeper of the Palatine library at Rome, in the
time of Augustus, who was skilled in all the
wisdom of his native country.

"An egg of wondrous size is said to have fallen
from heaven into the river Euphrates, the fishes
rolled it to the bank, where the doves having
settled upon it, and hatched it, out came Venus,
who afterwards was called the "Syrian Goddess"
-- that is, Astarte. Hence the egg became one of
the symbols of Astarte or Easter.

From where comes the "Easter Bunny"?

That a rabbit, or more accurately a hare, became
a holiday symbol can be traced to the origin of
the word "Easter". According to the Venerable
Bede, the English historian who lived from 672
to 735, "the goddess Eastre" was worshipped by the
Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the
hare." - Panati's Extraordinary Origins of
Everyday Things pg 55

Easter is another example of a Christianized
pagan festival. For hundreds of years before the
Messiah was crucified the pagans had a festival
which basically celebrated the "Queen of Heaven."
This spring equinox festival was known by
different names in different cultures (Eastre /
Ishtar / Astarte), but the same traditions
associated with it are pagan customs. YHWH (God)
commands us not to worship Him with pagan customs.

Deut. 12:30-31 says, "enquire not after their
gods, saying, How did these nations serve their
gods? even so will I do likewise."

You can choose the broad way (the way the world
/ crowd goes) that leadeth to destruction ...
(Matt 7:13) The pagan bunny fertility symbol -
Ishtar / Eostre to Easter - spring fertility
goddess worship rites. Or you can choose the
narrow way (of truth that few people find), which
leads to life eternal (Matt. 7:14)
- Leviticus 23 eternal feast days and Sabbaths
Obey Elohim's (God's) eternal holy days (Lev. 23)
for all Israel (including grafted in believers in
Yeshua / Jesus) (Rom. 3:31; 11:17, Eph. 2:12-13)
Check a good encyclopedia on Easter / Eastre /
Ishtar.

Shalom
Michael Grant

tags: Easter, Eastre, Ishtar, Astarte, Eostre, Osiris,
Isis, Attis, cupid, baal, baalism, Nimrod, pagan,
paganism, fertility, Chaldean, Babylonian, Good
Friday, Sunday, crusifixion, Rome, Egypt, Greece,
holidays, feast days, Yeshua, Jesus, HaMoshiach,
Messiah, God, Elohim, YHWH