I thank our brother for the kind words of welcome along this evening, and we're glad to be here and share fellowship with you. As you know, I've been given the subject Halloween trick or treat, and our brother said to me that when he thought of the subject of Halloween, he thought of me. I don't know what to think of that. I don't know whether it was the pale complexion or the ugly mug or what it was that made him think of Halloween, but we're glad to be here. and to share God's word this evening. I wonder if you'd turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18. And we're going to read from verse 9. The book of Deuteronomy chapter 18 and reading from verse 9. When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, 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. And because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God, for these nations which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times and unto diviners, But as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. And we'll end our reading there, knowing the Lord will add His blessing to the reading of His precious Word. Can we just unite again in a word of prayer? Our loving God and our Father, we thank Thee for the note of praise already in our meeting. We thank Thee for the messages in song. And our God, we'd ask Thee that Thou wouldst teach us to wait upon Thee Teach us to do what Thy Word tells us to do. We thank Thee, Lord, for the Word of God, and we bless Thee for its instruction to our hearts day by day. And we'd ask Thee as we look at this subject that Thou hast enabled us to understand and to take these things in. And, O God, that Thou hast direct our paths in the days that lie ahead. O God, bless and be with us now, for it's in Jesus' precious name that we ask these things. When I was small, many years ago, I used to look forward to Halloween because we used to get dressed up and go out round the doors and we'd put on our Halloween masks and Go round the neighbourhood knocking on doors. We didn't know what a trick or treat we just went and called at the doors. And you used to get what we called monkey nuts or peanuts. And you used to get sweets. And sometimes some generous souls would give you money. Of course, you were tempted to go back to those doors a few times. And I must admit, sometimes we did. But we used to enjoy Halloween and all that surrounded it. Sometimes there was a bonfire. I remember dunking for apples and doing all those things that are Halloween traditions. We, in those days, would have believed there was no such thing as witches, no such things as demons and things like that. And in our ignorance, I suppose, we dismissed the things that were sinister. And in those days when I was growing up, people laughed at the stupidity of the pagans who worshipped sticks and stones and believed in looking to trees and to plants for their spiritual help. And we certainly dismissed witches as a figment of people's imaginations. But in the intervening 35 years or so, a lot has changed. Today, paganism that we mocked and the witchcraft that we thought only appeared in fairy stories has become more real. In the days when I was growing up, those things were nothing that anybody had experienced. But now when you go into the major towns of our province and the major towns of our land, you get shops which deal with crystals and deal with the paraphernalia of the New Age religion and the paganism which took place. And paganism is growing. You only have to look at the United States, where recently the United States government cleared the Wicca religion, the witchcraft religion, for tax-exempt status for tax purposes. And the question that we're asking tonight is whether Halloween should be regarded as the harmless fun that certainly we might have, in our ignorance, thought it to be in days gone by, or whether there is something that we need to stay away from and as something that lies very much deeper and is very much more sinister about Halloween. And for a few moments tonight, then, I want us to deal with this subject, whether Halloween is a treat Or is it a trick of the devil which is ensnaring people? And I, after looking at the subject and seeing what has taken place, very much would tell you that it is a trick of the devil which is ensnaring so very many in this day in which we live. So for a few minutes, we're just looking at this subject, Halloween trick or treat. There are a few things I want us to look at. And the first thing is the development of Halloween. Where does it come out of? What is the origin of Halloween? Well, you have to go way back into the mists of time to see the origin of Halloween. It was, and is, a pagan festival. Halloween originally was an Irish or Scottish Celtic pagan festival called Zawin or Zaween. And it was a festival to mark the Celtic New Year, because the 31st of October was the last day of the year. The 1st of November was the first day of the Celtic New Year. It marked the turning away from the summer goddess to the horn god of the wintertime. It was a time when the autumn harvest had come in, when the winter loomed very much. And it was a time when the Celts believed that the dead, the spirits, beings, or demons, who were participants in the Zowian celebrations, could come and have communion with the people. And so the celebrations very much focused on the dead. And the heathen Kazakh tribesmen, particularly in the British Isles, and particularly in Ireland, and in Western Europe, particularly in France, believed that the ghosts and the spirit beings could come and visit on Zion Eve, October the 31st. And on that night they would present offerings to them. And they wanted to make sure that they would appease these spirit beings. Because they believed that these beings could come and they could do death's bite to them. They could steal their children. Or they could take their crops. Or kill their farm animals. or to mend them, or do all sorts of things. And the devil, the lord of the darkness, ordinarily who was feared, had a power to come and also foretell the future on this Zion Eve. And according to the ancient missionaries, the Christian missionaries, they said that also human sacrifices were made. That was part of their worship. Now, many pagans today deny that there were human sacrifices, just as they deny that human sacrifices are made today. But the archaeological evidence has been amassed and is almost irrefutable. The evidence is there that in the ancient times the human sacrifices were made, and the people were burned in the bonfires, and by means of looking at the animals or the human beings writhing in the fire, they could foretell the future. And so they put these human beings or animals into the fire and watched them die in the fire. And by that means they believed that they could foretell the future. But not only is Halloween itself an ancient pagan festival, but the traditions of Halloween come directly to us from the pagan festival. For example, they had trick-or-treat. And what they meant by trick-or-treat was that they left out offerings for these spirit beings to appease them, so they would pass by and do them no harm. We said that they might do harm to them. So that was the origin of trick-or-treat. And the families would put out food so the ghosts or demons would not harm them. They also had jack-o'-lanterns, and now they started off as being carved representations of the spirit beings. Originally, it was a turnip or a potato, and they'd hollow out the potato, they'd put awful faces on the potato or the turnip, and they'd put a light inside and an ugly face. And that was for frightening the spirit beings, to drive them away, so that when they would come and invade the earth on Samhain, that they would be driven away. Also, they had bonfires. Or if you look at the dictionary meaning of bonfire, it is bonfire. In fact, in Ulster dialect, people still refer to it as bonfires. Why bonfires? Well, as we said, what they would do is that they would get their animal sacrifices or human beings and they would watch the sacrifices in order to foretell the future. That was the purpose of it. Also, they had bobbing for apples and bobbing for apples was another technique of divination. We've read this evening that this divination, or observing the future, you read in Deuteronomy 18, verse 10, how that they were not to be diviners or observers of times, or enchanters or witches. The origin of bobbing for apples is also a technique of divination. So it also comes directly to us from the ancient pagan ways of doing it. Also at Halloween or Zawin, they would dress up in awful costumes, bizarre costumes. And these ghoulish disguises also had the purpose of driving away the spirit beings. Sometimes they would form processions of masked people. And the idea of that was to get the spirits and the demons to think that they were Part of these people who were dressed up were among them and they would lead them to the boundaries of their territory in order to get them away. They would bring them to the town limits. The Celts also had skeletons, skulls. They believed that owls and bats had an ability to see the spirit beings, to communicate with the dead. So all these things, all these practices, that we have today, which are associated with Halloween, come directly to us. In fact, you would say, and we could say, that if one of these ancient pagans came back and looked at the traditions which are taking place today at Halloween, they would recognize them. They're the exact same. The exact same, they might be a little bit different in that there are modern things which are added and it's a sort of a modern take on the old traditions, but they are the exact same traditions. It is the exact pagan celebrations that they did in days gone by with the ancient Celts. Where did the name Halloween come out of? Well, Halloween was the attempt of the Church of Rome to Turn the people away from this ancient. Now the ancient Christians despised this celebration. It was pagan. Human sacrifices, dwelling on the dead. And they wanted nothing to do with this. And they despised what was taking place. But Pope Gregory IV, in 1835, decided that what he would do was try and incorporate it, as the Church of Rome would want to do. They would try and take over the festival. So he moved the special day for all saints that had not their own special day from May the 13th to November the 1st. And they said, we will celebrate all souls, the feast of all hallows and the feast of all saints. We will celebrate it at the time of Zawin. And by that means, we'll turn the people away from Zawin. And we will have a Christian celebration. Now, that was the idea, but it didn't work. Because instead of turning the people, they just held on. And instead of having it called Zawin, they called it Halloween. The Eve of All Hallows Day. And it became known as Halloween. But it always has been, and still is, a pagan festival. It is pagan, and its traditions are pagan. And it is the same festival as the ancient Celts involved themselves in. So we realize that when we are celebrating Halloween, we are in fact celebrating what is a pagan festival. Not only do we think about the development of Halloween, but I want us to think about the devotees of Halloween. Who is it, apart from the commercial interests that make a great deal of money out of Who is it that is especially interested in Halloween in this modern day? Well, there are three groups in particular that are very much into Halloween. The first group are the neo-pagans, who are in this day interested in reviving the ancient Druid festivals. And the Druids, of course, were the priests of the Celts, the Celtic pagan religion. They were engaged in occultic arts and had more than 400 deities. And the high festivals of the Druids were Beltane on May the 1st and Zawin or Halloween on the 31st of October. Human sacrifices were common on both festivals and also it was common for divination or for telling the future to take place. They studied the animal and human sacrifices as we've already said. Now the modern Druids would say that they draw back from human sacrifice. But they are very much interested in the celebration of Halloween. Whether they do draw back from human sacrifice or not is a debatable point, but they say that they are not interested in human sacrifice. The second group who are very much into Halloween and celebrate it as one of their high days are the witches. Now, witchcraft is a very complicated field too. described. We need to be aware that there are differences among witches that leads to different approaches among them. First of all, we need to realize that not all pagans are Wiccans. The Wicca religion today is the most prominent of the pagan religions and has led, particularly in the papers and among the press, to label all pagans as belonging to the Wiccan religion or that which is identified with witchcraft. Not all pagans are Wiccans. It's no more true to say that all pagans are Wiccans than to say that all Christians are Baptists. There are other types of witch too, apart from Wiccans, which complicates the matter. And also you need to be aware that within the Wiccan religion there are different paths and not all are the same. And you get different levels. There are white witches who profess to be white witches. And then, probably at that level, they do not know the satanic import of what they are doing. In fact, in the Wiccan religion, they profess they don't believe in Satan. They say that Satan is an invention of the Christians. But what they do believe in is Lucifer. And they very often will call him Lucifer. And they will call him the Light Bearer or some other name. But they say, well, Satan is the invention of the Christians. But they do believe in Lucifer and they serve the one who is called Lucifer, who has identified, of course, in the Scripture as the devil. But the Wiccan religion is not organized, so it is hard to pin it down. And we need to realize that. And there are no formalized theologies, as it were, in the Wiccan religion. However, with witchcraft, it is not as white as they would profess it to be. Now, the witches would say, if you go onto their websites, they will deny, many of them will deny that they sacrifice at all, never mind human sacrifice. And they will say that it's not. But I was looking at a witchcraft, a Wiccan website, a pagan website, and they admitted that in some pagan religions or some of the pagan traditions, that it was acceptable to sacrifice an animal that they said was eaten by the group. And they tried to lessen the impact of that by saying that the animal had to be humanely brought up and reared and was humanely killed. And they tried to lessen the impact of animal sacrifices among the witches. However, the evidence is that not only does witchcraft engage in animal sacrifices, but it engages in human sacrifices. Audrey Harper from Kelvin in Essex was initiated as a witch on Halloween night in the early 60s. And at the initiation, she observed the sacrifice of a nine day old baby girl. And she observed the ritualistic drinking of the child's blood. This was the only sacrifice that she observed in all her years as a witch, but she said that she believed that those things regularly happened in Britain. There's no evidence to suggest that the witches practice abortion as a form of child sacrifice. Patricia Baird Wendell is the founder and executive director of the Aware Woman Center for Choice in Melbourne and Florida. She is very much linked to witchcraft, and area pro-lifers in her area claimed that Wendell was asked what her religion was, and she replied, my religion is a holy ritual of child sacrifice. William J. Snubelin, who was a Wiccan high priest, who later came to know the Lord as his saviour, he testified Halloween is an occasion when the ancient gods, actually demons, are worshipped with human sacrifice. So we see that the witches also hold the Halloween celebrations as special. The third group who are very much involved in the Halloween celebrations are the Satanists. Now, to the Satanists, Halloween is a celebration of death and Satan. Satanists would consider that this is the day when they can invoke Satan's help and they would have animal and human sacrifices. And it's the night when all the forces of darkness empower Satanists and witches for the coming year. And there have been several cases which are, at the moment, are being investigated for ritual murder. There was a local case, ten-year-old Brian McDermott. And Brian disappeared from a play park in Ormo Park, South Belfast, on Sunday, September the 2nd, 1973. His badly mutilated torso and arm were recovered from the river, lagging a week later. Only a couple of years ago, the police came with appeals And they were reported in the paper where the police wanted to hear from anybody that knew anything about the case. And they specifically said that they were not ruling out witchcraft. Why would the police, why would the authorities say that they're not ruling out witchcraft and human sacrifice if things like that do not take place? Another case took place in Germany. Daniel Ruda, 26 years old, his wife, Manuela, 23, were involved in the killing of Frank Hagen. And they said, when they were arraigned, that they were not guilty of the murder, they weren't responsible, rather, for the murder. They said that they were told to do it by the devil. And when the badly decomposing remains of Frank Hagen were found, his body was decomposing. It was battered to death with a hammer. He was covered in dozens of stab wounds. A scalpel was protruding from his body and a pendogram, the sign of the devil, was carved into his chest. In 2000, July 2000, in the Lehigh in Pennsylvania, a young fellow was arrested after having been participating in satanic sacrifices. And in his possession, he had a satanic calendar. And you can look at the calendars. And the one that he had There were a list of the satanic festivals. With what happened on the satanic festivals, they were classified as either blood or sexual. And the one that on that calendar, anyway some other calendars differ, but the one on that calendar which was both blood and sexual, guess what? Halloween, 31st of October. And it also specified that on that festival there was to be human sacrifice and it said any human, male or female. Now again the Satanists deny that they do anything like that. They deny, and in fact, there's one site, a Satanist site that denies that they worship the devil, that they worship Satan. But they worship the father of lies. And they are liars. There are so many stories of young girls that they have what they call breeders, and they have babies which are not registered. And therefore, nobody knows what is taking place. And there is a supply then of human sacrifices. And these things have been said. Only a few years ago, a metropolitan police report unmasked a trade of young African boys in London who were being brought over to be murdered as human sacrifices. This was for African witchcraft groups. So these are what we might call the devotees of Halloween. It's a very common reaction, of course, for Christians when they hear that to think that that is sensationalism. And it does happen, I suppose, rarely we would come across something like that because these things were kept out of the news. Of course, there was a report just the other week, October the 4th, in the Telegraph about a ritualistic skinning of a sheep up in Randallstown. I don't know whether that was satanic or not, it may or may not be, but what I did notice was that in the paper it says, a police source added, we don't know if it was satanic or if it was done by somebody to try and make it look as if it was some kind of a ritual, but it was certainly bizarre and we are treating this incident as suspicious. Now, whether that was satanic or not, I don't know, neither do the police. But the police certainly did not rule out that it was satanic. Why do the police not rule out that it's satanic? Because they know that these things are taking place. So those are the devotees of Halloween. And when you look at that, you realize that this thing is not just a little fun thing. that you have with a few children going out around the doors. But there is something very, very much more sinister behind what is taking place. But what then about the danger of Halloween? It's all about the development of Halloween and the devotees of Halloween. What about the danger of Halloween? Well, we could think about the general danger, first of all, the violence that takes place in and around Halloween. Trick-or-treat has developed in many places into buggery. And you only think back a few years when the fireworks were legalized and those fireworks were used to terrorize people. And the trick aspect of it has become very much an excuse for wanting destruction. Then there's another danger, and that brings us again into the sinister nature of the festival. Animal groups, animal welfare groups, if you look at any of their sites at the moment, or a lot of them anyway, will advise you not to give away cats at this time of the year, particularly black cats. Why do they advise you not to give away cats at this time of the year? Because the pagans, though they are very vehement in denying it, are using these things for sacrifices. And if it wasn't a common event, then why would the animal welfare societies be so concerned about it? And why are they advising that in every instance, don't give away your cats or don't give away your animals around Halloween? But of course, the biggest danger and the most widespread danger, if we call it that, maybe not the biggest danger, but the most widespread danger is from the fact that Halloween is today swaying people towards the occult. Now, you say to me, but I would never be swayed. I'm never affected by that. But there are people who are being swayed. We only have to look at what has been happening with the Harry Potter films, and the witchcraft groups will tell you, and they have said, they have admitted, because of Harry Potter and the so many programs that are on the TV which focus on witchcraft and give a glowing face to witchcraft that there are so many young people and children that are being turned to this. You might say, well, I never would and never could. But should we be associated then with anything that is potentially turning people to the occult and to these things? For there are people that are turning to it. You know the advertising industry. Why do they keep advertising? You think that you're not affected by it. But the advertisers are spending thousands and millions of pounds because they know that you are. And the propaganda, and the thing that is, they are coming on with this, and the danger is that so many people are being swayed. Let me tell you what one person who came out of witchcraft said. He was once a former witch high priest. And he was astonished about how many Christians would let their children celebrate Halloween. And he couldn't understand how they were sponsoring Halloween events and things like that. And he said that it was the number one satanic, what he called, holiday of the year. And he said, Halloween is an occasion when the ancient gods are worshipped with human sacrifice. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 20, But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. And the evidence is clear that at this time of the year, it is a pagan festival and the pagans and the Satanists and the witchcraft people are using it as such. And can we fellowship with them in the celebration of such a festival? So we see the dangers then of Halloween. But lastly, could we think for a few minutes about how we deal with Halloween? Romans chapter 13 and verse 12 says, let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. And that's what we need to do, young people. We need to cast off the works of darkness and we need to put on the armor of light. Now, you might say to me, but preacher, It's only a wee bit of fun that I'm not worshipping the pagan gods, and I'm not involved in worshipping these things. And you might argue from Christian freedom that you should be allowed to do those things. And in fact, if you turn over to First Corinthians chapter 10, Paul is dealing with sacrifices that had been offered to pagan idols. And in Corinth, of course, all the meat that was being sold in the market originally had come from the, which had been presented as sacrifices to pagan gods. And some people couldn't, they didn't know whether they should take, would they be partaking in the heathen worship by partaking in the meat that was being offered to pagan gods. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 23, all things are lawful for me. And he goes on to argue, he goes and he says, well, these pagan gods, they don't exist. They're only the figments of people's imagination. So why shouldn't we eat the meat that comes from these idols and things like that? And maybe you could use that argument, you could say, well, I'm not actually worshipping the pagan gods and the pagan idols, and I have a freedom to do this. But now, remember this, that Paul was saying these heathen gods, these pagan gods don't exist. But remember this, young people, Satan does exist and the demons do exist that are being worshipped at Halloween. But having said that, what does Paul go on to say? He said, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things Edify not. He doesn't stop with the expression of freedom. And you might argue with me tonight, well, I'm not worshipping the pagan gods when I am involved in Halloween. But these things may not edify. And you've got to remember, young people, that what may not hurt you may hurt others. Others are being enticed into evil. Others are being drawn into the occult, and potentially they're being enticed into evil. And in 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 9, Paul says this, But take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. When I read about somebody practicing these things, then you are potentially A stumbling block. You know, a Christian a few years ago was speaking to a witch. And she said, I love this time of year the most because this is the time when both Christians and witches worship the same God. Now, would you like to be involved with the witches and the Satanists in worshipping the same God? That's what they think. And then there's another reason that we need to remember. We read there in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 9 to 11. It says, When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, 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, and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. So God forbids us having any connection with the occult. And the Scripture repeatedly tells us not to imitate the practices of the heathen. 3 John, verse 11, says, Beloved, follow not that which is evil. And the scholars tell us that the word follow there is a word that means don't imitate them. Or it is a word which we get our word mimic from or an actor from. Don't mimic them. Don't copy them. Now isn't that what is happening at Halloween? If you're not actually taking part in the pagan practices, what are you doing when you're going out and doing these things? You are mimicking. what the ancient pagans did. You're copying them. And what does it say? Beloved, follow not. Don't mimic. Don't mimic. Don't copy them. That which is evil. And by taking part in Halloween, are you not, at least indirectly, helping to publicize This is the single most important day in the world for the occult. Are you not buying things in the shops that are making these displays? Are you not promoting this, helping to promote it? I would argue that we are. You know, in Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1 and 2, it says, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour." And the word there, follower, is the same type of word as we saw before. It means mimic. God in one hand says, don't mimic evil. But he says, mimic me. Follow thee. Be a follower of me. And that's what you need to do, young people. Now, these things are real. The devil's real. The demons are real. Those people that worship them are real. I know it sounds sensational tonight, but these things are real and they're all around us. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against angels and principalities and powers. And young people, we need to follow the Lord. We need to follow Him and we need to have lives which are glorifying to Him. If you're saved tonight, you follow Him. If you're not saved, don't go down the path that leads you right into the arms of the evil forces. that are conspiring for your destruction and the destruction of all around us. Don't go that way. The Bible says, abstain from all appearance of evil. And we've got to put these things behind us and walk with the Lord. Walk with the Lord. I know some of these things can be fun. If you want fireworks, you can let them all for the 5th of November. and do that. But don't celebrate that which is a pagan festival. Young people, seek the Lord. Follow Him with all of your hearts and with all of your souls. Let's just bow, please, in the wee word of prayer. Our gracious God and our Father, we thank Thee for the opportunity of coming and hearing and expounding Thy Word. We thank Thee, Lord, for the warnings that we have in the Scriptures, and we realize they're not there for no reason. And, O God, we pray today against the forces of evil. And, Lord, we pray that we might not either get too caught up with those things, but that we will indeed follow the Lord. And, O God, we pray that Thou wouldst even safeguard us and surround us. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against angels and principalities and powers. But Lord, we thank Thee we're on the victory sign. We're glad that Satan to Jesus must bow. We're glad that we are going home to glory. Many here tonight to see the city bright. But Lord, we pray for those that are not. Those that are still who went by the forces of hell, set the prisoner free. Break the chains tonight, and bring men, women to thyself. For Jesus' sake. Amen.