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Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Dark Side of Halloween: The Lure of the Occult



The Dark Side of Halloween:
The Lure of the Occult
by Chuck Missler

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Later this month, hordes of costumed children will be hitting the streets in search of candy and other treats. Yet, Halloween is not just “trick or treat” and “fun and games.” Halloween practices can open the door to the occult and can introduce forces into people’s lives that they are not equipped to combat.

The lure of the occult has affected mankind throughout the ages. According to the Greek legend, Pandora, despite warnings by Zeus not to, yielded to her curiosity and opened the forbidden box and thus inadvertently released all manner of evils which flew out to cover the Earth.

The occult takes many forms; oftentimes it is very desirable. In Homer’s Odyssey, Ulysses had himself lashed to the mast to preclude his succumbing to the alluring call of the Sirens. It’s crucial to lash ourselves to the mast of known truth and prepare to pass through turbulent waters that have “bested the best” of the mariners of the past.

Mysticism

The boundaries are not clearly defined which separate mysticism from metaphysics (basic nature or structure of being), cosmology (study of the origin of the universe), theosophies (systems of conjectures into the divine nature), and occultism (the study and control of supernatural powers), theurgy (the art of compelling or persuading supernatural powers) and magic (often of the lowest kind).

Each of these, unless securely lashed to the tether of the revealed Word of God, ultimately ends up in direct conflict with the Biblical record. Non-Biblical mysticism is always essentially incompatible with the teachings of Judaism and Christianity, which promote a faith in a sole God who created the universe and who chose to reveal Himself and communicate the rules of life through an exclusive relationship with Him.

Clearly, John and Paul were mys­tics in the sense that our union with Christ was their highest desire; but their aspirations and pursuits were always within the safeguards of Scripture.

Extra-Biblical speculations on the origin and order of the uni­verse, influenced by correspondences in ancient and medieval science, led to mysticism in various forms, including the Kabbalah of Judaism and the Gnostic heresies of Christianity, each increasingly divergent from its foundational source. Mysticism invariably ends up contra­dicting or contravening the Biblical record.

The Rise of Jewish Mysticism

Judaism, while traditionally having relied on the substi­tutionary sacrifices of the Torah, but then stripped of both a Messiah and the Temple, gradually evolved to become a program of ethical and moral efforts of the Jews to acquit themselves before God. Constant ideological readjustment involved the infiltration of concepts from external sources, including Babylonian and Greek mysticism, and the reactions against them.

The Talmud and the Midrash (rabbinical legal and interpretative literature) tended to obliterate the earlier traditions as the veneration of various sages and commentators tended to eclipse the primary texts of the Tanakh (the Old Testament) itself. Interpretive exegesis and the veneration of contemporary sages opened up increasing opportunities for matters of inner experience and personal speculations.

The Kabbalah

The Kabbalah (hlbq, from lbq,, “to receive;” literally, “the received lore,” or “tradition”) is a term used several ways. Originally it com­prised the entire traditional lore, in contradistinction to the written law (the Torah), and therefore included the prophetic and hagio­graphic books of the Bible, as “received” by the power of the Holy Spirit. From the 13th century onward, the Kabbalah branched out to include extensive esoteric Jewish specula­tions alongside of, and ultimately in opposition to, the Talmud. It grew to include esoteric or mystic doctrine, asserting to have come down as a revelation to elect saints, preserved for a privileged few.

An eclectic amalgam of pantheism and other Eastern pagan con­cepts, the Kabbalah endorses a non-Biblical view of God. The God of the Old Testament is inferior to the supreme unknowable Ein Hof, the ultimate focus of Kabbalahism. With practices parallel with Indian (Tantric kundalini) yoga and Muslim sufism, one of the goals is the manipulation of the divine nature.

With the rise of interest in the occult today, the resurgence of interest in the Kabbalah is no exception.1 (For further study, see our briefing package, Kabbalah, .)

Christian Mysticism

The role played by the Kabbalah was not limited to the Jewish community. The Kabbalah transcended the frontiers of Judaism and influenced Christian mysticism from the Renaissance to the present. Under the influence of Jewish converts from Spain and Italy, Kabbalistic documents, touched up as necessary (or even forged), provided arguments supporting Christian doctrinal issues or devia­tions. The occult philosophy of the 16th century, the “natural philos­ophy” of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the occult and theosophic theories today-including the practices of Freemasonry-borrow from the amalgam of the Kabbalah.

Biblical Warnings against the Occult

The occult is on the rise in all segments of our society. There is great power in the occult.2 However, the Bible warns against it.3

There were many superstitions and false concepts in ancient Israel about which the Bible is silent. However, occultism, in any form, was punishable by death! Why? Occult practice constitutes trafficking with demons, from which flow other concerns: idolatry, spiritual deception, the likelihood of posses­sion, psychological, spiritual and physical harm, immoral teachings and consequences.

The Bible commands us to shun occult practices. Mediums and spiritists are expressly prohibited.4 Nowhere are such practices acceptable.

Spiritual warfare is a reality.5 We have serious enemies that are extremely resourceful and malevolent. The Bible warns of a personal devil and myriads of demons who should be regarded as cunning enemies.6 Satan and his hordes are active in the affairs of the Planet Earth.7 In fact, the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One,8 and his forces are behind all occult involvement, idolatry, and false religion.9

All supernatural manifestations are to be tested by the Word of God.10 The devil’s tactics include masquerading as an “angel of light” and a servant of righteousness.11 False teachers and false prophets are linked to evil spirits, and there are “doctrines of demons.”12 Demons work through people by giving them psychic abilities.13

The Dark Side of Halloween

Halloween is, for many, a “crossover” involvement in which innocent games can lead to serious entanglement with real witches, neo-pagans, New Agers, and other occultists.14 A common pastime is the use of a Ouija board to attempt to contact ghosts or spirits that are believed to be roaming about. This can lead to serious consequences, including demon possession.15 Demons have a vested interest in Halloween because it supports the occult, and it also offers novel and unexpected opportunities to control and influence people.

Forms of the occult can include mediums, channelers, clairvoyants, psychics, spiritists, diviners, mystics, gurus, shamans, psychical researchers, Yogis, psychic and holistic healers, astral travel, astrology, mysticism, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, contact with the dead, UFOs, and thousands of other practices which almost defy cataloging-even Harry Potter books and movies can lead innocent children into the occult.

Occultism also includes Satanism, Kabbalah, Gnosticism, theosophy, witchcraft and many forms of serious magic. It includes activities seeking the acquisition of “hidden” things-which are expressly forbidden by God in the Bible.

Your Protection

Intellect alone is insufficient. “If it were possible, it would deceive the very elect.” This is another example of the necessity to truly understand the Armor of God as outlined in Ephesians 6.

To learn more about the dark side of Halloween, see our classic briefing package, Halloween: Invitation to the Occult? Now also available on audio CD/MP3.

This article was originally published in the
October 2007 Personal Update NewsJournal.
For a FREE 1-Year Subscription, click here.
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Notes:

1.“What Profits the Kabbalah,” Time, November 24, 1997
2.Isaiah 47:9.
3.Deuteronomy 18:9-14.
4.Leviticus 19:31; 2 Chronicles 33:6.
5.Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Corinthians 2:11; 1 Peter 5:8.
6.John 8:44; 13:27; Matthew 6:13; 9:34; 12:24; Luke 8:12; 13:16; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Acts 16:16-18; 2 Corinthians 2:11: 11:3; 2 Timothy 2:26.
7.Ephesians 2:2; Daniel 10:12,13, 20.
8.2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19.
9.Deuteronomy 32:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 10:19-21; Psalm 106:35-40; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10; Acts 16:16-19, et al.
10.1 John 4:1; Revelation 2:2; Acts 17:10-12; Deuteronomy 18:20-22; Matthew 24:24, etc.
11.2 Corinthians 11:13-15.
12.1 Timothy 4:1; 1 John 4:1.
13.Acts 16:16-19; Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7.
14.See Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, Harvest House, Eugene OR, 1996.
15.The case studies underlying William Blatty’s The Exorcist indicate that the trouble all began with a child playing with a Ouija board.

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3 comments:

  1. Those who follow The Messiah do not observe "days, months, and years) for they are but "aliens and pilgrims while the earth" because their "citizenship is in Heaven"!

    So it is that they are exhorted to:

    “Love Not The World”

    ”For the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one”.......(I John 5:19)

    “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world will pass away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of The Only True GOD will abide for ever.”(IJohn2:15-17)

    “If you were of the world, the world would love it’s own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.” (John15:19-20)

    “Where do wars and fighting among you come from? Do they not come of your lusts that war in your members? You lust, and have not: you kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: you fight and war yet you have not, because you ask not. You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts. You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is to be at enmity with The Only True GOD? Therefore whoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of The Only True GOD.” (James 4:1-4)

    “The world cannot hate you; but the world hates Me, because I testify that the works of this world are evil.” (John 7:7)” and “The Messiah gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of The Only True God, Our Father.”(Gal 1:4)

    The Messiah testified: “If the world hates you know that it hated Me before it hated you.”(John 5:18) Truly, Truly, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die it brings forth much fruit. He that loves his life in this world shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall have it unto life eternal.” (John 12:24-25)

    John testified: “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you.” (I John 3:13) “ James testified, “Whoever would be a friend of this world is the enemy of GOD”(James4:4)

    "Come Out of her, MY people"!

    Global warming, polluted air, land and waters, toxic wastes, sexual perversion, evil inventions of destruction, greed, hate, carnal warfare, dis-ease(no-peace),,etc,, are all destructive processes that have their root in “the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life” all of which fuel the fires of mankind’s “imag”ination ;-(

    "Come out from among them and be separate"!

    Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world and it's systems of religion, for "the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one" indeed and Truth......

    Truth IS, a lie never was and is not.......

    Abide in Truth....... francis

    ReplyDelete
  2. I find this rather amusing, I consider myself an occultist and it is blatantly obvious that you have neither looked into or researched the term "Occult" or what it is about.

    You have sprouted what you have been told by certain collectives, and taken it at face value.

    Occult is taken from the Latin phrase "Occultus" which means hidden memories/knowledge.

    It is the study of certain sciences to unlock and remember the true state of the world, as it is. It is nothing more than a path to the same place your going. The place you call heaven, we call enlightenment... please research and do not make naive posts such as that waffle :)

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  3. Jay,

    Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6.

    My friend, you may claim to know the ins and outs of your field "the occult", but, Jesus is the only way to heaven. There aren't two roads to reach that goal. If that were the case why not eat, drink, and marry for tomorrow we will die (and wind up in heaven, either way).

    You have the Lord's road to salvation before you. It's your prerogative to chose either the Lord's route, or your own inclinations. The decision is yours, chose between your rationales and semantics, or Truth.

    Arsenio,

    Maranatha.

    ReplyDelete