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From: wgm@mbunix.mitre.org (Gregory M. Woodhouse)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Taking God Seriously
Message-ID: <Oct.18.17.35.10.1989.2403@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 18 Oct 89 21:35:12 GMT
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I was interested to see the discussion on Halloween.  It might help us to put
this in perspective if we examine the forces at work in the celebration of
holidays like Halloween, Easter and Christmas.

When Lucifer fell (Isa. 14), he made the statement, "I will be like the Most
High."  His motivation has not changed.  Whenever we see Satan working it is
as a counterfiet substitution for the real thing.  He appears as an "angel of
light" which at first appearance seems true and authoritative, but upon closer
scrutiny shows himself to be false and untrustworthy.  This is how he dealt
with Eve when he used God's own words to convince her that she had not been
told the whole truth and would not, indeed, surely die.  We see the same thing
in the temptation of Christ, when Satan used the Scriptures to  tempt the Lord
Jesus to put God the Father to the test.  We see it in the prophecies of the
end times when the "mark of the beast" appears as a counterfeit to the "seal
of God" on the foreheads of the 144,000 chosen of Israel..  We can see it in
our own lives as Christians, when we pray to the Lord for direction and Satan
quickly manipulates the circumstances around us to mis-direct us.  We see it
in the activity of Satan in so many churches where he is building into
people's lives all of the symptoms of salvation without a genuine experience
of being "born again".

Satan's activities in holidays follow the same unalterable pattern.  When a
Christian holiday (if there is such a thing) is established, Satan quickly
reacts to divert the attention of God's people (and the world) from the true
celebration at hand.  I will probably catch some flack for the following
suggestions, but hear me out, please.  Christmas is really the celebration of
the birth of Christ (although we were never commanded to remember His birth,
only His death).  Satan has effectively diverted the attention of the world
from the true purpose of this celebration through the introduction of a jolly,
affable character with which the world can associate brotherhood and good
will, but which nonetheless succeeds in diverting attention from the Son of
God.  Easter is the same way.  For most of the world that celebrates Easter,
the main character is not the dying Son of God, but a large bunny who gives
presents and happiness to the children.  Another diversion.  There is nothing
inherently wrong with the characters of Santa Claus or the Easter Rabbit, but
Satan is a master at using the good things of the world to keep us from
enjoying the BEST things.

Halloween was originally a celebration of the patriarchs and saints.  Satan
has succeeded in once again diverting our attention from the original meaning
of the holiday to something else, in this case something that is not as
harmless as a bunny.  We need to recognize the working of Satan for what it
is, and if we choose to celebrate these holidays (which may well be
appropriate) that we teach our children not only what they really mean, but
why the world's attention has been diverted, and by whom.  I suspect that part
of the reason we don't recognize Satan's working in things like this is that
too many of us have bought the picture of Satan that he has so masterfully
painted in the minds of the world - red flannels and a pointed tail.

Mark Woodhouse - gmw@mounix.mitre.org
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