beware of halloween

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There will be a series of devotions written not by me, but by a former chief warlock Ben Alexander to tackle some very thorny issues.

Here is his website:

https://www.espministries.com/


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Many Christian parents are concerned about what Halloween really is. We know that it is of Druidical origin which means that it was part of the Druid religion. In essence, Druidism is the worship of evil spirits, especially of druids who were believed to dwell in trees. There were priests in the Druid religion and like all pagan religions, Druidism revolved around the worship of evil spirits, and offerings to them to insure the welfare of the worshippers.
许多基督徒父母都很关心万圣节到底是什么。我们知道它起源于德鲁伊教，这意味着它是德鲁伊宗教的一部分。从本质上讲，德鲁伊教是对恶灵的崇拜，尤其是那些被认为住在树上的德鲁伊宗教。德鲁伊教中也有祭司，像所有异教一样，德鲁伊教以邪灵崇拜为中心，并为它们献祭，以确保信徒的福祉。

THE ORIGIN OF HALLOWEEN
万圣节的由来​

The name of the festival in early days (and it is still found in Ireland) meant "Satan's Watch." It was the night given over to Satan and his demons to work all the evil they wanted in the hope they would leave people unmolested the rest of the year. A fire was commonly kept burning on that night. The ghosts of the dead were dreaded and feared and men were thought to be restless in their graves because of something that happened in their life on earth. They were supposed to come back from the dead to take vengeance on those who were descended from people who had wronged them. People commonly locked themselves in their houses and spent the night in terror, letting the devil have his fling and do his worst.
万圣节在早期(在爱尔兰仍然存在)意味着“撒旦的守夜”。在这个夜晚，撒旦和他的魔鬼可以为所欲为，希望在接下来的一年里不会侵扰人们。那天晚上一般都会点燃篝火。人们对死者的鬼魂感到恐惧和害怕，认为死去的人会因为在世间发生的某些事情而在坟墓里焦躁不安。据说他们会复活，向那些曾经冤枉他们的人的后代复仇。人们通常把自己锁在家里，整夜都在恐惧中度过，让魔鬼为所欲为，尽其恶行。

Spiritualism and witchcraft is very real and we should not be providing our children with this opportunity for involvement. Many, if not all of our Halloween customs have their roots in these ancient beliefs. The witch on the broomstick and the jack-o-lantern are the symbols of Halloween. The witch, of course, is the personification of evil which is a substitute for Satan. The jack-o-lantern symbolizes the fire that was kept burning in the houses of those who feared Satan's worst. In fact the jack-o-lantern is always lit up (there is a fire there) so as to frighten away the devil.
招魂术和巫术是非常真实的，我们不应该给我们的孩子提供这种参与的机会。即使不是所有的万圣节习俗都源于这些古老的信仰。骑在扫帚上的女巫和南瓜灯是万圣节的象征。当然，女巫是邪恶的化身，是撒旦的替代品。南瓜灯象征着那些害怕撒旦使坏的人家中一直点燃的火。事实上，南瓜灯总是被点亮(那里有火)，以驱赶魔鬼。

WHAT HALLOWEEN REALLY MEANS
万圣节的真正含义​

Dressing up in costumes and "trick or treating" to the neighbors is a carry-over of the idea of making an offering to Satan and to the spirits to appease them. "Trick or treating" is a modern form of saying "offering or revenge." The grotesque and horrible masks our young people wear making themselves look like skeletons, dead people, or horrible monsters are symbolizing Satan and inspiring fear to get an offering.
穿着奇装异服和对邻居说“不给糖就捣蛋”，这是一种向撒旦和邪灵献祭以安抚他们想法的延续。“不给糖就捣蛋”是现代的表述方式，意为“献祭或报复”。我们的年轻人戴的那些怪诞可怕的面具，让自己看起来像骷髅、死人或可怕的怪物，象征着撒旦，并激发人们的恐惧以获得祭品。

Satan likes Halloween celebrations because this is a glorification of evil. Most people naturally do not think of it in this way. We believe it is all done in fun. Is it wise to have our children dress up like the devil and have "fun" in a devilish form? Can this possibly please God? After all, Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we are in a spiritual battle against Satan and his demons when it says. "for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. When the Word of God teaches this, do you think it is right to celebrate a night given over to our enemy, Satan? When we poke fun and joke about the spirit world, we are encouraging ourselves and our children to believe that this doesn't really exist. When we allow our children to dress up like witches and ghosts, we are allowing them to treat lightly what God treats seriously in His Word. Exodus 22:18, Deuteronomy 18:10, and several other scriptures tell us that this is wrong. Those who don't know about the origin and meaning of Halloween are feeding their own belief into the Word of God when they treat lightly and celebrate what God hates. Satan camouflages himself amidst fun and gaiety and gets people to belittle his power and activity among men or even completely deny it. It is a very clever trick of the enemy.
撒旦喜欢万圣节的庆祝活动，因为这是对邪恶的颂扬。大多数人自然不会这样想。我们相信这一切都是为了好玩。让我们的孩子打扮成魔鬼，以魔鬼的形式享受“乐趣”是明智的吗?这能讨上帝的喜悦吗?毕竟，以弗所书6章12节告诉我们，我们是在与撒但和他的魔鬼作属灵的争战。“因为我们并不是与属血气的争战，乃是与那些执政的、掌权的、管辖这幽暗世界的，以及天空属灵气的恶魔争战。”当神的话语教导我们这样做时，你认为庆祝我们的敌人撒旦之夜是正确的吗?当我们拿灵界开玩笑时，我们是在鼓励我们自己和我们的孩子相信这并不存在。当我们允许我们的孩子打扮成女巫和鬼魂时，我们就允许他们轻视神在他的话语中认真看待的东西。出埃及记22:18，申命记18:10，以及其他几段经文都告诉我们这是错误的。那些不了解万圣节的起源和含义的人，当他们轻视和庆祝上帝所憎恨的事物时，他们正在形成对上帝的话语的信仰。撒旦把自己伪装在欢乐之中，使人轻视他在人间的权力和活动，甚至完全否认他的能力和活动。这是敌人非常聪明的伎俩。

AN ALTERNATIVE FOR TODAY
今天的替代选择​

Satan is getting bolder in the United States, Occult practices are springing up all over America. Halloween parties provide a perfect setting for these. Often at these parties there is fortune telling, ouija boards, seances, and things of that nature. We can't afford to have our children participate in these activities.
We realize the problems this creates because it will be said "everybody" is dressing up to go "trick or treating." October 31 is not evil of itself. It is what we do with it that matters. Let's work at substituting good fun for bad. We can start working through our church. Instead of having a Halloween party, have a fun night ---games, refreshments, and perhaps even a film. The children can dress up - maybe a clown night, an old-fashioned night, or even Bible character night. Have a party! Have fun! Let it be harmless fun and let us glorify our Lord Jesus Christ - not His adversary.
撒旦在美国越来越猖狂，神秘活动在美国遍地开花。万圣节派对为这些提供了一个完美的场所。通常在这些派对上会出现算命、占卜板、降神会等类似的活动。我们不能让我们的孩子参与这些活动。我们意识到这带来的问题，因为会有说说“每个人”都在装扮去玩“不给糖就捣蛋”。10月31日本身并不邪恶。重要的是我们如何渡过这一天。让我们努力用好的乐趣来代替不好的方式。我们可以通过我们的教会开始工作。与其举办万圣节派对，不如过一个有趣的夜晚——玩游戏，吃点心，甚至看电影。孩子们可以盛装打扮——也许是小丑之夜，一个老式的夜晚，甚至是圣经人物之夜。举办一个派对吧!玩得开心!让它成为无害的娱乐，让我们荣耀我们的主耶稣基督，而不是他的对手。

One of my concerns is that when a child has enjoyed trick or treating once a year and then becomes a teenager…What then? Well, they are not going around knocking on doors for candy, that’s for kids. So, what happens --- they have parties and hold séances. This is a fact, and the results sometimes can be devastating, added to the fact that they are violating God’s will and opening themselves up to demon possession.
我担心的一个问题是，当一个孩子每年享受了一次“不给糖就捣蛋”的游戏乐趣，然后长成十几岁的青少年……那么接下来呢? 嗯，他们不会到处敲门要糖果，那是给孩子们的。那么会发生什么——他们会举办派对，开将神会。这是事实，结果有时是毁灭性的，加上他们违背了上帝的旨意，让自己暴露于恶魔附体的危险之中。

The BOTTOM LINE is that this would be a good time to explain to our children about the TRUE source and power and the one who we should really celebrate is JESUS.
最重要的是，现在是一个很好的时机，向我们的孩子解释真正的源头和力量，以及我们真正应该庆祝的是耶稣。

God Bless,
Ben
愿上帝保佑
本（Ben）


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