October 31 is a unique day in the spiritual realm. It is known by wiccan and pagan communities as Samhein. According to one pagan website, it is the one day of the year when the veil between our world and the spirit world thins and makes it the perfect time to make contact with the dead. The average unknowing, uninformed person calls Samhein, Halloween.
Halloween has grown from a Celtic high holy day celebrated quietly by pagans and wiccans to the second highest retail holiday next to Christmas. Spiritual lines between evil and righteousness have been blurred to the point that many who dress up in costumes, go trick-or-treating, or visit haunted houses actually say they aren’t celebrating Halloween! There are some who admit to being pagan and are proud to celebrate in every way imaginable from orgies to sacrificing animals and children.
Witchcraft has become an accepted religious practice through television and movies beginning with 1960s programs like “Bewitched” and “Dark Shadows” and coming into obvious fruition with “Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Harry Potter.” Divinations, seances and casting spells are commonplace with young girls who are intrigued with being ‘white witches’ or ‘good witches.’ Communicating with dead people is one of the activities of paranormal societies that exist even in my little midwest town. Sorcery is about power. It is an art that manipulates the energy fields of human beings in order to seduce people for whatever purpose: peace, love, prosperity, healing – all of which are obtained, but in a corrupt manner.
Halloween involves a spiritual battle that began long before today’s TV shows, the witchcraft trials of New England, the Dark Ages, the time of Yeshua, King Saul or even Abraham. It began before the flood and its beginnings are recorded in great detail in the Book of Enoch, written for those who live in the time of the end. Unfortunately the book of Enoch was removed from the canon of Scriptures despite the fact that both Peter and Jude refer to its contents. Today, believers are ‘in the dark’ about what may be coming on the world at the end of the age.
“The word of the blessing of Enoch, how he blessed the elect and the righteous, who were to exist in the time of trouble…. Enoch a righteous man, was with God, answered and spoke, while his eyes were open and while he saw a holy vision …. I (Enoch) heard all things, and understood what I saw; that which will not take place in this generation, but in a generation which is to succeed at a distant period, on account of the elect” (Enoch 1:1-3).
A preview is found in Genesis when angels, called the ‘sons of God,’ left their place of authority in the heavenly realm and came to earth. According to Enoch, these angels were attracted to the beauty and alluring uncovered hair of young women, called the ‘daughters of men’ (Enoch 7:1-2). These spiritual beings had sexual relationships with human women. From these relationships children were born who were half human/half spirit.
Genesis 6 calls these children the heroes of old or men of reknown, their Biblical name: Nephilim. Nephilim in Aramaic means ‘to fall’ (like the fallen ones), but in Hebrew, it means ‘giants’. Genesis also says the Nephilim were on the earth ‘in those days of Noah and afterwards.’ What does this mean? Could it be the Greek or Roman mythological heroes like Achilles or Hercules were actually offspring of these half breeds? Wasn’t everyone destroyed in the flood? Enoch explains what happened.
“Then he spoke and said: ‘Hear, neither be afraid, O Enoch, O righteous man, and scribe of righteousness: come here and hear my voice. Go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent you to pray for them ….
‘You being spiritual, holy, and living a life which is eternal, have polluted yourselves with women; have begotten in carnal blood … and have done as those who are flesh and blood do. These however die and perish. Therefore I have given them wives, that they might live with them; that sons might be born of them, and that this might be transacted upon earth. But you, from the beginning were made spiritual, living a life which is eternal, and not subject to death in all the generations of the world. Therefore I made not wives for you, because being spiritual, your dwelling is in heaven.
“Now the giants, who have been born of spirit and of flesh, shall call upon earth evil spirits, and on earth shall be their habitation. Evil spirits shall proceed from their flesh, because they were created from above; from the holy Watchers was their beginning and primary foundation. Evil spirits they shall be upon earth, and the spirits of the wicked shall they be called. The habitation of the spirits of heaven shall be in heaven; but upon earth shall be the habitation of terrestrial spirits, who are born in earth (i.e. 1 Cor. 15:40).
“The spirits of the giants shall be like clouds, which shall oppress, corrupt, fall, contend, and bruise upon earth. They shall cause lamentation. No food shall they eat; and they shall be thirsty; they shall be concealed, and those spirits shall rise up against the sons of men and against women; for they come forth (from them) … (i.e. Luke 4:33,36, Matthew 8:28-34).
“And as to the death of the giants – wheresoever their spirits depart from their bodies, let their flesh, that which is perishable, be without judgment. Thus shall they perish, until the day of the great consummation of the world.
“And now to the Watchers, who have sent you to pray for them, who in the beginning were in heaven, Say, ‘In heaven you have been; secret things however have not been manifested to you; yet have you known an immoral mystery. And this you have related to women in the hardness of your heart, and by that mystery have women and mankind multiplied evil upon the earth (i.e. Jude 4,6,13). Say to them: ‘Never therefore shall you obtain peace” (Enoch chapters 15, 16).
God says in Genesis 8 that he would not contend with man forever because he is mortal. This means that men die. During the time before the flood, men lived nearly 1000 years, but after the judgment man’s days on earth would be about 80 years – a much shorter lifespan (Psalm 90:10).
God could not allow the fallen angels to remain on the earth. They taught humanity things that they should not know … “teaching them sorcery, incantation, and the dividing of roots and trees” (Enoch 7:10). They ‘devoured’ everything in their path
“These (the Nephilim children) devoured all which the labor of men produced; until it became impossible to feed them; when they turned themselves against men, in order to devour them; and began to injure birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, to eat their flesh one after another, and to drink their blood” (Enoch 7:12-14).
In order to cleanse the the earth from its corruption, God sent a flood to destroy all of mankind except Noah and his family. Noah’s family had a pure lineage; only Noah’s family had not be infected with the disgusting practices with the fallen angels.
As for the angels that left their heavenly realm, God put them in darkness and chains until the day of judgment. “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day” (Jude 6, Enoch 10:15).
What happened to the offspring, the Nephilim? They didn’t have a home on earth as they weren’t fully human; they didn’t have a home in heaven as they weren’t fully spiritual. They also weren’t the cause of the problem so God didn’t put them in chains. According to Enoch, their physical flesh died without judgment, but spiritually they birthed evil spirits. These spirits became known as wandering spirits that look for a ‘home’ to claim as their own such as a hollowed out turnip or pumpkin. A more inviting ‘home’ for these evil spirits is taking possession of a human body making the person a ‘demoniac.’
There are evidences of Nephilim in the Scriptures after the flood. They are called giants “whose stature is 300 cubits” which is about 200 yards or 600 feet (Genesis 6:4-6, Enoch 7:12,). Note: the life span of man and the earth’s atmosphere changed after the flood, the size of the Nephilim also decreased exponentially. Incidentally, the Ark that Noah built was also 300 cubits long!
In Numbers 13 is the account of the 12 spies going into the Promised Land. Remember how the branch having a single cluster of grapes needed to be carried by two men on a pole? The spies reported seeing Nephilim in the Land. They described the same thing that Enoch described: large people devouring the land and everyone in it.
“They said, ‘The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (Numbers 13: 32-33). From this we know that whenever we see the word, Anakim, we know they are descendants of Nephilim.
Goliath, who was killed by David, was also a giant. “A champion Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall…” (1 Samuel 17:4-5). Second Samuel 17:16-22 also speaks of more descendants of Rapha who were Goliath’s brothers. Three of their names are recorded in Scripture: Ishbi-Benob, Saph, Goliath the gittite. “These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath ….”
Deuteronomy 3:11 speaks of Og the King of Bashan. He was also a descendant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron more than 13 feet long and 6 feet wide. The Rephaites are mentioned in Joshua 12:4, 13:12, 15:8, 17:15, 18:16; 2 Samuel 5:11, 22, 23:13; 1 Chronicles 11:15, 14:9, 20:4.
While the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years, the Nephilim had time to proliferate. This puts a different perspective as to what was going on in Canaan and why the LORD had to raise up an army against these ‘beings’. He wanted to remove the flesh of the Nephilim from the land He promised to Abraham even though their spirits remained along with the detestable practices they taught to the Canaanites. The LORD warned the Israelites about these detestable practices because he didn’t want them imitating them when they entered the land of the giants. He wanted to rid the Promised Land of evil so His people would be blameless.
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 18:12-14).
Yeshua prophesies about the time of his return, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:36). From Biblical evidence as well as the account from Enoch, it appears that the ‘days of Noah’ had enormous spiritual activity blending into the human race which was destructive to earth and humanity. The people in the ‘days of Noah’ were not prepared for the spiritual warfare they encountered, but we are not in darkness; we have prophecies and the Commander of the LORD’s armies, Yeshua.
The gospels have a lot to say about Yeshua casting out evil spirits. In Mark 9 there is an account of a young boy who had an evil spirit that threw him into convulsions. When the spirit was rebuked by Yeshua as a ‘deaf and mute spirit’, it left the boy violently. Later his disciples asked him about the spirit and why they couldn’t drive it out. Yeshua responded, “This kind can come out only by prayer (and fasting).” He didn’t suggest that the boy had an illness that needed medication, but an evil spirit that needed to be dealt with prayerfully.
Spiritual warfare is not against witches or sorcerers, but against the powers and principalities that witches and sorcerers divine The devil, a fallen angel himself, has quite creatively set up his own world with evil spirits and, as the ‘god of this world, he has blinded the mind of unbelievers…’ (2 Corinthians 4:4). Consequently, as believers we are commanded in Ephesians 6 to put on the armor of God so we can stand against the devil’s schemes in the day of evil.
Prayer is the most important part of our battle armor. Keeping in touch with Commander Yeshua is key to being alerted to the battles that must be stood against. Through the Spirit, Yeshua will reveal when to use our sword, when our breastplate is not on properly, when dents in our helmet are about to occur, when our belt needs to be tightened, when our feet need to be ready with a message of shalom, and when to raise our shield to protecting your fellow soldiers who are battling the same enemy and need support. (Read about one 22-year old soldier’s battle stand in New York City.)
“Finally, pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests, be alert, and always keep praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:13-18).
For those who have young children and are just learning about the evils of Halloween, it can be a difficult journey if you have already taken part in the ‘fun and sinful’ activities of darkness. All you can do is continue to teach your children their identity is not in this world, but in the Messiah. Always use Scripture to reinforce the Truth of the Word in their minds and it will eventually go into their hearts.
Teach them the truth about Halloween as appropriate to their understanding. Use all of the visual aids of witches, skeletons, spider’s webs, black cats that are displayed everywhere through the entire month of October as examples of darkness and death in the world. Don’t wait until the last minute to enlighten them to what is being represented around them.
Timothy was taught Scripture on his grandmother’s lap. I’m sure she didn’t water down the Bible avoiding the ‘scary parts’ or make up silly stories using flowers, animals or vegetables to tell the ‘tales’. She taught him the Truth using all of the Scriptures, including Enoch, which is why he grew into a wise young man. Your goal is to raise a soldier who knows how to fight each battle that will come into their life.
“Dear friends, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God” (3 John 1:11).
Take and make a stand against the enemy with your children. Don’t be deceived, what you sow, you will reap. Alternatives, rationalizations and excuses about why you aren’t ‘really’ celebrating Halloween are the same as celebrating it. Don’t be a double-minded believer. Don’t let them do some things, but not others. Don’t let them not buy a costume, but allow candy because it’s cheap. Don’t tell them they can’t go to a haunted house, but allow them to go to a corn maze where a witch greets them! Make the day (and the season) very black and white – not black and orange!
I write to you dear children … (1 John 2)
Children, it is important that you obey your parents who are teaching you about the ways of God. It is the right thing for you to do (Ephesians 6:1). Though you may not like the rules, if you obey your parents without complaining or arguing, you will be protected from evil. They are actually training you to grow into maturity so that you can learn to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:14). Through your obedience you will receive the incredible blessing of being a pure child of God. You will become one of those shining stars in the universe that brings light to those in the darkness.
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God, without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like starts in the universe as you hold out the word of life …” (Philippians 2:14-15).
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