Pat Robertson: Celebrating Halloween Is Satan Worship
Crazy Uncle Pat is at it again. Not quite sure if he’s off his meds or taking too damn many of them.
Anyway, he was asked a question on Monday’s (9/26/16) “700 Club” broadcast, about a mother allowing her child to visit a “haunted” house on Halloween.
His response:
Mother, don’t let your babies grow up to be demon-worshippers. Don’t let him do it…Halloween has become a night when the devil rejoices!
He suggested that churches put on alternatives, where “all the nice, pretty girls and all the handsome boys” are “praising the Lord instead of worshiping Satan.” (I guess ugly kids aren’t invited.)
That got me to thinking about a post I wrote a couple of Halloweens ago.
It seems, former teen hunk and current Khristian troglodyte, Kirk Cameron, got his Underoos bunched up in his backside because pagans stole Halloween from the church.
In an interview with the “Christian Post,” he had this to say,
In the 9th century, the Roman Catholic Church shifted the date of All Saints’ Day to 1 November, while 2 November later became All Souls’ Day. Over time, Samhain and All Saints’/All Souls’ merged and helped to create the modern Halloween.
On the costume aspect of Halloween, Kirk has some thoughts:
When you go out on Halloween and see all people dressed in costumes and see someone in a great big bobble-head Obama costume with great big ears and an Obama face, are they honoring him or poking fun? They are poking fun at him. … Early on, Christians would dress up in costumes as the devil, ghosts, goblins and witches precisely to make the point that those things were defeated and overthrown by the resurrected Jesus Christ. The costumes poke fun at the fact that the devil and other evils were publicly humiliated by Christ at His resurrection.
(So, I guess he believes that Obama is one of the devils or other evils that J.C. humiliated.)
And then there are the “trick-or-treaters”:
You can give them Gospel tracts and tell the story of how every ghost, goblin, witch and demon was trounced the day Jesus rose from the grave.
(I’m sure that will thrill the neighborhood six-year olds.)
You should have the biggest party on your block, and you should have the reason for everyone to come to your house and before anyone else’s house because yours is the most fun. Halloween gives you a great opportunity to show how Christians celebrate the day that death was defeated.”
(Well, I have to admit. It does sound like one scary party.)
I hate to break it to Kirk, (Actually, I really don’t!) but as is common for Khristian troglodytes, he gets it back-assward.
It’s true that in the eighth century, (not the ninth) Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs with a holiday, All Saints’ Day. However, the holiday it usurped goes back a lot farther.
The Roman church had a long history of usurping local events and mythological critters and incorporating them as “Christian”. They did this with Saturnalia. (Roman) You know it as Christmas. Oh, and the mistletoe (Druid), yule log (6th century Germanic Paganism) and holly (Roman Saturnalia Festival) are also imports. Also, it’s amazing how many local mythological critters morphed into Catholic saints and demons.
Much like Christmas, with its pagan Saturnalia roots, All Hallows Eve evolved from the Celtic celebration of the Samhain Festival. Btw, Samhain was about the end of the herding, trade and warfare season, not about death or demons.
According to Sir James George Frazer ‘s book, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion . May 1st and November 1st were of great importance to herdsmen. It is at the beginning of summer that cattle are driven to the upland summer pastures and the beginning of winter that they are led back. Frazer suggested that halving the year at May 1st and November 1st dates from a time when the Celts were mainly a pastoral people, dependent on their herds. In medieval Ireland the festival marked the end of the season for trade and warfare and was an ideal date for tribal gatherings.
One last question: If the Khristians win the war on Halloween, does that mean I have to give up my annual pumpkin patch vigil for the Great Pumpkin?
