The Dark Side of Beautiful - 10/30

The Dark Side of Beautiful – 10/30    This weekend America and much of the world celebrates the second biggest holiday of the year – Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos. This holiday often portrays the scary side of death – though today I’d like to also talk about the beautiful almost irresistible side of death too.  Halloween Stats[1] per USA Today  Americans love holidays – Ancient Israel had close to 4 weeks of national holidays plus the weekly Sabbath holiday Today there are said to be 11 days of national holiday in America 10 billion dollars will be spent on Halloween this year – 1 billion more than ever before. 1/3 on costumes – 1/3 on candy and 1/3 on decorations 2/3 Americans will celebrate Halloween  8 out of ten families with children will celebrate Halloween  Most popular costume by 4x more than any other – A witch - Did you know that more people in America today identify as a witch[2] (1.4 million) than those who identify as Seventh-day Adventist? More witches than those who identify as Presbyterian! An Atlantic article describes – “Americans’ interest in spell-casting tends to increase as instability rises and trust in establishment ideas plummets. Wicca is America’s fastest growing Religion!!!!! Author Julie Roys says - “Wicca (which is a form of paganism) has effectively repackaged witchcraft for Millennial consumption. No longer are witchcraft and paganism satanic and demonic… it’s a ‘pre-Christian tradition’ that promotes ‘free thought’ and ‘understanding of earth and nature.’ October 31 is Halloween – November 1 begins the festival – Dia de los Muertos or day of the dead – often very beautiful -  Origins are believed to be pagan—Pagan - a person who worships many gods or goddesses or the earth or nature -  Later all hallows eve – sought to Christianize the holiday – – originally called Samhain – a celtic pagan holiday  Occurred around the solstice and a day when animals were slaughtered and bonfires were lit where it was believed the veil between the living and the underworld/dead was thin – a time when the AOS SI or spirits or fairies could more easily communicate with the living. Some say the AOS SI were a supernatural race of spirits generally described as stunningly beautiful. The AOS Si were believed to be the gods of the ancient pagan world – Scripture describes these ‘gods’ of the pagan world as fallen angels cast out of heaven for giving their allegiance to Lucifer rather than Jehovah The celebration of this ancient festival was when - The souls of dead relatives were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality, and a place was set at the table for them during a Samhain meal. Disguise and wrapping oneself in burial clothes like a mummy was a part of this festival in order to hide yourself from the AOS Si. It was a holiday of impersonation. Impersonation is the practice when Someone imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. According to Irish mythology, Samhain was a time when the 'doorways' to the Underworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world; Samhain "was essentially a festival for the dead".[3] Here in America, we are pretty obsessed with this idea of death being nothing more than a gateway to the next life. This sentiment is much like the ancient Egyptians. Whether it’s zombies, the undead, ghosts, conjuring spirits or anything we celebrate on Halloween these days – death has become big business – especially the scary side of it. But then there’s the other side – the beautiful side – the idea of reconnecting with our loved ones.  We love the idea of communicating with the dead, celebrating life after death and who can blame us ? The Sumerians did, the Egyptians did, the Persians, the Greeks, the idea of talking to the dead is found in Homer's Odyssey..and  the Romans were into it And now the Christians… In the midst of the civil war – there were more people who claimed to be able to talk to the dead than the number of people who were in favor of abolishing slavery!!!! In the early years of the United States – Most Protestant Christians openly protested to celebrating this holiday.  I don’t know your thoughts on Halloween but I think its important to know the history of a thing and the issues around it. Especially in light of the belief by some that the downfall of ancient empires was closely linked with the increase in supposed communication with the spirit world and communicating with the dead.  Why would that be? Today nearly 2 billion people on earth identify as Christian and the majority of those believe it is possible to communicate with the dead.   Two sides of this discussion the beautiful and the ugly  So often we talk about the ugly – in our books, our art, our films – the dead are scary but then the other side is when its our loved ones…. That we miss so much – that we often would do anything to reconnect with - Hollywood capitalizes on both – the scary and the beautiful The bible is not silent on the idea of what happens to us humans after we breathe our last breath. The Bible tells us in Genesis 2:7 and Ezekiel 18:20 – that the soul is not immortal. That life comes from the dust of the ground and the breath of life from God. Like a lightbulb made of materials from the ground is nothing without electricity – together they create light.  Overall Scripture paints death as a sleep – awaiting the final judgment – the final decision of God as to who knew Him and who did not. Only after that decision does destiny and destination be decided. But not secretly – instead at events known as the second and third coming of Jesus. At the second the righteous dead awake. At the third the dead who are lost will awake.  After death a person: returns to dust (Psalms 104:29), knows nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5), possesses no mental powers (Psalms 146:4), has nothing to do with anything on earth (Ecclesiastes 9:6), does not live (2 Kings 20:1), waits in the grave (Job 17:13), and continues not (Job 14:1, 2). --------The gods of the old Testament were not just imaginary. Talking about these ‘gods’ David tells us the history of his people and the great sin of King Saul-  They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood (Psalm 106:34-38). the demons, the fallen angels, legion race were the gods of the old Testament and all these different gods were demons that somehow in some way had personified themselves. And then the people had made an idol after this demon. And if the angels are in the proportions that we read and legend says, they're extremely tall, 12, 16, 18 foot tall beings, and very Beautiful.  They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known.. (Deut 32:16-17).  Deut 18:9-12 - 9When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. 10There shall not be found among you any one who maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or who useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all who do these things are an abomination unto the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee (KJV). Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. This was profound. When I learned this concept that these weren't just ignorant people. They were worshiping beings with a ton of talent and skill and wisdom. Early Church leaders such as Justin Martyr and Tertullian held similar views (that the gods were actually demons). Why would ancient civilizations talk to these beings? We learn in 2 Kings 19:35 that one angel – one of these type of beings killed 185,000 soldiers in one night. You hear talk of generals from wars in our recent history who were communing with these same beings. - - - I’d like to tell you a story about Israel’s first King – Saul and his communicating with the spirit world through an oracle of Endor – READ 1 Samuel 28:3-6 Saul is longing for answers. Notice verse 3 - Samuel has died. He was the voice of God to Saul. Have you ever lost someone close to you? You know this feeling of love being cut off suddenly.  I have. A few years back I got a call that my dad had died in a car accident. Sudden. You think of the your last conversation. You think of the good times. You would do ANYTHING to talk to them again.  Let me repeat that - You would do ANYTHING to talk to them again.  I know the Bible teaching on the dead, yet for months and even years I would have dreams where I would see my dad, talk to him, even know he was dead yet everything in my being - in my dream - wanted to hug him, talk to him.  Not until you lose someone and realize the power of love and loss do you begin to really understand the power of this doctrine of the devil - that death is a doorway to the next life. That there is no check and balance to immortality – all must just live on regardless of character and actions in this life.  Saul was desperate and he called for a medium. He knew better but he was would do ANYTHING to find answers. 1 Samuel 28:7- 25 ——-    —-     —-    —-   —- Why address this today? Because if the Bible is true, it paints a picture of some mass event in our future - a deception thousands of years in the making. In the closing scenes of this war between good and evil we are told that The most powerful medium - friends and family, who seem to come to us, look the same, sound the same, smell the same, and are here to comfort us and ‘warn us’ of coming danger. I can tell you everything in your soul will WANT TO BELIEVE these beings impersonating your loved ones. This is where faith and feeling will fight their greatest battle. The only thing telling you this is not real is Scripture and the truth that the dead know nothing (Eccl 9:5) and Job 7:9-10 - As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return. He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more. 1 Timothy 4:1 - The Spirit clearly says that in the last days some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 1 Timothy 4:3 - For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. We also learn in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that Lucifer - the fallen archangel of heaven is planning to personatechrist before the true second coming. We also learn that the fallen angels are going to impersonate loved ones who have gone to sleep i.e. died. Why? Because this is the most powerful MEDIUM to sway someone’s belief system.  I had a friend in elementary school who’s family had spoken to their dead daughter- his sister. There is NO. LET ME REPEAT. NO WAY to reason with someone’s apparent reality. They saw her, they spoke to her, and I was not going to convince them otherwise.  The dead can appear to talk to the living, it’s just not the dead but demons or the fallen angels masquerading as loved ones with the sole desire to deceive us.  Life is made up of concepts and ideas which equate to emotions and actions. You have a choice on what you believe and how it effects your behavior.  This topic and a complete understanding of it impacts so many other beliefs and ideas. It has influenced this planet since the first day and will be an issue until the last day.  The reason it is all so important is because it is about love. God loves us and does not want to see us deceived and lost. We have to decide if that true love is worth it… Jesus - For why should we seek the living among the dead? (Luke 24:5) Challenge -  ---------------------        Ellen White on husband James after death:  Prolific Author and Adventist Pioneer, Ellen White – Letter 17, 1881 (RY 161) ------ Life Sketches p. 360 -----GCB June 1, 1913 James White her husband has just died recently –--------A few days since, I was pleading with the Lord for light in regard to my duty. In the night I dreamed I was in the carriage, driving, sitting at the right hand. Father (Dad – James White) was in the carriage, seated at my left hand. He was very pale, but calm and composed. “Why Father,” I exclaimed, “I am so happy to have you by my side once more! I have felt that half of me was gone. Father, I saw you die; I saw you buried. Has the Lord pitied me and let you come back to me again, and we work together as we used to?”  He looked very sad. He said, “The Lord knows what is best for you and for me. My work was very dear to me. We have made a mistake. We have responded to urgent invitations of our brethren to attend important meetings. We had not the heart to refuse. These meetings have worn us both more than we were aware. Our good brethren were gratified, but they did not realize that in these meetings we took upon us greater burdens than at our age we could safely carry. They will never know the result of this long-continued strain upon us. God would have had them bear the burdens we have carried for years. Our nervous energies have been continuously taxed, and then our brethren misjudging our motives and not realizing our burdens have weakened the action of the heart. I have made mistakes, the greatest of which was in allowing my sympathies for the people of God to lead me to take work upon me which others should have borne.  “Now, Ellen, calls will be made as they have been, desiring you to attend important meetings, as has been the case in the past. But lay this matter before God and make no response to the most earnest invitations. Your life hangs as it were upon a thread. You must have quiet rest, freedom from all excitement and from all disagreeable cares. We might have done a great deal for years with our pens, on subjects the people need that we have had light upon and can present before them, which others do not have. Thus you can work when your strength returns, as it will, and you can do far more with your pen than with your voice.”  He looked at me appealingly and said, “You will not neglect these cautions, will you, Ellen? Our people will never know under what infirmities we have labored to serve them because our lives were interwoven with the progress of the work, but God knows it all. I regret that I have felt so deeply and labored unreasonably in emergencies, regardless of the laws of life and health. The Lord did not require us to carry so heavy burdens and many of our brethren so few. We ought to have gone to the Pacific Coast before, and devoted our time and energies to writing. Will you do this now? Will you, as your strength returns, take your pen and write out these things we have so long anticipated, and make haste slowly? There is important matter which the people need. Make this your first business. You will have to speak some to the people, but shun the responsibilities which have borne us down.” “Well,” said I, “James, you are always to stay with me now and we will work together.” Said he, “I stayed in Battle Creek too long. I ought to have gone to California more than one year ago. But I wanted to help the work and institutions at Battle Creek. I have made a mistake. Your heart is tender. You will be inclined to make the same mistakes I have made. Your life can be of use to the cause of God. Oh, those precious subjects the Lord would have had me bring before the people, precious jewels of light!”  I awoke. But this dream seemed so real. Now you can see and understand why I feel no duty to go to Battle Creek for the purpose of shouldering the responsibilities in General Conference. I have no duty to stand in General Conference. The Lord forbids me. That is enough.—Letter 17, 1881. . RY 161.1-RY 163.2   [1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2021/09/22/halloween-costumes-2021-candy-decorations-spending-record/5816767001/[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/witchcraft-juliet-diaz/605518/[3]Monaghan, Patricia (2004). The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. New York City: Infobase Publishing. p. 41. ISBN978-0816075560. 
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