Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Monday, October 31, 2022

It's That Time Of Year: Halloween Hysteria Is Back Again In the Churches of God



"To all COG members out there: 
Is your children’s Christianity so feeble as to be endangered 
by a plastic mask and a few candy bars? 
Are your children so inadequately grounded in their religion 
as to be tempted into a life of witchcraft by attending a costume party? 
Are you yourself so poorly rooted in your faith that you fear your children
 will ask questions to which you have no satisfactory answers?"
Keith Stump

It is that time of year again and Bob Thiel is hiding behind his faded curtains in his crooked den all hot and bothered by Halloween. His hysteria is typical of so many of the self-righteous leaders of various COG's this time of year.  They have meltdowns over kids having some fun while they ruin families and their members' lives mentally, physically, and spiritually, with abusive policies and outright demonic teachings.



HALLOWEEN HYSTERIA
by Keith Stump


October is quickly flying by, meaning it’s time for the traditional Christian hand-wringing over that most “demonic” of holidays, Halloween! In anticipation of the usual anti-Halloween propaganda, I offer the following observations about this alleged “satanic festival of evil”:

First, there’s no need to point out that Halloween is not found in Leviticus 23. (Duh.) Leviticus 23 is obsolete and irrelevant anyway. Second, forget the lengthy dissertation about how the papacy (the alleged “image of the beast” and “great whore”) instituted the Roman Catholic celebrations of “All Hallows Eve” and “All Saints Day”. That, too, is irrelevant. Today’s Halloween has nothing to do with honoring Christian saints. For most, Halloween long ago ceased being viewed as a religious observance—and never was, by Americans.

The Halloween that many of us know today is largely an American phenomenon. And it’s a purely secular observance.

Yet some of Halloween’s customs do have roots in pre-Christian (“pagan”) practices. “Pagan” has long been a popular buzzword among Christians, especially among the COGs. As a Plain Truth and World Tomorrow writer, and occasional GHOSTwriter (how occult!) for the Armstrongs, I used the word liberally for decades. If it’s “pagan” in origin, it MUST be evil (like, I suppose, playing cards, wedding rings, dominoes, medicine, beer, the theater, the names of the days of the week and months of the year, and so on—all of which are scrupulously avoided in the COGs, aren’t they?).

Some of Halloween’s customs can be traced to practices of the Celtic New Year, particularly among the Druids of ancient Britain. The Celts worshipped nature deities and practiced a relatively benign type of witchcraft. (Shame on them for living before the birth of Christ! Why, they must have been as evil as Cyrus the Great, who worshipped Ishtar, the pagan goddess of love and war, and Ahura Mazda, god of light and wisdom. [Oh, wait a minute—God still called Cyrus "that righteous man from the East." Never mind.])

The Celtic festival of Samhain (which means “summer’s end” and marked the Celtic New Year, and is properly pronounced SOW-in, not “Sam Hain”) was considered to be a magical time when the thin veil between the worlds was lifted, and the dead walked among the living. It was a night of ghosts and fairies, in which bonfires were lit and fortunes were told, and the thoughts of all turned to the afterlife. For some odd reason, the Celts didn’t think that exposing their children to contemplation of death and the afterlife was a problem. And, of course, the “witches” of the time were primarily herbalists and midwives. Witches as evil, devil-worshiping crones were an invention of the medieval Church, perpetuated by modern fundamentalists.

Despite fundamentalist assertions, there were no orgies or human sacrifices or cannibalism or devil-worshipping during Samhain. Anyone who claims otherwise is an incompetent researcher or an outright liar. And—despite all those sermonettes you’ve heard—there was never a Celtic “god of death” named “Samhain”.

The ancient Samhain festival in no way “glorified” the demonic world, nor—except for a relatively few “Satanists”—does Samhain today. Modern pagans who celebrate Samhain regard it as a time to look back on the past year and reflect on how they can become better people, and a time to honor departed loved ones and welcome them into their presence. Modern Halloween is even less focused on “making contact” with the spirit world.

Stop for a moment and consider rationally: Is a six-year-old girl trick-or-treating in a Cinderella costume “fellowshipping with demons”? Is a child covered in a sheet with eye-holes “associating with spirits”? Are employees attending a company costume party “consorting with the devil”? Is hanging a plastic skeleton in your window “paying homage to Satan”? Is carving a jack-o’-lantern “fashioning an idol”? Is bobbing for apples a “wicked revel”? Some who are reading this would reply with a resounding “yes”. And that’s because of the spiritual myopia that warps their thinking, as I’ll discuss in a moment. Goofball notions are de rigueur for the fundamentalist.

Others who are reading this have heartwarming memories of Halloween. It’s a slice of genuine Americana. It was one of the highlights of their childhood calendar—a time of family crafts and costume-making, a time to celebrate creativity and imagination. It was a time for children to dress up and solicit candy from their neighbors. (We were even taught to say “thank you”, which I’m sure irked Satan no end.) Trick-or-treating allowed the entire community to share in the Halloween festivities, as costumes were admired and rewarded with goodies. Halloween reaffirmed social bonds with friends and neighbors. These are hardly the “unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11), unless one is a fanatic who interprets that phrase like, well, a fanatic.

(A parenthetical note to hypocrites: Anyone who condemns Halloween, yet enjoys an occasional Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff film, or reads a Stephen King or Anne Rice thriller, or a Harry Potter novel, or who watches “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or “The Wizard of Oz” or Disney’s “Snow White” or “Sleeping Beauty” or the “Lord of the Rings” films or who plays fantasy-based video games or visits Disneyland’s “Haunted Mansion” or watches a stage magician is a hypocrite, pure and simple. It’s like a conscientious objector being a fan of war movies. But hypocrisy is nothing new to the COGs, is it? And, for that matter, is “glorifying violence” any less “sinful” than “glorifying the occult”? (Hmm. I must have been imagining those LCG members sitting in the theater when I saw “Terminator 3″.))



To all COG members out there: Is your children’s Christianity so feeble as to be endangered by a plastic mask and a few candy bars? Are your children so inadequately grounded in their religion as to be tempted into a life of witchcraft by attending a costume party? Are you yourself so poorly rooted in your faith that you fear your children will ask questions to which you have no satisfactory answers?

I have seen no evidence of children being psychologically warped or seduced into a life of witchcraft and perversion as a result of innocent Halloween activities. I HAVE, however, seen many fearful and superstitious COG children who have been conditioned to be abnormally hypersensitive to anything blackened with the feared label “occult”. One child in particular comes to mind, whom I witnessed shrieking in stark terror at the mere sight of a jack-o-lantern. Are you raising fearful children who, like medieval peasants, see Satan lurking behind every tree and demons skulking in every dark corner? Are you raising children who fear they will “open themselves up” to “demonic control” at any moment by the slightest misstep? What a tenuous, precarious and paranoid spirituality! Satan is a defeated enemy! We need not shrink inanimate mortal remains. Explain that fear of black cats is an ancient superstition of the ignorant. Talk to them about the fanciful creations of horror fiction, like werewolves and vampires. It’s healthy to examine the things that frighten us. Tell them about “ghosts” or disembodied spirits. (The dead are relatively safe; it’s the living you need to watch out for!) And talk to them about the subject of life after physical death. Tell them about the Lord of Life who overcame death. Assuage their fears about those who can kill the body but not the soul.

Halloween is also a good time to reconsider our own views about death and the afterlife. The unbiblical doctrine of “soul sleep” would be a good place to start. The Bible clearly teaches (and centuries of experience demonstrate) that death does not interrupt self-awareness; personal identity survives death! By contrast, Herbert Armstrong’s so-called “restored truth” about “What is Man?” is totally without biblical foundation, though his followers blindly accept it. Measuring truth by the teachings of a morally unprincipled deviate who was indisputably unqualified for ministry by biblical standards (i Tim. 3:2-7; Titus 1:6-7) is far scarier than any aspect of Halloween! (A rule of thumb, which I’ll throw in free of charge: The farther an individual or group moves away from the teachings of the so-called Philadelphia era of the Church of God, the closer he moves toward genuine truth and balanced spirituality.)


So here’s my point: Objection to Halloween is a reflection of something much broader: an obsession with trivialities, a confusion of priorities, a primitive fear of the unknown, an arrogance that finds “righteousness” in being odd-ball and out-of-step. Fundamentalists can find something offensive or objectionable in almost anything. They have a worldview in which virtually everything is “anti-Christian”. They have lost the ability to filter the important from the inconsequential. The traditional COG prohibition against Halloween ignores the facts of history, misrepresents the modern holiday, and demonstrates a woeful lack of spiritual discernment.

So, in a nutshell, my message to Christians about Halloween is: Lighten up! There is nothing spiritually harmful about this tradition. Sensibly observed, Halloween can be a day of wholesome fun and merriment. Believe it or not, not everything in life has to have some deep spiritual connotation. Halloween is “Satan’s Holiday” only to those who concede it to him or arbitrarily label it as such. Christians have been redeemed from the forces of evil. We don’t have to give credence to Satan’s claimed authority in any area of life. Don’t surrender to the fear, superstition, and hypocrisy of the fundamentalist, who wouldn’t recognize a little harmless fun if he tripped over it, who is oblivious to the value of fantasy, who has no idea what “magic” and “witchcraft” really are, to whom everything paranormal is “demonic” and who trembles before the power of Satan and his demons (whether he admits it or not). Don’t fall prey to shady “scholarship” and flawed arguments about this holiday. Don’t let anyone judge you in respect of this or any other occasion. Safe, fun Halloween activities are NOT “of the “devil”.

To believe otherwise is just plain silly!




109 comments:

  1. tempted into a life of witchcraft

    Since rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and Herbert Armstrong rebelled against the CoG7, he must have been a warlock.

    So this halloween, if you want to keep your children out of witchcraft, do not, repeat, DO NOT, allow them to dress up for halloween in Herbert Armstrong costumes.

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  2. Majoring in the minors is a COG trait. The more you can find to "come out" of the more you feel special and theologially correct.

    Halloween at it's adult level these days has it's weirdness, but at the trick or treat stage is harmless for sure.

    However, if one is going to adopt the fundamentalist mindset. If one is to take Satan as really really 'the god of this world," etc, one really is going to avoid it. It just fits the paradigm for fundamentalists.

    With the NT admonishments to "come out of her, my people and be not a partaker of her sins," you simply aren't going to be comfortable with Halloween. The idea of being special, chosen and a people of His own, is not going to feel comfortable with compromising the goofiness or spiritual darkness of Halloween.

    Of course it is harmless for the most part, but a prime example of something that would make a fundamentalist uncomfortable and I don't think they could be anything but uncomfortable.

    On this topic, like Christmas and Easter , I think we have to give people their space. I can look any literalist in the eye and say, "I understand your feelings on this one."

    The Pagan origins of the Christ myth are mostly unknown and unacceptale to being taught of course. But there is no getting around the origins of such holidays as xmas, easter and halloween. It is what it is. Sunday worship is what it is but Sabbath keeping is also a pagan offshoot of a Sumerian god rest/human annoyance tale given a Hebrew twist. A very long story but not original to the OT.

    We make all this stuff up to comfort ourselves and address the "what's going to happen to me when I die," issue.

    We are the only sentinent being that knows that we know and wonders about such future events. It is , frankly, the origin of all religion.

    As John Denver noted, "relatively speaking, you make me what I am. Darkness needs the sunshine like the ocean needs the sand..." A beach needs both to be a beach. Otherwise it is just a desert or an ocean.

    We need our boogeymen to make our practices seem more correct. After all, "God's Holydays or Pagan Holidays..Which?" has incredible drawing power to the either/or response.

    While I totally understand the origins and not so mandatory nature of the Holydays, I miss them. It gave the illusion of specialness and knowing. It made one feel safe in an unsafe world. It made you feel like you had many who would help you if you needed it because you all looked forward to the same good things.

    I don't feel very safe anymore alone. The group think of WCG was an illusion but it felt like it wasn't. I believed Ron Kelly when he said "we'll take care of you." But he lied and it was all smoke and mirrors.

    We live, we learn and we leave...

    I hope there is more and I would like to believe that any real Deity was not so cultic and limited as the Bible one. I miss the group of like minded folk. I won't say I don't. But I also want to know what is real and what isn't and that can leave you alone in a crowd or on the outside looking in.

    I have been around long enough, studied enough, shared enough of that study with ministers who say, "I know you are right on that. I have always wondered about that. But I can't say that or I'd lose my job."

    We are an insecure species in this world. Our food supply can dry up in three days. Our money can evaporate as worthless overnight. Our security can disappear in an instant. Life is short even if long.

    Happy Halloween...

    M.T.Pumpkins

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  3. When I was a kid in the WCG, almost every single fun holiday was banned, birthdays, Easter, Halloween, Christmas. All we had was Thanksgiving, oh, and of course, Mothers and Fathers Day was ok. Hey! So now, I just like to decorate the yard. Used to be cute and spooookey when my kids were younger, now I am full blown into scary. Must be latent childhood coming out. Last night I put a new motion activated ghoul in the bathroom and scared the pookey out of my husband. Yep, arrested development! ;)

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  4. RE: HALLOWEEN HYSTERIA by Keith Stump

    One of the reasons that Halloween is becoming a bigger thing all the time in North America is that the stores have found out that they can sell a lot of ugly junk at that time of the year. Some merchants act like they would sell their own children for the almighty dollar that they seem to worship above all else. Personally, I am quite happy to just ignore the whole Halloween fuss. WCG people who whine that they have been deprived and that their lives have been ruined by not being allowed to observe Halloween sound like a bunch of spoiled drama queens.

    As for your “parenthetical note to hypocrites,” I have no interest in reading a bunch of overly lengthy Harry Potter books or Stephen King (whoever he is) books or watching any of those dizzy Disney movies or other nutty television shows you mentioned. Those in the WCG and its Splinter Groups who are attracted to such things just “don't get it” as HWA might say. As the apostle Paul wrote, “For the time will come when men 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. They will turn their ears away from the TRUTH and turn aside to MYTHS” (II Timothy 4:3-4, NIV).

    As for your comment about “The unbiblical doctrine of ‘soul sleep’,” have you never read in the Old Testament of the Bible that “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2, NIV). Have you never read in the New Testament of the Bible where Jesus said, “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28-29, NIV).

    As for your unsubstantiated claim that “Leviticus 23 is obsolete and irrelevant anyway,” I am sure you hope that the Punishment for Disobedience listed in Leviticus 26:14-39 is gone too. Unfortunately for you, it might turn out that it is actually just you yourself that is obsolete and irrelevant. It is very interesting and significant that those who hate HWA and accuse him of all manner of evil often seem to end up praising things like Halloween, witchcraft, sorcery, etc. If they really were better than HWA, and logical, and sensible, I would have expected them to have something better to offer. A lot more could be said, but why bother?

    As for your comment that “Satan is a defeated enemy!,” perhaps what you should have admitted was that you yourself have been totally defeated by your “friend” and enemy Satan.


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  5. Lev. 26:14-29 is obsolete. Goodness, a child with a picture Bible could figure that one out.

    Unbelievable. It's plain as the nose on your face. You do yourself and your arguments no favors with nonsensical rantings like this one.

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  6. A guy I know claims the Holy Spirit wants him to dress up as a "Farting Bible" this Halloween!

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  7. Some time after the WCG under Joseph Tkach Sr. openly turned against everything in January 1995, I ran into a WCG guy who seemed to be going along with the changes.

    I asked him something like, "If the Bible scholars in the World's churches are so smart and know so much then why, when it is all said and done, do these churches end up observing things like Halloween?"

    His reply was that "They are entitled to some mistakes."

    Oh!

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  8. While my son was in pre-school and grade school in So. Cal., we were constantly being made aware of a minor Christian revival. I'm thinking some of his classmates were probably evangelical, and they were most definitely an influence in the classrooms. One time of the year during which they became very noticeable was the Halloween season, and they were very vocal about the holiday being based on Satan and the demons.

    To state that mainstream Christians gleefully embrace such holidays is yet more Armstrongist disinformation about the Christian community, just as it is total disinformation that mainstream Christians don't really study their Bibles. When you are cloistered within an ACOG, it is easy to simply accept all the negatives they have to share about people on the outside. When you actually get out for yourself, you discover the degree to which we were lied to, and the extent to which others have been unjustifiably maligned. Armstrongism is and was a literal house of horrors!

    As far as someone dressing up as a flatulent Bible goes, nobody who truly has God's Spirit would indulge in such mockery.

    BB

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  9. Yes, go ahead and wallow in the satanic filth of Halloween. Those of you on this blog are the bottom feeders of society. Demon possessed and spiritually dead. Go ahead and worship your daddy on this most sacred of Satan's nights. Take your little kids out to be agents of this demon possessed night that allows evil spirits to take over.

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  10. Ah, yes, the bottom-feeders.

    Well, as SOMEBODY once said, SOMEWHERE, there is none righteous, no, not...

    ...wait for it...

    ...one.

    But hey, thanks for checking in, Anon.

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  11. I have fond memories of Halloween and Chritmas when I was a kid. So glad my parents weren't in the wacky cult at that time. So sorry I deprived my kids of a lot of the harmless fun of Christmas and Halloween. I didn't care too much for Easter cause they dragged us to church. Yuk!

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  12. This song was first released on the Seasons of the Heart album by John Denver

    Relatively speaking you make me who I am
    I need you exactly like the ocean needs the land
    I need you like the sunshine needs the shadows and the night
    I need you the way love needs the savage hurtful fight


    The rich ones need the poor ones
    The blind need those with sight
    Sinners need the pure of heart
    The black ones need the white

    Relatively speaking the contrast make sit go
    Every action taken is related in the flow
    Stars and losers, kings and fools go dancing hand in hand
    Relatively speaking you make me who I am

    Relatively speaking the contrast make sit go
    Every action taken is related in the flow
    Stars and losers, kings and fools go dancing hand in hand
    Relatively speaking you make me who I am
    Who I am

    Words by Arthur Hancock
    Music by John Denver

    For every God there must be a Satan. For every Jesus, there must be a Devil. For every virtue, there must be a vice. For every good, there must be evil.

    In reality, there are no demons and no Gods. But if you have one, you must create the other for contrast.

    I'd suggest "The Origin of Satan" by Ellaine Pagels.

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  13. "Don't fall prey to shady 'scholarship' and flawed arguments about this holiday...Christians have been redeemed from the forces of evil...To believe other wise is just plain silly!"

    IMHO, to believe in "the forces of evil" is "just plain silly." People are people. We are an undisciplined population, and we're just as likely to do "good" or "evil" as we are to do anything else. Most of the time we're just wildly throwing darts at a dart board, flailing around in our quest to survive, as creatures have done since the beginning of time. Whether what we do winds up being "good" or "evil" is often assigned by others after the fact. Our conscience notwithstanding, the results of our actions can just as easily wind up being for "good" as they can for "evil," regardless of our intentions.

    What's silly is to believe that everything we do is either by the grace of some supernatural being or else is the fault of some other supernatural being, while simultaneously believing that we are still fully responsible for all our actions. What's silly is to believe the "shady 'scholarship'" which is used to force such clashing ideas into contraposition with each other. Let's face it, taking responsibility for our actions is the only grown-up thing to do and the rest is stone age superstition. Truthfully, it makes no difference whether you want to dress up like mythological creatures once a year, or dress up in a suit and tie to listen to some boring old guy blather the same old hackneyed nonsense for 2 hours once a week. It all boils down to the same thing at the bottom line: superstition. I guess the difference is, those who dress up like mythological creatures know that what they're doing is the product of superstition, and they do it anyway, just for fun. Some old guy lecturing at you for 2 hours wouldn't exactly be fun, no matter how you slice it.

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  14. Nice that Keith is such a jerk.

    I am Protestant. I was raised as a Presbyterian but now attend an Episcopal church in New Jersey. Some of us don't do Halloween either and have not for a long time.


    There is such a thing as freedom to believe in America and it should come without having to be mocked and made fun of by people such as Keith Stump .
    I found his article very condescending and self righteous.
    Found you blog surfing around.

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  15. There is such a thing in America as freedom to mock and make fun of people such as Keith Stump. Thank the Framers of the First Amendment for that blessing.

    Jeering is one of the most effective ways we humans persuade members of our society to abandon foolishness--or if not that, at least to warn others not to adopt the foolishness.

    Just my 2 cents,
    Penny Zwerth

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  16. "Nice that Keith is such a jerk."

    Well, there's an effective way to complain about someone else being condescending.

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  17. Penny, that is a load of bull crap.
    It is called bullying and intimidation and it is an effective way to silence the opposition.
    Use of terms like 'birther' and 'truther' , 'nazi' are used to label and silence.

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  18. Thanks for the picture.

    I'll post it on the door this halloween to make it clear we aren't participating (not hysteria, I just don't want to be bothered -- besides, there are health problems to be considered).

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  19. What would really be scary would be for some wonderfully artistic persons in Edmond, Charleston, Wadsworth, and some of the many other pissant ACOG International Headquarters cities to create and don Herbert W. Armstrong masks, and to go door to door to pass out scads of the old "1975 in Prophecy" booklets.

    BB

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  20. keeping halloween as a kid, trick or treat was taught to us even in school, what it meant, even to the point of soaping someones windows, egging places as we got older, which I did not partake in BTW. But there were other things the 'innocent children' did that really had nothing to do with civility.

    So I guess it is okay to teach young people to strong arm or extort someone, even tho it is only candy. What a waste of money, from the costumes to the cavities and diabtetes that may come afterward. What a shameful waste of blog space. lol.

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  21. OH, NOES!!!!

    Halloween is almost as bad as people who see Herbie as a slick salesman con artist!

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  22. "Halloween is almost as bad as people who see Herbie as a slick salesman con artist!"

    Obviously someone needs to review Herbie's co-worker letters from the 40's, 50's, and 60's. Those unvarnished harangues are primary historical documents that reveal exactly where Herbie's mind was at.

    Either that or someone is trying to say that Halloween is actually pretty good!

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  23. Yes, I enjoy Halloween.
    The kids in their costumes are cute.
    Plus, I get to eat the leftover chocolates.
    Yesterday I put a pumpkin on our front stoop- not carved, just a pumpkin.
    But I did see a picture online of a pumpkin carved that was Frank Zappa and it was awesome.

    Norm

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  24. Up ere in NEPA, we had a little dude in s apiperman costume stop by. We gave him a few snickers and on his way. Thats the aftermath of Satanism we had tongight. I think I'll go wrap my dad (COGer) in TP while he is sleeping. That will at least give me a laught this crazy holiday season. Anyone want to rent him from me, he's a hoot ! I'll post a video one of these days and then you will all know why Mish-Mash is so nuts. All she wants to do is hang out in the summer at the Jersey Shore went its fixed !

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  25. "The Bible clearly teaches (and centuries of experience demonstrate) that death does not interrupt self-awareness; personal identity survives death!"

    WTF? Excuse me, but do not centuries, nay millenia of experience demonstrate precisely that death does interrupt self-awareness?
    Does anyone happen to know of any dead people that are self-aware?
    Or have a personal identity?
    Didn't think so.

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  26. Thanks for the blast from the past, Gary!

    It was fun to re-read some of the comments (Anonymous October 1, 2012 at 9:09 PM, Anonymous October 4, 2012 at 12:13 AM, Anonymous October 24, 2012 at 6:54 PM)by folks who associate Halloween with Satan, extortion, Satan, dental problems, Satan, diabetes, Satan, witchcraft, Satan, sorcery, Satan, "overly lengthy Harry Potter books", Satan, Disney movies, Satan, evil merchants who "would sell their own children", Satan, rejecting HWA's "truths", Satan, and lastly, Satan.

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  27. Palmieri, when you called my comment "a load of bull crap," you bullied and intimidated me so severely that I was afraid to comment again for a whole year. So you see, you illustrated your own point.

    Don't feel bad, though. I haven't suffered a PSTD flashback for months now, and my counselor has taken me off sedatives.

    I hope you have recovered from the trauma inflicted by Keith Stump's article as I have after your cruel insult.


    Penny Zwerth

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  28. Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Yes, go ahead and wallow in the satanic filth of Halloween. Those of you on this blog are the bottom feeders of society. Demon possessed and spiritually dead. Go ahead and worship your daddy on this most sacred of Satan's nights. Take your little kids out to be agents of this demon possessed night that allows evil spirits to take over.

    Hateful, evil minded nut jobs just like this "anonymous" one is one of the main reasons that I am no longer religious. People just like this incite riots, cause untold misery to innocent people, call good, evil and evil, good. Their diseased minds can't tell one spirit from another.

    Halloween is observed in a spirit of fun in this day and age. Only to the warped, diseased mind is "fun" considered evil.

    Christmas? Well, that's the epitome of that spirit of love and giving that HWA preached so much about but didn't seem to "get" himself. No, to his warped and diseased mind, Christmas was an evil pagan celebration.

    The truth is, Christmas is not celebrated in any spirit of evil at all but in a spirit of loving kindness, giving, joy, peace and goodness - all in spite of those who abuse it and in spite of people who call evil, good and good, evil.

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  29. Many Christians, not just COG types, are not celebrating Halloween for self evident reasons.

    I have noticed over the years a slow "sexualization" of the holiday. What once was Frankenstein, or Dracula costume, or perhaps a costume of a nurse , cat, or fireman, has evolved into "the slut version". LOL!

    So if you dress as a nurse, its "the SLUT Nurse", or if you dress as a cat , its "the SLUT Cat", or the "SLUT Vampire" etc.

    I am readying myself for the next stage of things and wondering whats next and how down ladder society is going to go ... A slut dressing as the SLUT SLUT??

    Curious times and sociological expression!

    Luv,
    Joe Moeller
    Cody, WY

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  30. I think the Armstrongite reaction to this article, and Halloween in general, simply stems from a deep rooteed fear of anything unfamiliar to them, based on assumptions about what the Bible means and the outside world. I really shouldn't use the term, "the outside world," because what they take that to mean tradtional Christianity. People who try to adhere to what Armstrong taught really need to take a deep breath and impartially analyze the facts about the organization they belong to, and the doctrines they espouse. The fact of the matter is that if they're truly honest with themselves and do their homework, they're going to come to the inevitable conclusion that they've believed a marketing gimmick from a shrewd advertizing man; a set of doctrines which were designed to get people to pay for the lavish expenses of a small elite. If they can possibly understand this, they'll see Halloween in it's true light: just some day for the kids to have fun. By the way, why do the COGers have this fetish with the timing of days? I've witnessed a vast interest in the New Moon. I even heard about one COG family who would go outside and sing hymns on the night of the new moon. Sounds pretty spooky if you ask me!

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  31. These days I make up for the decade of crappy Halloweens I endured courtesy of the WCG by making sure I'm always the house on the trick or treat route giving out the full size candy bars - none of that "fun size" stuff here. :)

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  32. The main ethical problem with Halloween is the message to small children that it’s fine to ask anyone, including complete strangers to “give me something, or I will do something nasty to you”.

    Don’t have to be a Christian to think that is a dubious morality.

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  33. The Herbert W. Armstrong Halloween mask is on the market. Sold them 2 years ago in Portland. Simple to make and great fun for the family

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  34. Primarily, Halloween comes from the Christian holy day All Hallows and the Gaelic feast Samhain.

    Wikipedia's Samhain article

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  35. Anonymous said...

    Yes, go ahead and wallow in the satanic filth of Halloween. Those of you on this blog are the bottom feeders of society. Demon possessed and spiritually dead. Go ahead and worship your daddy on this most sacred of Satan's nights. Take your little kids out to be agents of this demon possessed night that allows evil spirits to take over.

    October 4, 2012 at 12:13 AM

    LOL...Well Anonymous,I guess you haven't experienced any of the satanic actions or comments or abuse and lies, etc. coming from COG >ministers< or >"PROPHETS"<. Talk about SATANIC FILTH, DEMON POSSESSED AND SPIRITUALLY DEAD!! Who might be their daddy??

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  36. With regard to Halloween, I think Mr Drew Carey (2002 White House Correspondents' Dinner) made a great point: "Halloween is another big (pagan) holiday. A satanic holiday. No one's bothered by that for some reason. You know, fun for the kiddies. When I was going to church they always told me Satan's the most evil one, he's the one you've got to watch out for. And then, once a year, the whole country goes, 'Hey, let's party with this guy!'"

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  37. Halloween is fast becoming a big business in Australia as well!

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  38. I recall "The Bible Story" claiming that Jeroboam somehow instituted Halloween. Which made no real sense from a historical viewpoint and I dont recall now if it was ever repeated in their magazine polemics -RSK

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  39. So no one anywhere ever should get to enjoy a good time on Halloween because "ARGLE BARGLE RAAR PAGAN WITCHES!"? Why, that would be as monumentally stupid as demanding everyone stop having birthday parties just because some ancient bint supposedly asked for some guy's head as a present. Oh, wait...

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  40. Hey, was that a way for some person to try to ruin birthday parties forever- by asking for someone's head as a present?

    What if someone ruined the Feast of Tabernacles forever by using 2nd tithe money for Dexter to "fix" a relationship problem caused by the UCG/COGWA split?

    Ha!

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  41. What strikes me is how people like Stump have the audacity to speak with authority after preaching the diametric opposite under Armstrong. It's amazing that anyone would listen to him at all.

    But what's really sick is how everything part of society seems to be full of the same corruption and hypocrisy.

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  42. BB, there is no such thing as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a con job to make people feel that if other people don't agree it's just because they don't have the Spirit of God. They just can't get it. It's effectively labeling them as spiritual morons and giving up on them. When you do that, you don't listen because you think it's a waste of time. Great con. Keeps people in the cults. You left the Armstrong cult but you are still in the cult of Christ. You only came half way out.

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  43. I seriously disagree that there is no impact on children re Halloween. I have a small child who looks at the sheer ugliness of skulls and skeletons and other decorations, she expressed how ugly they are, yet I refuse to allow her to learn to be afraid of them or to tell her about what a Grim Reaper is or ghosts, or any such thing. Why introduce first of all, ugly, then even fear? Being afraid of ghosts and goblins, etc, ad nauseum. My daughter will get a good night sleep, some when we walk by want to talk about how scary those things are, really ridiculous to me. Hey, if you want your kids to be afraid of the dark and introduce things like that to them, go ahead. Not me, no thanks, there is so much more to be concerned about it our ever changing world. This is not a minor thing if your little one learns to be scared about things where they may not sleep well at night.

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  44. Reject ALL the EVIL.

    To be consistent with rejecting false apostles like Joseph Tkach, Sr., and false prophets like Gerald Flurry, and false ministers like Victor Kubik, and false clowns like Ronald Weinland, and the false light of James Malm, and the false science of the immoral evolutionists, one should also reject false customs like Halloween.

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  45. Anonymous 8:33, What you may not know is that I also left the atheist church after about thirty years, so am well aware of Nietzsche, Rand, and objectivist constructs as applied to members of the deity. Nobody ever wins theist vs non-theist arguments except in their own minds, so it's best to just let it pass as a personal matter, like being a Democrat or Republican.

    BB

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  46. I hate to say this but I think Keith Stump has lost what he may have once had. His article on Halloween and his self righteous put down of those who don't agree with him proves it, how sad. I think Halloween is wrong. I could point out a hundred different sick things why Halloween is wicked but there is no point. Those who agree already know what I mean and those who don't wont want to hear it anyway. If someone doesn't agree with what I think that's fine with me, we all have a choice in the matter, I won't put you down because of how you see Halloween, that's the way you see it and it doesn't matter what I say or anyone else, but for those who don't agree with Keith stump, don't put us down either, we simply choose not to think Halloween is a good thing. If I don't believe in Halloween leave it at that, I think I have good reason not to and won't try to force it on you or insult you because you don't agree. I have read Keith Stump articles in the past, but his hateful self righteous attack toward those who disagree with him is shocking. Please don't follow his example..

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  47. Anonymous said...

    I seriously disagree that there is no impact on children re Halloween. I have a small child who looks at the sheer ugliness of skulls and skeletons and other decorations, she expressed how ugly they are, yet I refuse to allow her to learn to be afraid of them or to tell her about what a Grim Reaper is or ghosts, or any such thing. Why introduce first of all, ugly, then even fear? Being afraid of ghosts and goblins, etc, ad nauseum. My daughter will get a good night sleep, some when we walk by want to talk about how scary those things are, really ridiculous to me. Hey, if you want your kids to be afraid of the dark and introduce things like that to them, go ahead. Not me, no thanks, there is so much more to be concerned about it our ever changing world. This is not a minor thing if your little one learns to be scared about things where they may not sleep well at night.

    October 25, 2013 at 9:55 PM

    Yes I believe this. But one more thing to add to your list to keep your daughter away from is the ministry of the Philadelphia Church of God. Talk about the devil!

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  48. Not that it really matters to me, but I find it a bit funny to wring one's hands over children seeing ghosts, goblins, witches, etc and yet tout the Bible. Bloody circumcisions? Check. A woman nailing a man's head to the ground with a tent stake? Check. Tribal genocide? Check. Rape of siblings? Check. Ghosts of the dead? Check. I could go on...

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  49. It's how you handle it. I surely never scared my son with demon stories, or had him dress as Satan. We always kept it light, and fun. No meanness, and no tricks. It was like a costume party, strutting your stuff for the neighbors, and receiving candy. One year he wanted to be a clown. Another year, a character called "Bunny Foo Foo". It did concern me another year when he wanted to be Boy George, but we didn't make it into a federal, he had some fun with it, and it ended up having no deeper meaning or lasting effect. People in the ACOGs do a great job of manufacturing forbidden fruit.

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  50. Anon 10/25 8:33PM said: "BB, there is no such thing as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a con job to make people feel that if other people don't agree it's just because they don't have the Spirit of God..."

    While I disagree with you about the HS since I'm a Christian I do agree with your general thesis i.e. HWA asserted that all Christ-followers who weren't baptized according to his WCG formula (water baptism & laying on of hands) didn't really have God's Holy Spirit. Thus, Armstrongites were "converted" while other Xians were "unconverted." Such a claim sets up an "us vs. them" mentality that leads to the cultism that was WCG! & if it's true then why did HWA copy doctrines that other Xians taught & which he believed to be true? How did they come about learning such truths except it be from the HS! & also if HWA/WCG had the HS while other Xians didn't then how come his legacy of "bad fruits" (eg broken homes, divorce, incest, financial misappropriation, false predictions, etc.) is just as bad (if not worse!) than those Xians he condescendingly labeled "unconverted" & which Christ warned us about (Mt 7:18-20)? It seems HWA/WCG was just as capable of committing attrocious acts as those in the large Xian denominations & yet he & his followers somehow had the HS, but other Xians from other denominations didn't?!!?
    The last time I looked no human or human institution has a monopoly on God's HS other than God Himself & He promises to give it to all who ask (Lk 11:13).

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  51. I would rather see funny pumpkins puking than read the gross puke from COG ministurds condemning Halloween.

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  52. Anonymous 4:42, that is how false teachers accomplish their permanent damage leading to people throwing up their hands, and walking away from any sort of belief. It is an outgrowth of the aftermath question, "How could God have allowed this to happen to people who loved and worshipped Him?"

    We've got people who, instead of believing in any manifestation of God, would most likely prefer to believe that the dinosaurs farted and when the flatulence cooled and condensed, it became Moses and the Israelites, who immediately began concocting outrageous stories which were redacted and edited into the Old Testament. Had they had loving and truthful teachers, they never would have lost faith and begun entertaining and studying atheism.

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  53. "I would rather see funny pumpkins puking than read the gross puke from COG ministurds condemning Halloween."

    And you would probably prefer to eat dirt than crap, but I'll take a pass on both.

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  54. Armstrong wasn't wrong about everything. He proved the mainstream churches were full of BS. And if people reject all _his_ proofs (because they never did their homework before getting into the WCG), there are plenty of other proofs. It's inconceivable anyone could return to that.

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  55. Anonymous Dude 224: When I got booted from AC, and attended another college, I discovered that the Armstrong organization had lied about other colleges. When I began attending a non-denominational Christian church, I discovered that the Armstrong organization had also lied about other churches. They worked in their stereotypes, generalizations, sarcasm, and elitism in an attempt to give WCG members an aversion to any of the common "ways out". And, it largely worked. It took 30 years to get past the prejudices which they had so cleverly embedded into my psyche, and to seek any kind of spiritual guidance. Bottom line is, they lied about everything. I'm sure that like corn in dog crap, there was some truth mixed in with all the lies. Crap contaminates corn.

    MT Dog Intestines

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  56. Anon 2:24 said: "Armstrong wasn't wrong about everything..."

    Depends on who you ask...

    IMO the few teachings he was correct about were later changed by the man himself for his own self-seeking agenda. eg I believe he was right re his early teaching on church government, but later he changed it asserting the primacy of Peter & 1-man dictatorial rule; I believe his early teaching on divorce being severely restricted is right, but he later changed it & liberalized it to the point of marrying a divorced woman himself & then later divorcing her! I could go on, but won't suffice to say there are far more errors he taught than sound, biblical doctrines proving the man was an outright fraud & those who still trust in him, his words & his worldview have built their faith on a foundation of sand & this fact is being proven over & again as time marches on.

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  57. Thanksgiving is probably more evil than Halloween because it has so easily deceived the churches of god into thinking its not pagan. Look up what a cornucopia is. You know, that thing on your table. Its a horn of the goat that raised Zeus.... The pagan god.

    But hey, if Halloween isn't evil than none of the holidays are. But if it is, why cherry pick your pagan celebrations?

    Happy all saints evening.

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  58. How important is the origin of a holiday? Aren't most holy days etc from pagan origins, just decontextualized, given new meaning, etc.? Was the tabernacle and temple the first to ever be built to worship a deity? Were the priests of the OT the first priests? Was circumcision first introduced to the world by God? How about singing hymns, coming together as a group for worship, listening to the readings from religious writings? Most of what we do is "pagan" in origin. But we attach different meanings to it all. Imagine Abraham saying, "Circumcise myself? Are you nuts, that's PAGAN!" Likewise, we can do all the outward observances correct, but have a heart that is not right with God and what do have then? It's typical of HWA and the WCG to focus on the outward appearances. Beautiful campus, but no academic standards, no real library, no atmosphere for open discussion and sharing of opinions. As long as it all looks good to the outsiders. Great speaker on the World Tomorrow Program, corrupt private life.

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  59. I was reading recently about a lynching that happened to take place on a street I lived on years ago. I never knew, of course, it didnt get a marker until this year. It made me just a bit sorry that All Hallows Eve isn't legit, I'd love to think he gets to visit his family descendents once a year. Unfortunately, death's a bit more finite.

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  60. You can't approach an Armstrongite and expect him or her to entertain the possibility that the holy days are based on similar pagan traditions which predated them. Armstrongism taught that God originally gave Adam and Eve the same material contained in Mosaic Law, or the Sinai Covenant, as His permanent law for all eternity, and that man corrupted it in many ways, leading to Canaanite paganized versions of such things as the holy days. According to this teaching, Mt. Sinai (and they could have known better if only they let Galatians speak for itself) was all about God pushing the reset button, restoring what He taught at creation. They don't accept Noahide law, they don't believe that Adam and Eve started out as vegetarians, and they don't believe that there were other groups or ethnicities which were contemporary with Adam and Eve.

    Consequently, Armstrongites are going to go along with whatever their church teaches about Halloween and Thanksgiving. It's somewhat hypocritical, because they allow Thanksgiving to be coopted by God, but do not allow Christmas or Easter to be coopted for Jesus Christ.

    BB

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  61. So true BB. Adam and Eve were never commanded to keep the Sabbath, nor did anyone till the 10 commandments were revealed to set apart the Hebrew peoples from those around them. People can be people of faith without the 10 Commandments, which should be obvious, but the church always claimed otherwise. What can one expect when our entire belief system was based on a 6-month study in a public library that used heretical SDA materials as a starting point. The holy days were all patterned after spring and fall harvest festivals that the people surrounding them observed.

    Armstrongism has always been good at giving Satan more power than Jesus has. That is why we talked about Satan and demons all the time and never about Jesus.

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    Replies
    1. Hooo boy, the angry COGlodyte retorts just might make this thread longer than the Xmas one.

      Delete
  62. After an early childhood filled with violence, bullying and the very untimely death of my mother, halloween became something that was wrong for me long before I ever heard of HWA or any "true church" that said it had pagan origins.

    It's real hard to think that celebrating death, which is horrible, and terrorism, "give me what I want or I'll make you pay", i.e. trick or treat, is anything worthwhile. I abandoned that day in my childhood.

    And as far as doing the fairy princesses or something "harmless", most of those things are rooted in complete fantasy. Is it any wonder why so many cannot live a reality based life? Fairy tales are just that. They give children an unbalanced view and keep girls hoping for a "knight in shining armor" to rescue them and for the boys.. well, I don't know. Life isn't a fairy tale. Too many adults continue playing make believe, like, "I'm good and all these others are evil".

    I wonder if folks realize how much things like this, through the very early practice/ indoctrination, effects the lifelong habits, beliefs, if not the struggles of many.

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  63. One point of view not expressed so far. Festivals such as Christmas and Halloween will not be observed in the millennium. When teaching this to people, the comeback will be "but didn't you and your family keep these same festivals." "Aren't you being a hypocrite?"
    You will look cheap and lose face in the eyes of your subjects.
    Ponder that!!

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    Replies
    1. I'd like your opinion on an important matter, 4:29. In the millennium, will the holy day observances be properly synchronized with the seasons for God's people who live in the southern hemisphere? As it is now, they are half a year off, and that makes a mockery of them.

      BB

      Delete
  64. My family never could afford to keep the feast days let alone the pagan holidays. To this day we are always strapped for cash. It sucks being poor.

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  65. Any church, COG or otherwise that holds salvation dependant on giving money, tithing, common or whatever else they call it, is using Trick or Treat and getting away with it.

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  66. BB
    That's a interesting point. In the OT, as I understand it, there was no southern hemisphere church/s. Even though the southern hemisphere is using the same holy day dates as the northern hemisphere, the spiritual intent is still there. So I wouldn't label them a mockery.
    We'II have to wait till the second coming, to see how God addresses your point.

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  67. As I recall one of the most important apocryphal stories in the SDA church is how in the 19th century they bumped into a bunch of shipwreck survivors in the pacific keeping the sabbath. Because they had nothing but a bible left from their ancestors.


    I am pretty sure there were jews in the southern hemisphere.

    One group at least travelled as far south as southern Ethiopia. Hence HWA's bond with his " cousin" the lion of Judah of Rastafari fame.

    100% percent sure there were jewish soldiers protecting the southern border of the Egyptian empire.

    There must have been jewish traders on Zanzibar and of course early 2nd century sabbatarian churches of God in southern China and early christians in Japan influencing Shintoism and the belief in being an exclusice race singled out by God and much more in Shintoism like the rituals.

    Non of the of course qualifies as southern hemisphere like those sweaty Australians decorating there yule tree in mid summer.

    Nck

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  68. Nck
    And at the north and south pole, daylight lasts six months. I think this is one of those technical issues meant to be settled by a religious body via the "what is bound in earth is bound in heaven" delegated authority..

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  69. 6:54

    That explains some Inuit at the Canadian oil rigs taking a "sabattical."
    They're actually just taking a day off from work.

    nck

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  70. RE: HALLOWEEN HYSTERIA by Keith Stump

    Keith Stump is the sort of writer who could write against Halloween when he is being paid by Herbert W. Armstrong, but who is flexible enough to write in favor of Halloween when he is being paid by Joseph Tkach, Jr. The brief summary of it all is that whether or not you should observe Halloween depends entirely on who is currently paying Keith Stump to write about it.

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  71. After the massive and shocking January 1995 open apostasy by the Tkaches, I asked a WCG member who seemed to be going along with the doctrinal changes something like, “If the World's churches and their scholars know so much, then why do the World's churches and their members always seem to end up observing things like Halloween?” He sighed and said that, “They are entitled to some mistakes.”

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  72. It looks like the Devil has set up the apostate Tkaches and the hireling Keith Stump with Halloween in one ditch, and the false prophets like Gerald Flurry and David Pack with their massive doctrinal changes in the other ditch, to try to ensnare anyone who gets off the straight and narrow path. You cannot afford to trust any of those bad guys. They really are there only to lie, steal, destroy, and kill--and to collect a paycheck for doing it.

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  73. Meh. I don’t do Halloween which is not too hard a stretch for any Christian. I know many mainstream churches and Christians that encourage not participating. I know some other Christian friends that are getting together for it and I’m confident it won’t affect them negatively. But, I know enough about Halloween to choose to sit it out.

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  74. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  75. I have always let my kids do Halloween. As they got older it no longer interested them. Kids doing Halloween is just like churches who do Harvest Fairs or Winter Family Weekends as alternatives. It is all done at the time of a major holiday and churches and members kid themselves if they think they are not partaking.

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  76. Heh. A relative bought me a huge pumpkin to carve. Never did it before. So I artfully cut the top off, gutted it, carved out a happy face. I was happy with it. Being the way I am about waste, I nuked the smiley mouth part that fell out when carved, mashed it, buttered, salted and peppered it, ate it, and...HEY! It tastes just like butternut squash, just a little stringy. I LOVE Butternut squash. Out came the knife again, chopped up the whole jack-o-lantern and put the single serving pieces in freezer zip lock bags and stuck them in the freezer. Now THAT was fun!

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  77. Completely agree with:
    25/10/13 9:55 PM
    30/10/13 4:42 AM
    1/11/13 2:10 AM

    Here in Australia where I live in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne—that’s pronounced mel-burn not mel-born ;-)—Halloween came and went with no fanfare whatsoever. No trick or treaters. No one dressed in scary costumes. No nothing. I’m surprised how big a celebration it is in North America.

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  78. Hooo boy, the angry COGlodyte retorts just might make this thread longer than the Xmas one.

    You are prone to call someone a COGlodyte just for disagreeing with any of the lies or exaggerations told about COGs, or supporting some COG point of view, even if they were never in a COG and can't stand the COGs.

    Stop making such dumb comments.


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  79. Some people like to criticize HWA and his teachings.

    Then what do they come up with instead?

    They go back to things like Halloween!

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  80. 7:31 am wrote "Some people like to criticize HWA and his teachings. Then what do they come up with instead? They go back to things like Halloween!"

    During my time in LCG, I saw far more evil than I have ever seen in the neighbourhood kids having fun on Halloween. As for Herbert's teachings, they were not grounded in logical Christian thought and understanding. Jewish days were for the Jewish people as their identity as a nation and not for Christians. That is a simple fact that can be easily proved with the New Covenant.

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  81. Years ago I went to a religious bookstore to check out what the books about cults had to say about the WCG under HWA.

    All they did was whine about such things as WCG people observing the biblical weekly Sabbath rather than Sunday, WCG people refusing to observe customs like Halloween, and WCG people not eating pork because God had said not to eat it.

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  82. You for got to mention Michael Jackson's Thriller.That rules!

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  83. RE: HALLOWEEN HYSTERIA by Keith Stump

    Keith Stump is a HALLOWEEN HYPOCRITE. It is pretty scary what those fake ministers like Stump will do for money. He dressed up like a true minister for Halloween under HWA. Then under the apostate Tkaches he dressed up like a false minister for Halloween. His earlier disguise under HWA was deceitful. His later costume under the Tkaches showed the real Stump. Do not give him any treats or any money.

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  84. I sure hope those godless hirelings in the LCG, its latest split-off COG Assembly, the UCG, and especially COGWA, do NOT come up with a Fall FAMILY Halloween Weekend custom like they did with their Winter FAMILY X-Mass Weekend custom.

    On the other hand, even more signs that they are unfit to be fed could actually be helpful to the sincere seeker of truth and avoider of scammers.

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  85. A necro'd thread just in time for Halloween? That's funny as hell. Yes Ocelot, Thriller still rules in 2020! Well played Banned. Bwahaha

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  86. Anonymous at 7:31 AM
    "Some people like to criticize HWA and his teachings.
    Then what do they come up with instead?
    They go back to things like Halloween!"

    While I believe there are a number of errors in HWA's teachings that need corrected, he had more right in regards to the commandments, putting aside these ridiculous holidays and keeping instead YHWH's feasts and appointed times, the new covenant with a heart in the people to do these things mentioned, etc.

    Anonymous at 8:13 AM "As for Herbert's teachings, they were not grounded in logical Christian thought and understanding. Jewish days were for the Jewish people as their identity as a nation and not for Christians. That is a simple fact that can be easily proved with the New Covenant."

    Someone has led you astray. Did that happen in the mid 1990s?


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  87. Meanwhile in Europe COG members don’t understand what the fuss is about. Celebrating Halloween, with decorating, partying and kids going from door to door is a typical American thing.

    Halloween, like Christmas, is over-commercialized in the USA. That’s why it is so big.

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  88. Lev. 26:14-29 is obsolete

    Thanks Assistant Deacon and Keith Stump, that is exactly the passage I need for my rebuttal to the Pastor who told us Satan is responsible for COVID [and apparently God can't stop it].

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  89. I think you should stop posting Keith Stump's old articles. It seems every year this thing he wrote about Halloween shows up on this site.

    Mr. Stump left WCG and writing for WCG long ago. I believe now he is living in Peru and studying psychedelic herbs, especially ayahuasca. Brave man to start a new life, especially since he is confined to a wheelchair after having a stroke. He is also writing a book about reincarnation. I doubt if he was ever a 'minister' though I know he was a gifted writer who wrote for the PT.

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  90. I think this site should stop posted this article about Halloween, written by Keith Stump many years ago. I know Keith used to write for the Plain Truth and other publications, but he left WCG and their employ many years ago.
    For some reason this article seems to show up every year at Halloween.

    I believe Mr. Stump in now living in Peru studying psychedelic herbs, especially ayahuasca. He is also writing a book on reincarnation.

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  91. Armstrong would have you believe the early church not just recommended, but enforced the observance of the Jewish liturgical calendar! Armstrong's version of history has Christians - free or slave - across the Roman Empire & Greek world must observe these days or you're excommunicated!

    If this was true, it would be the biggest news both within NT-scripture and across the secular world!

    Instead, what does we see? Nothing...except Paul tossing out the Jewish Liturgical days (Colossians 2 + Galatians 4)

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  92. I am glad this article is posted. This is the first time seeing it. It is still relevant today just as much as it was when Stump first wrote it and it was posted. This was the first year we have let our children do Halloween. They had a blast and no demons attacked them.

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  93. except Paul tossing out the Jewish Liturgical days (Colossians 2 + Galatians 4)

    ...and then denying it several times in Acts?

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  94. 12:40
    Indeed. Many in Europe abhor yet another commercialized American childrens feast being introduced in the same manner they lamented the introduction of pop music and rock through the wcg and cia sponsored "pirate ships" and the commercial luxembourg station. Others lament the festival being forbidden because of covid restrictions........ I'm not sure if it falls under protection of religious observation........ The french government did evaluate All Saints this year in light of the recent attack in Nice. I wonder when the Flurryites find something in scripture about pumpkins, since they graft theirf Irish/Celtic leanings onto Old Israel customs.

    Nck

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  95. ..and then denying it several times in Acts?
    @ 7:25 PM
    Not written by Paul; Paul's Galatians being very early and more authentic.
    The fact that the Christian canon holds dissonant views (like 'meat offered to idols') is not very reassuring: Acts is much later, perhaps by even ~150CE, making it a proto-orthodox attempt to bridge contradicting Christian movements like heretical hybrid Judaism (according to Galatians, Colossians etc.)

    If the sabbatarian model is true - mandatory observance of sabbaths (SDA) or sabbaths + holy days (Armstrong) - (who is right? sabbatarians can't even get their 'history' straight) it would be the biggest news both within NT-scripture and across the secular world! The apostles would have been devoting incredible energy to inculcating Romans and Greeks to observance of these days. It would have been saturation news in scripture and secular records! Herein lies the the key for the definitive refutation of the ludicrous Armstrong view of reality/history.

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  96. 4:38

    Didn't the apostles just go to the synagogues in the Roman Empire. Not prosetelyzing the unknown god in athens of the eastern leg?

    Nck

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  97. Im dressing up as DAVE PACK! ---That will scare the hell out of anyone!

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    Replies
    1. Get together with three other guys who'll dress up as Thiel, Flurry, and Meredith. That will absolutely terrify everybody!

      Delete
  98. I think a Gerald Flurry mask would be scarier! Stump's article is still relevant. As long as there are folks obsessed with Satan, witchcraft and paganism, it will remain relevant!

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  99. On the longest running post on Banned, a COGE member equates not liking Jon Brisby to Satan worship and Halloween...

    "RootDawg said...
    To all you Jon W. Brisby haters I have a question for you and I am just being silly! Do any of you have your Halloween candy waiting for the night to worship your god little "g" Satan?
    Monday, October 31, 2022 at 12:23:00 PM PDT"

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  100. One of the odder things about the COGs and Halloween is the notion that King Jeroboam I instituted it somehow.

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  101. I was interested to see my comment from 2013 in this thread. Nine years down the line, I still agree with myself! Does anyone else?

    Questeruk said...
    The main ethical problem with Halloween is the message to small children that it’s fine to ask anyone, including complete strangers to “give me something, or I will do something nasty to you”.

    Don’t have to be a Christian to think that is a dubious morality.

    Thursday, October 24, 2013 at 3:31:00 PM PDT Delete

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  102. I now look forward to seeing this “Halloween Hysteria” Blog post each year. It has sort of become a Banned tradition.

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  103. I hope everyone enjoyed the 505th anniversary of Luther posting his 95 theses!
    October 31, 1517

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  104. Questeruk, I do agree with your valid point. But the one thing that always bugged me was, with all the corruption existing in this world system (John 7:7) one could expose, the church ignores in favor of trivial Halloween. For them It's probably the safe way to go if they want to stay in business!

    I also agree with Anon 909, 10/1/12 and Michael 948, 10/24/13 regarding Keith's unbiblical views on the afterlife. The hope of salvation the Bible offers, the promised glorious inheritance in the Kingdom of God, is accomplished by the vehicle of "resurrection" at Christ's coming, historically known as the "blessed hope". Many scriptures verify this.

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