Jesus once used an analogy as a comparison between what man considered true worship and that which pleased our heavenly Father. Three of the gospels recorded his comments; Matthew, Mark and Luke. Matthew's version states, "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." The original Greek meaning of the word translated "bottle" is a leathern or skin bag used as a bottle, or wineskin.
What was Jesus speaking of? If we look at the context, he was explaining to his disciples that the Pharisees, or religious leaders of their day, had many teachings, customs and traditions that needed revisiting in the context of the new life that he was offering them. The Pharisees lived by the letter of the law, but Jesus was introducing his followers to a higher spiritual law. This law could not be contained in the requirements of the old covenant, for it would indeed replace the physical requirements of the Mosaic law with the spiritual requirements of a new covenant. Hebrews 8:10 defines it for us. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people."
If we accept this new covenant today, we may also find that we need to address many of our teachings, customs and traditions in light of our Lord's teachings. If we are honest, we may find that we are trying to put our new wine into old wineskins. Many Christians would counter with, "We don't follow the old Jewish laws. We are not under law, but under grace. We accept Jesus as our Lord and savior and he has washed away our sins."
That may be true, but have we perhaps been deceived into following other ways that might be considered "old wineskins" that our Lord cannot pour new wine into? Let me give you an example. I begin with some background that will clarify this subject for you as we move along. When the Lord called ancient Israel to be his called-out people, his chosen nation, he warned them regarding the form of worship he would accept, as well as that type of worship that would be considered an abomination. When he separated them from the other nations upon the earth, he commanded them, "Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise", Deut 12:30. What type of "worship" did these pagan nations practice? What were the customs and traditions that the Lord warned his children not to follow after?
Deut 18:9-14 gives us insight into the sin of witchcraft. "When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer (a seeker of the dead). For all that 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. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do."
I read this and can think of so many practices that we engage in today that would not be pleasing to the Lord, based on this scripture; Fortune-telling, Ouija boards, horoscopes, tarot card readings, etc. Look at the increase in our nation's obsession with books, movies and video games containing satanic themes. Horror films are on the increase, the bloodier the better. In addition, Halloween is growing in popularity, second only to Christmas in sales. Do you know the origins of Halloween? There are a multitude of articles on the internet regarding Halloween and the customs and traditions associated with it. Although each focuses on a different aspect of this holiday, they all seem to agree on the earliest origins that spawned the celebration that we observe today.
The earliest celebrations from which we get our Halloween today have their origins with the ancient Celtics of Northern France, Ireland and Britain. November 1st was the first day of the Celtic new year. The night before was the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, marking the end of the summer or harvest season and the beginning of the dark winter season. It was believed to be the time when the veil between the living and the dead was the thinnest, allowing the spirits of the dead to return to earth and roam the streets. To ward off these roaming ghosts, the superstitious Celtics would wear masks and light bonfires, carve scary faces in pumpkins and place them in their windows or leave gifts outside their houses hoping to spare themselves or their homes from harm. Celtic priests offered sacrifices of crops and animals to their dieties and practiced fortune-telling, believing that contact with the spirit world was closest during this season.
In 43 A.D. the Romans conquered the Celtic world and merged Samhain with the Roman festivals of Feralia, which commemorated the passing of the dead and that of Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits and trees. Her symbol was the apple, from which we get our custom of "bobbing" for apples today.
Eventually, Christianity began to take hold in Europe. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st All Saints Day to honor saints and martyrs. The night before became known as All-hallows Eve and later Halloween. He was attempting to replace the old Celtic practices with new traditions that reflected a more Christian view. However,the results proved to be a mixture of the earlier Celtic customs, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folklore merged together.
As European immigrants migrated to America, they brought with them many of these customs and, over the years, they were blended together forming the secular holiday we now celebrate on October 31st. Most Americans don't consider Halloween to be anything other than innocent fun. Does God feel the same way? We saw earlier in this article what he thinks of the dark practices of withcraft and the occult. Is He amused by our making light of demons, witches, ghosts, evil spirits, hauntings, and Satan himself? Is God pleased when we masquerade in costumes that depict these beings? Many would say, "It's all fun and games!" Maybe so, but it is an abomination to God and He forbids his children to partake of such things.
The Apostle Paul instructed the Christian converts in Corinth to not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers or have fellowship with unrighteousness. He asks, "What communion hath light with darkness?", II Cor 6:14. He told the Ephesians, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light", Eph 5:8. He goes on to say in Eph 5:11, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." The spirit world is very real. We are told in Eph 6:12 that, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places". Those who dabble in the practices of spiritism will be punished when Christ returns to earth. Rev 21:8 includes sorcerers and idolaters as those who will have their part in the lake of fire at the end time.
Christians are to keep themselves separate from evildoers and from the unfruitful deeds of darkness. There is nothing about Halloween that can remotely be considered Christian, therefore, it behooves true Christians to refrain from taking part in this holiday. We should refrain from joining in with a world that makes a habit of recycling ancient pagan customs and traditions (old wineskins) and attempting to pour Christianity into them.
