Halloween Perceptions

Halloween Perceptions

John R. Houk

© October 31, 2018

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid in small town America, Halloween was an event to look forward to. I and friends or relatives walked our neighborhood and neighborhoods our little legs could take us, looking for treats (the hope was candy) to feast on for days to come. And yes my buddies and I dressed up what was then (1960s) considered the traditional monsters, witches/warlocks, goblins, ghosts, etc.

My family was not Church-going but we considered ourselves Christians. My relatives were pretty much in the same boat. My founds though were a mix of relative-Christians (as myself) and actual Church-going families (both Catholic & Protestant Denominations).

None of us thought we were celebrating death, the occult or some kind of evil anti-Christian Holiday. Indeed, None of us realized as kids that Halloween was the day before All Saints’ Day. Halloween was actually a shortened version of All Hallows Eve.

Christianity.com provides Mainline Church perspective of All Saints Day that mentions Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox but really is a Mainline Protestant perspective:

What is All Saints Day?

All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, or Hallowmas, is a Christian celebration in honor of all the saints from Christian history. In Western Christianity, it is observed on November 1st by the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Lutheran Church, and other Protestant denominations. The Eastern Orthodox Church and associated Eastern Catholic churches observe All Saints Day on the first Sunday following Pentecost.

The Christian festival of All Saints Day comes from a conviction that there is a spiritual connection between those in Heaven and on Earth. In Catholic tradition, the holiday honors all those who have passed on to the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a national holiday in numerous historically Catholic countries. In Methodist tradition, All Saints Day relates to giving God earnest gratitude for the lives and deaths of his saints, remembering those who were well-known and not. Additionally, individuals throughout Christian history are celebrated, such as Peter the Apostle and Charles Wesley, as well as people who have personally guided one to faith in Jesus, such as one's relative or friend.

In addition to weekly worship gatherings, "All Saints Day" annually reminds us of our connectedness as Christians. It's commemorated every November 1st. Perhaps, you were taught to think of saints as statues in a church building. But the Bible teaches something completely different. Who is a saint? You are. That is if you’re a follower of Jesus. God calls a "saint" anyone who trusts in Christ alone for salvation. See Acts 9:13, 26:10, Romans 8:27, and 1Corinthians 1:2. (ALL SAINTS' DAY, NOVEMBER 1 - MEANING AND HISTORY; By Alex Crain; Christianity.com; 10/31/14)

The rest of the Christianity.com asserts that all people that believe Jesus Christ is the Risen Savior who died and arose alive offering Redemption to all who choose to Believe ARE SAINTS. This contrasts from the Roman Catholic practice of a Papal designation of an individual as a Saint for whatever those conditions set by the Roman Catholic Church (Frankly I’m uncertain of the Eastern Orthodox – the third largest segment of Christianity - Sainthood practice, but I think it is similar to the Roman Catholic practice).

I became a Born Again Christian in 1978 under the Charismatic/Pentecostal traditions of the (too often vilified today) Word of Faith Movement. A huge amount of Mainline Protestant Denominations call the Word of Faith beliefs a New Age Cult EVEN THOUGH Faith people Believe that Christ died on the Cross, was placed in a tomb and arose to Glorified Life to Redeem all who freely choose to Believe – just like all other Protestants (and Catholics and Orthodox for that matter).

What is disdained by Mainline Protestants (and many but not all Roman Catholics & Orthodox) Churches is the belief in being Baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in Tongues (diverse and/or unknown languages – Tongues) as well as the belief that the Word of God also states an element of Faith to receive according to Scripture. (I’m not going to go through the anti-Word arguments because that’s another post while Halloween is the point of this post.)

Because of how I learned the Christian Faith I became convinced that Halloween was a Satanic deception that should be quite anathema to celebrate in any form. Why? Celebrating a Satan influence holiday obviously dishonors God Almighty’s purpose to Redeem us from the curse upon humankind passed on by Adam accepting Satan’s deception in the Garden of Eden as truth rather than obeying God.

The Command

¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you^[a]shall surely die.” (Genesis 2: 16-17 NKJV)

The Lying Deception

3 ¹ Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3: 1-5 NKJV)

Human Reasoning to Self-Justify Disobedience to God

⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was^[a]pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves ^[b]coverings. (Genesis 3: 6-7 NKJV)

Side Note – Yup, Adam was there listening to that conversation between Serpent (i.e. Satan) and Eve. AND Adam didn’t say no to Satan and Eve reminding his wife that God said DON’T DO IT! She gave, he ate.

The Result of Opened Eyes: Not Physical Death rather Shame and Separation from God’s Presence – Spiritual Death

⁸ And they heard the ^[a]sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the ^[b]cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹ Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” (Genesis 3: 8-11 NKJV)

Self-Justification Laying the Blame for Wrong on Someone Else, Ending with the falsehood – The Devil Made Me Do It! Reality- It was Free Choice

¹² Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

¹³ And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3: 12-13 NKJV)

The Curse on Adam and Eve to be passed to their Children and Children’s Children until Christ Comes

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
¹⁵ And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

¹⁶ To the woman He said:

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be ^[a]for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it shall ^[b]bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
¹⁹ In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3: 14-19 NKJV)

Curse Recap in Simple Terms

On Satan:

For deceiving humanity in the form of an enticing trustworthy serpent: Satan you are cursed more than a dumb cow (whose future is now meat for food) and like the animal kingdom (for now the animal kingdom is untrusting and many cases dangerous to humanity which will domesticate or kill according to humanity’s darkened nature). Satan will be reviled just like serpents are now for being slithering/creeping beings. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: Satan some day a woman such as enticed in the Garden, will give birth to a man-child that will one day whoop on your head and smack you around so that even your (i.e. Satan’s) feet will feel the pain. And we now know that man-child born was and is Jesus the son of Mary and the Son of God.

On Eve representing all women:

In giving birth to children you will have labor pains. In matrimony you-woman will desire the intimacy of your husband, but he will be the person in charge of family decisions (get over feminists).

On Adam representing all men:

The ground – meaning the earth in nature – is cursed (a Biblical explanation for natural disasters and acts of nature - earth quakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, hurricanes, weather related troubles, etc.). Man will toil to survive in life. Man’s immortality before the curse is transformed to mortality and in death the human body will return to the dust it was created from.

Humanity after the Curse is separated from God’s Presence, but because of the promise of Redemption from this curse noted in Genesis 3: 15 – God does not abandon humanity:

 ²¹ Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. (Genesis 3: 21 NKJV)

I believe it’s safe to surmise from verse 21 that God is displeased with disobedience but has not abandoned humankind. “Tunics of skin” means God Almighty took it upon Himself to kill and skin some kind of an animal to make clothes for the now mortal humankind.

All Hallows’ Eve of All Saints Day in the Early Church began as an evangelistic program by the becoming dominant Roman Catholic Church. All Saints Day evolved from honoring those that died as martyrs for their Christian faith when Christianity was unwelcome and/or illegal in a pagan dominated society.

Pagan domination began to end after Constantine the Great defeated his pagan rival emperors in battle in which Constantine gave credit to Christianity. Constantine ended persecution and set the stage for Christian Evangelization of the Roman world.

The story of the spread of Christianity in a world dominated by Roman/Byzantine influence on the institutional Christian Church begins the emergence of Christianity transforming pagan traditions as an evangelistic tool to spread the Christian faith.

Here are some excerpts that demonstrate this evangelism:

On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.

By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It’s widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related church-sanctioned holiday. (Halloween 2018; By History.com Editors; History.com; Originally published 11/18/09 – Updated 10/5018 – Access Date 10/30/18)

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The name Halloween or Hallowe'en – a contraction of All Hallows' Evening or All Hallows' Eve – is a reference to the day before the Christian holiday of All Hallow's Day or All Saints' Day, an important date in the Christian calendar dedicated to remembering the dead, martyrs, saints, and other departed faithfuls.

But, similar to many Christian-adapted holidays, the origin of Halloween is thought to be pagan, blooming in the dark nights of the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (meaning 'summer's end' in Gaelic), when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.

Living around 2,000 years ago in what is modern Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, the Celts celebrated their new year on 1 November as summer and harvests ended and the cold, harsh winter began – a time typical of many deaths. The Celts believed the boundaries between life and death became blurred on the eve of each new year – 31 October – when ghosts of the dead would return to earth causing havoc and destroying crops. But it was also a time when people, typically Druids or Celtic priests, could access future predictions, which became a comfort to the people facing a long, dark winter. But after the Romans invaded around 43AD, Christianity became infused with and supplanted Celtic traditions over the next 400 years of rule.

In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III dedicated 1 November to honor all saints and martyrs – and 'All Saints Day' was born. By 1000 AD the church introduced All Souls' Day on 2 November, in what is widely believed to have been an attempt to replace Celtic traditions with an official church holiday; symbols of Samhain were transferred to the Christian holiday, such as bonfires, parades and dressing in costumes such as devils, angels and saints.

All Hallows or All Hallowmas comes from Middle English Alholowmesse, meaning All Saints’ Day, and the night before – the traditional celebration of the Celtic religious festival Samhain – began to be called All Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

But over time Halloween has largely left behind its pagan and Christian origins to become a secular community-celebrated holiday, particularly in the US. (The truth about Halloween you didn't know; Expatica.com)

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Halloween as we know it has evolved from a multitude of rituals and cultures. In A.D. 43, the Romans conquered the southern half of Britain and ruled over the Celts for nearly 400 years. During this time it is thought by some that two Roman celebrations may have influenced Samhain. The first, called Feralia, a festival that celebrated the dead, and the second, a day honoring Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. However, Lisa Morton argues that this is a popular misconception, and Pomona was a minor goddess who did not have her own holiday. She argues, “the Roman celebrations of Feralia (held in February) and Lemuria (held in May) were both festivals of the dead, and may have influenced the evolution of Halloween (especially Lemuria, a three-day event which ended on May 13, the original date set by Pope Boniface IV for the celebration of All Saints’ Day).” It is All Saints’ Day that leads to the final transformation as we celebrate it today.

According to the Library of Congress, in A.D. 601, Pope Gregory the First issued an edict to his missionaries. Rather than try to obliterate native peoples’ customs and beliefs, he instructed his missionaries to use them: If a group of people worshipped a tree, rather than cut it down, he advised them to consecrate it to Christ and allow its continued worship.” As Christian leaders began to convert pagan holidays, Samhain was transformed to All Saints’ Day or All Hallows on November 1. Though the holiday was converted to Christianity, the night before, All Hallows’ Eve, became known as Halloween. As Europeans immigrated to the United States, they brought with them many of their traditions. Halloween rose in popularity as the Irish-American population grew in large numbers. Trick-or-treating became popular in the 1930s and is believed to have come from a mix of Guy Fawkes Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and All Souls’ Day traditions, and practices that involve accepting food in exchange for a costumed performance. (A Halloween History Lesson; By Judy Williams; Missouri Historical Society; 10/31/14)

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In 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV heralded the celebration of Christian martyrs when he declared "All Martyrs Day" on May 13, a celebration that endured for 200 years. Fast forward to the eighth century, when Pope Gregory III, the leader of the Christian world, mandated Nov. 1 as a date to celebrate not just all martyrs, but "all saints," too. Hence the term, "All Saints Day."

This date coincided with the Celtic new year, held also Nov. 1, where celebrants on the British Isles and Ireland would ring in the new year with a twist - lighting bonfires and singing chants that were meant to ward off any evil spirits that might cause harm to the populace.

There was a good reason for such precaution, based on the Celtic rituals at the time. Nov. 1 on the Celtic calendar represented the end of summer and the beginning of winter, a period of cold and darkness for mostly poverty-stricken citizens, who had to wait months before they could plant seeds and grow their harvest. That's where the infamous "black and orange" Halloween motif started, as well. Black was designated by the Celts as the color or winter and orange as celebrated as the color of summer - Halloween hues that remain legendary today.

The Celts also were big believers in the supernatural and marked the night before the new year as the official boundary between the living (the "new") and the dead ("the old.") The holiday was officially known as Samhain, when "celebrants" believed the dead would return to the land of the living and once again walk the earth. (The History of Halloween and How It's Different in 2018; By Brian O'Connell; TheStreet.com; 10/5/18 3:29 PM EDT)

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The word 'Halloween' was first popularized in a poem

Scottish poet Robert Burns helped to popularize the word "Halloween" with his 1785 poem of the same name.

So where does the name itself come from? According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it's actually two words smushed together. "Hallow" — or holy person — refers to the saints celebrated on All Saints' Day, which is November 1. The "een" part of the word is a contraction of "eve" — or evening before.

So basically, Halloween just an old-fashioned way of saying the night before All Saints' Day — also called Hallowmas or All Hallows' Day.

…

The day's morbid traditions go back to ancient times

Historians have linked Halloween to Samhain, the Celtic festival of the summer's end celebrated in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.

According to Celtic mythology, the veil between the Otherworld and our world thins during Samhain, making it easier for spirits and the souls of the dead to return. (The dark history behind Halloween is even more chilling than you realized; By Áine Cain; Business Insider; 10/31/17 2:50 PM)

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All Saints Day is a special feast day on which Catholics celebrate all the saints, known and unknown. While most saints have a particular feast day on the Catholic calendar (usually, though not always, the date of their death), not all of those feast days are observed. And saints who have not been canonized—those who are in Heaven, but whose sainthood is known only to God—have no particular feast day. In a special way, All Saints Day is their feast.

…

The History of All Saints Day

All Saints Day is a surprisingly old feast. It arose out of the Christian tradition of celebrating the martyrdom of saints on the anniversary of their martyrdom. When martyrdoms increased during the persecutions of the late Roman Empire, local dioceses instituted a common feast day in order to ensure that all martyrs, known and unknown, were properly honored.

By the late fourth century, this common feast was celebrated in Antioch, and Saint Ephrem the Syrian mentioned it in a sermon in 373. In the early centuries, this feast was celebrated in the Easter season, and the Eastern Churches, both Catholic, and Orthodox, still celebrate it then, tying the celebration of the lives of the saints in with Christ's Resurrection.

Why November 1?

The current date of November 1 was instituted by Pope Gregory III (731-741), when he consecrated a chapel to all the martyrs in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. Gregory ordered his priests to celebrate the Feast of All Saints annually. This celebration was originally confined to the diocese of Rome, but Pope Gregory IV (827-844) extended the feast to the entire Church and ordered it to be celebrated on November 1.

Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day

In English, the traditional name for All Saints Day was All Hallows Day. (A hallow was a saint or holy person.) The vigil or eve of the feast, October 31, is still commonly known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween. Despite concerns among some Christians (including some Catholics) in recent years about the "pagan origins" of ​Halloween the vigil was celebrated from the beginning—long before Irish practices, stripped of their pagan origins (just as the Christmas tree was stripped of similar connotations), were incorporated into popular celebrations of the feast.

In fact, in post-Reformation England, the celebration of Halloween and All Saints Day were outlawed not because they were considered pagan but because they were Catholic. Later, in the Puritan areas of the Northeastern United States, Halloween was outlawed for the same reason, before Irish Catholic immigrants revived the practice as a way of celebrating the vigil of All Saints Day.

All Saints Day is followed by All Souls Day (November 2), the day on which Catholics commemorate all those Holy Souls who have died and are in Purgatory, being cleansed of their sins so that they can enter into the presence of God in Heaven. (All Saints Day: Honoring All of the Saints, Known and Unknown; By Scott P. Richert; ThoughtCo.com; Updated 2/4/18)

I have tried to provide in the above excerpts an unbiased demonstration of the relatively early Church use of pagan/polytheistic traditions as an evangelistic tool. I can see it as a slick sales pitch outreach, BUT many Bible-minded Christians today view this as a corruption of Bible-faith. The classic Biblical example is in Deuteronomy (I’m using the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition here):

⁹ When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of these nations.

¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or who uses divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer,

¹¹ Or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

¹² For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and it is because of these abominable practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

¹³ You shall be blameless [and absolutely true] to the Lord your God.

¹⁴ For these nations whom you shall dispossess listen to soothsayers and diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so. (Deuteronomy 18: 9-14 AMPC)

A Christian believing in the inerrancy of the Holy Bible should have a difficult time to support the temptation of celebrating the inherent Celtic nature in the Christian All Hallows Eve – Halloween.

Saying that it may surprise you to discover I don’t have a problem with Church’s changing the theme of devils, witches and demons in Halloween to a Christianized version which have developed alternative names such as Harvest Festival, Hallelujah Night, Reformation Day (Protestant tradition believes Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on a Catholic Church door on October 31, 1517) and so forth.

It is my opinion extricating all things demonic and giving honor to obedience of God is a defeat for the deceitful operations of Satan. Still many disagree. Many are quite vehement about any kind of celebration that took traditionally polytheistic religious celebration of a Celtic festival that used this rough date to commemorate the dead either in celebration or fear that was embodied in Samhain (pronounced roughly as sow-when).

Below is the post that inspired me to look into Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day (Today in sequence: 10/31, 11/1 & 11/2). I don’t have a problem with the facts behind the post’s conclusions, I just think the conclusions lean too much to short-sighted by failing to glorify God for fear of honoring a devil-day. Also in the BitChute video (that I’m going to try valiantly to embed on all my blogs, but failing that you have to click the link) below, there is a huge anti-Roman Catholic message. On a personal level I view all Christians of various Denominations (Protestant, Roman Catholic & Eastern Orthodox) that have one central belief that Jesus died on the Cross as a sacrifice of the sins of humanity resulting from the Curse on Adam, buried dead in a tomb and on the third day after Crucifixion Jesus from the tomb bodily as man and God sitting on the Right of the Father. All else, my dogma beliefs, your beliefs, or a Denomination’s belief are irrelevant and will be settled on the unified Resurrection of the dead in Christ.

Until that Resurrection I urge all Christians who hold the central tenets of Faith to get along with each other even with differences in dogma (Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic & Charismatic Word of Faith).

JRH 10/31/18

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The Pagan Origin of Halloween

Posted by Red/White/Blue/Navy Veteran/Christian

Posted at G+ Community MAKE AMERICA FIRST AGAIN !!

Oct 30, 4:19 AM

Please Watch my attached Video [Below with 54:11 length] it has a very powerful message. Information most people don't know. Information not included in the following post on Halloween. Please watch and Share so people will be informed and realize the Truth about Halloween.

The Pagan Origin of Halloween

The name "Halloween" comes from the All Saints Day celebration of the early Christian church, a day set aside for the solemn remembrance of the martyrs. All Hallows Eve, the evening before All Saints Day, began the time of remembrance. "All Hallows Eve" was eventually contracted to "Hallow-e'en," which became "Halloween."

As Christianity moved through Europe it collided with indigenous pagan cultures and confronted established customs. Pagan holidays and festivals were so entrenched that new converts found them to be a stumbling block to their faith. To deal with the problem, the organized church would commonly move a distinctively Christian holiday to a spot on the calendar that would directly challenge a pagan holiday. The intent was to counter pagan influences and provide a Christian alternative. But most often the church only succeeded in "Christianizing" a pagan ritual—the ritual was still pagan, but mixed with Christian symbolism. That's what happened to All Saints Eve—it was the original Halloween alternative!

The Celtic people of Europe and Britain were pagan Druids whose major celebrations were marked by the seasons. At the end of the year in northern Europe, people made preparations to ensure winter survival by harvesting the crops and culling the herds, slaughtering animals that wouldn't make it. Life slowed down as winter brought darkness (shortened days and longer nights), fallow ground, and death. The imagery of death, symbolized by skeletons, skulls, and the color black, remains prominent in today's Halloween celebrations.

The pagan Samhain festival (pronounced "sow" "en") celebrated the final harvest, death, and the onset of winter, for three days—October 31 to November 2. The Celts believed the curtain dividing the living and the dead lifted during Samhain to allow the spirits of the dead to walk among the living—ghosts haunting the earth.

Some embraced the season of haunting by engaging in occult practices such as divination and communication with the dead. They sought "divine" spirits (demons) and the spirits of their ancestors regarding weather forecasts for the coming year, crop expectations, and even romantic prospects. Bobbing for apples was one practice the pagans used to divine the spiritual world's "blessings" on a couple's romance.

For others the focus on death, occultism, divination, and the thought of spirits returning to haunt the living, fueled ignorant superstitions and fears. They believed spirits were earthbound until they received a proper sendoff with treats—possessions, wealth, food, and drink. Spirits who were not suitably "treated" would "trick" those who had neglected them. The fear of haunting only multiplied if that spirit had been offended during its natural lifetime.

Trick-bent spirits were believed to assume grotesque appearances. Some traditions developed, which believed wearing a costume to look like a spirit would fool the wandering spirits. Others believed the spirits could be warded off by carving a grotesque face into a gourd or root vegetable (the Scottish used turnips) and setting a candle inside it—the jack-o-lantern.

Into that dark, superstitious, pagan world, God mercifully shined the light of the gospel. Newly converted Christians armed themselves with the truth and no longer feared a haunting from departed spirits returning to earth. In fact, they denounced their former pagan spiritism in accord with Deuteronomy 18:

There shall not be found among you anyone...who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord (Deuteronomy 18:10-13).

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BITCHUTE VIDEO: IS HALLOWEEN CHRISTIAN? ALL SAINTS DAY? IS HALLOWEEN HARMLESS?

Posted by Victory1776

First published at 08:32 UTC on October 29th, 2018

Christian perspectives on Halloween are strongly divided. Some feel complete freedom to observe the holiday, while others run and hide from it. Many choose to boycott or ignore it, while a number celebrate it through positive and imaginative observances. Some even take advantage of Halloween's evangelistic opportunities.

Halloween has pagan roots stemming from the ancient Celtic festival, Samhain. This harvest festival of the Druids ushered in the New Year, beginning on the evening of October 31 with the lighting of bonfires and offering of sacrifices. As the Druids danced around the fires, they celebrated the end of the summer and beginning of the season of darkness. It was believed that at this time of year the invisible "gates" between the natural world and the spirit world would open, allowing free movement between the two worlds.

During the 8th century in the diocese of Rome, Pope Gregory III moved All Saints Day to November 1, officially making October 31 "All Hallows Eve," some say, as a way of claiming the celebration for Catholics. However, this feast commemorating the martyrdom of the saints had already been celebrated by Catholics for many centuries before this time. Pope Gregory IV broadened the feast to include the entire Church. Pagan practices associated with the season persisted and have mixed into modern celebrations of Halloween.

No matter what you think of halloween, know that it is the very highest satanic holy day. As a Christian, you should not be observing it in any way, especially IN your church. The catholic church is responsible for this day to be placed in the church. Halloween has never been a Christian holiday, and it has no place in the life of a born again Believer in JESUS CHRIST. In fact, it is an abomination to God, and we should take our stand firmly against it. As we look at its history, we find that its roots go deep into heathenism, paganism, satanism and the occult; and its modern expression is no better.

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Halloween Perceptions

John R. Houk

© October 31, 2018

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The Pagan Origin of Halloween

Posted at G+ Community MAKE AMERICA FIRST AGAIN !!

___________________

BITCHUTE VIDEO: IS HALLOWEEN CHRISTIAN? ALL SAINTS DAY? IS HALLOWEEN HARMLESS?

Posted by Victory1776

About Victory1776

I am a Retired Disabled US Military Veteran. I served 20 plus Years in the Navy and in the Army. I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior when I was 8. I joined the Navy at 16. I have been in Christian Ministry since I enlisted in the Navy. I have served in many different roles from Janitor, Children Sunday School Teacher, Adult Sunday School Teacher, Assistant Pastor, Missions, Preacher, Military Ministry, Nursing Home Ministry, Homeless Ministry... etc.

I Love God. I am now full time in the Christian Ministry. I produce videos and want to bring the Gospel to as many people as possible. I make a variety of different videos as I feel lead by Jesus.

The History of Jihad review by Dale Brown

Hat tip to apologiamixer at G+ and Youtube, I found this review of Robert Spencer’s newest book to date, “The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS”. I am currently reading this well sourced book on the reality of Islam in history. 

JRH 10/29/18

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VIDEO: The History of Jihad review by Dale Brown

apologiamixer

Published on Oct 26, 2018

Robert Spencer's book The History of Jihad, from Muhammad to ISIS, a review by Dale Brown

Awakening My Israel Gene

Ben-Gurion International Airport

 

Imagine having a known heritage stretching back thousands of years. Norma Zager recently traveled to Israel. Norma is Jewish so she got to experience the exhilarating feeling of coming to Israel and knowing who she is and the struggles and victories of the Jewish people.

[Norma sent a huge amount of photos of her Israel experience. I am including many but not all. Sorry about that Norma.]

JRH 10/28/18

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Awakening My Israel Gene

By Norma Zager

Sent October 28, 2018 12:39 AM

For a writer, knowing you have to write something can be a mixed blessing. The urge to fill a page with gleaming rhetoric and prolific phrases can be quite motivating at times, and yet…there are other times when it can be downright intimidating. It is with much trepidation I begin this piece.

By all accounts there should be a million words rushing forward to describe my first trip to Israel. So much seen and felt, a lifetime of expectations achieved.

As a baby boomer I shared the experience with my fellow boomers of filling coin-cards in Sunday school with a clear understanding of our responsibilities toward the modern Jewish State. Our nickels and dimes would plant forests and help Israel grow and prosper. It was as natural to us as breathing, and we held a vested interest in this historical effort.

So recently when I found myself walking out of the plane and stepped foot on Israeli ground for the first time, I was both emotional and strangely at home; not quite certain what or how to feel. Although waiting in line to get through customs tested my ardor, I remained in a sleep-deprived coma of disbelief that I was actually standing on sacred soil.

It took the entire 70 years or Israel’s existence as a modern country for Norma to finally arrive

When my friend Ari showed up at the airport and we headed to his cousin’s home for Shabbat dinner, it felt so natural I really did not think anything unusual about the evening. Yes, I thought this is Shabbat in an Israeli home, but the table filled with every food you could possibly imagine and the warm entreaties to eat, eat, eat seemed as familiar as the sunshine.

Shabbat Meal

Having the good fortune to have my friend Ari along on my journey made the experience more unique. His American-Israel dual citizenship affords him a perspective I could not achieve. I see and feel American, he both. I gazed at a landscape in Tel Aviv and saw what reminded me of Central Park South, while he saw the IDF GHQ offices in the building where he had served.

Still I waited to feel the explosion of excitement I was certain would arise and overwhelm me, but it was all so normal, it felt odd.

The next morning after I had checked into my hotel in Jerusalem, I began my day with an Israeli breakfast. No lack of calories here. My first response was that I was having one of those diet dreams, as I perused the endless buffet of items from eggs, salads, breads and cheeses to cereals, desserts and pastries as far as the eye could see. Aha, I thought, thank Goodness I brought elastic waist pants along.

After I had ingested enough calories to sustain me for a month, I headed for the Old City and the Western Wall, or as I continued to refer to it from my childhood, the Wailing Wall. I was corrected many times by Ari who reminded me we are not “wailing” any longer, thus the name no longer applies. Yet feeling certain I would be wailing at the wall, the moniker felt appropriate.

I traversed cobblestone streets past endless cubicles filled with Jewish and Christian paraphernalia, as Arab merchants shouted pleas to enter and buy and then insults when I did not comply with their wishes.

I wandered until suddenly in front of my eyes was a flight of steps leading to the Wall. I numbly moved ahead uncertain how or if I would feel.

Standing at the top of the steps leading down to the wall is a panoramic view that is at once breathtaking and quite surreal. Is it real or a picture? Am I really here or simply watching a video taken by a friend who had previously visited?

I descended at a snail’s pace, staring at the wall, waiting for the emotional rush I had always expected and envisioned, but instead there was numbness, almost disbelief akin to shock.

I grew closer. When I got to the wall I placed my hand upon the ancient stone expecting a charge of electricity; still nothing. I prayed and attempted to place my prayer into the overflowing crevices in the wall, then backed away dropping down onto one of the chairs. I stared for some time then walked up and prayed again. It was very hot and I was feeling grateful to be in the shade when suddenly a river of emotion washed over me. I fought it back, afraid I might flood the entire area with a river of tears.

This is how I managed my emotions the entire trip, holding back tears refusing to go to a place so deep inside it might overwhelm and consume me totally.

At the Wall my friend Chaya met me to take me to her home for Shabbat lunch. She and her husband Ronnie had made Aliyah to Israel over 14 years before. Walking in the Old City like a Jewish mountain goat and arriving alive without suffering a heart attack from what seemed like thousands of steps and hills seemed like a miracle, but of course I was in the place where they happen regularly, so why be surprised?

Sharing an incredible Shabbat meal with friends as though no time at all had passed, I felt blessed. I was feeling blessed every minute, every second I was there. Yes, there is a lot of food, we are Jewish, it is who we are so get over it.

I did not absorb all the emotion until I returned home and finally allowed myself to open the floodgates. Being there and close to tears most of the time, I needed to process what I felt.

Was it that I was a Jew coming home at last?

Being welcomed at Yad VaShem

 Was it walking through Yad Vashem and channeling the cries and pain of my grandmother and aunt in the camps or wading gleefully in the Dead Sea?

At the Dead (“Salt”) Sea “I am healed!”

Was it standing on a mountain overlooking the ancient city of Jericho that Joshua had fought to capture, but now had been given away so we could no longer enter without risking our lives?

Was it a sense of pride gazing over palm trees and orchards at what my people had created in a desert?

Or the sight of Jerusalem from Mt. Scopus? Swelling with emotion and pride and a tie to the past that tugs at one’s heart so profoundly?

Our visit to a solar company creating products to light and modernize Africa?

The Temple Mount as viewed from Mount Scopus 

The incredible work in Tel Aviv’s tech center including a new tiny module that can see for the blind?

Was it a sense of loss for everything that had gone before and those with whom I could never share this joyous moment?

Was it how amazing it felt to see my Christian friends tearful and overcome with emotion as they experienced the Jewish State?

Or finally understanding why there is a battle for Israel that raises such enormous emotional levels in people throughout the world?

Perhaps it was simply that inside us all there is an Israel gene lying dormant to be truly awakened when we step foot on its land. A land where history disappears and we meander through Biblical times as easily as Moses or Jesus who return to stroll beside us.

We all felt, we all shed tears, we all knew we were in a blessed place. No matter Jewish or Christian, we shared a unique bond recognizing what we were witnessing and experiencing.

Israel is real. Trite to say perhaps, but also the most real we may ever feel. Emotions are heightened and there is vibrancy, a special lens through which our eyes see brighter, clearer and enhanced somehow.

I feel especially lucky to have been able to witness that it is not just a Jewish feeling, but transcends and encompasses the human race in its entirety. The Judeo-Christian world sharing this special time with wonderful new friends from all over the world like Pucci from Manila, Monique from Jakarta, Chris now living and working in Israel, Margaret from Kenya or Sylvia from Spain; everyone on the trip felt the same emotions. Fellow travelers so anxious to engage about their own personal Israel experience.

Walking up the hills of Jerusalem, Monique from Indonesia, Norma from the USA and Pucci from the Philippines [Miracles do happen, as the emphasis is on “walking!”]

                                 

That magnetic pull of history, an ancient legacy of love, hate, war, peace and hope. We all belong to the State of Israel and the State of Israel belongs in us all.

The Jewish people inherited the right to guard and protect its borders, to defend our homeland - this amazing paradise - from invading armies as we have done so throughout our history and will continue. Seeing soldiers with innocent young faces armed and prepared to give their lives for this ancient and charismatic land saddens and warms us at once.

It is our charge and our destiny, one the Jewish people embrace with joy and rapture.

We do not visit Israel; we all go home to Israel. Once you understand this, you really never leave her borders.

And may we all say, “Next Year in Jerusalem!”

“I AM COMING BACK!” “NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!"

More photos  from Norma Zagers time in the Jewish National Home Land:

An Ethiopian Israeli preparing a Hungarian baked specialty inside the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv, where several years ago a homicide bomber blew himself up for 70 virgins in heaven

 About to enter the Israeli Parliament, the “Knesset"

 

With colleague and “partner in crime” Ari Bussel, where the President usually receives official guests

A show inside the David Citadel

Walking toward the opening reception with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Norma Zager with Nitzan Chen, Head of the Government Press Office:  “I must take a picture with Bibi, a Jewish Grandmother cannot be stopped!"

The following morning, “Did you see the front page of the J Post?”

PM Pledges to Appoint Israeli Envoy to Christian World

“Bibi’s Fan Club" - breakfast in Israel 

From Kenya to the UK, Canada to Indonesia

__________________

This is the latest in the series “Postcards from America – Postcards from Israel,” a collaboration between Zager, award-winning investigative journalist and author, and Bussel, a foreign correspondent reporting from Israel.  The series, now in its 11th year has been transformed to a radio program, “Conversations Eye to Eye,” “The Jewish Voice on Christian Radio."

Ari Bussel and Norma Zager collaborate both in writing and on the air in a point-counter-point discussion of all things Israel-related.  Together, they have dedicated the past decade to promoting Israel.

© Israel Monitor- October 2018

First Published October 28, 2018

Contact:  bussel@me.com

A Challenge to Point out Communism in Dem Party Platform PT 2

John R. Houk

© October 27, 2018

Part ONE can be read HERE.

As a recap for the purpose of this post:

I recently received criticism on a MeWe group for sharing a Justin Smith post entitled “Liberty First and Foremost”. The beginning of Justin’s essay said this:

The Democratic Party has grown to be the enemy within our country, and the communist Democrats working in federal positions are the same as foreign agents infiltrated into federal agencies, seeking to do whatever is needed to end this republic.

Chris Worth at this MeWe group said something to the effect he read equating the Dems to a “Communist” and decided the post was worthless and hence encouraged readers there was no need to read further.

And now to continue to show that the Dems have an affinity for Communism from their 2016 Party Platform.

Resuming with the summary of the Party Platform:

LGBT Issues

Supports comprehensive federal nondiscrimination protections “for all LGBT Americans, to guarantee equal rights in areas such as housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, jury service, education, and federal funding.”

Opposes all state efforts to “discriminate against LGBT individuals, including legislation that restricts the right to access public spaces.”

Supports combatting [sic] LGBT youth homelessness and improving school climates.

Supports ensuring support LGBT elders have access to necessary health care, and “protect LGBT people from violence—including ending the crisis of violence against transgender Americans.”

Supports promotion of “LGBT human rights” around the world and ensuing “America’s foreign policy is inclusive of LGBT people.

As a Christian Conservative that supports Biblical Morality Dems and all people of the Left vilify me as -gasp- a homophobe. The Dem support for the normalization of all things homosexual (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender and now days the adding of Queer) is a Marxist elite design to displace the Christian Values that have been the backbone of American culture for two centuries. ONLY in the mid-1900s with the infection of Leftist thinking in the media, entertainment, academia and the Courts has the homosexual lifestyle been normalized via the power of propaganda waged in those venues.

Today it is even difficult to use general terms on Internet search engines to locate data on how Americans rejected homosexuality as normal because the search engines are dominated by Left-think. In Part One I lost patience looking for the data on American attitudes about the LGBTQ lifestyle and ended up using homosexual activist thinking making it sound as if the homosexual-by-choice (I don’t buy into the Gay gene concept) people are struggling victims. To that end here the title I found and used in Part One when the Dems suggestively place LGBTQ discrimination under the section “Discrimination and Racial Issues”: Being Gay Used to Be Illegal. And here is a quote from that post about society’s concurrence with Biblical Morality by illegalizing the homosexual lifestyle:

“Being gay” (same-sex activity and partnership) used to be illegal in the U.S. and the U.K., and being gay is still illegal in many parts of the world. The details are complex.

Prior to 20th-century reforms, punishment for homosexuality in places like the United States and the Britain included incarceration, fines, castration, and even death. Even after aspects of same-sex relationships were decriminalized, discrimination and prejudice on behalf of the state continued in many respects. ^[1][2][3]

LGBT rights throughout world history is a complex subject. Some cultures had progressive stances on LGBT issues long before Britain and the US, yet other cultures still consider “being gay” a crime punishable by death and imprisonment today. Even today, state-sponsored LGBT discrimination still exists in the West. For instance, same sex marriage only recently became legal in the U.S. and still illegal in Northern Ireland. ^[4] (Being Gay Used to Be Illegal; Researched by Thomas DeMichele; FactMyth.com; Published – 3/22/16. Last Updated – 8/27/16)

You can tell the Leftist slant by the above website when the Christian attitude toward the LGBTQ lifestyle is described as “discrimination” or “still illegal” rather than shunned due moral agreement with the Creator of all that exists:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not ^[a]comprehend it. ( John 1: 1-5 NKJV)

1 ¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who ^[a]suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because what may be known of God is ^[b]manifest ^[c]in them, for God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and ^[d]Godhead, so that they are without excuse, ²¹ because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

²⁴ Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their ^[a]women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. ²⁷ Likewise also the ^[b]men, leaving the natural use of the ^[c]woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. (Romans 1: 18-21, 24-27 NKJV)

In Communism religion challenges the authority of the State and must be suppressed by any means necessary. As such here is an illuminating quote about the reason Communism disdains religion:

A communist government has to have the people looking at them as a god or as diety. After all, a communist government basically decides what people do in terms of career, in terms of where they live, what choices they have for food, clothing, medical care and how much money they “live on.” Allowing the people to have a “god” places the government at number two in terms of authority and prominence in a citizen’s life and might lead to a rebelion [sic].

Karl Marx, the father of communism, said, “Communism begins from the outset with atheism.” (He said this in  Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right).

Vladimir Lenin similarly wrote: “A Marxist must be a materialist, i. e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i. e., one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching, but in a concrete way, on the basis of the class struggle which is going on in practice and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could”(He said this in his book,  Private Property and Communism). (Communism Persecutes Religion; NoCommunism.com)

Dem support for an LGBTQ agenda smacks entirely of Communist remolding of cultural thinking.

Dem Platform Summary Continued:

National Service

Support strengthening AmeriCorps with the “goal that every American who wants to participate in full-time national service will have the opportunity to do so.”

AmeriCorps according to its website:

AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs, made up of three primary programs that each take a different approach to improving lives and fostering civic engagement. Members commit their time to address critical community needs like increasing academic achievement, mentoring youth, fighting poverty, sustaining national parks, preparing for disasters, and more.

AmeriCorps is a good idea. You can hearken back to President Kennedy’s words:

My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Service for Country is difficult to criticize. However, a CBS report (of all places) shows the current scope of AmeriCorps has problems:

WASHINGTON — A CBS News Radio investigation of years of complaints about AmeriCorps programs has found multiple allegations of sexual harassment, abusive behavior and mismanagement since 2013. The allegations are detailed in complaints to the agency's Inspector General, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

AmeriCorps, a network of national service programs, is the largest issuer of grants for service and volunteering.

It is overseen by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which was established as a federal agency in 1993 – and has been dogged for years by claims that it is poorly managed.

Conservative critics say AmeriCorps is a waste of money and promotes liberal causes. The Government Accountability Office found last year that CNCS has fallen short in monitoring whether the organizations it grants money to meet federal standards and requirements. (AmeriCorps programs accused of sexual misconduct and breakdowns in oversight; By STEVE DORSEY; CBS News; 10/22/18 8:15 AM – Updated 10/22/18 7:15 PM EDT)

In essence the AmeriCorps problem is Big Government, mismanagement and propagating Left-Wing causes in its current state. Here’s a Michelle Malkin criticism from 2011:

… With bipartisan support, the program has morphed into an all-purpose progressive slush fund. Instead of reining in the national-service boondoggle, Washington has turned taxpayer-subsidized helping hands into a legion of Nanny State handout helpers. Goodbye, AmeriCorps. Hello, FoodStampCorps.

#ad#Yes, across the Internet, the feds are recruiting AmeriCorps VISTA (“Volunteers in Service to America”) workers to apply for jobs as publicists for the welfare state. Their mission: to sign up as many people to federal food-stamp rolls as possible. Because, you know, the record-breaking 12 million that have been added since Obama took office is apparently not good enough. (America the Dependent; By MICHELLE MALKIN; National Review; 4/15/11 4:00 AM)

Can you say, “Teaching government dependence”?

The Libertarian-oriented Hoover Institute observed in 1996, three years after AmeriCorps’ creation:

… Clinton has used the rhetoric of citizenship to justify his efforts to expand the welfare state. He has contradicted his emphasis on personal responsibility by working to preserve bureaucratic federal control of social programs. The revival of citizenship requires a transfer of power from government to families, voluntary associations, and communities. The president has instead sought to reinvigorate civic life by trying to relegitimize government.

…

AmeriCorps reveals the administration's fundamental misreading of the components of healthy citizenship. The program provides government subsidies for voluntary activity at the federal, state, and local levels. By so doing, it conflates volunteering -- which nearly 90 million Americans regularly do -- with a federal-government jobs program run by a centralized bureaucracy. It is, in essence, a Great Society-style program trying to pass as a plan to reinvigorate citizenship and heal communities. But its very premise -- using federal resources to promote voluntarism -- contradicts the principle of self-government that lies at the heart of citizenship. AmeriCorps blurs the line between the problems and needs best addressed by individuals, voluntary association and localities and those best addressed by the federal government. Instead, it seems to suggest that social problems are the responsibility of the central government, and the federal bureaucracy must direct and improve local solutions. (Clinton's AmeriCorps Values; By John Walters; January/February Policy Review – Hoover Institute; 3/1/1996)

Government dependence is one of the ways a Communist government manages the thoughts and actions of its citizens.

Read this article on Marxist/Leninist agenda to control citizens and look for similarities to the stealth actions of the Democratic Party. Here is a bit of an intro:

As the Bolshevik party took control of Russia after the October Revolution in 1917, they initiated large scale reforms in numerous sectors of society, while ultimately instituting changes in the political, economic, and cultural realms; that would all work together to clearly define their newly founded United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) for the next seventy years. These reforms were predominantly focused on the wide-spread cultivation and propagation of Marxist/Leninist ideology throughout every portion of the USSR’s social spectrum. One of the most important initiatives taken was the promulgation of a new philosophical idealism that strove to mold the masses, specifically the proletariat working class, to form a “New Man.” Though this philosophical concept, coupled with the aims and ideology of the Soviet regime, has been historically designated as “The New Soviet Man,” the two terms are referred to synonymously in this historical investigation. The New Soviet Man was a medium through which the new party leaders attempted to extirpate old societal norms, which were lingering from the former regime, and replace them with a holistically Communistic society ruled by a national consensus and devoid of any individualism that may cause dissention. The party utilized several different means and operated through multifarious mediums to achieve this unification of social consciousness; some of these methods of transformation like propaganda or education guided under Communist values were directly implemented in social sectors to achieve immediate results, and … READ ENTIRETY (Re-creating Mankind: The Philosophy and Actualization of the “New Soviet Man”; By Jon Savage - James Duban, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief; The Eagle Feather – A Publication for Undergraduate Scholars (University of North Texas); 2011 Edition)

The Marxist/Leninist approach to rule was sow seeds of discontent then implement violent rebellion to overthrow a non-Communist regime.

The Eurocommunist approach was (or is) a quiet revolution by gaining dominance in societal institutions such as Media, Entertainment, Academia and Government Institutions (We can call this the Shadow/Deep State). You need to bone up on the information you can find. In America, Eurocommunism may not be appropriate, so here let’s call it the Gramsci/Alinsky approach. Here’s an excerpt from a 2008 article written on the cusp of the beginning of Obama’s Fundamental Transformation:

Gramsci, as you may (or may not) know was the Italian Marxist theorist who evolved what we in America knew as the "Popular Front" approach to Marxist revolution--burrowing within organizations rather than attacking capitalism head on--and evolving it into a fine art of infiltration and cultural destruction. The end result: to completely alter the political message to one defending capitalism, religion, the middle class, family, and Western cultural traditions--including government, academia, media, and jurisprudence--to a new message that dwelt upon the evils of tradition, the oppressiveness of the West, etc. Gramsci believed that by changing the cultural message--for current usage, substitute the word "narrative"--to one espousing socialism and class struggle, you could eviscerate Western culture from within.

…

The seditious role of the community organiser was developed by an extreme left intellectual called Saul Alinsky. He was a radical Chicago activist who, by the time he died in 1972, had had a profound influence on the highest levels of the Democratic party. Alinsky was a ‘transformational Marxist’ in the mould of Antonio Gramsci, who promoted the strategy of a ‘long march through the institutions’ by capturing the culture and turning it inside out as the most effective means of overturning western society. …

…

His creed was set out in his book ‘Rules for Radicals’ – a book he dedicated to Lucifer, whom he called the ‘first radical’. It was Alinsky for whom ‘change’ was his mantra. And by ‘change’, he meant a Marxist revolution achieved by slow, incremental, Machiavellian means which turned society inside out. This had to be done through systematic deception, winning the trust of the naively idealistic middle class by using the language of morality to conceal an agenda designed to destroy it. And the way to do this, he said, was through ‘people’s organisations’.

…

"March through the institutions." That pretty well describes what's been going on and I couldn't agree more. –READ ENTIRETY (Obama = Alinsky = Gramsci = Marx; Posted by Wonker; HazZzMat; 9/15/08 8:32 PM) 

Due to an American divide politically, I’m not sure if one can point to a subversive path against the U.S. Constitution. My guess the is the current status of subversion is a combination of Marxist/Leninist (the Bill Ayers dream) and Gramsci/Alinsky.

Dem Platform Summary Continued:

Poverty

Supports directing more federal resources to “lifting up communities that have been left out and left behind, such as the 10-20-30 model, which directs 10 percent of program funds to communities where at least 20 percent of the population has been living below the poverty line for 30 years or more.”

Supports protecting programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Supports helping people “grow their skills through jobs and skills training opportunities.”

Supports expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program for low-wage workers not raising children, including extending the credit to young workers starting at age 21.

Supports expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and making more of it refundable, or indexed to inflation to stem the erosion of the credit.

EVERYTHING I wrote on the Dem Platform on National Service is applicable to the platform on Poverty.

End of Part 2

JRH 10/27/18

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