Patty:
It's time to say good morning to Caryl Matrisciana. Good morning!

Caryl:
Good morning Patty! It is lovely to be with you again.

Patty:
Good to have you with us again. I visited with Caryl yesterday about Harry Potter. She is an author and an occult researcher. She and her husband Pat have Jeremiah Films, and you have put out a lot of videos over the years. One of them has been around for a few years, it is Halloween, Trick or Treat with Pastor Chuck Smith, Hal Lindsey, and you, Caryl Matrisciana.

Caryl:
Yes, it was a tremendous film to make. I thoroughly enjoyed making it with Pastor Chuck of Calvary Chapel. Pat and I had been collecting footage from all over the world prior to putting it together. We actually, in that film, Halloween, Trick or Treat, you'll see interviews with real witches. They are not reenactments, we've actually got ceremonies and rites and rituals done in the covens of witches. We were able to interview some Satanists and witches, and ask them what Halloween meant to them. It was very amazing to find that, you know, that this is an extremely solemn festival of the remembrance of death and the departed to these people. A time during the year where they truly believe that the souls of the departed come down and visit the earth, and actually imbue their powers, so that their powers can be obtained, if you will, by those practicing the magic. To be able to have those magic skills, or divination, or sorcery messages throughout the year to guide them in marriage, or jobs, or whatever it is. It is a time when, a very important time, to witches and Satanists, and of course, neo-pagans today, the people that consider nature worship to be central to their faith and their belief that the elements of nature have powers and forces that can, in a sense, be captured.

Patty:
There has been a real revival of that hasn't there?

Caryl:
Yes, it is very interesting, I mean, just think of the name of movement, you know, the New Age Movement, when the New Age came into society in about the 60's it was nothing short of Eastern Mysticism. And of course the Beatles introduced the gurus of India into our society in the 60's and 70's, and all the Eastern concepts of Yoga, meditation, and the black magic came through to the West, but it was called The New Age Movement. Well, a movement by its very wording, its very description, shows that it is constantly moving and changing, and so we see this movement, how it changed over from the 60's, 70's, 80's, coming into the self-help groups and therapies, and now growing into a very strong and aggressive neo-pagan movement where nature seems to be the center of these people's worship. They truly believe that white witches, who of course lift up Halloween, and the witches themselves think of Halloween as an important time of the year.

Patty:
I thought it was one of the four major sacred Wiccan holy days?

Caryl
Yes it is, it is a holy day because if you look at it, the fact that it is rooted in nature, Halloween is a pagan nature holiday, and this particular festival, Samhain, which came on November the 1st, was the beginning of the Celtic New Year. So we have the idea of a calendar rite, a calendar celebration, a pagan holiday rooted in nature worship, this was the beginning of the new year, the end of the old, and it was believed that there was sort of a sinister veil, if you will, between the two years. As the old year was going out, the new year was coming in, that the departed, the souls, the spiritual dead, could come down into the magic rites of witches and pagans and be involved in their magic, and their ritual, and their ceremony. That is a very, very important and central theme to remember, because even today, at this particular time of the year, witches and Satanists across the world, and particularly in our Western culture, see this as an important time, especially at midnight of bringing down the powers.

Patty:
Oh, but Caryl, it's just fun. You get to get dressed up and have parties. In fact, in 1993 I had an article that said that there was about 400 million spent on cards, costumes, and accessories, plus the money spent on candy. In an article from the year 2000 it said that there was 6 billion dollars in Halloween sales.

Caryl:
Yes, and the records that I have got is that it is 7 billion annually spent on Halloween, and it's the second holiday, after Christmas, in spending. Of course Hollywood makes massive money on their rush of films that come out at the same time, all the horror films and ghost films. Then of course the candy business, it's the #1 candy sales holiday and costume holiday. There is 950 million dollars of candy consumed in the U.S.A. alone, 93% of children go door-to-door at this particular time. They say that each family spends roughly about $81, averaged out, per family at this particular time.

Patty:
Mary Sprecher, a spokeswoman for the Halloween Association, which I wasn't even aware that it existed, made the comment that Baby Boomers have grown up with really good positive associations with Halloween. What is your comment on that?

Caryl:
Well, I think it is important to realize that witches, the whole concept of witchcraft, it is very important to proselytize and make it look like a good and worthwhile religion. Of course, it is given religious status. It is an IRS tax exempt religion. Yesterday, as we mentioned, there are Wiccan chaplains in the military. So we see that it is a religion and it's important, witches feel that it is very important to present it to the public as a benign, sort of bearer of light, if you will, or of good faith. And with Halloween, what better time to do it, because here is their festival, their #1 festival, the beginning of their year, promoted in secular society. What better time then to say that white witches are good people, they care for mankind, they care for their environment, they care for planet earth. It is certainly a time, in schools, we hear witches being invited into the classroom and able to promote their belief. In some classes, I've heard some parents come to me saying that herbalists come in, witches who believe in herbs being part of good magic and used for healing, are able to come in and teach at this particular time that witches are just healers, like doctors. Well, you know, we know this in pagan society that there are witch doctors, shamans, that go to spirits and magical concepts for healing, and draw down on supernatural powers. The question of course, begging of the question is asked, are these supernatural powers neutral? If they are neutral, what is their source? What is the source of these? If they are evil, then do they, does the magician, actually control the source? Or does ultimately the source control the magician?

Patty:
Carol Matrisciana, our guest this morning. Halloween, Trick or Treat, a video available. You can call 909-301-1101.

Caryl:
909 Patty. 909-301-1101. Any of your callers can call in and order this wonderful video. It is very enlightening. It traces the roots of Halloween, the dark roots, its original roots in the Druidic Festival with the Druidic priests and the Celtic origins. Then, how did it come into our society?

Patty:
That would be a good video for a church to have in its library.

Caryl:
It would be a very good one to show as an alternative on Halloween night, to use as an evangelistic tool, to bring in children into the church and teach teenagers and adults about this through the viewing of the video. It is a tremendous teaching and tool.

Patty:
If we have a church celebration on October 31st, that doesn't mean were celebrating Halloween does it?

Caryl:
Well, I mean I think what the church has got to understand is that this is a festival of death. Let's see what God thinks about death. He thought so highly about it that the wages of sin was death. So the concept of death is not to be celebrated, it's actually to be looked at as shame as a consequence of sin, and God loved the world so much and wanted to release us from eternal death and separation from Him, that He sent His Son in order to give us abundant life, resurrected life. So we should be celebrating life as
Christians, not death. This is a festival of death. In fact the lord of death is Sawhein himself.

Patty:
Isn't he referred to sometimes as the Grim Reaper?

Caryl:
Yes he is. There we go. All you have to do is go through the great supermarkets, stores, pharmacies, great Targets, and Wal-Marts that are selling all these costumes and see what are the costumes focused in, death, skeletons, black cats, graves that say RIP on them, rest in peace, there is blood and horror. The central theme of Halloween is death. It is the celebration of death. In fact, we went to Mexico on November 1st and 2nd, which of course is the Day of the Dead, to see the Mexicans and the whole of South America. They go to the graveyards, they go and invite their dead loved ones to come up and party with them, and celebrate with them. They put their best foods and cigarettes or liquor or whatever it was that the individual enjoyed when they were living, put it on their grave, and invite them back. When we went a couple of years ago the Roman Catholic priest was actually in the graveyard giving communion to the relatives of the dead, that were coming here to visit the dead. Within the Roman Catholic faith, and I was raised as a Roman Catholic, I know that what we were told is that the dead, in fact, that they don't die, they go into a purgatory and we continue to pray for the dead and offer up sacrifices of prayer to them. Well, this is very contrary to the Bible. It says that once we die we either, If we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who saves us from death, then we go to live with Him. If we don't believe in Him, then we are going to be separated from Him forever. It is a very serious choice, whether we are going to choose death or life. This particular holiday, Halloween, has been so celebrated by the church, but we have got to understand that the witches, and pagans, and Satanists enjoy that celebration. They enjoy miscommunicating the importance of this festival of death.

Patty:
Caryl Matrisciana is our guest this morning. If you have a question or comment, you are welcome to join our discussion at 749-9364 or 1-800-236-9364. Time is flying by once again. How about if we drag a great big old pumpkin home and carve a smiley face on it Caryl?

Caryl:
Well, you know, I mean, I think the thing is I am not advocating what people do. What I am trying to do is get people back to the roots, to understand what is behind the holiday. Then they have got to go to the Lord and make choices with the knowledge that they are given. The idea of the pumpkin was that the Druids, who were the priests of the Celts, would go, and this was at the very beginning of, were talking about 2,000 years ago, 800 years before Christ. They would go around the hills in Britain with a carved out turnip. Now turnips are much, much harder to carve out than pumpkins.

Patty:
Much smaller too.

Caryl:
Yes, but harder. Inside the turnip was a candle which was the guiding spirit of the Druid priest who would guide the priest from house to house to go and ask for food for the gods. If they were given enough then they were treated with a blessing. If they weren't, then they were cursed with a curse. That is where we get out trick or treat, where the spirits would be cruel to the house depending on whether they gave good or bad gifts to the priest. In some cases, the priest would actually ask for human sacrifice too. We know this from the writings of Julius Caesar in his commentaries, when the Romans came and conquered the Celts. He said these barbaric people held up this great 150 foot tall straw man made of twigs and wood, and inside of it were human beings that were sacrificed to the lord god of death, Sawhein himself. We see some very, very horrific roots of Halloween. Now when the Irish immigrants came to America in the 17th century, because turnips were so hard to carve and pumpkins were easier, we got the idea of the pumpkin being carved, put outside the house with a candle inside it to, in a sense, let the spirits know that this household celebrated visiting spirits and had been good to them, etcetera, etcetera. So that is the roots, you know, and what people do with the knowledge that they have been given today is up to them.

Patty:
Okay. Well, there are some really cute, good Halloween rescue kits. There is one by, I believe it is American Tract Society. Halloween Rescue Kit, tracts and treats for 31 kids. It is a whole kit that comes with tracts, 62 pieces of candy, 31 stickers, coupons, and bags to stuff the goodies in. There is also Halloween Outreach, Exposing the Darkness by Sharing the Light, which is out of Michigan. And of course, Halloween, Trick or Treat. Have you ever updated that, or do you feel like you need to update these videos?

Caryl:
Well, we are working on that Patty, and I hope by next year that we will have a tremendous update to Halloween, Trick or Treat. Particularly, to put it in the context of the changing neo-pagan movement, the changing concept of witchcraft. You know, if you think about it, witchcraft only became, in a sense, a recognized religion by the witches themselves in the 70's. They have been working very hard to promote their beliefs. Of course, when I typed in Halloween, and witchcraft, and teens on the internet I got 199,000 sites from Wiccan and neo-pagan sites that were teaching about Halloween and various aspects of its, its fingers going out to teenagers and young people. So, I think we need to be very careful of the dangers of Halloween. But, as you just mentioned, I think it's also a wonderful time to use the event to give the Biblical message that this is a time of life. Jesus came to give abundant life. He said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." He came to give us abundant life. He conquered death and we don't need to fear this horrible, this wretched, horrible thing that is going to happen to us at the end of our lives. We do have a choice. Are we going to be resurrected and have a life in eternity? Or are we going to continue living in a state of separation from God?

Patty:
And what is the cost of perhaps staying home, leaving your light on, and handing out one of these wonderful tracts that give the gospel message and a piece of candy? That might be the only time that young person gets that, or maybe the first time that young person gets the salvation message.

Caryl:
Perhaps it will be, and I think it's also, in a practical way, a time to warn parents that, you know, there are predators about, we know that. We have heard horrible crime stories, criminal stories, of children being abducted, etcetera. This is a very, a time when abduction and missing children, it can happen. So, I would caution parents to be with their children at all times, to make sure that they have got light clothing on or neon things on them so they can be seen by motorists. You know, the practical side of it is very important too.

Patty:
We have also seen Caryl, the problem with candy. You know having things put in candy.

Caryl:
Yes.

Patty:
So lots of schools are saying to stay off the streets, let's have a party. A lot of churches are having a Harvest Festival or get togethers as well.

Caryl:
Yes they are. I think another practical thing just to let people know is that there are those, this particular time of year, who think it is very important to sacrifice animals and have blood offerings in graves and in rituals. So, be careful for your animals. Keep your animals in. I know last year I went to several animal shelters and talked to them, and they said that Halloween was a time, in fact one pet veterinarian I went to said that they had a horrible case of a cat that was wound up in string so tight, then left on their doorstep. Somebody had obviously found this or maybe it was a ritual gone bad, or whatever it is, but we do hear of mutilated animals, and particularly black cats and black dogs. Just be aware. Be careful that there are extremists. There is tremendous cruelty this night. There is tremendous damage. We know that homes have been ransacked. Trees are -toilet-papered, and it's a time of vandalism as well. In fact, in some states across the nation, the police even will not allow Halloween to be practiced because of the extreme fires and dangers that have happened in the community, and the expense to the police and the community because of this incredible vandalism.

Patty:
I remember hearing last year Caryl, that shelters will not let any black cat or dog out during the month of October. None. They just won't let them go out to anybody.

Caryl:
Yeah, because they realize that this is a time that there are sacrifices. My question is, if we know that this is a holiday of vandalism, death, cruelty, abductions, poison, mayhem, why do we as Christians celebrate this kind of a holiday?

Patty:
Good question Caryl. Caryl Matrisciana is our- guest this morning. 800-897-5080ick or Treat. That video available at that number. 800-897-5080 just a couple of minutes left Caryl. One of the things that I see creeping up, and I've seen it in cartoons and comic books, it is the four elements of life. What is the deal with the air, the earth, the fire, and the water?

Caryl:
Well, that is all pagan concepts, and there again, it's central to nature worship. The concept of forces and powers being in these things. Well, of course, we know that fire has power. That is a very simplified way of saying it. When you actually go into the spirit behind that power and them to imbue you with powers, one is looking to totally the wrong way of having control of one's life. We are told that the Holy Spirit is the one that imbues us with powers as our enabler. And, that God Himself had power that he breathed into his Word and made out of the invisible, the visible appeared. So, what this all is, is a counterfeit to get people away from the Biblical world view of who God is, where our power in life comes from. He is our sustainer. We have a neo-pagan world view and Eastern Mysticism developing and aggressively growing in our culture. Children who have not been rooted in Biblical foundations, are finding that power lies in these things, and it does. The question is, what is behind the supernatural power that people are turning to when they worship the moon, the fire, the earth, the wind, and go to nature? What are the forces that are coming to them through this counterfeit faith?

Patty:
Well if it's not from God….

Caryl:
Which the Bible says. You know, the Lord said that it is an abomination to Him to be involved in sorcery, divination, and turn to these powers. So if it isn't from God, who is all good, who has no variance, no shadow in His character, then where does it come from? It comes from the one that does have shadow in his character, who is both light and dark, who appears as an angel of light, and as the Satan, and dragon of old. The serpent and the dragon of old. This is the power that is out to destroy, kill, dupe, and deceive us. This culture is being very quickly deceived by not turning to the Bible for their answers.

Patty:
Caryl Matrisciana, thank you so very much for visiting with us again. A little later, along this, maybe in November or so, we are going to talk about Christians and Christmas. That should be interesting.

Caryl:
Yes, that will be.

Patty:
We thank you for visiting with us today, and we look forward to visiting with you again.

Caryl:
Thank you very, very much Patty.

Patty:
God bless.

Caryl:
Bye, bye.

Patty:
Bye, bye.