The Acts Factor (4 of 4)
Series: The Max Factor
Jeff Strite
Ecclesiastes 3:11
OPEN: A mother was busy making supper in the kitchen, and needing a can of tomato soup, she asked her 5 year old son to go into the pantry and get one for her. But the light in the pantry was out and he didn't really want to go in there. ''It's dark in there and I'm scared'' he said.
She asked again and he persisted. Finally she said, ''It's OK honey, Jesus will be in there with you.''
So, the little boy walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. Looking inside, he saw it was dark, and he started to leave when all at once an idea came. He peeked back inside again and called out, ''Jesus, if you're in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup.''
(pause…)
What's happening October 31st?
That's right - Halloween.
Halloween was actually celebrated hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. In the British isles, a group of people called the Celts observed a festival they called Samhain on Oct 31st.
But unlike today's Halloween, theirs was no children's holiday.
You see, the Celtic New Year began on November 1st. The fall harvest was complete and winter loomed. At this season of the year the Celts knew that the power of the sun was fading. For the next several months, darkness would prevail.
For the Celts this impending darkness was a fairly scary time.
It was especially scary because they believed that there was a something like a curtain that separated the living from the dead. And they believed - that at this time of the year - that curtain was at its thinnest.
On the evening of October 31, it was their belief that evil spirits and souls of the dead passed through this barrier and entered into the world of the living. And when the dead crossed that barrier they would torment the living. Crops might be destroyed, babies stolen, farm animals killed.
To appease these dead spirits, various sacrifices -including human - were performed the Celt ...
Series: The Max Factor
Jeff Strite
Ecclesiastes 3:11
OPEN: A mother was busy making supper in the kitchen, and needing a can of tomato soup, she asked her 5 year old son to go into the pantry and get one for her. But the light in the pantry was out and he didn't really want to go in there. ''It's dark in there and I'm scared'' he said.
She asked again and he persisted. Finally she said, ''It's OK honey, Jesus will be in there with you.''
So, the little boy walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. Looking inside, he saw it was dark, and he started to leave when all at once an idea came. He peeked back inside again and called out, ''Jesus, if you're in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup.''
(pause…)
What's happening October 31st?
That's right - Halloween.
Halloween was actually celebrated hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. In the British isles, a group of people called the Celts observed a festival they called Samhain on Oct 31st.
But unlike today's Halloween, theirs was no children's holiday.
You see, the Celtic New Year began on November 1st. The fall harvest was complete and winter loomed. At this season of the year the Celts knew that the power of the sun was fading. For the next several months, darkness would prevail.
For the Celts this impending darkness was a fairly scary time.
It was especially scary because they believed that there was a something like a curtain that separated the living from the dead. And they believed - that at this time of the year - that curtain was at its thinnest.
On the evening of October 31, it was their belief that evil spirits and souls of the dead passed through this barrier and entered into the world of the living. And when the dead crossed that barrier they would torment the living. Crops might be destroyed, babies stolen, farm animals killed.
To appease these dead spirits, various sacrifices -including human - were performed the Celt ...
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