Catholic Jedi Costume Suggestions

Thought I'd re-post last year's suggestions for Catholic Jedi Halloween costumes (albeit a little late in the day):

Or how about this one:

And, if the fuzzy look doesn't suit you, there's always the wise little guy look:

Hope you enjoyed your day and didn't forget your papal light saber!

From Saints to Souls: November 1 - 8 Plenary Indulgence

Susan Tassone is one of the foremost experts on the subject of purgatory.  She recently gave an interview to the National Catholic Register on the topic of praying for the souls in purgatory.  The link is here.

A couple of interesting quotes from the interview:

When we pray for the souls, we’ve got to remember we’re giving them paradise, the face of God, when we get them out sooner from purgatory. Our prayers are shortening this horrible suffering of being without God. They then show us their gratitude in the same proportion to their joy.

...we’re given this great power and privilege to release souls from purgatory. Only we are the deliverers. Christ turns to the Church militant. Heaven encourages us. For whatever reason, we’ve been given this great honor and privilege. We’re responsible to pray for our dead.

And from November 1 - 8, Holy Mother Church offers a plenary indulgence for those who visit a cemetery and apply it to a soul in purgatory.  (For more on this indulgence see this article by Danielle Bean - "Get Your Indulgences.")

For more on Susan Tassone's work to disseminate the need to pray for the dead, visit her website, SusanTassone.com.  She also recommends becoming a member of the Pious Union of St. Joseph through which Masses can be offered for the souls in purgatory.  Or, just contact your local Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which also collects contributions to be sent to the Missions for Mass stipends for your intentions. 

II Maccabees 12:43-46: "And making a gathering, he [Judas] sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins."

Happy Halloween! (Or, Don't Cut In When Another Is Dancing With Death!)

Happy Halloween!

Below is a large portion of an excellent piece on the Catholic roots of Halloween:
Should Catholics Celebrate Halloween?   By Scott P. Richert, About.com Guide
A Controversial Holiday:
Every year, a debate rages among Catholics and other Christians: Is Halloween a satanic holiday or merely a secular one? Should Catholic children dress up like ghosts and goblins? Is it good for children to be scared? Lost in the debate is the history of Halloween, which, far from being a pagan religious event, is actually a Christian celebration that's almost 1,300 years old.
The Christian Origins of Halloween:
"Halloween" is a name that means nothing by itself. It is a contraction of "All Hallows Eve," and it designates the vigil of All Hallows Day, more commonly known today as All Saints Day. ("Hallow," as a noun, is an old English word for saint. As a verb, it means to make something holy or to honor it as holy.) All Saints Day, November 1, is a Holy Day of Obligation, and both the feast and the vigil have been celebrated since the early eighth century, when they were instituted by Pope Gregory III in Rome. (A century later, they were extended to the Church at large by Pope Gregory IV.)
The Pagan Origins of Halloween:
Despite concerns among some Catholics and other Christians in recent years about the "pagan origins" of Halloween, there really are none. The first attempts to show some connection between the vigil of All Saints and the Celtic harvest festival of Samhain came over a thousand years after All Saints Day became a universal feast, and there's no evidence whatsoever that Gregory III or Gregory IV was even aware of Samhain.
In Celtic peasant culture, however, elements of the harvest festival survived, even among Christians, just as the Christmas tree owes its origins to pre-Christian Germanic traditions without being a pagan ritual.
Combining the Pagan and the Christian:
The Celtic elements included lighting bonfires, carving turnips (and, in America, pumpkins), and going from house to house, collecting treats, as carolers do at Christmas. But the "occult" aspects of Halloween—ghosts and demons—actually have their roots in Catholic belief. Christians believed that, at certain times of the year (Christmas is another), the veil separating earth from Purgatory, heaven, and even hell becomes more thin, and the souls in Purgatory (ghosts) and demons can be more readily seen. Thus the tradition of Halloween costumes owes as much, if not more, to Christian belief as to Celtic tradition.
The (First) Anti-Catholic Attack on Halloween:
The current attacks on Halloween aren't the first. In post-Reformation England, All Saints Day and its vigil were suppressed, and the Celtic peasant customs associated with Halloween were outlawed. Christmas and the traditions surrounding it were similarly attacked, and the Puritan Parliament banned Christmas outright in 1647. In America, Puritans outlawed the celebration of both Christmas and Halloween, which were revived largely by German Catholic (in the case of Christmas) and Irish Catholic (in the case of Halloween) immigrants in the 19th century.
The Commercialization of Halloween:
Continued opposition to Halloween was largely an expression of anti-Catholicism (as well as anti-Irish prejudice). But by the early 20th century, Halloween, like Christmas, was becoming highly commercialized. Pre-made costumes, decorations, and special candy all became widely available, and the Christian origins of the holiday were downplayed.
The rise of horror films, and especially the slasher films of the late 70's and 80's, contributed to Halloween's bad reputation, as did the claims of putative Satanists and Wiccans, who created a mythology in which Halloween had been their festival, co-opted later by Christians.
The (Second) Anti-Catholic Attack on Halloween:
A new backlash against Halloween by non-Catholic Christians began in the 1980's, in part because of claims that Halloween was the devil's night; in part because of urban legends about poisons and razor blades in Halloween candy; and in part because of an explicit opposition to Catholicism. Jack Chick, a rabidly anti-Catholic fundamentalist who distributes Bible tracts in the form of small comic books, helped lead the charge.
By the late 1990's, many Catholic parents, unaware of the anti-Catholic origins of the attack on Halloween, had begun to question Halloween as well, and alternative celebrations became popular.
Alternatives to Halloween Activities:
Ironically, one of the most popular Christian alternatives to celebrating Halloween is a secular "Harvest Festival," which has more in common with the Celtic Samhain than it does with the Catholic All Saints Day. There's nothing wrong with celebrating the harvest, but there's no need to strip such a celebration of connections with the Christian liturgical calendar.
Another popular Catholic alternative is an All Saints Party, usually held on Halloween and featuring costumes (of saints rather than ghouls) and candy. At best, though, this is an attempt to Christianize an already Christian holiday.

-------------------------------------------

As an added "treat" instead of a "trick," I thought I'd share the following video, Midnight Dance -- an animated short film built around the powerful images implied by the musical work by Camille Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre ("Dance Of Death"). Saint-Saëns' disturbing yet playful tone poem -- and the animated actors created by modern Celts, in Northern Ireland -- can help to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain are the glories of earthly life.

I offer this musical work and the video constructed upon it, as vehicles toward helping us to scorn death, chuckle at death, which is a toothless tiger -- for us who believe and hope in the resurrection. 

The fear of death and the pagan view of human existence as meaningless both crumble when confronted by our faith and hope in Jesus Christ and His Resurrection.   Those who lead their lives in union with Our Lord Jesus and His Church have no fear of death. They can approach the hour of their dance with death with the confidence, that "They will see the Lord face to face, and His name will be written on their foreheads," as The Book of Revelation says. For them, "It will never be night again and they will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will be shining on them. They will reign for ever and ever." [Revelation 22:4-5]

We will all, sooner or later, take a dance with death. But for us who have faith in Christ's Resurrection, dancing with death glides us out of the darkness and hopelessness of death into the light and joy of everlasting life with Christ.

Happy Halloween!

MAN FORGETS BUT GOD REMAINS FAITHFUL

  Back on October 19, 2011, the Vatican Information Service [VIS 20111019] reported these highlights of Pope Benedict's weekly Wednesday Audience:

  The Holy Father continued a series of catecheses dedicated to the Psalms.  On that day, the Holy Father focused his attention on Psalm 136, which he described as "a great hymn of praise which celebrates the Lord in the many and repeated manifestations of His goodness down human history."

  The Pope explained how, in Jewish tradition, this Psalm is sung at the end of the Passover supper, and therefore it was probably also pronounced by Jesus at the last Passover He celebrated with His disciples. The text enumerates God's many interventions in favor of His people "and each proclamation of a salvific action by the Lord is answered by an antiphon reiterating the main cause for praise: God's eternal love, a love which, according to the Hebrew term used, implies faithfulness, mercy, goodness, grace and tenderness."

  God is first presented as "He Who 'does great wonders', first among them that of the creation: heaven, earth and stars. ... With the creation the Lord shows Himself in all His goodness and beauty. He commits Himself to life, revealing a desire for good whence all other salvific actions arise."

  The Psalm goes on to consider God's manifestations in history, evoking the great moment when the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. The forty years of wandering in the desert were "a decisive period for Israel which, allowing itself to be guided by the Lord, learned to live on faith, obedient and docile to the laws of God. Those were difficult years, marked by the harshness of life in the desert, but also a happy time of confidence and filial trust in the Lord."

  "The history of Israel has known exhilarating moments of joy, of fullness of life, of awareness of the presence of God and His salvation," said the Pope. "But it has also been marked by episodes of sin, painful periods of darkness and profound affliction. Many were the adversaries from whom the Lord liberated His people." The Psalm speaks of these events, in particular the Babylonian exile and the destruction of Jerusalem, "when it seemed that Israel had lost everything, even its own identity, even its trust in the Lord. However, God remembers, and frees. The salvation of Israel and of all mankind is bound to the Lord's faithfulness, to His memory. While man forgets easily, God remains faithful: His memory is a precious casket containing that 'love which endures forever' about which our Psalm speaks."

  The Psalm concludes by reminding us that God feeds His creatures, "caring for life and giving bread. ... In the fullness of time the Son of God became man to give life, for the salvation of each one of us; and He continues to gives Himself as bread in the mystery of the Eucharist, so as to draw us into His covenant, which makes us children. So great is God's merciful goodness, the sublimity of His 'love which endures forever.'" 

  In conclusion the Pope read a quote from the First Letter of St. John, advising the faithful to bear it in mind in their prayers: "See what love the Father has given us, that that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are."

AG/                                                                                                  

I Am the Ten Percent

This picture says it all:

h/t Catholic Vote

Mark Your Calendar! Pope Benedict XVI Announces A "Year Of Faith"

VATICAN CITY, SUNDAY OCTOBER 16, 2011 (Vatican Information Service)     

During Mass this morning in the Vatican Basilica, celebrated to mark the end of an international meeting on new evangelisation organised by the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, Benedict XVI announced that he was calling a forthcoming "Year of Faith".

  The Year will begin on 11 October 2012, fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II, and will come to an end on 24 November 2013, Feast of Christ the King. 


Its aim "is to give renewed energy to the Church's mission to lead men and women out of the desert in which they so often find themselves, and towards the place of life, towards friendship with Christ Who gives us life in all its fullness". 


   The Year will likewise be an opportunity "to strengthen our faith in Christ and joyfully to announce Him to the men and women of our time", the Pope said.

   "The theology of history is an essential aspect of the new evangelisation, because the men and women of our time, following the tragic period of the totalitarian empires of the twentieth century, need to rediscover a global vision of the world and history. 


   "They need a truly free and peaceful vision, the vision which Vatican Council II transmitted in its documents and which my predecessors, Servant of God Paul VI and Blessed John Paul II, illustrated with their Magisterium".

  "In order to be effective evangelization needs the strength of the Spirit, which enlivens the message and infuses the person who bears it with the 'full conviction' of which St. Paul speaks. ... 


   "New evangelizers are called to be the first to walk along the Path which is Christ, in order to lead others to the beauty of the life-giving Gospel. 


  "On this Path we are never alone, but always in company; it is an experience of communion and fraternity which is offered to everyone we meet, bringing them to share in our experience of Christ and His Church. 


  "Thus, witness associated with announcement can open the hearts of those who seek the truth, helping them discover the meaning of their own lives".


   "The mission of the Church, like that of Christ, is essentially that of speaking about God, evoking His sovereignty, calling everyone - and especially Christians who have lost their identity... ."

Halloween: Caution Needed - Part Four

 

As Halloween 2011 approaches, as a shepherd and "Assistant Headmaster", I feel that I should remind people about the not-so-cute, spiritually dangerous activities that many foolish people -- teens and adults -- may be planning to have Halloween "fun" with.  My  targets: The Ouija Board, Mediums, Seances, Tarot Cards, etc.

Any attempt to communicate with the Unseen through spiritualistic practices and psychics is extremely dangerous. The Church, down through the ages, has very wisely forbidden it.  Mother Church does this to protect us.


Historically, there are two decisions rendered by the Holy Office which deal directly with the question concerning Catholics being involved with spirits, Spiritualism, and Mediums.

The first decree is is dated March 30, 1898. It is a reference to the practice of automatic writing. The question was: " (A man named) Titius, while excluding from his purpose any compact with the spirit of evil, is accustomed to evoke the souls of the dead. His method is this: Being alone in his room, without any kind of external ceremony, he prays to the leader of the heavenly hosts to grant him the opportunity of conversing with the spirit of some definite person. He waits for a little time and then he feels his hand moved, and by this he learns the presence of the spirit. Then he explains what he wants to know and his hand writes the answers to the questions proposed. All these answers are in accord with the Faith and with the Church's teaching regarding a future life. For the most part such replies relate to the state of the soul of some dead person, the need that it has of prayers, and complaints of the negligence of its relatives. In the circumstances explained it is asked whether this practice of Titius is permissible."
• The answer was: “In the circumstances explained it is not permissible.” This decision was ratified by His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. [Analecta Ecclesiastica, Vol. VI, p.187]

Saint Joseph, Terror Of Demons, Protecting Us

Twenty years later, in a full assembly of the Congregation of the Holy Office, the following question was discussed:

• "Is it lawful -- by means of a medium, or without a medium, whether hypnotism be employed or not -- to take part in any sort of spirit communications or manifestations, even such as present an appearance of sincerity and piety, either by questioning the souls or spirits, or by listening to the answers received, or merely by looking on, even with a silent or explicit protest that one has no wish to have anything to do with evil spirits."
• The answer was: "The most Eminent and Reverend Fathers decided that in every one of these suppositions the answer must be in the negative." This decree was ratified on April 26, 1917, by His Holiness Pope Benedict XV. [Acta Apostolicae Sedis, Vol. IX, p. 268.]

“Do not have recourse to the spirits of the dead

or to mediums: they will defile you.”

Leviticus 19:31

“Any man or woman who is a necromancer or magician must be put to death by stoning; their blood shall be on their own heads.”

Leviticus 20:27

“There must never be anyone among you who practices divination,

who is a psychic, augur, or sorcerer, who uses charms,

consults ghosts and spirits, or calls up the dead.

For the man who does these things

is detestable to the Lord your God!”

Deuteronomy 18:10-12

If you or anyone you know have been involved with Psychics, Mediums, Séances, Ouija Boards, Automatic Writing, Table Tipping, Tarot Cards, or Ghost Hunting, please urge them to give it up, to admit these sins in  Confession, and start or resume living Christian lives as holy as possible.

Halloween: Caution Needed - Part Three

Cute, isn't he?

As Halloween 2011 approaches, as a shepherd and "Assistant Headmaster", I feel that I should remind people about the not-so-cute, spiritually dangerous activities that many foolish people -- teens and adults -- may be planning to have Halloween "fun" with.  My  targets: The Ouija Board, Mediums, Seances, Tarot Cards, etc.


When we pray, especially in contemplation, we voluntarily shift our brain activity to a higher consciousness: A concentrated, intentional and trusting openness of our intellect and emotions, in order to discern the presence of God and permit Him to enter our hearts and minds. 

In activities like séances, using a Ouija Board, or ghost hunting, we place our minds into a  state of consciousness which is open, receptive, and unprotected -- trusting. You unwittingly unlock all the doors and windows of your conscious and unconscious mind and emotions, and invite these monsters into your being. Evil spirits manage to capture us through our freely chosen, altered state of consciousness which we must place ourselves in so we can sense them. 

It won't be long before you feel the effects of these diabolical squatters in your life.

• They will start destroying your mind, emotions, and faith.
• Demons accomplish their goals by “messing with your head.”
• Sinful human pride is what coaxes people’s fascination with the paranormal.
• Spiritualism and obsession with the paranormal are pseudo-religions: religions without God ― because, in these religions, you are god.
• Implanting tiny, poisonous seeds of temptation in your heart, they will stimulate feelings of omniscience in you, feelings that you are special, apart from and better than other people ― because of the knowledge you obtain from these spirits.
• They will stroke your ego and help inflate it.
• Then, when you are so pleased and comfortable with all your “specialness,” comes the catch.

What stands behind the cute disguise.  Watch out!

If you mess with discarnate beings who have fallen from God's grace, here's the catch: FEAR!

• You will know a ruinous fear like you’ve never felt before.
• Those tiny seeds of temptations will soon be gone.
• But in their places, will erupt demonic vines which will coil around you and hold you tight.
• You will be afraid!

The demons will keep attacking you intellectually and emotionally:

• At any time and in any place they desire. 
• They will terrorize you over and over with feelings of fear, isolation, paranoia, indecisiveness, helplessness, defenselessness and vulnerability. 
• You may hear their voices. 
• You may see things. 
• Your emotions will suddenly change from normal and balanced into a weepy, lonesome, deep despair -- possibly suicidal despair.

You will especially feel these in regard to your relationship with God. 

• The demons will tell you that God will not forgive you; 
• That they own a piece of you now, and that no one can help you. 
• Your faith will be attacked – beaten to a bloody pulp. 
• And finally comes the despair and thoughts of suicide.

Isolation, rage, despair, and hopelessness are what these evil beings will feel for eternity. And misery does love company ― especially captive human company.

No one should deceive himself about the spiritual dangers involved.

• These evil spirits truly can hook one of their claws into your soul.
• Hey, after all, you did invite them to come in!
• You even poked a hole through one of the shingles on your roof to give them access.
• And, now, they will come and go as they please.
• But, they mostly do not go. And getting them out is intensely difficult. 
• Ask any exorcist, or anyone who has been delivered from these unseen monsters.

The title on this medieval woodcut says,
"A woman torn in pieces by the Devil"
because of her involvement in occult activities

If you play with fire, you are going to get burned.  If you play, then you'll pay.
You will eventually suffer losses:

• The loss of your faith and hope;
• The loss of peace and balance in your life;
• The loss of your feeling loved by friends or loved ones (whom you will unconsciously push away from you to produce that loss of love);
• The loss of self-confidence and decisiveness, and in some cases,
• The loss of your sanity!

To Be Continued...

Halloween: Caution Needed - Part Two

As Halloween 2011 approaches, as a shepherd and "Assistant Headmaster", I feel that I should remind people about the not-so-cute, spiritually dangerous activities that many foolish people -- teens and adults -- may be planning to have Halloween "fun" with.  My  targets: The Ouija Board, Mediums, Seances, Tarot Cards, etc.

WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY ABOUT
THE OUIJA BOARD, MEDIUMS, SEANCES, ETC.

The Book of Deuteronomy 18:9-14  [New American Bible translation]:

"When you come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of the peoples there.
Let there not be found among you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortune-teller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner, or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead.
Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the LORD, and because of such abominations the LORD, your God, is driving these nations out of your way.
You, however, must be altogether sincere toward the LORD, your God.
Though these nations whom you are to dispossess listen to their soothsayers and fortune-tellers, the LORD, your God, will not permit you to do so."

Why won't the Lord permit the use of Ouija Boards, Seances, Mediums, etc.? Because He is trying to protect us!  The reason?  Read on, ye Academicians!


Our Lord Jesus and His Apostles taught the Church that each individual will appear before God immediately after death, receive judgment, and be assigned to one of three states of existence: Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell.

This experience of judgment is called the Particular Judgment (the Individual or one-on-one judgment only involving God and the individual soul). From our Particular Judgment, we will be assigned to Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell, to await the Lord’s Final Judgment.

The Book Of Wisdom tells us, “The souls of the righteous are in the Hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them”(Wisdom 3:1). The souls of deceased human beings, immediately after death, encounter God, are judged individually, and then dispatched to Hell, Purgatory, or Heaven until the Last Judgment comes.

Neither your deceased Aunt Tilly nor any other human soul is moving the planchette around on the Ouija Board, nor speaking through Mediums. “Dead men tell no tales.”

The souls of human beings after death are present and accounted for in Hell, Purgatory, or Heaven. So, if human souls are not causing these paranormal events, then there's only one agency for these activities: Evil Spirits, Demons masquerading as the souls of deceased human persons.

A French priest and paranormal investigator, Pere Mainage, O.P., wrote a short and sweet summary of the directive principles of Catholic Teaching on “ghosts,” Spiritualism, Mediums, and paranormal activities. Simply stated:

1. The Church has not dogmatically pronounced upon the essential nature of spiritualistic phenomena.
2. Nonetheless, the Church forbids the general body of the faithful to take any part in spiritualistic practices. 
3. When paranormal manifestations occur, the Church suspects that diabolical agencies are intervening. [La Religione Spirite, page 176]

There are reasons why God says “No” to human beings involving themselves with "ghosts" and spirits. Simply put, when we human beings get involved with discarnate spirits, like demons, we are swimming with sharks, playing with incredibly dangerous spiritual powers. 

• They are psychologically stronger than us, smarter than us. 
• They are hostile, angry, devious, evil beings which want to destroy us . 
• They hate us. 
• They want to pull us into the eternal misery and hopelessness that they exist in for eternity (see Chapter Three of The Book Of Genesis). 

Evil spirits manage to capture us through our freely chosen, altered state of consciousness which we must be in in order to sense them.

For example: When we pray, especially in contemplation, we voluntarily shift our brain activity to a higher consciousness, a concentrated, intentional openness of our intellect and emotions, in order to discern the presence of God and permit Him to enter our hearts and minds.

In activities like séances, using a Ouija Board, or ghost hunting, we place our minds into a similar state of consciousness: an open, receptive, unprotected mindset. You unwittingly unlock all the doors and windows of your conscious and unconscious mind and emotions, and invite these monsters into your being.

It won't be long before you feel the effects of these diabolical squatters in your life.

• They will start destroying your mind, emotions, and faith.
• Demons accomplish their goals by “messing with your head.”
• Sinful human pride is what coaxes people’s fascination with the paranormal.
• Spiritualism and obsession with the paranormal are pseudo-religions: religions without God ― because, in these religions, you are god.
• Implanting tiny, poisonous seeds of temptation in your heart, they will stimulate feelings of omniscience in you, feelings that you are special, apart from and better than other people ― because of the knowledge you obtain from these spirits.
• They will stroke your ego and help inflate it.
• Then, when you are so pleased and comfortable with all your “specialness,” comes the catch.

To Be Continued...

Halloween: Caution Needed - Part One

As Halloween 2011 approaches, we can look forward to seeing the little children dressed up in adorable costumes, pre-teen children being creative and inventive with their disguises and costumes. I have always enjoyed these parts of Halloween.
However, as a shepherd and "Assistant Headmaster", I feel that I should remind people about the not-so-cute, spiritually dangerous activities that many foolish people -- teens and adults -- may be planning to have "fun" with.  
My public enemy number one within this category for having a spiritually dangerous Halloween is a device that has been marketed as a toy since 1966 by Parker Brothers Games, now owned by Hasbro Games:

THE OUIJA BOARD

From left to right: Margaret, Kate and Leah Fox

In a hamlet called Hydesville, New York which was located near the township of Arcadia in Wayne County, near Rochester, New York, there lived the Fox Family.  Two teenaged sisters —  Margaret Fox (1833–1893) and Kate Fox (1837–1892) —  with their parents, were living in a house which had a reputation among the locals as being haunted. 
In March 1848, the family began to to hear unexplained sounds that at times sounded like knocking, and at other times like the moving of furniture.  The family began to feel frightened — since their neighbors believed the house to be haunted by a man who had been murdered in that house many years before.
Their parents and older, married sister, Leah, heard these “rappings” but refused to accept that this was a trick being played by the girls.  
 The parents and Leah presumed that the rappings were being created by a spirit.
On the night of March 31, 1848, the girls instructed the “spirit” to rap out the ages of the girls. It did. The Fox Family , with their neighbors, devised a code through which the raps would signify yes or no in response to a question, or be used to indicate a letter of the alphabet.
Neighbors and people all around Hydesville began to buzz about the Fox girls communicating with the spirit of a murdered man.  Soon, the newspapers were trumpeting the story. And, soon after, began the movement which would later use the name, Spiritualism.  The Fox girls and their Spiritualist supporters instigated a nationwide, then worldwide, fascination with the so-called phenomenon of communicating with the dead.   

In the years following the Fox Sisters’ public attestations of the truth of their activities, a number of devices and oddball contraptions suddenly appeared to promote the communication between the living and the dead,  the Ouija Board becoming the most popular over the years.





 

WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY ABOUT HE OUIJA BOARD

The Book of Deuteronomy 18:9-14  [New American Bible translation]:

"When you come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of the peoples there.
Let there not be found among you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortune-teller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner, or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead.
Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the LORD, and because of such abominations the LORD, your God, is driving these nations out of your way.
You, however, must be altogether sincere toward the LORD, your God.
Though these nations whom you are to dispossess listen to their soothsayers and fortune-tellers, the LORD, your God, will not permit you to do so."

Why won't the Lord permit the use of Ouija Boards, Seances, Mediums, etc.? Because He is trying to protect us!

To Be Continued...