(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hey everybody, this is Brother Bruce Mejia from Faith Ward Baptist Church of Los Angeles. Over the next couple of days, I'm going to be posting some videos highlighting a specific celebration coming up called Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. And in these clips, we're going to be just highlighting some of the practices and beliefs of those who implement this in their personal lives and what the Bible has to say about it. Now, Dia de los Muertos was actually a celebration that was implemented for about a month, but actually has been condensed to a matter of a few days, specifically November 1st and 2nd. But in this video, we're just going to give a brief introduction of what Dia de los Muertos is, where its origins are found, and what the Bible has to say about it. Now, the Day of the Dead was a practice that was implemented by the indigenous pagan culture of the Aztecs about 3,000 years ago. The Aztecs were not Christians, they were not believers of the true and living God, they were a wicked pagan people who were obsessed with death. In fact, one of their maxims or their adages was simply this, they used to say, this life is but a dream, only in death are we truly awake. And so there are very wicked people who are very much obsessed with death and honoring spirits of those who have passed on. Well, during the post-classical era, the Spaniards came and conquered Mexico along with the Aztecs and simply blended their beliefs together. So the Catholic institution had the practice of honoring saints on November 1st and then honoring the rest of the souls on November 2nd. Well, not much really changed when they overcame Mexico and the Aztecs. The only thing that changed was that on November 1st, they would call it the Day of Innocence, where they would honor and celebrate the death of children, and then on November 2nd, the rest of the souls. And so this is a wicked practice that no Christian ought to be a part of. We often say, well, no Christian ought to practice Halloween. Well, you know what? No Christian ought to practice Day of the Dead either. You say, why is that? Well, simply because one of the beliefs that these people who practice this have is that they literally believe that the spirits of the dead come back to visit their families on October 31st, which ironically is what? And then they depart on November 2nd. But prior to that, what they do is they put altars in graveyards with flowers and lights leading up to the houses of their families so that the spirits have guidance to get to their homes. And at these homes, they have altars that are built with offerings to offer them the so-called spirits that have come by to visit certain offerings so they can find their way back home. The Bible calls that necromancy, which is the practice of reviving the spirits to communicate with the dead. And it's very much a pagan practice that no Christian ought to be a part of. Let me read you here a verse from Proverbs chapter number 8 and verse 36, where the Bible reads here, But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death. God said it, all they that hate me love death. And what is Dia de los Muertos? It's a pagan practice that shows their hatred for God by honoring and uplifting and loving death.