He Bridged the Gap Between God and Man
What's New
On our home page, a new poem called Praise to the Lamb.
Full-length Hymn Midis These are distinct from the midis included with the hymn lyrics files, which are quite short.
What Christians Believe A series of articles about the basics of our faith.
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Are There Such Things as Ghosts and Hauntings?
The Bible's Answers to Man's Questions
Key Verses: 1 Samuel 28:14 And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. 15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
Matthew 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Luke 16:27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
The Bible is clear that the dead may reappear after death, as happened with Samuel, Moses, and Elijah. Whether we call these appearances "spirits" or "ghosts", they were geared to specific instances of God's working, not just some random haunting designed to frighten the gullible or unwary. Further, there is no record in the Bible of the evil dead reappearing after death. The rich man obviously knew he would not be able to go back to warn his brothers not to share his fate, so he asked Abraham to send Lazarus to tell them. The reason why this was not done is that even sending someone back from the dead will not convince sinners to turn to Christ, if they have already purposed in their hearts to reject him (Luke 16:30-31), The Christmas Carol notwithstanding.
The Devil has no control over the dead, contrary to popular myth. He does not "rule" in Hell, which was created as a place of punishment for him and his demons (Matthew 25:41). He has no power to send the spirits of the dead back to torment the living. What he can, and does, do, however, is send his demons to torment us. The so-called "hauntings" and "spectral beings" are nothing more or less than the activity of demons (see, for example, Acts 19:13-16). Demons who attach themselves to certain people and places are fully capable of manifesting themselves in the physical appearance of those people, just as Satan is capable of manifesting himself as an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). People who claim they are contacting the spirits of the dead to gain information are informed by demons, who easily have access to information about those they tormented while they were still alive.
Besides the multitude of stories about haunted buildings, I do believe there are legitimate accounts of the ghosts of the righteous dead appearing to family members or other loved ones, when it suits God's purpose. The fact that the Bible records such instances indicates it is possible, as and when God permits it. I also that certain places are "haunted" in the sense that they are inhabited by demons who became attached to them as a result of evil occurrences connected with people that lived there. For this, I have no scriptural citation, other than a great number of instances where Christians were able to sense the presence of evil in particular places. Beyond that, it is mere speculation.
The great, almost morbid, fascination of the media now with ghosts and spirits is symptomatic of the great spiritual emptiness that so characterizes our time. People want desperately to believe in something beyond themselves, so Satan willingly provides the counterfeits of ghosts and haunted houses as a substitute for worship and knowledge of God. He doesn't care if we believe in a "spirit world" or "life after death", just so long as we don't believe in, and worship, Jesus. Psychics, mediums, clairvoyants, and "spirit guides" all fit into his plans nicely. It is hard to imagine that all of the attractive, well-mannered people who appear as psychics and "ghost hunters" are directed by demons, but just as Satan can disguise himself as something good and beautiful, so can his followers and instruments. Christians have no business giving credence to "ghost stories", without specific leading from the Lord that he is allowing the spirit of a dead loved one to return for a specific time and reason.
