Ghosts, Goblins, Haunting’s and the Paranormal

What does the Bible say about ghosts and hauntings?

Jon Watkins  Exposing  Satanism and Witchcraft  September 2, 2013 Edited and revised by Cynthia Pawl on September 20, 2015

I would like to share an experience I had, in 2013, while working on a remodeling project. This was not my first or last encounter of its kind, but a good representation.

One of the laborers working for me, was a Hispanic gentlemen named Jerry. I asked him to get a ladder out of the kitchen at that house. He went, and immediately came racing out of the house as fast as his legs could carry him, saying that there was a woman standing at the door that led to the hallway and bedrooms. Now, I knew there was no one in the house because I had been there for over an hour. Jerry thought that it might be my wife or the owner’s wife. I tried to explain to him that no one was there. He kept on insisting that he had seen someone. I went into the house with him and he continued to try and explain what he had seen. In spite of the language barrier, he and I normally were able to communicate fairly well but often have trouble getting our point across. People ask me why I don’t try and learn Spanish or Hindi (my wife’s native tongue) and I tell them I haven’t mastered English yet!! Anyway, Jerry insisted a lady was in there and that she had gone into the bedroom. So, in we went and I looked around and he cautiously followed making sure I was in the lead. We checked the whole house and sure enough no one is there.

Now, I knew exactly what it he had seen and tried to explain it to him. We got up on the roof we were working and he started telling me of other incidents where he had seen people that others couldn’t see. Having dealt with these manifestations of evil for years, I tried my best to explain to him what he was seeing. Jerry professed to be a believer and just like the majority of Church attendees, he had never been told of the lies and deceptions Satan employs against us. I also learned that he was raised Catholic and that may explain his seeing these apparitions!

I have often been cautioned by preachers about sharing too much information on this topic. They believe that people are not able to handle it and they are afraid it will scare them. That very same advice came to me, from the pen of Focus on the Family years ago in response to a letter I had written them about the need to alert people of the schemes of Satan.

Jerry relayed to me several stories of similar experiences he had and what he had seen. We also had a friend of his working with us, who spoke very little English. Jerry acted as an interpreter between us. This friend did not believe Jerry’s stories and called him a liar. He said he was a Catholic and he did not even believe that the Bible was the inspired word of God!… but that is a story for another day. Meanwhile, Jerry would not go back into the house. He was convinced the house was haunted. Like so many uniformed people, saved or unsaved, he had no idea what he was dealing with or how to handle the situation.

As we were working on the roof I could see Jerry was perturbed. I asked the LORD to show me how to let Jerry know what I was telling him was true. As I pondered it, the LORD spoke in my mind and told me to tell Jerry what the woman (demon) he saw was wearing. So, I told him what it was wearing and he asked if I could see her, too. He wondered, because he said that I described exactly what it had on down to the color of the dress and even the ruffles! I said no, I had not seen it, that GOD had told me to tell him what the demon had on, so he would know I was telling him the truth. Well that freaked Jerry out even more. So I explained to Jerry he needed to ask his Pastor because he could explain it to him in Spanish. He said he could not go to his Pastor, as his Pastor was no longer at the church. Apparently, the Pastor had run off with the wife of a church member! My oh my… well it happens every day and that is why folk who call themselves Christian don’t know how to identify satanic activity. They are too busy a-whoring!!

Through this whole ordeal, I discovered that Jerry actually was NOT saved. In fact, a few weeks later, I cast several demons out of him and he made Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior. Case closed. His spiritual condition was obviously the reason he was seeing “ghosts” because he stopped seeing them once he was born again and the demons were cast out.

There are no such things as Ghosts. What people perceive as Ghosts are actually demons trying to deceive the person seeing or hearing them, in an attempt to lure that person into sin. Yes, that has become an antiquated word. However, it is no less valid. The demons are working hard to draw you away from God. All they have to do is get you to commit a sinful act by thought, word or deed. Or, further entice you into active involvement in Witchcraft, Satanism or the Illuminati via any number of segues. Beware, the enemy like a roaring lion stalks to and fro seeking those he can devour.

GOD forbids contact with the spirit world.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”

You must be very careful as Satan and demons can fool you.

2nd Corinthians 11:14 “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

And also we are to Test the spirits

1st John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try (test) the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

The rest of this article is not from me. I have no Idea where this came from as my sister who is gone to be with Jesus had it on her Forum. Credit is given to whomever penned it.

Here are some Bible truths that relate to haunting, ghosts, and visits by the spirits of dead people. There are only a few incidents that deal with the living actually having contact with a “dead” person.

1) In 1 Samuel 28:7-19, King Saul seeks a woman with a familiar spirit (demon) to inquire of Samuel about what to do. That she actually manages to communicate with the dead shocks her (v. 12) indicating that it did not previously happen.

2) In Matthew 17:1-8, Peter, James and John see Moses and Elijah with Jesus for a brief period of time.

3) In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus. In this story we learn that there are two compartments for the dead until the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11). Also in the story, the rich man asks for Lazarus to be sent back to warn the living. Abraham says it would do no good because if they will not believe God’s written Word, they will not believe though one should rise from the dead.

From the above three passages of Scripture, we can conclude that there are compartments in which the spirits of the dead dwell for now and that while there are a few instances in which God allowed interaction between the living and the dead, those situations were very rare and not nearly as common as contact between people and angelic beings. Also Luke 16:27-31 would indicate that no human spirits are allowed to return to visit the living without permission, and if permission is not granted for the purpose of warning people to flee from the wrath to come, it would not be given for trifling reasons.

Unlike the two instances dealing with actual contact or communication with dead people, there are numerous instances involving contact with angelic beings, both good angels and evil angels (demons). Many of the instances involving a good angel refer to “the angel of the LORD,” sometimes referring to the appearance of the pre-incarnate Son of God (Christophanies). But many others refer to other good angels that God uses to minister on our behalf (Hebrews 1:14). To do this, sometimes they manipulate the physical environment (1 Kings 19:5-7 (the angel touches Elijah and provides food and drink for him); 2 Kings 19:35 (the angel strikes 185,000 Assyrians dead); Daniel 6:22 (the angel closes the mouths of the lions); Acts 12:23 (the angel strikes Herod for accepting worship as though he were a god).

In like fashion, there are instances in which evil angels (demons) are recorded as interacting with people. And they are able to manipulate physical things as well. In Job 1:12-19, they manipulate people to do evil; they cause fire from the sky to consume herds of sheep; they cause a wind to blow down the house in which Job’s children were staying. In the gospels, a number of instances are recorded of demons possessing people (Matthew 8:16,28f.; 9:32-33; 12:24; 15:22; 17:18; etc.) In these incidents, and several others, the manifestation of the demon possession involved some physical ailment (muteness, epilepsy, blindness, and sometimes supernatural strength). They also possessed the pigs before they ran into the waters and drowned in Mt. 8:28f.

Three things are to be noted about demons: (1) The demons have no power over anyone beyond what God allows; that is, Satan (and his host of evil angels) are like wild dogs on leashes and it is God who holds their leashes. They can do only what He allows (Job 1:12; Job 2:6; Matthew 8:31-32). (2) The instances of demonic involvement recorded in Scripture far outnumber the few extreme instances of interaction with dead people. (3) Christ has given His disciples authority over demons (Mark 16:17; Luke 9:1; 10:9).

You might ask why God even allows demons to deal with us. If they are on His leashes, why doesn’t He hold them back from any interaction with humans? In the unfathomable wisdom of God, He is able to use their evil desires and intent upon our lives and bring good out of them for Christians. In Mark 1:13 God uses Satan’s temptations to prove Jesus’ sinlessness. In the Book of Job, God uses Satan to show the integrity of Job’s character and then later rewards Job doubly for all he went through. In 2 Corinthians 12:7, God uses Satan’s affliction upon Paul to keep Paul from becoming proud. In the case of unbelievers, Satan and the evil angels serve as a type of catalyst working along with the unredeemed world’s influence and the cravings of the sinful nature to bring out of unbelievers’ hearts the evil that already dwells within, thus revealing to them and others what their true nature (fallen nature) is like (Matthew 15:18-19; Ephesians 2:1-3; Revelation 20:7-9).

Now, as we examine Scripture—particularly the epistles which focus upon our life in the “church age”—we find very little dealing with how we are to interact with the demons, other than not to presume to address them in our own ability and strength (Jude 1:9). Nor are we told to dwell upon and continually wonder if there are demons working around us even now. (They do…and sometimes they manifest themselves!) But whether they do or not, they are not to be our focus. Why not? Because once again, they have no authority but what God gives them. Who and what then should be our focus? Our focus needs to be upon God and the clear commands that He gave us in Scripture; if He is our focus, we need fear nothing else (Psalm 27:1).

We are not to become fascinated with the spirit world but to be fascinated by God and His awesome character and attributes (Psalm 27:4; Psalm 73:25). And if, in the course of serving Christ and relying upon Him, we should encounter manifestations of demon possession or demonic activity, we need only turn to Him in simple, believing prayer, relying upon His Word and His Holy Spirit to work as He chooses. In fact, this is the way we should be facing life when there are NO evident manifestations of demonic involvement, for Satan often does his most frequent and effective work in secret, never making his presence or that of his demons evident (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

If demons should happen to be manifesting their presence somewhere, we should ask ourselves why. Is there a heathen idol, a fetish used in heathen worship, etc. (Deuteronomy 32:16-17; Psalm 106:37-38; 1 Corinthians 10:19-21)? Or, perhaps there is someone who has allowed themselves to become possessed by a demon or has allowed demonic involvement in their life by some repeated, serious sin (Ephesians 4:27). Any occult items in one’s possession should be burned as Paul and the other Christians treated the books that were burned in Acts 19:18 and any known sins should be confessed to God (1 John 1:9).

In summary, it is biblical to believe in demons and that what people believe to be hauntings are either the mere illusions of charlatans or they involve actual demonic activity, the visiting by human spirits. The use of channeling and seeking the guide of “spirit guides” or “spirit helpers” or to play with Ouija boards, tarot cards, séances, or to listen to Satanic heavy rock music, is to actually invite the involvement of demons in one’s life. It is biblical to not become obsessed with them and with the spirit world. Nowhere in Scripture can you find any precedence for doing so. Rather we are to be consumed the Word of God (Psalm 119), with knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8-10), serving Him as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2), and seeking to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20, etc.). The only freedom that the lost can have from sin and the devil is through that found in Christ alone (John 8:32-36; Romans 6:16-23; Ephesians 2:1-10). It is the Gospel of Christ that we need to concentrate on sharing with others.

That Gospel is the power of God for deliverance from sin and Satan (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:18).