I was sitting down with my daughter watching TV.  You know, these days we’ve been spending quality time together.  And it’s been great.  I highly recommend that you spend time with your kids.  There are lots of things that can happen….now read this.

One of the TV programs that my daughter enjoys the most are those programs that have to do with ghosts.  She’s an avid fan of “Ghost Hunters” in SyFy.  She even cried when Grant left the show.  She loves those kinds of reality shows where people go to different places to search for specters and all those kinds of experiences.  I even remember that when she was younger; she really chose to be a ghost hunter as her future profession!  It’s so wonderful when time passes, children grow up and they change their minds, hehehe.

Well, I was sitting down with her and we started watching a marathon of “A Haunting” in Destination America.  I have explained to my daughter what are ghosts; now she knows.  But I will share with you what the Bible says about it.  There seems to be a lot of ignorance regarding this theme.  I’ve noticed that churches, specially in the U.S.A. are not giving the due attention to such an important and controversial theme.  And what’s worse, churches are not educating appropriately and preparing the people of God to fight against it.

1 Samuel 28 3-18:  “Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah.  Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.  The Philistines army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart.  He inquired of the Lord, but the Lod did not anser him by dreams or Urim or prophets.  Saul then said to this attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”  “There is one in Endor,” they said.

So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”  But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done.  He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land.  Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?”  Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.”  The the woman asked, Whom shall I bring up for you?”  “Bring up Samuel,” he said.  When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me?  You are Saul!”  The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid.  What do you see?”

The woman said, “I see a spirit coming up out of the ground.”  “What does he look like?” he asked.  “An old man wearing a robe is coming up,”  she said.  Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.  Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”  “I am in great distress,”  Saul said.  “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me.  He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams.  So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”

Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has turned away from you and become your enemy?  The Lord has done what he predicted through me.  The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors-to David.  Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today.  The Lord will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.  The Lord will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines.”

This is the only mention of an active “ghost” in the Bible.  Another time was when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the tempestuous sea and they thought that He was a ghost. So it seems that Jesus’ disciples did believe in ghosts.  But with this evidence, am I saying that we should believe in ghosts?  Definitely not.  First, the disciples were mistaken.  Jesus was no ‘ghost’.

Second, notice that in the previous verses of 1 Samuel; Saul was searching for God.  He tried to communicate with Him but could not.  He tried using prophets, dreams, Urim and Tumim but God was silent.  Saul had been disobedient; that’s why God would not answer him.  So where did Saul had to go?  To someone who God had warned him against:  a medium or a spiritist.

Deuteronomy 18:10: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.  Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.”

So, if God is not among a medium, spiritist or witch….do you think He was present when Saul consulted the medium?  Do you think that that apparition was the real Samuel; a man of God who was supposed to be with God at that precise moment?  Samuel was dead; he was resting at Abraham’s side with the other servants of God who had parted before him.

Hebrews 9:27-28: “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed one to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

If a man or woman can only die once and after that to face judgement….where does the “ghost” thing fit in there?  Easy answer….it fits no where.  The spirits that roam the earth don’t belong to humans.

How do I know this?  Jesus said so….

Luke 23:43 “Jesus answered him: ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 16:22-23 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.  The rich man also died and was buried.  In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.”

Did Jesus mention something about souls wandering the earth seeking revenge or having incomplete issues on this life?  No.  Once you die, your time’s up.  You go to where ever you chose in life:  heaven, if you follow Jesus or hell, if you denied Him.  And if anyone lived without ever knowing about the true God: He will know how to judge that person.  He is a fair God who brings the perfect justice.

So, the question remains:  What or who are “ghosts”?

2 Corinthians 11:14: “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.  It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.  Their end will be what their action deserve.”

If the devil can disguise himself as an angel of light; don’t you think it’s easy for him or his servants to disguise themselves as human spirits to confuse people and lead them far away from God?  All the devil wants is to makes us believe that he is stronger; that we don’t have the power to defeat him.  We don’t need to defeat him!  Jesus already did that for us.

Through His Holy Spirit we have to power to cast away any attack that the devil might throw at us.  We belong to God; we have nothing to fear.

I always get frustrated when I watch those reality shows and I see the Catholic priests running away scared out of those haunted houses.  I also get disappointed when people seek advise from psychics, mediums, witches…..pleeeaase!!!  Where is the real Church of God during this?  I’ve even seen people from protestant churches in those reality shows who are actually scared to go to haunted houses…..I mean,  REALLY?!!!

I always remember an experience I had rebuking a spirit that had taken the form of a cat and was wreaking havoc at my mom’s house.  We didn’t have a cat at that time.  I saw the cat with my own eyes open, I was wide awake and I saw how it disappeared in the darkness of a sofa in the living room.  The next evening I prayed, soaked my hands in anointed olive oil and cast that spirit away.  I literally heard it running out of the house as fast as lightning.  That’s the power of the Holy Spirit that each one of us, servants of God possess because:

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.”

So we can’t be scared of the devil; let him tremble by the power of the Holy Ghost that lives inside of us.  We can spiritually cleanse our own houses.  Sorry, ghost hunters….but we, the real Church of God can get rid of the “ghosts” ourselves!   Hahaha! ^0^

Have a blessed week!