Are there such things as ghosts? The Bible says no.
This is the time of year when people exhibit a fascination with ghoulish things, among which are included ghosts -- the alleged departed spirits of the dead. Kentucky tourist sites offer "ghost walks" -- spooky tours of supposedly haunted places. These are all scams designed to separate gullible people from their money; in a few cases they're just interesting historical tours with a tongue-in-cheek ghost angle thrown in for flavor. But then there are real cases of frightening and paranormal manifestations in people's lives, which also fascinate people.
The Bible says that when a person dies, they immediately go to one of two places. If they are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, they go immediately to Heaven. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). The Bible says nothing about long tunnels with a light at the end of it. There is no such place as Purgatory -- that is an ancient pagan concept that began to infect Christianity as early as the 2nd century. If a person stands outside of Christ when they die, they go to Hell. In Jesus' account of the wicked rich man and beggar Lazarus, both died at the same time and both immediately went to Hell and Paradise respectively (Luke 16:19-23). There is no intermediate condition, on earth or in the afterlife.
So what is it that people see, when they claim to see ghosts, or experience paranormal events, such as through the Ouija board? For one, they see and hear the overheated products of their own imaginations. A person who expects and wants to see the paranormal will find it, of their own making. This is just human psychology.
For two, they see and hear deceptions perpetrated on them by con artists and tricksters. Whether the seance artists of the 1920s or the so-called ghost hunter TV shows of today, millions have been ,made off the gullibility of human foolishness.
But the Bible also teaches that there are such things as demons. God is the ultimate righteous immaterial Spirit, angels are His righteous immaterial spirits, and demons are evil immaterial spirits who serve Satan. Demons stand behind the false religions of this world (1 Corinthians 10:20). Satan and his demons are able to appear to men (if God permits), and disguise their appearance (2 Corinthians 11:14). In Job 1-2, Satan was able to affect the weather, evil men's minds, and disease -- though only as far as God allowed it. If an apparition is not just a product of the imagination, or a scam, then it is demonic.
As I said, a ghost cannot be a human soul, because every human soul departs immediately for Heaven or hell at the point of death. God God absolutely forbids any attempt to communicate with the dead, and He condemns all forms of sorcery. www.gotquestions.org/Bible-sorcery.html
If you own a Ouija board, destroy it!. If you own Tarot cards, throw them away! Do not dowse for water (which is a witchcraft practice), and do not try to talk to the dead. Talk in prayer and praise to God only! Jeremiah 33: Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name: Call on Me!" Do not pray to the dead, or seek the dead!
Call instead upon the living, resurrected Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to free you and your home from evil spirits, and He will do it. He is the Messiah, exalted above all spirits and powers, and is the implacable enemy of the devil. The only "ghost" with whom we should interact is God the Holy Ghost.
This is the time of year when people exhibit a fascination with ghoulish things, among which are included ghosts -- the alleged departed spirits of the dead. Kentucky tourist sites offer "ghost walks" -- spooky tours of supposedly haunted places. These are all scams designed to separate gullible people from their money; in a few cases they're just interesting historical tours with a tongue-in-cheek ghost angle thrown in for flavor. But then there are real cases of frightening and paranormal manifestations in people's lives, which also fascinate people.
The Bible says that when a person dies, they immediately go to one of two places. If they are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, they go immediately to Heaven. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). The Bible says nothing about long tunnels with a light at the end of it. There is no such place as Purgatory -- that is an ancient pagan concept that began to infect Christianity as early as the 2nd century. If a person stands outside of Christ when they die, they go to Hell. In Jesus' account of the wicked rich man and beggar Lazarus, both died at the same time and both immediately went to Hell and Paradise respectively (Luke 16:19-23). There is no intermediate condition, on earth or in the afterlife.
So what is it that people see, when they claim to see ghosts, or experience paranormal events, such as through the Ouija board? For one, they see and hear the overheated products of their own imaginations. A person who expects and wants to see the paranormal will find it, of their own making. This is just human psychology.
For two, they see and hear deceptions perpetrated on them by con artists and tricksters. Whether the seance artists of the 1920s or the so-called ghost hunter TV shows of today, millions have been ,made off the gullibility of human foolishness.
But the Bible also teaches that there are such things as demons. God is the ultimate righteous immaterial Spirit, angels are His righteous immaterial spirits, and demons are evil immaterial spirits who serve Satan. Demons stand behind the false religions of this world (1 Corinthians 10:20). Satan and his demons are able to appear to men (if God permits), and disguise their appearance (2 Corinthians 11:14). In Job 1-2, Satan was able to affect the weather, evil men's minds, and disease -- though only as far as God allowed it. If an apparition is not just a product of the imagination, or a scam, then it is demonic.
As I said, a ghost cannot be a human soul, because every human soul departs immediately for Heaven or hell at the point of death. God God absolutely forbids any attempt to communicate with the dead, and He condemns all forms of sorcery. www.gotquestions.org/Bible-sorcery.html
If you own a Ouija board, destroy it!. If you own Tarot cards, throw them away! Do not dowse for water (which is a witchcraft practice), and do not try to talk to the dead. Talk in prayer and praise to God only! Jeremiah 33: Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name: Call on Me!" Do not pray to the dead, or seek the dead!
Call instead upon the living, resurrected Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to free you and your home from evil spirits, and He will do it. He is the Messiah, exalted above all spirits and powers, and is the implacable enemy of the devil. The only "ghost" with whom we should interact is God the Holy Ghost.
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