ghosts

[Cocoa1080]

are they real... I mean like does the bible support the idea? :): i know this is kinda childish but hey its always fun

[stormtrooper]

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Nowhere in the Bible does it support a sort of no-man's land where souls wander around. You either go to Heaven or to Hell when you die. Ghosts are nothing more than demonic mind games to decieve people.

[Doxiemom]

Ghosts are suppossed to be souls that don't know they are dead. So they are stuck to this earthly existense. Lost between the living and the dead realms.

But stop and think: what makes us think that God loses souls? that He can't grab them and put them where they belong?

Has some people "seen" ghosts? What they "see" is really a demonic spirit trying to foul that person into thinking that somehow God isn't in control. Another purpose is to make you want to try to communicate with a dead loved one. And that is absolutley forbidden.

Doxiemom

[Deborah]

The bible doesn't address ghosts that I know, but it does mention them:

Matthew 14:26-27 NASB
When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."

[carmen]

The existence of ghosts is not a scriptural teaching. However, it will not surprise me one day to find that satan wanted people to think they were real and biblical so as to bring more people under deception, and so he and his demons did things such to make people think they were real.

[twelvesmaster]

The bible doesn't address ghosts that I know, but it does mention them:

Matthew 14:26-27 NASB
When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."
It's true people believe in ghosts and always have. Even the disciples were prone to error on this issue, as well as many others. However the Bible says in Heb 9:27 And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this [cometh] judgment; The spirit doesn't return to haunt -- it can't.

[Fancirae]

I tend to believe that people do see something because the house where I grew up in, we all had experiences with something that just could not be explained. Even friends staying with us without us ever saying anything had reports of seeing something. Even our dogs would go beserk. I, however, do think as the rest seem to think, it is more of a demonic presence than someone who has died. I too believe if someone dies, they go straight to heaven or hell without a second's delay. I have so many stories of what went on in that house, it is just plain spooky and I was absolutely terrified to be at home alone even when I was way on up in my teen years.

I don't believe in the trapped souls theory cause like someone else said, God doesn't lose count of where we are. He knows the number of hairs on my head and what is up with me every second of every day.

[Butterflylady]

I do believe that there have been many real "ghost" sightings in this world. But I don't for a minute believe they are human spirits. I believe they are demons that pretend to be human with the intent of getting us to believe in an afterlife that just "is" rather than an afterlife that is brought about by Jesus sacrifice.

The demons want us to believe in ANYTHING other than being saved by the blood of Christ and going to Heaven based on His works and not our own.

They are very clever and very smart, and can watch a person their entire life and will know things no one knows... So when they appear as a loved one or something they can act or look like that person so much so that people will be fooled into thinking they ARE the loved one.

I believe ghosts are real, but they are also not human.

[allforHim]

Didnt Saul see Samuels ghost when he went to the soothsayer person? Although I guess he was in Abrahams bossom and that would make it different :confused My mom was a really devoted spiritualist for years and claimed to talk to the dead. Before I got saved it used to terrify me :fear She saw them in the house all the time and one evening I saw something too!!! It just looked like a person but like a sort of weak hologram with fuzzy edges! Anyway I wont go into it now as I know know how demonic it was! There are definatly no souls walking about on earth but the demons do and like to pretend their lost souls. The best part was when I got saved! Our God showed His power and my mom didnt see anything or talk to anything from the day I was saved until about a year later.! Praise God! Although my mom was real upset I had squashed her "gift" and it caused a lot of trouble, but thats a different story.:kiss

:hail AllforHim

[RaptureMe]

I, too, grew up in a house with something "wrong" in it. There was a crucifix thrown down the hallway (from the baby's room), a picture of baby Jesus that would not stay on the wall, strange "feelings" and "fears." It's weird that, even though most of us were often scared in that house, we never talked about it!! It was some time after we moved that things would occassionally get brought up in coversation. My mom and I both saw a tall, dark-clothed man in a top hat, my brother thought he heard things when he went to bed (this is a "tough guy" who was borderline terrified at times), my mom refused to shut the curtains because she felt like she would be shut in...None of us has ever again felt the way we did. No other house since then has scared us. And, yes, we believe this stuff is caused by evil.

[JesusLover_2002]

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Nowhere in the Bible does it support a sort of no-man's land where souls wander around. You either go to Heaven or to Hell when you die. Ghosts are nothing more than demonic mind games to decieve people.

I agree:thumb

[GregInMn]

Didnt Saul see Samuels ghost when he went to the soothsayer person? Although I guess he was in Abrahams bossom and that would make it different :confused

He sure did. 1 Samuel chapter 28. God allowed the spirit of Samuel to speak to Saul.

Added: I notice that Matthew Henry's commentary describes the scene as an evil spirit impersonating Samuel. I don't know that I agree with him.

[allforHim]

You'd think if it was an evil spirit, he'd have used the opportunity to mess with Saul :confused Samuel just reinforced what God had said and would do. Think it was Samuel :thumb

[Butterflylady]

The ghost revealed itself to the witch first and not to Saul... Mediums/sorcery are strictly forbidden by God. And she said it came up from the ground... :freaked It took away any hope Saul had and mocked him. Doesn't sound like a prophet of God in His presence to me. IMHO it is very dangerous to start thinking that speaking to the dead is in any way acceptable to God. Evil spirits can appear as beautiful and kind... There is a good reason God told us not to communicate with the dead.

[Fancirae]

I, too, grew up in a house with something "wrong" in it. There was a crucifix thrown down the hallway (from the baby's room), a picture of baby Jesus that would not stay on the wall, strange "feelings" and "fears." It's weird that, even though most of us were often scared in that house, we never talked about it!! It was some time after we moved that things would occassionally get brought up in coversation. My mom and I both saw a tall, dark-clothed man in a top hat, my brother thought he heard things when he went to bed (this is a "tough guy" who was borderline terrified at times), my mom refused to shut the curtains because she felt like she would be shut in...None of us has ever again felt the way we did. No other house since then has scared us. And, yes, we believe this stuff is caused by evil.

----------------

This is just so weird that you saw the man in the dark clothing because that is what I saw too. He was like in an overfashioned overcoat with a black slouch type hat like they wore in the 30's. We arent the only ones who have seen a black coated man either. I know of three others who saw basically the same thing. One of these guys is an physicists and the other a phychologist and one lady is a housewife. Maybe the same demonic force or something, I dunno. My earliest recollection of seeing him was when I was about five maybe. My parents had friends over and they were playing dominoes in the dining room. Well, they sent us kids to bed when it got our bedtime and I saw that man standing in the hall right outside my bedroom. Of course I was screaming my head off and they thought it was just overactive imagination or a bad dream but I had not gone to sleep yet and I know to this very day that I saw what I saw.

Most of the time people who were in my house would just see flashes of something. Now my brother had a friend spend the night one night and he woke us all up screaming and claiming he saw a man in the wall. This was a teenager and he insisted on calling his parents to come get him which they did and he never came to our house again. I know that whatever it was was benevolent because I was petrified to be in that house alone.

[MedicDave]

----------------

This is just so weird that you saw the man in the dark clothing because that is what I saw too. He was like in an overfashioned overcoat with a black slouch type hat like they wore in the 30's. We arent the only ones who have seen a black coated man either. I know of three others who saw basically the same thing. One of these guys is an physicists and the other a phychologist and one lady is a housewife. Maybe the same demonic force or something, I dunno. My earliest recollection of seeing him was when I was about five maybe. My parents had friends over and they were playing dominoes in the dining room. Well, they sent us kids to bed when it got our bedtime and I saw that man standing in the hall right outside my bedroom. Of course I was screaming my head off and they thought it was just overactive imagination or a bad dream but I had not gone to sleep yet and I know to this very day that I saw what I saw.

Most of the time people who were in my house would just see flashes of something. Now my brother had a friend spend the night one night and he woke us all up screaming and claiming he saw a man in the wall. This was a teenager and he insisted on calling his parents to come get him which they did and he never came to our house again. I know that whatever it was was benevolent because I was petrified to be in that house alone.


Crazy coincidence I guess. My grandmother saw that same "guy" standing next to my aunt's bed when my aunt was a child sick with very bad influenza. My grandmother has been and is still a super-duper believer in Christ.

[kgreen20]

The ghost revealed itself to the witch first and not to Saul... Mediums/sorcery are strictly forbidden by God. And she said it came up from the ground... :freaked It took away any hope Saul had and mocked him. Doesn't sound like a prophet of God in His presence to me. IMHO it is very dangerous to start thinking that speaking to the dead is in any way acceptable to God. Evil spirits can appear as beautiful and kind... There is a good reason God told us not to communicate with the dead.


Actually, Samuel probably wasn't in God's presence then. He was in Abraham's bosom, which, like Torments, is located in Hades, or Sheol. Both compartments of Hades are located in the bowels of the earth, only Abraham's bosom has been empty since Jesus took all the righteous dead to Heaven after His crucifixion (including Samuel!). So it's not inconceivable that Samuel's spirit could have risen out of the earth, as opposed to descending from Heaven.



Kathy G.

[allforHim]

The ghost revealed itself to the witch first and not to Saul... Mediums/sorcery are strictly forbidden by God. And she said it came up from the ground... :freaked It took away any hope Saul had and mocked him. Doesn't sound like a prophet of God in His presence to me. IMHO it is very dangerous to start thinking that speaking to the dead is in any way acceptable to God. Evil spirits can appear as beautiful and kind... There is a good reason God told us not to communicate with the dead.

Believe me I know how dangerous it is. My mom thought she was talking to the dead, but I knew it was demons. These demons eventually cost my mom her life! She had symtoms of a serious illness for months before she died, and wouldnt go to the doctor because these demons made her think they were some sort of messages. When she had stroke like symptoms, she said it was the spirits telling her to go visit her neighbor who had a stroke the year before. When she had major pains in her stomach,she was to check on my sister who was pregnant. When she had heart pain, she was to go comfort another woman in her spiritual church, who had lost her husband! On the way home from there, she collapsed and was rushed to hospital. She died 4 hrs later from major blood clots, that stopped the blood supply to her organs. All curable, had she went to the doctor with her first or second lot of symtoms. So if Samuels ghost was a demon, thats fine, but I do know the damage talking to the so called dead can do. I learned first hand. This is just part of my experiences with my mom and demons, people really do underestimate satans power. I definately dont. Every Blessing.

:hail AllforHim

[Cocoa1080]

so we can now agree, that ghosts are spirits or demons.... some good some bad Angels vs. Demons

[LoudRam]

The best part was when I got saved! Our God showed His power and my mom didnt see anything or talk to anything from the day I was saved until about a year later.! Praise God! Although my mom was real upset I had squashed her "gift" and it caused a lot of trouble, but thats a different story.:kiss

:hail AllforHim

:thumb Squash away, in the name of Jesus :clap

[nanato3]

I more or less believe that God did allow Samuel to appear at the witch's invite.........I think scripture tells us thst she was frightened when Samuel actually appeared............leading me to the assumption that she was a phoney-baloney who was petrified when she actually "conjured" up the real deal.......

God gave her a taste of her own medicine....all of her previous conjuring had either no results or Satanic revelation.........now she had no control and the Lord took control...........scared her witless......:laugh

[A.Rachel]

----------------

I know that whatever it was was benevolent because I was petrified to be in that house alone.

You mean malevolent (evil). Benevolent means nice and kind. I'm not trying to be a jerk or picky or anything, I just wanted to clear that up for other readers because it took me a few tries reading it before I understood that you typed the wrong word. I read "benevolent" and thought, "Oh no, don't tell me she thinks those spirits might be nice!" :freaked


LOL! So glad I didn't have to go THERE! :P:






.

[BeachBeliever]

Can anyone here explain, or add any information to, the world-wide phenomenon of people seeing the same (clearly demonic/satanic) figure of the:

======>>> "man" in the dark overcoat and black hat -- that typically appears to be standing at the foot of their beds?

Why would all of these unconnected, unrelated people see the exact same manifestation of evil?

I grew up in a Non-Denominational (kind of Charismatic as well) Christian Church, and was frightened to the core throughout my entire childhood (and even going into my marriage) by hearing the reports of men, women and children in our Church who had been oppressed by demonic activity and 'visited' by this ubiquitous "man in black".

Any good (ie: Biblical) theories?

Have any respected Bible scholars ever commented on this phenomenon?

Why would this demon/evil spirit always look the same; is there any significance to its appearance/clothing?

This is something I have wondered about since I was a very young child - and as I approach mid-life, I still have no answers whatsoever.

Any light shed on this matter would be greatly appreciated (and a l-o-n-g time coming).

Gathered in the Arms of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords - Yeshua ben Jehovah,

-- Beach

[allforHim]

I have never heard of this demon until this post. You say its a common thing? Learning about the folks that saw him and their situations might help understand what hes about. The demons that gathered about me were only there because my mom invited them, so not sure. You've got me curious now, but best not to spend too much time on these subjects, but will certainely ponder this ,as God has definatley gave me a lot of experience with this.Just remember,GREATER IS HE WHO IS IN YOU:hail , THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD! HALLELUJAH!

:hail AllforHim

[RaptureMe]

Can anyone here explain, or add any information to, the world-wide phenomenon of people seeing the same (clearly demonic/satanic) figure of the:

======>>> "man" in the dark overcoat and black hat -- that typically appears to be standing at the foot of their beds?

Why would all of these unconnected, unrelated people see the exact same manifestation of evil?

-- Beach

The "men in black" that I've heard of are thought to be either aliens or related to alien encounters (of course, if they exist, they are demons). The man my mom and I saw was dressed in dark clothing of the era of top hats. While my mom saw him reclining on her bed with his arms folded and looking angry, I saw him walk from the dining room into the living room (and turned away from his appearance REALLY quickly). It's interesting to hear you say that many others have seen this.

[Emily]

Ghosts do exist, they are demons. Talking to the dead is talking to demons. Tarot cards? Demons. Astrology? Demons. All that new age stuff are tools of the devils and facilitate communication with demons. I used to be heavily into the occult. I have stories of my own I don't care to repeat or relive. Very scary to think back on it, but praise the LORD, I'm saved by His precious blood!! Amen! :):

Ghosts aren't people (or "spirits" of people) because as someone else mentioned, the Bible says to be absent of the body is to be in the presence of the Lord. Not to be afraid though, who can we fear when we have the LORD? :): He will never leave us nor forsake us.

If you ever do feel afraid just rebuke the evil, the devil, in the name of our LORD and the evil will leave. Pray, pray out loud. Read the Bible. Mention the purification of Jesus' precious blood. The devil and his demons do want to make us feel fear because they want to haunt us and make our lives as miserable as possible while they still can, while we are here on earth, because they know we are headed to the Lord's Kingdom!! :clap

[Julian4JC]

I had a interesting experience one night. The previous day my brother which was not saved, told me that when he did drugs he heard deamons speaking and cursing at him, and telling him he was going to die and never be able to return. He also said that he saw a large black man like figure standing over him and trying to choke him. Well for some odd reason i jokingly mocked him in disbelief and told him he deserves that for what he had done. I eventually told him to get right with God, but i still should not have made fun of his ordeal.:doh

The next night i woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air When i opened my eyes, i saw a large man figure all black sitting on top of me and chocking my neck. I was able to feel his wait on my chest. My initial response was Jesus help me, at that very second that demon dissapared and i was able to breathe normally. Well that thought me a good lesson.:freaked



And Yes i also believe ghosts are actually demons who use ghost like experiences to deceive christians and nonchristans.

[Emily]

You should definitely be sure to read your Bible every night before you go to bed. Pray every night. Pray that the Lord Jesus would bathe your home from any evil, and that His precious blood would wash you and cleanse you and your loved ones. It also helps to do what the Bible says ... be obedient. Resist the devil, and he will flee. :):