Possesed by spirits?....In need of prayer and understanding

Hi brothers/sisters,

This is in regards to my grandma being supposedly "possessed" by my great grandma. I haven't learnt about this from the point of Christianity or the bible and so not sure of how I should interpret it. It may be easier to understand for those of Chinese background.

Story goes...
My grandpa/grandma (both non-Christians...more like Buddhists or something) live overseas in Hong Kong. Like alot of Chinese families they have a red cabinet/shelf thing where they keep wooden plaques of their ancestors. A couple of months ago they moved apartments and in the process of moving apartments, they didn't bring my great grandma's wooden plaque with them to the new place. And so a few weeks after moving into the apartment, my grandma apparently gets possessed on several occasions by my great grandma who uses her to make complaints that she's unhappy that she's not been taken with them to the new place.

My aunties/uncles then decide to get some "Master" to talk to my great grandma and meet her needs so that she can rest in peace. So they fix things up and my grandma is okay now.

My question is: Can someone explain what happened and how I should take this in?

I do ask for prayers for my non-Christian relatives, especially my grandparents.

Thank you.

First of all it was not your great grandma possesing you grandma.

It was what the Bible calls a familiar spirit.

They called familiar spirits because they are familiar with the person they have been assigned to, in this case your great grandma.

Its purpose in this case is to deceive those who know your family into believing that what they worship (ancestor worship) is the true religion.

The following is for you to pray for your unsaved relatives.

1.Ask the Father in Jesus name to send laborers across each unsaved relatives path. Call each by name.

2. Then, in Jesus name bind the blindness over each relatives mind, calling them by name, and loose the light of the glorious Gospel into each relatives mind, calling each by name.

Scripture for this is:

Mt 9:37-38
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
KJV

2 Co 4:3-4
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
KJV


If you have questions about this please feel free to ask.

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This thread has been moved from General Theology to Christian Advice, at least for now, because it shouldn't be subject to the debate and harshness of the General Theology forum. It will probably reap the desired results moreso from Christian Advice than it would have from General Theology anyways..

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"[The Augsburg Confession is] the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers. [. . . O]ur churches dissent in no article of the faith from the Church Catholic, but only omit some abuses which are new, and which have been erroneously accepted by the corruption of the times, contrary to the intent of the Canons" (Augsburg Confession XXI:5, 10).

I didn't really know where to post, so thanks heaps mods.


Optimax: Thank you for your advice. It's so weird hearing about it. But I will continue to trust God.
Would you be able to provide any sources to read more about those familiar spirits? Bible, internet, books. Thanks!


rEVOLVER: Yeah, my father, who's not religious was putting up the possibility that my grandma did have mental issues. So I need to pray about that too. Thanks for your concern.

This is in regards to my grandma being supposedly "possessed" by my great grandma. I haven't learnt about this from the point of Christianity or the bible and so not sure of how I should interpret it. It may be easier to understand for those of Chinese background.
Supernatural occurrences are not different to any background. Spirits are spirits and they do speak all languages.
Story goes...
My grandpa/grandma (both non-Christians...more like Buddhists or something) live overseas in Hong Kong. Like alot of Chinese families they have a red cabinet/shelf thing where they keep wooden plaques of their ancestors. A couple of months ago they moved apartments and in the process of moving apartments, they didn't bring my great grandma's wooden plaque with them to the new place. And so a few weeks after moving into the apartment, my grandma apparently gets possessed on several occasions by my great grandma who uses her to make complaints that she's unhappy that she's not been taken with them to the new place.
This is a very in-depth subject, and something that really cannot be explained on this forum.
My aunties/uncles then decide to get some "Master" to talk to my great grandma and meet her needs so that she can rest in peace. So they fix things up and my grandma is okay now.
Yes, this will happen.
My question is: Can someone explain what happened and how I should take this in?
There a multitude of deities, and don’t get yourself involved in this, because there will be spiritual consequences.

I understand you situation very well.

I do ask for prayers for my non-Christian relatives, especially my grandparents.
Prays shall be so, but your family needs to know our Lord Jesus Christ, and you are the only one who can do this. It becomes part and parcel of our Christian walk. Do you live in Melbourne?

Be blessed in Jesus’ Name.

Hong Kong and China tend to have a mix of communist ideology that places the needs of the many before the needs of the few and ancester worship in which you pray to your ancesters rather than dieties.

Given the importance Chinese culture places on ancester veneration and the belief that the dead hang around taking an interest in the living then it makes sense that your Grandma responded as she did.

In this culture it is far easier to claim to have been 'posesed' by the dead rather than admit you forgot to take a family plague with you. The one is not seen as shaming whereas the other is for it indicates you messed up on your filial duty and responsibility. Given your grandmothers age this would matter to her and cause her distress.

Your grandma must be very unhappy and grieving because for her it will have felt as if she HAS left her mother behind.
In her mothers day woman were simply 'possesions' so as her daughter she may feel a great need to do something to 'remember' her mother. Grief can smack people when they lest expect it and for your grandmother moving somewhere new away from the old and known may have caused her distress that she has not spoken off from a tradition of not wanting to disturb the good of the family with her distress.
Your wider family is seeking to help her by finding a person who understands the culture and beliefs your grandma has in a way that would be acceptable to her.

Pray for your grandparents to know peace of mind as Christ can give. Listen to your grandmother and if you have a good relationship with her ask about your greatgrandmother as that will give her permission to speak about her mother and her childhood for without that she may feel she cannot talk and cry for her mum.
Respect how she shows love. Many of the chinese I know are not touchyfeely and show concern by encouraging 'bravery' and giving small gifts and thoughtful acts in place of hugs.

As her grandchildren are Christian she may also fear that the family history will be forgotten and that means she herself will be forgotten by he family she loves. She may well be struggling to comprehend Christian concepts of eternal life.

Ancester veneration is not right for a Christian to do however having compassion for a grieving unhappy woman is.
Pray for her, listen to her and love her showing her the Christ you love in how you live in a sensitive way so she can see that what you have is something better than ancester veneration.

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" I may be on the side of the angels...but don't think for one second that I am one of them."
Sherlock.
I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.
St. Francis- but apt.

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There's a good variety of solid responses above. Yes, spirits are spirits no matter where you are. The question is whether they are spirits of the dead, or spirits that had hung around loved ones before they died.

I had an experience where a Christian close to me became very contentious, and continually came up with things to accuse me for. They were convinced their suspicions about me were right, because they were hearing things within themselves.

When this person died, I felt as though the accusations were following me -- as if they hadn't passed on to heaven, but had decided to hang around and harrass me. I couldn't believe that a God of love would promise heaven and then allow people to hang around and pester other believers. Or that all this teaching on not talking to the dead was washed up.

It took a couple days to occur to me what had been going on. A deceptive spirit had hung around between us, and poked and prodded each time we were together. When the person died, the spirit no longer had the other person to harrass. So I was the only target.

It sounded like the person's voice, it felt like the person, but it was so possible it was a harassing spirit.

I shook my head when I realized this and said, "Please understand if I don't want to talk to you, since you are the one who taught me not to talk with the dead... but I will assume right now that you might be an evil spirit. Whether you are the person or the spirit, I really need to be by myself right now, so please leave me alone. If you are a spirit, in Jesus' name, I command you to go." (Wimpy, yes.)

Immediately it left. My head was completely clear. It never, ever returned. Whether I have the story wrong or not, and whether Christianity has the story wrong or not, it makes sense and it works. A spirit that has followed around a live human for years will have all sorts of information and tones of voice and key words that will sound exactly like the person.

So in a culture where people recognize this happening, I would not condemn that they believe ancestral spirits are there for guidance and comfort, because many many experiences led them to believe that. But I would suggest that you think through this logic of familiar spirits -- ones that have studied the person's moves for many years -- and see how it might apply to the whole belief system.

God gave us authority over these beings. Tell them in the name of Jesus to leave. You have legal authority.