After death

I know of no Scripture which necessarily precludes the possibilities of ghosts and there have been more than a few who have claimed that the apparitions of dead loved ones have appeared to family members and/or friends. My brother's ex-wife actually had such a case in her family just a few years ago when a sister died. While the dead sister's ghost did not appear to my brother's ex, it did appear to her brother. Some Catholic theologians have speculated that perhaps ghosts are souls in Purgatory. Quite frankly, we simply do not know.

Still, this is a sensitive subject and some have claimed that we are at our weakest when we lose a loved one and that there is a chance that demons can appear, pretending to be the departed family member. I caution that I am not too keen on the subject of demons when it comes to hauntings, but I do not deny the possibility. However, I do totally disagree with the apparent majority of CF posters who insist that all hauntings are demons and that none are human spirits.

I really do not know what to tell you. It is possible that your friend feels comfort from the belief that her dead sister is nearby. If the sister just recently died, then I would not worry too much about this. However, if the sister has been dead for quite sometime, then I would be somewhat concerned.
I think that I would just tell your friend that the Bible is pretty much silent on the subject of ghosts. Most Christians seem to doubt that departed loved ones stay around after death, but we simply cannot be certain. Nevertheless, I would emphasize that we are to put our trust in God. If she is of a mind to, she could pray for her sister's soul, but that the main thing is to rely upon God for guidance and comfort.

Lilly54 said:

Advice please.
A friend says she is feeling the presence of her dead sister around her. This is unsettling.
Can i have solid Bible based Christian clear advice please on what to tell her? I want to help. I understand our souls are gone never to return to haunt or influence the living once the body is dead.

So far I've suggested she pray to Lord Jesus Christ for protection and guidance whenever she feels her sister's presence. I am praying for her. My friend is a new christian who is mature in years and will listen to me but i need clear advice myself first, to be certain i am guiding her well. I want her mind eased.

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You are correct. Those kinds of manifestations are occult. The story of the rich man and Lazarus shows us that once the individual is dead, there is no going back. The rare exceptions are when God chooses to raise someone from the dead. If that happens, it is not the soul but the whole being that is raised, as with the people that Jesus raised. "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" Hebrews 9:27 Nothing there about the soul hanging around.

Basil the Great said:

Still, this is a sensitive subject and some have claimed that we are at our weakest when we lose a loved one and that there is a chance that demons can appear, pretending to be the departed family member.

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I've seen ghosts of loved ones long before they died. Even long before they got sick. Both people and pets.

So I cherished and made special the rest of the days they had. Let them see the Lord through me.

When the day came, they were eternally grateful.

Lilly54 said:

Advice please.
A friend says she is feeling the presence of her dead sister around her. This is unsettling.
Can i have solid Bible based Christian clear advice please on what to tell her? I want to help. I understand our souls are gone never to return to haunt or influence the living once the body is dead.

So far I've suggested she pray to Lord Jesus Christ for protection and guidance whenever she feels her sister's presence. I am praying for her. My friend is a new christian who is mature in years and will listen to me but i need clear advice myself first, to be certain i am guiding her well. I want her mind eased.

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Hi Lilly54,

Every person who dies immediately goes to either heaven or hell and, therefore, is no longer on the earth. Hebrews 9:27 states, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment..." So the spirits of those who die on earth are not hanging around those still on the earth. Here are some additional verses for you to reflect upon regarding what happens after we die:

For Christians:
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NKJV)

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
Philippians 1:21-24 (NKJV)

There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Luke 16:19-23 (NKJV)

And he [the thief on the cross] was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:42-43 (NASB)


For Non-Christians:
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment… then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority… These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
2 Peter 2:4, 9-10, 17-19 (NASB)


Hope this helps!

Lilly54 said:

I understand our souls are gone never to return to haunt or influence the living once the body is dead.

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How is it you understand that?

Saul spoke with the spirit of Samuel (1 Sam. 28). Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah in a manner that was visible to Peter, James, and John (Mt. 17). Elisha revealed a whole heavenly host arrayed around us (albeit angels, not humans).

It's not likely your friend is correct, but it is possible.

Lilly54 said:

So far I've suggested she pray to Lord Jesus Christ for protection and guidance whenever she feels her sister's presence. I am praying for her. My friend is a new christian who is mature in years and will listen to me but i need clear advice myself first, to be certain i am guiding her well. I want her mind eased.

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Better questions might be why it is she believes her sister is present with her and what purpose her sister might have in doing so.

Josheb said:

How is it you understand that?

Saul spoke with the spirit of Samuel (1 Sam. 28). Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah in a manner that was visible to Peter, James, and John (Mt. 17). Elisha revealed a whole heavenly host arrayed around us (albeit angels, not humans).

It's not likely your friend is correct, but it is possible.

Better questions might be why it is she believes her sister is present with her and what purpose her sister might have in doing so.

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Agreed, Josheb. It is not likely that the dead sister is present, but it is possible.

Lilly54 said:

Advice please.
A friend says she is feeling the presence of her dead sister around her. This is unsettling.
Can i have solid Bible based Christian clear advice please on what to tell her? I want to help. I understand our souls are gone never to return to haunt or influence the living once the body is dead.

So far I've suggested she pray to Lord Jesus Christ for protection and guidance whenever she feels her sister's presence. I am praying for her. My friend is a new christian who is mature in years and will listen to me but i need clear advice myself first, to be certain i am guiding her well. I want her mind eased.

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For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

Basil the Great said:

Agreed, Josheb. It is not likely that the dead sister is present, but it is possible.

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And I am inclined to think such do not happen without purpose - God's purpose - so the explanation does not lie in happenstance or the willfulness of the spirit in question.

Josheb said:

And I am inclined to think such do not happen without purpose - God's purpose - so the explanation does not lie in happenstance or the willfulness of the spirit in question.

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Unless it is demonic.

Someone is in grief - they need to turn to Jesus, not be comforted by whatever else...

God works in mysterious ways

Carl Emerson said:

Unless it is demonic.

Someone is in grief - they need to turn to Jesus, not be comforted by whatever else...

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The two are not mutually exclusive. Christ in those around her will invariably be part of God's address in her life.

I take it that you, Lilly, are speaking of the idea of sensing the presence of one who has died, as opposed to your friend having seen ghosts, etc.

It's hard to explain some of the reports people have made about the latter phenomenon, but there is no basis in the Bible for believing the former--that our deceased loved ones hang around us, look in on us, or anything of the sort.

That appears to be some sort of psychological phenomenon that many people have experienced, particularly as concerns someone close to them who has only recently died.

Josheb said:

The two are not mutually exclusive. Christ in those around her will invariably be part of God's address in her life.

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If you are referring to those alive then yes...

Lost4words said:

God works in mysterious ways

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Indeed, well said.

Carl Emerson said:

If you are referring to those alive then yes...

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Yep. I cannot think of a single sentence in the entirety of the Bible where God directs the grieving to consult the dead, nor that He provides solace for grief through the departed's continued involvement in the life of surviving family and friends. Possible, I suppose, but more likely He will manifest solace Himself and through those who are His.

Lost4words said:

God works in mysterious ways

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Yes indeed. When my father died I felt his presence for quite awhile and it helped seeing that both my parents died at the same time. My father came to me in a dream and scolded me for not being nice to my wife and others because they died and to tell me that God was always with me and that he (my dad) would no longer be around

Carl Emerson said:

Unless it is demonic.

Someone is in grief - they need to turn to Jesus, not be comforted by whatever else...

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I doubt demons bother Christians in that way when they are grieving. I doubt God would allow them to and they can't do something God forbids.
the sister is probably just seeking comfort and assurance that their loved one is ok. Nothing wrong with that. You don't have to agree with her but let her do what she needs to do.
Some Christians are way to concerned about demons, seeing them around every corner and it is very dangerous and presumptuous to tell fellow Christians that there is demonic activity in their life, as I have seen some several times in CF. If you read the book of Jude, carefully and objectively, you will see how we are to deal with demons and it is NOT by interacting with them or confronting them. We ask God to deal with them. We need to be alert and watchful but we do not need to try and identify demons. And we do not need to be afraid of them.

You raise several issues I disagree with, but here is not the thread to have that conversation.

Lilly54 said:

A friend says she is feeling the presence of her dead sister around her. This is unsettling.
Can i have solid Bible based Christian clear advice please on what to tell her? I want to help. I understand our souls are gone never to return to haunt or influence the living once the body is dead.

Click to expand...

My Christian advice on this? Just listen to her. Whether true or not, people experience all sorts of painful emotions and shifts during grief. Sometimes their mind harbors on what it can just to stay sane during the worst periods. I do not sense anything evil in this thought or damning to the person's soul, but a sometimes natural feeling that a person deludes or soothes themselves with when grieving. I can't positively say in all of these cases that people are not wrong with what they are sensing either. Too much is unspoken of in the bible as relates to some of this, and God knows what each Christian may need or differ with when it comes to their psychological makeup and coping mechanisms.