Ghosts, spirits and the paranormal

TruthSeek3r said:

Are you talking about "sleep paralysis" or has this happened to you when you have been fully awake? Also, do you have any ideas about the causes? Why would God allow demons to do this to you?

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No I'm not talking about sleep paralysis. Although I have had a single sleep paralysis dream, but that was 15 or so years ago. All other experiences were fully awake.

I recently heard a second-hand testimony from my mother about her mother (who passed away several years ago) appearing to a third person who shouldn't have known about her with such extreme level of detail. The incident also involved keys disappearing and then re-appearing in places where they shouldn't have appeared in, and doors that were never left locked appearing locked. Grandma was allegedly "taking care" of the place.

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I believe that what is going on in situations like that, is a familiar spirit. That's why the apparition has so much intimate knowledge of an individual. It's because they were assigned to a person from birth to death and they are 'familiar spirits' to everything about us. They are assigned just like a guardian angel is also assigned to us.

MAT 18:10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Lost4words said:

I once saw a whole line of spirits.

They were on the other side of the bar counter!

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I love you.

Darn, the clock just struck one past and I am in the Peoples Republic of California. And this thread makes me need a spirit. In the Silver State I can find spirits any time of the day or night.

So thus follows a post on this subject, and my view thereof, for which I will provide a trigger warning:

Which reminds me of the intro to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, which I have of course memorized:

“WHEN Hinges Creek In Doorless Chambers, and Strange and Frightening Sounds Echo Through the Corridors;
Whenever Candelights Flicker,
Where the Air is Deathly Still,
That is the Time that Ghosts are Present
Practicing their Terror with Ghoulish Delight”

Actually the narration in the Haunted Mansion is a lot darker than most people realize. As a clergyman who has tended to funerals and worked with funeral directors, and who is aware of the heresy of Spiritism, the ride spiel becomes an example of extremely dark comedy. For example, when you are about to board the ride vehicles, the Ghost Host announces, “And now, a carriage approaches, to take you into the boundless realm of the supernatural. Please take your loved one by the hand, and kindly watch your step.”

Innocent enough, right? Loved one, and the Ghost Host refers to your Loved Ones throughout, is a codeword in the funeral industry for the deceased. Carriage is a common euphemism for a hearse. This casts other parts of the ride in a darker light, for example, in the Stretching Room, where the Ghost Host announces “Your cadaverous pallour betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Could this haunted room actually be stretching? Or is it only your imagination, hmmm? And consider this dismaying observation: this haunted room has no windows, and no doors. Which leaves you this chilling challenge: how to get out! Of course, there’s always my way!” and we hear a scream and a skeleton fall to the floor and everyone laughs as the doors of what is actually, at Disneyland, but not Walt Disney World, a cleverly disguised escalator, open.

But notice in his dialogue the references to the aura, which is spiritism, later there is a seance in the ride conducted by the bodiless head of one Madame Leota, in a floating crystal ball, above a silly imitation grimoire. Also the bit about cadaverous pallour is rather grim as that is what embalming fluid is intended to prevent.

However, there are no ghosts in the haunted mansion, only audio animatronics and common tricks. The famous Ballroom Dance is literally a mirror trick called Pepper’s Ghost. The ride looks scarier to me when I have been on it during a breakdown and the worklights are turned on, and you can see all the hidden mechanisms that drive the spirits and the dillapidated appearance of Disneyland’s backstage areas in general.

By the way, demons do impersonate ghosts, so that is a thing, so if you think you see a ghost, pray for Jesus Christ and the heavenly host to remove it from your presence. Seriously. Devils flee before the Holy Cross of Calvary.

I had a very unusual experience about a couple of months ago.
My Dad passed away early autumn 2021.
Since that time, I have made a number of visits to the house to sort out things. I would sleep in the spare room, just as I always would when I was visiting.
I was used to hearing noises and creaking inside the house - especially at night. I became very familiar with them and realised they were probably caused by the gas heating system, pipes and the contracting and expanding of floorboards etc.
But this night, I sat on the bed awake all evening and well into the early hours and there was no sound at all in the house. Everything was completely silent. Then all of a sudden, I heard what sounded like scuffling outside the bedroom door on the landing. Not the "crackling" or "ticking" noises, but it sounded almost as if someone was walking outside the door. Then it went silent again.
Do ghosts exist? Maybe they do, maybe they don't. The accounts of those who have seen ghosts are very subjective - and of course can't be "proven".
I remain open minded to the possibility that ghosts exist, but I have no desire to try and seek them out.

Hillsage said:

The spirit is that part of man which gives life to the body. It's like electricity for something to move. The soul is the functioning brain often described as your 'mind, will, emotions'.

JAM 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.

The word for soul in the Greek is the word psuche and it's the word from which we get words in English like psychology, psyche, psycho.

I just say that the spirit gives ANIMATING life to your body and the soul gives MOTIVATIONAL life, to what you do with your body. It's the life

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I think the soul carries the individuality of a person, being their mind.

If you had a brain transplant, who would you be? - lol

NDEs indicate a rational mind and identity outside the physical body. As if the contents (mind) of our hard drive (brain) go along with our spirit to maintain our individual identity after physical death. Otherwise, what is to judge or reward?

The Liturgist said:

I love you.

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What he didn't tell you was that there was a mirror behind the bar. - lol

Or alternatively, that those on the other side of the bar had the same thought.

Lost4words said:

I once saw a whole line of spirits.

They were on the other side of the bar counter!

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Anthony2019 said:

I had a very unusual experience about a couple of months ago.
My Dad passed away early autumn 2021.
Since that time, I have made a number of visits to the house to sort out things. I would sleep in the spare room, just as I always would when I was visiting.
I was used to hearing noises and creaking inside the house - especially at night. I became very familiar with them and realised they were probably caused by the gas heating system, pipes and the contracting and expanding of floorboards etc.
But this night, I sat on the bed awake all evening and well into the early hours and there was no sound at all in the house. Everything was completely silent. Then all of a sudden, I heard what sounded like scuffling outside the bedroom door on the landing. Not the "crackling" or "ticking" noises, but it sounded almost as if someone was walking outside the door. Then it went silent again.
Do ghosts exist? Maybe they do, maybe they don't. The accounts of those who have seen ghosts are very subjective - and of course can't be "proven".
I remain open minded to the possibility that ghosts exist, but I have no desire to try and seek them out.

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Memory eternal (requiescat in pace)!

The Liturgist said:

Memory eternal (requiescat in pace)!

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I'm guessing that means that a conscious afterlife is part of church tradition?

Saint Steven said:

I'm guessing that means that a conscious afterlife is part of church tradition?

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It means I am expressing my condolences to my friend @Anthony2019 on the loss of his father. I lost mine in the previous decade and it was an extremely difficult time.

The Liturgist said:

It means I am expressing my condolences to my friend @Anthony2019 on the loss of his father. I lost mine in the previous decade and it was an extremely difficult time.

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Thank you @The Liturgist - very much appreciated!

Saint Steven said:

I think the soul carries the individuality of a person, being their mind.

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I'd agree. But I also agree that each of us has a common 'spirit' within us. That spirit being 'the spirit of Christ'. And that common spirit must work with the individuals spiritual growth through those individual brains. Brains which hold our personality before and after coming to faith.....I think?

If you had a brain transplant, who would you be? - lol

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People who've had heart transplants have memories associated with the person from whom their 'donor heart' came from. To the point that, a murder suspect was found based upon a dream had by the organ recipient. I suspect a brain transplant would have the same outcome.

NDEs indicate a rational mind and identity outside the physical body. As if the contents (mind) of our hard drive (brain) go along with our spirit to maintain our individual identity after physical death. Otherwise, what is to judge or reward?

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I'm not sure how that all dissects out.

Hillsage said:

I'd agree. But I also agree that each of us has a common 'spirit' within us. That spirit being 'the spirit of Christ'. And that common spirit must work with the individuals spiritual growth through those individual brains. Brains which hold our personality before and after coming to faith.....I think?

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Yes. Our soul holds our individual identity, probably created at conception. In the same way biological traits from mother and father combine from the DNA. I wonder if we have spiritual DNA as well. From the common human spirit, as you say, and also from our parents. As you probably know, some ancestral sin is carried in the blood lines. Sometimes in need of deliverance.

I also seem to remember something about being given a name when we get to heaven. A name we already know. To replace our human name. Curious thing. (Revelation 2:17)

Hillsage said:

People who've had heart transplants have memories associated with the person from whom their 'donor heart' came from. To the point that, a murder suspect was found based upon a dream had by the organ recipient. I suspect a brain transplant would have the same outcome.

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Very interesting about memories coming with the organ transplants. If I got a female organ would I lose my ability to parallel park?

The upside would be how easy it would be to put on my false eyelashes and lipstick. A little blush would do me wonders.

I wonder if a brain transplant has ever been done. They would somehow need to transfer the data from the original brain to the new one. As if it was a physical computer hard drive. Otherwise you would be starting over like a child. Blank slate. The spiritual implications would be massive as well.

Saint Steven said:

Yes. Our soul holds our individual identity, probably created at conception. In the same way biological traits from mother and father combine from the DNA. I wonder if we have spiritual DNA as well. From the common human spirit, as you say, and also from our parents. As you probably know, some ancestral sin is carried in the blood lines. Sometimes in need of deliverance.

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HEB 12:9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

NUM 16:22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

As for the iniquities being visited to the 3, 4th generation, that doesn't take "deliverance" IMO, as much as it does just breaking a curse. And that's what happens when one "confesses the sins of the Fathers."

I also seem to remember something about being given a name when we get to heaven. A name we already know. To replace our human name. Curious thing. (Revelation 2:17)

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I believe that the name in Revelation is the 'spiritual authority' name one receives with the baptism from the Holy Spirit for 'big' power , as compared to the "little power" one receives from just being born again, with the spirit of Christ.

REV 3:8 "'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power/DUNNAMIS, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

This verse would explain the FUNDAMENTAL, first salvation experience of the human spirit IMO.

I think that the 'little' power, you receive from having the holy spirit of Christ in you, enables you to have the potential to walk 100% sinless, just like Jesus did. It is that holy spirit which produces the FRUIT. That's why FUNDAMENTALISTS always want to emphasize the fruit over the gifts IMO. But it is the power of the Holy Spirit of God to produce the 'manifestation gifts'.

It's the Revelation name that the demons recognize in the spiritual realm, and it has less to do with the literal name of a person than it does with the 'character and authority' name one has.
As I've said before; "When you hear a knock on the door do you look through the peephole for a nametag saying 'LAW' on it? Or do you look for the character of a badge and the aughority of a gun....before you 'OPEN THE DOOR'.

I have never seen one, but I like the explanation for "ghosts" that they are not actually the spirit of a dead person, but some sort of powerful impression left on a building or location by the person before they died. Though I have no understanding how this happens, I find it quite plausible in that some of these apparitions reported seem to keep doing the same thing - running down a hallway or something like that.

TruthSeek3r said:

My question is inspired by the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Concretely, by Matthew 14:26-27 and Luke 24:36-39:

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

[Matthew 14:26-27 NASB]​

36 Now while they were telling these things, Jesus Himself suddenly stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.” 37 But they were startled and frightened, and thought that they were looking at a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why are doubts arising in your hearts? 39 See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you plainly see that I have.”

[Luke 24:36-39 NASB]​

These passages tell us about the worldview of Jesus' disciples. They believed that apparitions of ghosts/spirits were a real phenomenon, to the point that in at least two instances they mistook their own Master for apparitions of this kind. This makes me wonder: why did the disciples have such a worldview in the first place? Was it rooted in actual experience?

Do ghosts exist?

Do disembodied spirits exist?

Are stories of paranormal activity real?

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Disembodied spirits go to heaven or hell after their bodies die; such are "ghosts." Paranormal activity is caused by demons; this is my opinion.

The last time I was in the ER with my mother, I sensed a presence enter the room and stand behind me to my left. I turned to look, though I already knew I wouldn't see anything even though I knew it was there. I felt neither good nor evil coming from it and just continued my conversation with mom. By the time I finished, it had left. Was it a newly departed soul that had died there in the hospital? I may never know.

Rachel20 said:

The last time I was in the ER with my mother, I sensed a presence enter the room and stand behind me to my left. I turned to look, though I already knew I wouldn't see anything even though I knew it was there. I felt neither good nor evil coming from it and just continued my conversation with mom. By the time I finished, it had left. Was it a newly departed soul that had died there in the hospital? I may never know.

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I would say that if the spirit left, then both the body and soul are dead. And if the "soul died", then it ceases to function. Because the 'soul' is part of the 'functioning brain', (mind/will/emotions).

ECC 9:5 For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, .....for their memory is forgotten.

But if someone had recently died, then you possibly felt a 'spirit' and not a 'soul'.

JAM 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,

I believe I said it earlier in this thread; that the Jews believed that the spirit of a recently dead person could linger for 3 days before having to depart. That's why the miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus was even more miraculous, because he waited 4 days before going to see him.