Ghosts

[Brooke]

I believe ghosts are just demons having a grand old time making us humans frightened. It's their idea of fun. They're evil-- they love to pick on people.

 

[Matt Never Existed]

Hehe, I had a ghost in one of the houses my family lived in a LONG time ago, when i was like 5 or 6. The ghost (I named him Bob to make him friendly ) would open and shut doors all the time, and just move some things around the house. It wasn't cool when he moved my toys around when I was looking for them. ~.~ Mean ol' ghost. My little brother apparently SAW him, and said he looked like a mildly happy little boy, around my age. ~shrug~

So yeah, I guess I believe that Ghosts exist. I think that some ghosts are evil spirits/demons, but I also believe some ghosts are just good natured spirits (maybe like Angels in training to get their wings ). I believe that if you fear something, you give it power over you, so I don't fear ghosts. If anything, they make me kinda sad.

 

[found1997]

is it possible that it is one of her kids are doing the pranks?

That is one thing that can be ruled out. She has only one child, a little boy of 3, who has either been with her or not in the house when these incidents have taken place.

 

[Brooke]

I think that some ghosts are evil spirits/demons, but I also believe some ghosts are just good natured spirits (maybe like Angels in training to get their wings ).

Now, I have to disagree with you there. Angels have been around for forever, and there's already as many of them as there will ever be. They aren't permitted to fool around for no reason, playing pranks on humans and causing needless ruckus. They're responsible servants and messengers of God, with more power and maturity than we could ever have. They have work to do, and opening and shutting doors for no reason isn't part of it. Unless it was specifically needed to protect someone, but the haunting incidents I'm hearing about here don't seem to fit that description.

Sure, demons can act like they're good-natured. You have to remember, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. It's all a put-on. They're decievers.
Basically, this earth is their playground. There's one-half as many demons as there are angels in the world, and they would cause all sorts of mayhem, I imagine, if the angels and the Holy Spirit weren't there to keep things in order.
Oh yeah, and no, ghosts can't be the souls of dead humans. All people, when they die, go to their respective places, either heaven or hell. There aren't any exceptions... I don't care who you were on earth.
That's my take on the subject. Hope it cleared up a few things.

 

[cherokeehippie]

I used to live in an Apt. that was 'haunted'. I didnt' have things such as objects being moved around, etc, but I could just feel this dark cloud in my bedroom. I had bad dreams every night in that room. One night I was listening to a teaching tape from a Messianic spirit-filled conference, when a prophetic word was uttered on the tape. All at once, my bed started shaking back and forth. I had never had that happened before and I guess it was torture for the demon to hear the words. Then, one day, I actually heard a sound that sounded like a goat bleet. It freaked me out! I did all I could, I plead the Blood of the Lamb over the whole Apt. and anointed each door way and room with olive oil. I finally started sleeping in my living room. I still had some bad dreams, but not as bad as in the bedroom. I don't know if it was the Apt. that was 'haunted' or if it was the bed itself. I really felt weird vibes with the bed, which was given to me from my mom. And my mom is oppressed big time, she has paranoid problems, etc so I don't know if the bed picked up something from my mom or if in the Apt. etc. I finally moved out of that Apt. and got rid of the bed and haven't had those problems anymore.

 

[Shaolin Warrior]

Thank you to the all knowing Brooke. A ghost is for childrens books and campfires, but the reality is demons and angels. I have had an encounter with what I suspect to have been a demon. More than ten years ago while sneaking out to go to my girlfriends house I was chased by something, which then continued to terrorize myself and a friend after I arrived back home. Only when I grabbed my bible and boldly went outside did the madness cease. Interestingly my friends choice of a weapon was a baseball bat.

 

[Brooke]

That sounds freaky. But I'm glad the thing stopped bothering you.

 

[coyoteBR]

Well, there's also other vision: that ghosts are people like us, only missing the flesh container. Some will cause some disturbance, but that doesn't mean they are not our brothers and sisters that need our help.
Others, in the other hand, can bring good and conforting messages.

About Shaolin Warrior case, it may be (empahsis on may be. I am not saying that this is the case or absolute truth) someone asking for help. Like mosquitos are atract to light, some spirits who suffer may be atract to those who are in good spiritual condition.
But, who knows for sure? Those things are very complex.

 

[good4u]

Ghosts? Umm....no.

Demonic activity?....Possible.

Active imagination?....Definitely.

 

[Shaolin Warrior]

ignorant? . . . . . WITHOUT A DOUBT!

 

[Shaolin Warrior]

in case there was any confusion, that last statement was in response to Professor "not so" GOOD4U

 

[Protestant]

Ghosts are fallen angels they are not the spirits of the departed dead. King Saul was not visited by the spirit of Samuel but by a demon pretending to be Samuel.

 

[Brooke]

Yes, they are fallen angels. Humans, when they die, go to their respective places, and can't help it either. No exceptions.
If a ghost takes on a form of a child or a person that one knew during life, it's just a demon pretending.
I don't know exactly what the Witch of Endor story means, though... I think it was either a demon, or God let Samuel himself go down to talk to Saul. It's a pretty weird story, in any sense.

My point? Ghosts are demons. Nothing else. At least apart from the cases where one is just having an overactive imagination, that is. But those cases, I imagine, are relatively rare.

 

[Protestant]

1Samuel 28: 3-20 “Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and spiritists out of the land. Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, ‘Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and enquire of her.’ And his servants said to him, ‘in fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor.’ So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, ‘Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.’ Then the woman said to him, ‘Look, you know what Saul has done, and how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul swore to her by the Lord saying, ‘As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.’ Then the woman said, ‘Whom shall I bring up for you?’ And he said, ‘Bring up Samuel for me.’ When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, ‘Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!’ And the king said to her, ‘Do not be afraid. What do you see?’ And the woman said to Saul, ‘I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.’ So he said to her, ‘What is his form?’ And she said, ‘An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.’ And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down. Now Samuel said to Saul. ‘Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?’ And Saul answered, ‘ I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do.’ Then Samuel said; ‘ So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? ‘And the Lord had done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbour, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amelek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.’ Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, and was dreadfully afraid because of the words of Samuel.”



The Prophet Samuel was dead. He is in his grave waiting the resurrection when Jesus the life giver shall call him from the tomb at the second advent of Christ. In obedience to the law of God king Saul had put all the spiritists and mediums out of the land. Then the time came when the Philistines were attacking Israel again. Now Saul enquires of the Lord, not for the pardon of his sins but because of fear of the Philistines. God had ceased communicating with Saul. Because Saul had always rejected the words of Samuel God’s chosen messenger, he had exiled David who was the chosen of God to be the next king. And he had also killed the priests of the Lord at Nob. Therefore God refuses to answer him. If Saul had repented of his sins and enquired of the Lord the Lord would have answered him. So now Saul does the unthinkable. He tries to communicate with the dead prophet Samuel through a condemned agent of Satan.



A medium. - In the original Hebrew of the biblical texts, the woman is identified by the phrase, "There is at Endor a woman Behabalth-Ob." This phrase can be translated several different ways. In some translations, Ob means "python," which could refer to a literal serpent or an evil spirit. Therefore, Behabalth-Oh could mean that the woman "owns" a python or is "owned by" (i.e. possessed by) a python. The Latin Vulgate calls the witch of Endor a pythonissa or mulier pythonem habens, meaning a woman who tells fortunes by consulting a python or conjured spirit.



There are some people who take the position that the prophet Samuel was actually present at the interview with Saul. If as claimed by some, Samuel was in heaven, he must have been summoned there either by the power of God or by Satan. No-one for a moment would believe that a woman of Satan had the power to call a holy prophet of God down from heaven. Nor can we believe that God summoned Samuel to the witches cave; for the Lord had already refused to communicate with Saul by dreams, Urim or prophets which were Gods own means of communication. And God did not bypass them to deliver the message through an agent of Satan. The message itself is sufficient to determine its origin. Its object was not to lead Saul to repentance for his sins but to tell him the lie that God had become his enemy and to urge him on to ruin. This is not the work of God but of Satan. This act of Saul is given as one of the reasons why God rejected Saul and abandoned him to destruction.



1 Chronicles 10: 13-14 “So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.”



Here it is clearly said that Saul consulted a medium for guidance and not of the Lord. If he spoke to the real Samuel he would have been enquiring of the Lord because prophets are God’s messengers. He did not communicate with the real Samuel the prophet of the Lord. But through a condemned agent of Satan, Saul held communication with a demon (one of Satan’s angels) pretending to be the prophet Samuel. Satan could not present the real Samuel, but he did present a counterfeit to serve his purpose of deception. This deception cost Saul his eternal life.

 

[Brooke]

Oh, okay. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[Shaolin Warrior]

very driven to make a point, I have a sister like that

 

[coyoteBR]

Protestant:
But Jesus talked with the spirits of Moses and Elias.

Furthermore, "medium" and "spiritist" are words from the end of XIX century. I don't know how they could be in the bible.

 

[Indigo]

I really wish people would stop calling ghosts demons. And how does anyone know where our respective place is after death, whether hell or heaven? How do we know that hell and heaven is not all around us anyway? To me it's a frame of mind so if someone dies a horrible death, commits suicide or simply does not realize he died, he becomes a ghost which is a lost soul. If someone in your family commits suicide, which Christians agree is wrong, would you call them demons? Wouldn't you want to help them find their way? When ghosts hang around a particular home it could be because they died there or because that's where they felt the best when alive. If they move things, they may be trying to get attention or scare the person away from the house they perceive to be theirs. One must try to communicate with ghosts and tell them they are dead and should find God and pray that they do much like cindylou did.

 

[Shaolin Warrior]

One must try to communicate with ghosts and tell them they are dead and should find God and pray that they do much like cindylou did.

Forgive me if I have no intention of following thy orders noble one, but my choice would be to stand against such demons. Just curious, what is your view on vampires?

 

[Bonhoffer]

There is only one 'good' ghost/spirit, the Holy Spirit, all the rest are demons trieng to trick people even if they seem 'nice'!!