GHOST BUSTER

Since we're approaching halloween I thought I'd throw in a little about the supernatural.

When I was a child I enjoyed that scared feeling when I heard a ghost story or saw a scary movie. Around halloween we are bombarded with horror films, but now I have no inclination to watch them. Even as a child I couldn't understand the concept of ghosts, even though I knew or heard of people who swore they had seen them. The reason I couldn't understand how there could possibly be ghosts is because when people die their spirits either go to Heaven or Hell. If they go to Hell, there is no way out, they are not free to come back and haunt people. In Luke 16:25-31 the rich man who had died and gone to Hell wanted Abraham to send Lazarus to his family to warn them about Hell because he couldn't go himself, but Abraham told him they wouldn't believe even if someone rose from the dead, inferring that the only way for someone to come back here was to come back as a live person again. If a person's spirit goes to Heaven God wouldn't allow them to come back to scare or destroy people, God has other ways of dealing with people, he doesn't need to send back those who have died.

Ok then, what do people see or experience? I believe it's something. Here's my theory: there are really devils (or demons), the bible has many references concerning people who were possessed by devils. When the person dies, or the devils are cast out of the person, the devils that possessed them are still here, I believe they probably took on some characteristics of the person who they possessed that died or that they were cast out of, so people who think they see ghosts may really be seeing devils that had possessed that person during their life. The good news is devils or demons can be cast out, Jesus and the disciples did it all the time, Christian's do it today. I wouldn't recommend trying this if you're not a Christian or don't know what you're doing, the seven sons of the chief priest, Sceva, tried it in Acts 19:12-16 and were overcome, but not killed, by the demon possessed man. If there were such things as ghosts here on earth there wouldn't be much you could do about them, the dead can't die again. The witch of Endor who supposedly conjured up the ghost of Samuel for Saul in 1 Sam. 28, really just conjured up a familiar spirit or demon who imitated Samuel, because God didn't answer Saul when he prayed, He certainly wouldn't answer him through this wicked woman.

So where did devils or demons come from, the popular opinion is that they are fallen angels, those that rebelled with Lucifer and those that fell in the days of Noah. The problem is these angels are currently bound in Hell (Tartarus) 2 Peter 2:4. I heard Bob Yandian give what I believe to be a credible explanation of the origin of these devils, he suggests they are the spirits of the pre-Adamites who inhabited this planet before it was destroyed and re-created (See my first two posts How It All Began, and How Art Thou Fallen).
http://www.precepts.com, the links are Free Study Materials / Archives / Angels and Demons / The Origin of Demons.

There were a couple of movies I watched in my youth that intrigued me, "The Three Faces Of Eve", starring JoAnn Woodward, and "Sybil", starring Sally Field. These movies were about women who had multiple personalities that caused them to behave in different ways depending on the personality that was manifesting itself at the time. This apparently was something new to the doctors who were treating them in these movies. I soon noticed that people were using "multiple personality syndrome" as a legal defense for horrible crimes they had committed, stating that it was one of their more deviant personalities, not them, who had committed the crime. I thought this was just some scam they concocted in order to be able to commit crimes and get away with it, and in most cases it probably was. Then all of a sudden it clicked, when Jesus asked the demon possessed man in Mark 5 what his name was the devils answered "My name is Legion, for we are many", this man really did have "multiple personality syndrome", but in fact he had many different demons that manifested themselves in many different ways. Psychiatrists and pyschologists who encounter people who really do have "multiple personality syndrome" might do them a world of good by having the devils cast out of them by a bible believing Christian. Just think how many people in Mental Health facilities might be cured if their doctors only knew what they were really dealing with. I am not suggesting, however, that all mental illness is due to the person being possessed by a devil.

When a devil is cast out it wants to go somewhere, it might possess another person, or an animal (in Mark 5, when Jesus cast the devils out of a man called "Legion" they asked to be sent into pigs and Jesus allowed it). If the person from whom the devil(s) are cast out doesn't guard his or her life by accepting Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord it may come back with more devils:
Matthew 12:43-45
43When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
44Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
45Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

A devil can't just decide they're going to possess just anyone they please, the person has to open him or herself up to being possessed by the demon.

Now about halloween, the Celts believed a lord of death sent evil spirits into animals and they went around playing tricks on people. To escape the people wore a disguise so that the evil spirits would think they were one of them, Celtic priests, called Druids, built bonfires on hilltops to frighten the spirits away and even offered human sacrifices. Later Christians tried to change the holiday to "All Hallow's Eve" which means "all holies" or "all the saints" to change the holiday from one of fear to one of joy, celebrating the lives of loved ones who had gone on to be with the Lord. The pagans would have none of it and changed it into "The Witches Sabbath" and they met to worship the devil. This information about the origin of Halloween is taken from a children's book titled "Halloween Is It For Real?" by Harold Myra.

A lot of churches offer safe alternatives to going house to house on Halloween. Many children have been harmed participating in the activity of trick or treating.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com.