Spooky season is already upon us, as Halloween is just around the corner. With the upcoming holiday, many of us think about things related to Halloween, such as pumpkins, costumes, and ghosts. Ghosts are one of the most fascinating phenomena for many individuals across the globe.
Entire books, television shows, and movies have been dedicated to ghosts. With this large emphasis and interest across the world surrounding ghosts, the question arises as to whether we, as Christians, can believe in ghosts.
Are Ghosts Real?
Ghosts are believed within mainstream society to be dead loved ones or dead individuals who “haunt” or remain in key places. Growing up, I became highly fascinated with ghosts, even though they terrified me.
I’m not sure where this fascination came from, but it could have been the interest I had in folklore and ghost stories. Before I accepted Jesus as my Savior and became a Christian, I fully believed in ghosts.
I believed it was completely possible for a person to “haunt” someone or something until they decided it was time to move on to the “next life.” It was not until after I became a believer that I started looking more into this topic and questioning it.
The Bible tells us that each of us is destined to die once and then to face judgment (Hebrew 9:27). Since we are all destined to die once and then to face judgment, there is no way any of us could return to be a ghost.
Nobody can return as a ghost because it is not biblical, nor is it reasonable. Many individuals may still believe in the possibility of ghosts because they have personally experienced different phenomena of encounters with ghosts.
While I am not arguing against a person’s own personal experience, I am saying what they saw were not “ghosts.” Ghosts are not biblical because a deceased individual cannot come back from the dead to visit or haunt a living individual. This phenomenon, known as ghost encounters, is most likely demonic.
Demons are known for trying to deceive us and trick us. The Apostle Paul tells us, “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
Since the devil and his demons enjoy tricking us, what would be a better way to deceive us than to masquerade as our dead loved ones?
In the same way, if demons know they can get individuals to become interested in the occult by masquerading as ghosts, they would do it in order to lead individuals astray.
Demons are focused on causing our downfall, and demons pretending to be dead loved ones or dead individuals are perfect ways to cause us to fall.
With this in mind, Christians cannot believe in ghosts because ghosts are not real, but demons are. Many individuals try to take the stance that demons are not real, but the Bible speaks of the reality of demons throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament.
In the Book of Job, Eliphaz makes the statement, “A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice” (Job 4:15-16).
From Eliphaz’s words, it sounds similar to what we would describe as a “ghost,” but yet, this is actually a demon.
Jesus encountered demons many times throughout His earthly ministry (Matthew 12:22; Mark 3:11). The demons were scared of Him because they knew who He was, the Son of God. They knew Jesus could drive them out and send them to the Abyss (Luke 8:31).
As we can see, demons are real spiritual beings that want to cause our downfall. We should not dismiss demons as being not real, nor should we downplay what they can do.
Is it All Supernatural?
Demons are most likely what we understand to be “ghosts.” While this can be frightening for many of us, we can rest in the knowledge that God is with us, and He gives us everything we need to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).
Likewise, James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder.” This Bible passage once argues for the reality of demons. It is not wise to believe demons don’t exist because they are real.
If we choose to pretend that they don’t exist, it will not make their attacks any less severe. Instead of denying the existence of demons, we need to be actively taking our stand against the devil and his demons.
Ignorance is not bliss because it can cause us to fall prey to the devil. God wants us to know the truth of the Bible and be able to be confident in His Word.
Therefore, there is no such thing as ghosts, but there are demons. Since this is true, we must avoid becoming interested and involved with ghosts. Ghosts are not friendly spirits, nor are they our loved ones.
Our deceased loved ones are in one of two places depending on whether or not they accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
If a person places faith in Christ, they go to heaven, but if a person doesn’t place faith in Christ, then they go to hell. There is no “in-between” nor can a person’s spirit remain on the earth.
Pop culture presents ghosts as something that is “cool,” “interesting,” or even “cute” at times, such as Casper, but ghosts are most likely demons from what we know from Scripture. It is best for Christians to abstain from becoming fascinated with ghosts because of this reason.
What Does This Mean?
As believers, we need to help others know the truth that ghosts are probably demons masquerading and that nobody should become involved with them. If somebody becomes involved with a fascination with ghosts, they could more easily be drawn into the occult.
Once a person becomes involved with the occult, it can lead them to a myriad of things associated with the demonic. We need to do our best to educate others on staying away from being influenced by the paranormal.
By helping others to know the truth about ghosts, we can help them become more aware of spiritual warfare and the different ways that demons try to trick us.
Once more individuals become more aware of demons, the less likely individuals will want to actively seek out and pursue ghosts.
Shows, such as Ghost Hunters, have caused many individuals to become fascinated with the idea of seeing ghosts or catching them on camera.
Most likely, what this show is capturing is demons. As believers, we need to steer clear of anything associated with the demonic, including books, movies, or television shows that promote the demonic.
Satan and his demons want to lead us astray and cause us to become more focused on ghosts rather than God. The idea of ghosts goes directly against the Bible, as deceased individuals cannot return from the dead to be a ghost.
Anything that we would consider to be a “ghost” could be a demon. Thus, Christians shouldn’t believe in ghosts because we should call them what they really are — demons.
For further reading:
What Does the Bible Say about Ghosts?
Why Do We Say, 'Have a Spooky Halloween'?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Polina Lebed
