Spirits

With Halloween approaching, I thought I'd blog about my beliefs on ghosts and evil in the world.

I don't believe in ghosts. I do believe in evil spirits. The difference is that ghosts are the alleged spirits of those who have died, lingering in this world. I don't believe that can happen. But I do believe in evil spirits—Satan's minions who do things to invoke fear in people. And I believe that often, they may return to places where evil has triumphed to invoke this fear. I think houses where murders or other terrible acts have occurred can be haunted—not by the ghosts of the victims, but by the evil spirits that came with the evil acts.

I believe in seances. There is biblical evidence for this being a possible thing. (King Saul consults with a witch to bring back Samuel's spirit for military advice.) The Bible is also clear that this is wrong, and not something to be messed with.

I think most of Halloween is light-hearted fun. I love dressing myself and my dogs up in costume, handing out candy, and carving pumpkins. Even "haunted" corn mazes and the like don't bother me, because I don't believe these things truly tap into the power of evil.

I've only had one really spooky experience of my own. It was on my honeymoon. Dan and I were lying in bed and all of a sudden we both got really creeped out. We could just sense this evil presence. It wasn't anything physical—no lights flickered and no inanimate objects got inexplicably moved—but there was this sense that there was evil around us.

We turned on all the lights and prayed in each room of the house. We used Jesus' name a lot. I believe there is a lot of power in his name to triumph over evil. The demons in demon-possessed people of the gospels sure feared him. We felt the presence strongest right under the attic door. So we slept in a downstairs bedroom that night, with all the lights on.

I don't know if someone who had stayed in that house prior to us had done some kind of evil, pagan practice. But it's quite possible. Satan certainly welcomes invitations into our lives, and that's why I don't think evil/occult things are things to mess with.

I know that among Christians, there are a lot of differing views on Halloween. I don't claim to have all the right answers, but having thought through my own experiences and how I understand the Bible, these are the conclusions I've reached.