Question from a reader:
How do you explain ghosts? I know someone who claims to have seen them from time to time, and says they never have an evil about them. This person also claims to have been in the presence of a demon and says the feeling is quite different. What are ghosts? They are mentioned in the Old Testament from time to time—for example, in 1 Samuel 28.
Answer from Eternal Perspective Ministries:
Hebrews 9:27 tells us that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” At death, the human spirit enters either Heaven or Hell. For the believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Those who die rejecting Christ face separation from Christ in Hell (see Luke 16:23). This means the spirits of those who have died are not roaming the earth as ghosts.
Randy writes, “I think we need to be reminded the Bible teaches there is an invisible world, and there are both righteous and unrighteous angelic beings. Is it possible for someone to see something that is paranormal—that is, supernatural? Could there be either a demon or a righteous angel involved? I think the answer is yes, it could be. There is simply no way to know without looking at the specific situation.” (See How Should Christians Respond to UFOs and Other Unexplainable Phenomena?)
Here’s an article from a site we frequently refer readers to.
That article says, “What about instances in which ‘ghosts’ act in ‘positive’ ways? What about psychics who claim to summon the deceased and gain true and useful information from them? Again, it is crucial to remember that the goal of demons is to deceive. If the result is that people trust in a psychic instead of God, a demon will be more than willing to reveal true information. Even good and true information, if from a source with evil motives, can be used to mislead, corrupt, and destroy.”
Just because we might not feel disturbed seeing what we think are ghosts doesn’t mean there couldn’t be demonic activity involved. Afterall, Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14); couldn’t the same be true of a seemingly “friendly” or “harmless” ghost?
The goal of our ministry is always to point people to Christ—so we’ll end with Colossians 2, which encourages us to hold fast to Christ, “the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God” (Colossians 2:19). Getting disconnected from Christ and distracted from following Him will always cause us problems, so we encourage you to keep your focus on Jesus and His Word!
