Text: exodus 20:1-2
the bible and the paranormal
The Walking Dead is an American horror drama television series developed by Frank Darabont, based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. Andrew Lincoln plays the show’s lead character, sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes, who awakens from a months-long coma to confront a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies.[4] Grimes reunites with his family and becomes the leader of a group he forms with other survivors. Together they struggle to survive in and adapt to a world filled with zombies and some humans who are even more dangerous than the zombies themselves.
The first season through to the first half of the fifth season are at first set within the Atlanta metro area and then the surrounding countryside. Beginning with the second half of the fifth season, the series mainly takes place in Alexandria, Virginia.
The Walking Dead premiered in the U.S. on October 31, 2010, on the cable television channel AMC and internationally in November 2010 on Fox International Channels. AMC has renewed the series each year because of its consistently increasing Nielsen ratings, which have been unprecedentedly high for a cable series, including averaging the most 18- to 49-year-old viewers of any cable or broadcast television series during its third through (current) sixth seasons. The sixth season premiered on October 11, 2015. A 16-episode seventh season will debut in October 2016. An AMC companion series, Fear the Walking Dead, debuted on August 23, 2015.
The series has been well received by critics and nominated for several awards, including the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: New Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama.
All seasons of The Walking Dead have been well reviewed by recognized critics, with a 90% approval rating for the series to date on Rotten Tomatoes, a website launched in 1998 devoted to film reviews and news; it is widely known as a film review aggregator. Coverage now includes TV content as well. The name derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a poor stage performance. The company was created by Senh Duong and since January 2010 has been owned by Flixster, an American social movie site for discovering new movies, learning about movies, and meeting others with similar tastes in movies, which itself was acquired in 2011 by Warner Bros.
The Walking Dead has the highest total viewership of any series in cable television history, including its third through (current) sixth seasons, during which it averaged the most 18- to 49-year-old viewers of all cable or broadcast television shows. Total viewership for its season five premiere was 17.3 million, the most-watched series episode in cable history.
The Walking Dead was nominated for Best New Series by the Writers Guild of America Awards 2011 and Best Television Series Drama by the 68th Golden Globe Awards. The show was named one of the top 10 television programs of 2010 by the American Film Institute Awards 2010. For the 37th Saturn Awards, the series received six nominations—for Best Television Presentation, Andrew Lincoln for Best Actor in Television, Sarah Wayne Callies for Best Actress on Television, Steven Yeun for Best Supporting Actor in Television, Laurie Holden for Best Supporting Actress in Television, and Noah Emmerich for Best Guest Starring Role in Television. The series was nominated for Best Drama Series by the inaugural 1st Critics’ Choice Television Awards. The pilot episode “Days Gone Bye” received three nominations from the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards—for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series and Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series and won for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie, or Special. For the 41st Saturn Awards, the series received its highest number of nominations, with a total of seven, including for the show itself, Andrew Lincoln for Best Actor on Television, Norman Reedus for Best Supporting Actor on Television, Emily Kinney and Melissa McBride for Best Supporting Actress on Television, Andrew J. West for Best Guest Star on Television, and Chandler Riggs for Best Young Performer on Television.
Given the above information, imagine if The Bible was a hit TV drama. What would the plot look like and how would the script be written?
First of all, “Do you believe in ghosts?”
Most of us heard that question when we were children, especially around Halloween, but as adults we don’t give it much thought.
Are there ghosts in the Bible? The term itself appears, but what it means can be confusing. In this brief study, we’ll look at what the Bible says about ghosts, and what conclusions we can draw from our Christian beliefs.
Ghosts in the Bible: When Jesus Looked Like a Ghost
Jesus’ disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, but he was not with them. Matthew tells us what happened:
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”(Matthew 14:25-27, NIV)
Mark and Luke report the same incident. The gospel writers give no explanation of the word ghost. It’s interesting to note that the King James Version of the Bible, published in 1611, uses the term “spirit” in this passage, but when the New King James Version came out in 1982, it translated the term back to “ghost.” Most other later translations, including the NIV, ESV, NASB, Amplified, Message, and Good News use the word ghost in this verse.
After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples. Again they were terrified:
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (Luke 24:37-39)
Jesus did not believe in ghosts; he knew the truth, but his superstitious apostles had bought into that folk tale. When they encountered something they couldn’t understand, they immediately assumed it was a ghost.
The matter is further blurred when, in some older translations, “ghost” is used instead of “spirit.” The King James Version refers to the Holy Ghost, and in John 19:30 says,
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
The New King James Version translates ghost to spirit, including all references to the Holy Spirit.
Ghosts in the Bible: Samuel, a Ghost, or Something Else?
Something ghostly did turn up in an incident described in 1 Samuel 28:7-20. King Saul was preparing to do battle against the Philistines, but the LORD had departed from him. Saul wanted to get a prediction on the outcome of the battle, so he consulted a medium, the witch of Endor. He ordered her to call up the spirit of Samuel the prophet.
A “ghostly figure” of an old man appeared, and the medium was startled. The figure scolded Saul, then told him he would not only lose the battle, but also his life and the lives of his sons.
Scholars are split over what the apparition was. Some say it was a demon, a fallen angel, impersonating Samuel. They note that it came up out of the earth instead of down from heaven, and that Saul did not actually look at it. Saul had his face to the ground. Other experts feel God intervened and did cause Samuel’s spirit to manifest itself to Saul.
To put the ghost controversy in perspective, it’s important to understand the Bible’s teaching on life after death. Scripture says when people die, their spirit and soul immediately go to heaven or hell. We do not wander about the earth:
Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)
So-called ghosts are demons posing as dead people. Satan and his followers are liars, intent on spreading confusion, fear, and distrust of God. If they can convince mediums, like the woman at Endor, that they actually communicate with the dead, those demons can lure many away from the true God:
…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. (2 Corinthians 2:11)
The Bible tells us that a spiritual realm does exist, invisible to human eyes. It is populated by God and his angels, Satan, and his fallen angels, or demons. Despite the claims of unbelievers, there are no ghosts wandering about the earth. The spirits of deceased humans inhabit one of two places: heaven or hell.
What Does the Bible Say About Ghosts?
A closer look at Scripture’s teachings on death and the afterlife
Dustin Pari was about 9 years old when he says he saw something that “petrified” him and forever changed his life.
He says it stood a few feet tall and had a human shape, only it was dark gray and see-through, “like vapor, like a gas station on a hot day: you can kind of see those fumes coming up,” Pari says. And it was lurking in the doorway of his bedroom in the New England home he grew up in.
“It really just intrigued me. What was this thing, and what was it doing there?” he says.
It was something he now would classify as a “shadow figure.” That’s after he’s spent two decades as a paranormal investigator, featured on popular reality television shows Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International. Like many, Pari first encountered the field of paranormal investigation on TV, watching popular shows like Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures and Paranormal State.
Not only do nearly one in five Americans now believe in ghosts, but also they claim to have seen one, a number that has doubled over the past decade since Ghost Hunters debuted in 2004. That’s according to a 2009 poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. (The Pew poll is conservative compared to others inquiring simply about beliefs: 48 percent of Americans believe in ghosts, according to a poll that same year by CBS; 45 percent, according to a poll earlier this year by the Huffington Post.)
More than one in three feel they’ve been in contact with the dead, whether that’s through a ghost, a psychic or other means. Among white evangelical Christians, that number is at 20 percent; it’s higher still among white mainline Protestants (29 percent), black Protestants (37) and white Catholics (35), according to Pew.
“There are a lot of people with an interest in (the paranormal), but they don’t feel like they can go to a pastor,” says Eric James.
James is his middle name: The Oklahoman grew up Southern Baptist, attended a Baptist university and now works for a Baptist church, and he’s worried what the church’s response would be if other leaders knew he was asking these questions, he says. His mother once had asked a pastor at a Wednesday night church service what the Bible had to say about ghosts. The pastor had dismissed her question.
“If you don’t get an answer from a Christian leader, you’re going to go look somewhere else. And where are you going to find your answers? Probably not where a lot of ministers want you to find your answers,” James says.
“That’s where people get into using Ouija boards and different things like that.”
James has found his answers in the Bible.
What is a ghost?
There are nearly as many theories as to what a ghost is as there are investigators. Most popular in American culture is the theory ghosts are the spirits of humans who have died, but not yet “crossed over” to heaven or hell.
On the other hand, most Christians believe that, as Ron Rhodes writes, “When people encounter a genuine spirit, it is not a dead human, but rather a demonic spirit intent on deceiving living humans.”
In his book The Truth Behind Ghosts, Mediums, and Psychic Phenomena, the president of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries points to Bible verses like 2 Corinthians 5:8 and Hebrews 9:27 that suggest after death, we go immediately to heaven or hell, leaving no room for the souls of the departed to roam the earth. He also points to passages like Deuteronomy 18:10-12a that forbid communicating with the dead:
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.”
Ghosts in the Bible
The overwhelming preponderance of evangelical experts say the Christian worldview does not allow for ghosts haunting the earth.
The Bible is very clear on two points, on which nearly all denominations agree.
First, any spirit that is not God is not to be trifled with. The Bible repeatedly and firmly condemns seeking out the dead.
Second, and crucially, diabolical spirits can and do take on kindly appearances. This can mean looking like angelic beings or, perhaps, deceased loved ones. All spirits are to be tested against what we know from Scripture.
There are some believers, like James , who point to Scripture passages he believes allow for the possibility of ghosts. He points to verses that suggest the soul may “sleep” or enter a “holding place” until Judgment Day, such as Revelation 20:11-15 and Matthew 26:31-46.
He’s not the first person to suggest this: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists accept the idea of “soul sleep.” That theological concept is not generally interpreted to allow for souls to be out roaming around, but James says that such an interpretation could leave a little theological wiggle room for a human spirit to wander the earth as a ghost after death. And there are a few Roman Catholic theologians who allow that some of the deceased may go through a sort of earthly Purgatory in which they can appear to the living.
However, nearly all evangelical interpretations take verses like 2 Corinthians 5:8 (“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”) to mean that souls don’t linger after they die.
Pari, for his part, says he doesn’t believe “a loving God would trap a soul here.” He does, however, leave open the possibility that the likeness of earthly bodies may occasionally be used by God. “I think that heaven just really isn’t as far away as people think it is,” he says.
That’s the line taken by those who point to biblical passages like the one in 1 Samuel 28:7-20, in which King Saul uses a medium (referred to as the Witch of Endor) to communicate with the dead spirit of God’s prophet Samuel. Other than the Transfiguration (an exceptional case in which Jesus appeared before a few of his disciples in his full glory with Moses and Elijah), it’s the only Bible story to explicitly feature someone attempting to communicate with the dead.
In this case, it does seem to work, though scholars are divided as to whether the spirit Saul talked to was actually the ghost of Samuel, a demonic apparition or something else. The traditional rabbinical view is that the figure was indeed Samuel, and that this was an exceptionally rare case, as evidenced by the fact that the witch herself seems more surprised by Samuel’s appearance than anyone. Modern evangelical experts are more likely to interpret this as a different force altogether.
All, however, are sure of one thing: In attempting to communicate with the dead, Saul was doing something that God has expressly forbidden. The point of the story is not to help believers get an understanding of ghosts—it’s to show how far Saul had fallen out of God’s will.
Why is this important?
James independently published a book earlier this year working through some of his questions about the paranormal, “Are Ghosts Biblical?” It’s not the final word on ghosts, he admits, but he thinks taking seriously people’s experiences and bringing light to their questions is important.
The Church shouldn’t be afraid of these questions, he says. Too many people are afraid of being mocked or dismissed for bringing up the topic within church. Christians need to carefully and lovingly listen to people’s experiences.
“If you believe in God and you believe in Christ, there’s nothing that can harm you in terms of a … demonic spirit because you always have the greater spirit, the Holy Spirit. You have the most powerful spirit out there,” he says.
That, however, shouldn’t be taken as invitation to go looking for trouble. The Bible is firm on what spirits we should and should not be seeking out. The Holy Spirit has been sent to guide believers, is sufficient for all our needs and is the only Spirit we should be seeking to commune with.
In fact, we were designed to commune with Him.
How should a Christian respond to evidence of paranormal activity?”
Answer: The word paranormal can be defined as “the occurrence, or perception of, an event without scientific explanation, or other purportedly supernatural phenomena.” Paranormal activity is an encompassing term that includes not only ghosts and hauntings and demonic activity, but also other unexplainable phenomena such as unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and extrasensory perception (ESP), to name just a few. With the proliferation of movies and television shows that in one way or another sensationalize paranormal activity, it is clear that many are indeed fascinated with this realm. In fact, a 2007 low-budget movie titled Paranormal Activity went on to become one of the most profitable movies of all time. How, then, should Christians respond when we read about supposed hauntings and other paranormal occurrences?
A common misconception is that disembodied spirits can remain on earth or perhaps come back to “haunt” or otherwise interact with us. However, nothing in the Bible supports this belief. Rather, “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). But the Bible does make it clear that there are spirit beings—angels and demons—that operate in the heavenly realm. The angels serve God. They are ministering spirits who are sent by God “to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Demons, on the other hand, are fallen angels under the control of Satan, and they roam the earth looking to destroy God’s children (1 Peter 5:8). They are cunning and wise and keenly aware of our weaknesses and our propensity to desire that which will satisfy our fleshly desires. Worst of all, they can masquerade as “angels of light” or as “servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14–15). Regarding the immensity of Satan’s earthly “operation,” the apostle John reminds us that the “whole world” is under his control (1 John 5:19).
Now, some of the paranormal activity we read about today could very well be hoaxes perpetuated on a public that is all too eager to believe. In some cases, well-meaning people could be innocently mistaken as to what they think they might have seen or experienced. There is probably a logical explanation for much of what gets passed off as “paranormal activity.” However, if there is genuine evil spiritual activity occurring, it would have to be the work of demons. Either way, however, when Christians read or hear of such activity we should not be intrigued by it or drawn to it; rather, we should use it as a solid reminder of the spiritual battle that is the Christian life and the one against whom we struggle. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” but, it is against the “powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12, emphasis added).
Many people are no doubt intrigued by tales of ghosts and hauntings. Yet, if getting angry can give the devil a “foothold” into our lives (Ephesians 4:27), how much more so would a fascination with the “dark forces” of this world that he controls? Jesus Christ came to earth to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8), and it took His death to accomplish it. Our response to paranormal activity, at least as it pertains to any sort of demonic activity, is to be reminded of the evil that ultimately led to our Savior’s great sacrifice. Beyond that, Christians should avoid any and all contact with the paranormal.
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