GHOSTS IN CHRISTIANITY
Based on experiences and research done on this topic, most of the time it seems to be adults who have intentionally or unintentionally invited the contacts. However, they have also been known to manifest themselves to small children and even animals. There are a variety of reasons why these contacts can be initiated.
We want to be very careful here not to leave the wrong impression that we know God's will or intentions with respect to any particular situation where contact between spirits and living humans have occurred. However, it is possible to draw some general conclusions based on what scriptures have to say about the issue.
Job 4:15 says,”Then a spirit passed by my face; the hair of my flesh bristled up.
“Job 4:16: "It stood and I did not recognize its appearance. Its form was before my eyes. Silence. And I heard a voice."
Ghosts and spirits are one in the same - they are people on the other side of the grave...in the afterlife, if you will. They are common in scripture, if you look for them they ARE mentioned in the bible. One of the first verses is in:
I Samuel 28:15, where Saul has a medium, "call up" the prophet Samuel from the other side of the grave:Even in the new testament, Jesus having "appeared" to many after his resurrection. To "appear" indicates the idea of manifesting from the invisible to the visible, just as a spirit or ghost might manifest, from the spirit to the physical realm. The bible says in: Mark 16:12, "...to two of them, as they are going into a field, walking, he was manifested in another form."Jesus also "appeared" to the eleven disciples and stood in the midst of them during their conversation (Luke 24:36). Can you imagine that? He manifested right before their eyes from the realm of spirit. But what is interesting to note is Jesus' statement concerning their fear of him "appearing" right before their eyes:
Luke 24:39 "...handle me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having."
Well, one might argue, hey, Jesus wasn't a spirit or ghost because he had flesh and bone. Agreed, but might add that Jesus still was "appearing" like a ghost or spirit might do. However, the biggest point might be missed if one does not consider Jesus' statement further, about not being a spirit or ghost...he was in effect stating that spirits (ghosts) do exist, but that he was not one of them!
The common belief in ghosts is found the New Testament. The verse in Matthew 14:26 states:
"and the disciples having seen him walking upon the sea were troubled saying, 'It is an apparition,' and from the fear they cried out."
Apparitions were obviously believed to exist and even by the followers of Jesus. Other people obviously believed in ghosts during Jesus' time on earth, because they "appeared" in the city of Jerusalem after Jesus' resurrection:
Matthew 27:52-53, "and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who have fallen asleep, arose; and having come forth out of the tombs after Jesus' rising, they went into the holy city and appeared to many."
In the book of Hebrews mentions the fact of spirits being all around us, in
Hebrews 12:1, "Therefore, we also having so great a cloud of witnesses set around us."
Does this mean the spirit and physical realms co-existing with one another, I don't know.
The bible does say, Jesus spoke with people on the other side of the grave. So according to the bible those on the other side of the grave can speak to us!
I don't have all the answers and neither does those who read the bible everyday, but the bible does clearly say, it is possible for ghosts to exist, and some spirits communicate with us!
The bible was written as a guide to how to live our lives with God as our father and Jesus in his scriptures felt it important enough to reveal the existence of Ghosts and Spirits. Jesus seemed to understand quite a lot about what was going on "behind the veil" of this physical world.
Perhaps, we should follow this example and not fear ghosts; but seek to understand the truth of the spirit realm.
Many fear that we they cannot understand and often CCPRS are asked time and time again, what we do is against god or evil or even an occult so the first thing that comes to mind is Satan. Spirits/Ghosts are the work of the devil and those ghosts are bad... or many variants to this.
In our experience with investigations we've done in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma, we have very rarely met with anyone or anything we felt was in fact "evil" ~ In fact, our findings suggest that most spirits don't mind communicating with us or even touching us or even speaking to us. We've encountered several interactive and very friendly spirits who were very glad to see us and/or just content to watch and observe us.
Many living people and spirits/entities co-exist quite nicely together. The spirits are rarely aggressive towards the family occupying the same space. On the other hand we can't deny that there have been some spirits who have tried to physically harm an investigator or have acted aggressively towards an investigator. Usually the results are only a scratch or bruise.
Other times it might be a growl of warning or a whisper in our ear get out or leave in an aggressive manner. So let’s say out of every 100 spirits you encounter, you're going to meet 2 thugs or bullies. The remaining 98 of them will not mind seeing you. That's not bad odds for what we do. If what we do was hurting us more than it was helping us, then we wouldn't do it. But the very few times we do get hurt, it's probably for a reason...
One of CCPRS Rules are RESPECT the spirits. This goes a long way when asking them to help us or us talk to them, let them know what we're doing, and we invite the friendly ones to come join us.
With all this said, CCPRS does not have any evidence that suggests that the spirits or ghosts we encounter have any link to Satan or evil. No 666 signs, flaming skulls, occult symbols appear out of thin air.
Sometimes religious people get into a heated argument with other ghost hunters & paranormal investigators because they think that they are trying to debunk or disprove the bible. Quite the opposite. The Holy Bible is as started above are full of reports of paranormal activity & reports of ghosts & apparitions. We're talking about people 2000 years ago whose minds weren't corrupted with science fiction or movies or horror novels.
They saw and experienced those things, and they wrote them down in the bible. You can look them up and see for yourself.
In fact, one person most religious people won't argue against is Jesus Christ. He himself talks about what a ghost is and isn't... In the Bible, under the book of Luke, Chapter 24, Verses 37-40 37: They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
38: Jesus said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?
39: 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."
There are other reports in the bible of disembodied voices, apparitions that appeared and faded away, strange lights, and other patterns we associate with modern day ghosts.
A book that is centuries old refer to what a Ghost looks like. All over the world, in countless historical documents and texts, there are reports of ghostly phenomena dating back for hundreds of years of people seeing apparitions, paranormal activity, and things that cannot be explained. Is this all just a coincidence? Even today, we're still getting these same reports and experiencing things we cannot explain?
By Debbe-co-founder CCPRS
Based on experiences and research done on this topic, most of the time it seems to be adults who have intentionally or unintentionally invited the contacts. However, they have also been known to manifest themselves to small children and even animals. There are a variety of reasons why these contacts can be initiated.
We want to be very careful here not to leave the wrong impression that we know God's will or intentions with respect to any particular situation where contact between spirits and living humans have occurred. However, it is possible to draw some general conclusions based on what scriptures have to say about the issue.
Job 4:15 says,”Then a spirit passed by my face; the hair of my flesh bristled up.
“Job 4:16: "It stood and I did not recognize its appearance. Its form was before my eyes. Silence. And I heard a voice."
Ghosts and spirits are one in the same - they are people on the other side of the grave...in the afterlife, if you will. They are common in scripture, if you look for them they ARE mentioned in the bible. One of the first verses is in:
I Samuel 28:15, where Saul has a medium, "call up" the prophet Samuel from the other side of the grave:Even in the new testament, Jesus having "appeared" to many after his resurrection. To "appear" indicates the idea of manifesting from the invisible to the visible, just as a spirit or ghost might manifest, from the spirit to the physical realm. The bible says in: Mark 16:12, "...to two of them, as they are going into a field, walking, he was manifested in another form."Jesus also "appeared" to the eleven disciples and stood in the midst of them during their conversation (Luke 24:36). Can you imagine that? He manifested right before their eyes from the realm of spirit. But what is interesting to note is Jesus' statement concerning their fear of him "appearing" right before their eyes:
Luke 24:39 "...handle me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having."
Well, one might argue, hey, Jesus wasn't a spirit or ghost because he had flesh and bone. Agreed, but might add that Jesus still was "appearing" like a ghost or spirit might do. However, the biggest point might be missed if one does not consider Jesus' statement further, about not being a spirit or ghost...he was in effect stating that spirits (ghosts) do exist, but that he was not one of them!
The common belief in ghosts is found the New Testament. The verse in Matthew 14:26 states:
"and the disciples having seen him walking upon the sea were troubled saying, 'It is an apparition,' and from the fear they cried out."
Apparitions were obviously believed to exist and even by the followers of Jesus. Other people obviously believed in ghosts during Jesus' time on earth, because they "appeared" in the city of Jerusalem after Jesus' resurrection:
Matthew 27:52-53, "and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who have fallen asleep, arose; and having come forth out of the tombs after Jesus' rising, they went into the holy city and appeared to many."
In the book of Hebrews mentions the fact of spirits being all around us, in
Hebrews 12:1, "Therefore, we also having so great a cloud of witnesses set around us."
Does this mean the spirit and physical realms co-existing with one another, I don't know.
The bible does say, Jesus spoke with people on the other side of the grave. So according to the bible those on the other side of the grave can speak to us!
I don't have all the answers and neither does those who read the bible everyday, but the bible does clearly say, it is possible for ghosts to exist, and some spirits communicate with us!
The bible was written as a guide to how to live our lives with God as our father and Jesus in his scriptures felt it important enough to reveal the existence of Ghosts and Spirits. Jesus seemed to understand quite a lot about what was going on "behind the veil" of this physical world.
Perhaps, we should follow this example and not fear ghosts; but seek to understand the truth of the spirit realm.
Many fear that we they cannot understand and often CCPRS are asked time and time again, what we do is against god or evil or even an occult so the first thing that comes to mind is Satan. Spirits/Ghosts are the work of the devil and those ghosts are bad... or many variants to this.
In our experience with investigations we've done in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma, we have very rarely met with anyone or anything we felt was in fact "evil" ~ In fact, our findings suggest that most spirits don't mind communicating with us or even touching us or even speaking to us. We've encountered several interactive and very friendly spirits who were very glad to see us and/or just content to watch and observe us.
Many living people and spirits/entities co-exist quite nicely together. The spirits are rarely aggressive towards the family occupying the same space. On the other hand we can't deny that there have been some spirits who have tried to physically harm an investigator or have acted aggressively towards an investigator. Usually the results are only a scratch or bruise.
Other times it might be a growl of warning or a whisper in our ear get out or leave in an aggressive manner. So let’s say out of every 100 spirits you encounter, you're going to meet 2 thugs or bullies. The remaining 98 of them will not mind seeing you. That's not bad odds for what we do. If what we do was hurting us more than it was helping us, then we wouldn't do it. But the very few times we do get hurt, it's probably for a reason...
One of CCPRS Rules are RESPECT the spirits. This goes a long way when asking them to help us or us talk to them, let them know what we're doing, and we invite the friendly ones to come join us.
With all this said, CCPRS does not have any evidence that suggests that the spirits or ghosts we encounter have any link to Satan or evil. No 666 signs, flaming skulls, occult symbols appear out of thin air.
Sometimes religious people get into a heated argument with other ghost hunters & paranormal investigators because they think that they are trying to debunk or disprove the bible. Quite the opposite. The Holy Bible is as started above are full of reports of paranormal activity & reports of ghosts & apparitions. We're talking about people 2000 years ago whose minds weren't corrupted with science fiction or movies or horror novels.
They saw and experienced those things, and they wrote them down in the bible. You can look them up and see for yourself.
In fact, one person most religious people won't argue against is Jesus Christ. He himself talks about what a ghost is and isn't... In the Bible, under the book of Luke, Chapter 24, Verses 37-40 37: They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
38: Jesus said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?
39: 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."
There are other reports in the bible of disembodied voices, apparitions that appeared and faded away, strange lights, and other patterns we associate with modern day ghosts.
A book that is centuries old refer to what a Ghost looks like. All over the world, in countless historical documents and texts, there are reports of ghostly phenomena dating back for hundreds of years of people seeing apparitions, paranormal activity, and things that cannot be explained. Is this all just a coincidence? Even today, we're still getting these same reports and experiencing things we cannot explain?
By Debbe-co-founder CCPRS