What About Ghosts?

Have you seen a ghost?

If so, judging from my hundreds of outreach conversations over the years, you would be in the minority. But it would be a strong minority, maybe 15 or 20 percent of the people I talk to, and I think we should take their experiences seriously.

A man named Lance told me he has had encounters with spirits or ghosts of some sort during his custodial job at a Catholic school, but it seemed the more meaningful experiences he’s had were of specific incidents of feeling his Mom’s presence in his home after she had passed away during her hospice care there.

Lance told me these experiences were always positive for him, and I had no reason to doubt his sincerity as he described them. But was it really his mother that he encountered?
Throughout the Bible, covering some 3000 years of spiritual history, there are only two recorded incidents in which the spirit of a dead person possibly communicated with the living. One was when King Saul sought the counsel of the deceased prophet Samuel with the help of a medium named “The Witch of Endor”. (1 Samuel 28).

Bible scholars seem divided whether this was indeed the ghost of Samuel, but either way Saul was disobeying God’s command that “There shall not be found among you anyone who... practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 18) It was clearly an exception to the norm, and the story was probably included to show the spiritual depths to which King Saul had fallen.
The other incident – the disciple’s encounter with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, was also an exception to the norm for the special purpose of establishing Jesus’ authority over even the law, represented by Moses, and the prophets, represented by Elijah.

There is a difference between those who say they have seen a ghost or spirit of some sort while seeking the paranormal through a psychedelic drug trip or a séance like King Saul did, and those who just innocently experience it while going about their daily life. People in the first category are clearly violating God’s prohibition of the living seeking after the dead.

Most people I’ve talked with in the second category have experienced a spirit of some sort at a particularly vulnerable time in their life, usually around the loss of a loved one, and usually in a familiar setting that brings back memories of happier days, as Lance experienced. He said he is now more aware of the spiritual dimension to life, but he also seemed rather unconcerned about his own relationship with God, perhaps even feeling favored or approved in some way as a result. Although it seemed to be a positive experience, could it have been a distraction of the enemy away from God?

With the Bible being rather unclear about the validity of these experiences, I want to offer some warnings:

1. One would be blameless if they didn’t initiate or control this type of experience, but it would still be wrong to seek additional experiences on their own (Deuteronomy 18 above);
2.) Even if the experience seemed positive, one can’t be sure of the true identity of the ghost or spirit – “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 11:14–15) We may think it is paranoid to think Satan is behind every event in our lives, but this passage lets us know he has a lot of help in the form of demons in the spiritual realm.

3.) Positive or negative, God allows some people to have these encounters. Romans 8:28 tells us that God is able to make “all things work together for good”, and I believe this can even include an encounter with an evil spirit masquerading as a departed loved one;

4.) Just because the majority doesn’t have certain spiritual experiences doesn’t invalidate the experiences of a minority. Only one person encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus; only 400 witnesses saw Him before He ascended into heaven. Part of God’s plan has been for the majority to have faith through the testimony of the relatively few, and this may just apply to the minority who directly encounter the spiritual dimension as well.

If you, like Lance, are of the relatively few that believe themselves to have had experiences with ghosts or spirits, you may have a valuable story to share with the rest of us, not because of anything you have done or discovered on your own, but simply because God has allowed or willed it to be so.