Spiritual Warfare Sunday: Ghosts and Haunted Houses

Readers will note that, roughly four weeks ago, I promised to begin writing “Spiritual Warfare Sundays.” I do apologize for the delay. The spring semester is coming to an end, and I find myself with much more time to write now that the student population of the University I work at has dwindled. So, I am hopeful I will be able to fulfil my promise to you. If not, then I ask for your grace and patience instead.

You don’t have to look far to find someone with a ghost story. Nearly everyone seems to have at least one, and if they don’t, they know someone who does. We may not talk about it much in our current society, due to our ideas of naturalism and materialism, but the reality of the supernatural world around us is so ubiquitous that it is more shocking to find someone who has never had a supernatural encounter than to find someone who has. Everyone has a ghost story of some kind, and we love to hear them. It is this knowledge that drives the popularity of haunted tours, TV shows like Ghost Adventures, and movies such as Paranormal Activity or The Conjuring. But, Hollywood fanfare aside, what should Christians believe about ghosts, ghasts, haints, and hauntings that seem so prevalent in our lived experience?

The Bible is, by and large, silent on the topic. We know that when people die, they face judgment. People either go to heaven or hell, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of in between. Despite that, we do see in scripture that the Biblical writers were at least familiar with or believed in the concepts of ghosts. The most famous example is in 1 Samuel, when the Witch of Endor manages to conjure Samuel’s spirit in order to deliver a message to King Saul. We also see in the New Testament that the disciples were afraid when they saw Jesus walking on the water, crying out in fear and calling him a ghost (Matthew 14:26). Apart from these small anecdotes the Bible is largely silent on the topic, leaving us to speculate and draw theological conclusions from minor details. I will give you some potential ideas as to what may be going on during haunting phenomena, but I encourage you to do your own research.

Spirits of the Deceased.

The first and most obvious conclusion we can draw from people seeing ghosts is that they really are what they appear to be, the souls of the departed, walking around in the physical plane. From a theological perspective, it raises issues regarding the final state of the departed, as it appears to be quite final once someone dies. However, we do have instances from history, articulated in the lives of laity and saints alike, that those who have undergone judgement can return to deliver messages to the living with God’s approval. The spirits in paradise may be allowed to visit loved ones to console or reassure them, or the spirits of the damned may appear to issue warnings. This idea is plausible, but it runs counter to Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus, as neither one seems truly able to depart their final location. However, it should be noted, we are bound by scripture and the commands of God, but God himself is not. If he permits a soul to visit, then that is His prerogative. We have also seen reports of people who have received messages from souls in purgatory, asking for prayers or urging their loved ones to live more holy lives. Purgatory is another topic, but accounts that fall into this theme are so shockingly common that it would be foolish to simply discount them. Additionally, there is theological potential that the souls of the damned could be used by demons in order to lead more astray. The damned are after all under the dominion of Satan. Hence, the demons could use the soul of someone departed to stoke the curiosity of others and lead them into a trap of some kind. This is highly speculative, but it represents another potentiality nonetheless.

It’s All Demons

Another potential theory to explain supernatural activity or reported ghost sightings is that of demonic activity. Demons could be masquerading around as departed human beings, tricking the living into getting close and engaging in occult activity such as seances, the use of Ouija boards, or other prohibited practices. I do think this theory has some merit, but it is not the whole picture. There is a lot about the natural world we do not understand, and even less about the supernatural world. To attribute every supernatural occurrence to demons is, quite frankly, giving Satan more credit than he deserves. It is a mistake to pretend the devil doesn’t exist, but it is just as grievous an error to see him hiding under every bush or in every weird noise in the night. Demons are definitely responsible for supernatural phenomena, but it is a very small amount when compared to the overwhelming number of reports. Exorcists and paranormal investigators acknowledge that the number of investigations they’ve conducted where the guilty party is demons is remarkably low. One investigator stated that, in 30 years and over 1,000 residential investigations, he encountered seven that were demonic in nature. What did he do in those circumstances? Get out fast and call in a competent clergy member to deal with it. So, while it might be demons, it isn’t always.

Psychic Residue

We’ve all had the experience of walking into a room or building and noticing that the atmosphere was off. Last week, I walked into the University nursing department and noticed the tension hanging in the air. In speaking with an instructor, I learned it was test-out week for the nursing students, thus the heavy feeling of stress. We seem to understand intuitively that our mental states and emotions can affect the world around us. That is the crux of this theory. There is a lot we don’t know or understand about the nature of consciousness or how our consciousness potentially interacts with the world around us. There is potential that certain people, maybe those with a more spiritual side or more developed psychic abilities, can imprint parts of themselves onto places, leaving a psychic imprint. This goes a way to explain the repetitive nature of some ghost sightings. The psychic imprint of the departed person is acting out a familiar or common routine of the departed human being. Maybe the imprint has enough of the original person in it that it can move and act and even respond as the original did, but without having the true humanity or soul of the original. This is one of the more “woo-woo” theories, but I think it has merit of its own nonetheless. St. Thomas Aquinas postulated that people could potentially have natural psychic abilities, given by God but diminished by the fall, with the same potential to be used for sin as any other natural ability. Given this, there is always the potential for us to learn that, as out there as this theory may seem, it could hold more water than it appears at face value.

Practical Advice

After all this speculation, I feel compelled to leave you with some practical advice. The best advice I can give is to simply not engage with the supernatural unless you are trained by an expert who knows what they’re doing. There is the potential for great harm to both body and soul, and I highly recommend you leave it alone. If you have no choice and you must deal with the supernatural, pray in the name of Jesus. When confronted by some force you don’t understand, ask it to call Christ Lord. We are called to test the spirits, but I caution that you should learn to test the spirits from a qualified clergy member first. I could not more strongly encourage you to not mess around with anything you do not understand.

Wrapping it Up, Horatio

I hope this post has given you something to think about. There is a lot of unknown when it comes to interacting with the stranger parts of our supernatural world. We have a lot of theories, ideas, and no real clear answers. As a Westerner, I am not a fan of any sort of lack of clarity. I prefer to have straight answers and clear definitions. We in the West do not like mystery of any sort. But, when it comes to the supernatural realm, I am reminded of this wonderful phrase from Hamlet: “There are more things in Heaven and on Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” We may never truly understand what ghosts are or why some places are more haunted than others. But what we can know is that God is in control. In that, we can rest easy and try our best to puzzle out the great mysteries he’s left us with.