Spooks

Do you believe in ghosts?  I prefer to call them, spooks.  Are ghosts or disembodied spirits real?  There is a spiritual realm just as there is a material realm.  This spiritual realm, which usually remains dark to us ... includes spooks ... demonic entities, spirit beings controlled by Satan.  This spiritual realm also includes God's angels, which in the Bible are called ministering spirits to God's people.

In the movies, demonic spirits and ghosts typically can make objects move, slam doors, open and close drawers or light candles, and etc.  Can they really do these things?  What about the devil ... can he do things like this?  Does the devil have any physical power over us?

In the temptation of Jesus, (Luke 4:1-13) Satan physically takes Jesus to a high mountain and then to the top of the temple in Jerusalem.  Was Jesus forced to go against His will?  I really don't believe He was; He just allowed it.

Another example of Satan displaying his power in men is found in Exodus 7:8-12.  In this setting, Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh, and Aaron casts down his rod and it turns into a serpent.  Pharaoh's sorcerers then match Aaron by casting down their rods which also became serpents ... but Aaron's serpent swallowed up the sorcerers serpents.

The normal question that arises from this display of spiritual powers between natural men made of flesh and blood is ... "How were they able to do this?"  My answer to this question is ... "I have no idea."  What this contest really was about, was a battle for spiritual control with Pharaoh's sorcerers operating in Satan's power against Moses and Aaron with the anointing and power of God on their lives.

For a point of reference, I want to establish a fact of truth ... Satan had and still has a significant amount of spiritual power he uses to bring many types of evil against mankind as a whole.  He used this spiritual power as often as allowed by God, both before Jesus went to the cross, and afterward as well.  Note in 2nd Corinthians 4:4, Paul calls Satan ... "the god of this world" and in Ephesians 2:2 ... "the prince and power of the air."

I don't have the inclination, will, or time and space to get into all the types of evils that Satan attacks the human race of mortals with ... but know this ... God has allowed this snake in the grass to remain among us; and God alone knows why.

Hopefully we have established that Satan and the spirit world still have "limited power" to operate in this natural world.  One shouldn't have to look around very far to see that he is still the author of much evil in the earth.

What about witchcraft, black magic or spiritualists who talk to the dead?  Can they?

In 1st Samuel 28:3-19, Samuel the prophet dies and is buried.  King Saul is at war with the Philistines, so he asks God for help.  No answer.  Now what?  Saul goes to "the witch of Endor," who is a medium.  She asks Saul, "Whom shall I bring up to thee?"  Saul answers, "Bring up Samuel."  When the witch sees Samuel himself, not just a familiar spirit as she was used to talking with, she is afraid and says she saw a "divine being" ascending out of the earth.  Although he couldn't see him, Saul perceived, "that it was Samuel," and bows before him.  Samuel then asks Saul, "Why did you bring me up?"  Saul answered ... because God wouldn't answer his prayer.

If this was Samuel, and I believe it was ... he came up from Paradise, a part of the underworld called "Sheol" in Hebrew, or "Hades" in the Greek, where the souls of the dead waited for the resurrection.  The witch of Endor saw Samuel in his spiritual body only, not his physical body, because it was still in the grave.

Why do I believe this "familiar spirit" was Samuel himself?  First, the Word of God says, "It was Samuel."  Second, the devil, all of his demons and familiar spirits cannot prophesy, because they don't know the future ... only God knows that.  The prophet Samuel tells Saul, "Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me."  The next day Saul and his sons died just like Samuel said.  Samuel being brought up from Paradise is one of those unanswered questions ... left unanswered.

The familiar spirits that mediums used in the Old Testament, were (and most likely still are today) demonic spirits that, "know, have acquaintance with, perceive, discern, advise, and answer" as though they are "kin, kinsfolk, or friends."  All of these meanings are from the Hebrew word ... "yada" ... used in 1st Samuel 28:2 & 14.  This word is usually translated ... "know or perceive" with the same meaning ... "to know or ascertain by seeing."  In other words, they are evil spirits pretending to be loved ones, family or friends.

This is why the witch of Endor was so afraid.  She knew this was not a demonic spirit pretending to be Samuel.

Familiar spirits that spiritualists bring up in seances today, will be from Satan, not God, because the Bible states in 2nd Corinthians 5:8, if you are a Christian believer ... "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."  Likewise, those who die without Jesus are held in Hades (Hell) waiting for God's coming day of judgment.

Jesus told parables, (examples of truth, stories made up to help understand a teaching) and then at other times He used real things or people that were known to make His point.  In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells a story about two people who were probably known to those He was speaking to; Lazarus the beggar and an unnamed rich man, both of whom died.  Lazarus was with Abraham in Paradise, but the rich man while tormented in Hell asked if Lazarus could be sent back to warn his five brothers about this place.

I assume if God had allowed Lazarus to leave the underworld compartment called Paradise, opposite Hell, he would have gone back in spirit form only because his dead body was decaying in the grave.

Would that have made Lazarus a spook or a ghost?  Just as Lazarus and the rich man couldn't leave the underworld, the dead can't be called back today.

Now ... what about the devil, or if you prefer, Satan.  Should we be worried about him?  The answer is no according to Hebrews 2:14-15 ... "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same; that through (His) death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

Here we need to look at the meaning of some of these words to fully understand what the writer is saying.

The devil is said to have "had the power of death" ... not because he could kill at will, but because he was the first to introduce sin, which brought death into the world.  Notice this scripture states that through His death, Jesus destroyed him that had the power of death ... meaning Satan.  But we all know that the devil is still alive and doing just fine tempting man, right?  So what does the word destroy really mean?

The original Greek is "katargeo" (pronounced kat-arg-eh'-o) and means ... to be rendered entirely idle and useless ... literally, to make of no effect, bring to nought and make void.

So why did the fear of physical death bring bondage?  May I suggest two reasons.

1.)  Death is an enemy.  1st Corinthians 15:26 ... "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."  All we personally know or have experienced is life, the opposite of death.  There is a natural fear of death because it is an unknown process we haven't gone through before.  But to people of faith, death itself is not what we fear.  As Billy Graham once said ... "It's the dying part we don't know about."  So the fear of death itself is a bondage.

2.)  When death came to the Old Testament saints, they wanted to go be with God but couldn't.  It wasn't allowed by God.  Jesus hadn't died for their sins yet; the sin was still there, just covered by the blood of an animal sacrifice.  You must understand ... no sin could enter Heaven ... so after their death, they were "subject to bondage" like Abraham and Lazarus were, in Paradise (located in the bowels of the earth) waiting until the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, washed away the sin of the whole world and set the captives free.  The compartment of Paradise is now empty.  But Hell is not.

In 2nd Corinthians 5:8, the Apostle Paul states ... "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

There should be no fear for believers in Jesus with Paul's statement concerning death.

So where does all this leave us?  If we say we believe in God, we must also believe that there is a real devil, evil sprits, demons and yes, false "familiar spirits."  Do they have power today?  Yes ... but let me clarify that answer. The only power that the devil has, is the power we allow him to have ... thru our choices.

1st John 4:4 states ... "Greater is He (Jesus) that is in you than he (Satan) who is in the world."  Why is this true?  Because Jesus has rendered him entirely idle and useless and has made him to be of no effect unto you.

James 4:7 ... "Submit yourselves to God. (not to the devil) Resist the devil and he will flee."

I found this comment by Albert Barnes to be of value to believers ...  

"While you yield to God in all things, you are to yield to the devil in none.  You are to resist and oppose Satan in whatever way he may approach you ... usually through cunning, allurement, deception or threatening ... rather than by true courage.  The way to oppose him is by direct resistance rather than by argument."

Don't argue with the devil ... you won't win.  That's what he wants.



Comments welcome.