I haven't. but I have family members who claimed to have seen ghost of deceased family members and others....they are not Christians. they always say to me, "I know you don't believe it but whatever."
I am just wondering if Christians can be haunted? I don't believe in ghosts. I do believe in demons and evil spirits though.
I'm just looking for input on a subject that is usually overlooked or ignored.
Thanks for you help. :-)
I do not believe that ghosts exist in the sense that many people think they have seen ghosts of dead family members and so on. The fact is, once you have died, you either go to heaven or to hell, and once you are there you cannot go back.
I do, however, think that satanic spirits and demons can use ghosts for their own advantage. They can make people see things that are not really there.
Think about it, if an unbeliever sees something like a ghost or a UFO, then they will spend all of their time trying to find out whether they are real or not, and will spend their entire lives trying to determine what a ghost or UFO is. This is so dangerous because they will be spending their time doing things other than searching for Christ.
Satan really doesn't care what you are doing, as long as you aren't searching for Christ or somehow getting involved in the Truth. Roger Carswell once said at our church, that you can only be in one of two camps: the devil's camp, or the Lord's camp.
The fact is, even if you are sitting on the fence you are still on satan's side, because he cares not what you do with your life, as long as you fail to find God.
but can Christians be haunted in this way? I have never had this experience, but I just figured it was because I was covered by Jesus' blood, and the Holy Spirit. Also, it isn't something I would desire to experience. I guess that is where my confusion starts.
If a Christian is seeing demonic spirits (what some would call ghosts), the Christian needs to tell it to leave.
Tell it the only spirit you want manifesting around here is the Holy Spirit.
Don't know anything about this website, just pasted this story about Wigglesworth than I had heard before:
http://www.jesusvisions.org/chapt13.shtml
"English Evangelist Smith Wigglesworth was fearless as he prayed for the sick and performed apostolic exploits for the Lord. Wigglesworth’s grandson, Leslie, personally related an incident to me. One night Smith Wigglesworth was sleeping in a draughty room during a thunderstorm. The windows rattled, the lights flickered, and suddenly Wigglesworth saw a vision of Satan himself standing at the foot of his bed! But Wigglesworth was not in the least bit disturbed. Because he possessed such a revelation of personal safety under the watch-care of the Good Shepherd, and because he understood the power of the Name of Jesus, Wigglesworth just dismissed the devil. He said, “Oh, it’s only you!” He turned over in his bed and fell into a deep slumber!"
We can tell the demons/spirits/ghosts to leave, but remember this story?
Acts 19:13-16 - 'Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.'
What amazes me is the fact that the demon knows Paul! Paul is known in hell, because he had such great faith, belief and trust. How I long to be know in hell! That would mean I truly love God, truly follow him, pray so much that it gives Satan a headache, spend so much time with God that Satan has not an inch of ground in my life, have such pure motives that I truly want God to take all the glory, so much that I care not about the world and what it says, and what it thinks of me.
Lord, I am fed up with this watered down, half-hearted Christianity that I take part in every day! I pray that you would bless me with a vision of hell and a vision of eternity, so that I care about nothing more than doing what will stand in heaven, doing things that will save others from the fires of hell, doing things all for Your glory and Your's alone!
Amen.
Amen to that!
I pray that you would bless me with a vision of hell and a vision of eternity
Careful what you pray for, dear brother. God may take you at your word. There's pain in His heart. So much pain that your entire life will be wrecked if you catch but a single glimpse. I thought at one time I could handle it, but I couldn't. I had heard sermons by the old school holiness preachers, and asked God to put the burden in my heart. I soon found out that the personal Gethsemane is a very fearful thing. If you should see hell and should God kindle the fires of eternity to blaze in your eyes, you'll be utterly rejected by both the world and the church, and be sick in your spirit night and day. I can't possibly describe this, and I am not exaggerating at all. I can't stress rejection enough, brother. And if that isn't bad enough, Satan will launch a full-out assault that will spin your head. Can you handle the rejection? Where the only One you can receive comfort in is God? This is a terrifying thing.
Even some people reading this will take offense. I am in no way trying to dissuade you. I am being as loving as I know to be, by warning you what to expect. Nobody warned me, and that's partly why I was so devastated and discouraged (not to mention my own foolhardy zeal and spiritual immaturity). I am sharing my heart with you. What I tell you is 100% true. Ask any preacher, any man, any woman who has met God in this excruciating place. Most preacher's tell you to seek God's Face, but I am talking about seeking His HEART, and this is an altoghter different thing. Do you realize what you're asking for? To feel the pain God feels? To hear the millions of screams from aborted babies, their blood crying out to Him from sanitary trashbags, the daily rapes, the drug deals, every act of child porn, every murder, the shrieks of almost 150,000 souls falling into the jaws of hell daily, the cursings, the blasphemies, the profane sacrifices, the demon worship, the engulfing cults, the world-wide mockery of King Jesus Christ? The One who beholds these things has eyes as flames of fire and dwells in unapproachable light. Even the mighty Seraphims have to shield their faces and lie prostrate before His awesome blaze. And yet the innocent cries of murdered babies rise before His throne day and night as their killers blaspheme and mock His Blood. Dare you partake in the inexpressible grief of the Holy Spirit? Do you want to experience all this? Can your feeble existence handle it?
I hope so, dear brother! Press on! Wrestle, fight, and pray! Fast the flesh for a divine revelation of hell and then go out and shake the world with the burden and power of God upon you! Hallelujah!
Amen to that.
You're right, it will hurt. But look at life eternally; will God care if man accepted you? Will God care how many friends you had? No and no. All He will care about is how much time you spent living all out for Him and giving Him the glory He deserves.
The thing is, I feel a revival inside of me starting. One that cares not about mere man's praise, one that looks to The Almighty God. Man can say what he likes, Satan can throw at me what he likes, but I have my Lord and Saviour with me, the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient Lord Jesus Christ! If Christ is for us, who can be against us?
It doesn't matter how man treats me, even how the church treats me, but how God sees me. Eternity is where is all begins!
I need this vision. I need to stop this watered-down gospel treatment and I need the real Gospel (capital G!). God help me and use me for His glory, no matter how hard or painful.
I need this vision. I need to stop this watered-down gospel treatment and I need the real Gospel (capital G!). God help me and use me for His glory, no matter how hard or painful.
Brother, I thank God for Christians like you! Soldiers willing to go against all opposition of the world, flesh, and devil to gain a revelation of His terrible majesty. Truthfully, we have to enter into this knowledge if we are to be known in hell and plant a flag for Jesus in this wicked world. There are no shortcuts, no amount of sermons you can listen to, no books to read to gain this experience. You must enter in alone, and you must fight to enter in and fight to stay there. It's like trying to escape from an island on a raft - you have to battle and break through the opposing wake before you can reach the ocean and charter the deep waters. God is there, and so are the sharks.
But keep looking to scripture and fastening your eyes to Jesus and you'll walk upon the waters with Him. As soon as you look around at all the waves of rejection and winds of critcism, you'll begin to sink. Take it from a fellow soldier. Keep your eyes the General, and don't look anywhere else. That's what sunk me! But by the grace of God, I'm making my way back out to sea!
I'll keep you in prayer as you seek the eternal majesty of our God. On to Glory and Victory in Jesus! Hallelujah!
yours in Christ, Paul
Good advice. ;-) I look back and see how far God has brought me, but look forward to how far I have to go. It takes longer for some of us to learn than others.Careful what you pray for dear brother.
To have character like Job, David, Solomon, Paul it comes at a price. Not for the faint of heart.
I feel like I've learned a few things and then God shows me I know nothing. To be MOLDED you have to be BROKEN.
J-bird
Does anyone know any good sermons on the subject of burdens, visions, tears, God's heart etc? I know it may sound like a depressing list, but as David Wilkerson says, true joy comes as a result of anguish.
richardf wrote:
Does anyone know any good sermons on the subject of burdens, visions, tears, God's heart etc?
A very good thing to wanting to learn about!! How much better we would all be if only pursued these things you have asked about.
Leonard Ravenhill is a good starting point with this, in fact on SI you can download a talk called 'A Burning Heart' I would certainly reccommend this. Leonard Ravenhill preached alot on this subject so maybe have look at the others as well.
I am just wondering if Christians can be haunted? I don't believe in ghosts. I do believe in demons and evil spirits though.
To inhabit, visit, or appear to in the form of a ghost or other supernatural being.
visit often frequent: haunted the movie theaters.
To come to mind continually; obsess:
riddle that haunted me all morning.
To be continually present in; pervade: the melancholy that haunts the composer's music.
To recur or visit often, especially as a ghost.
As you see, the definition is a bit loose. I suspect you mean, can Christians consciously experience the troublesome presence of evil spirits?
but can Christians be haunted in this way?
So, you see, I think we have been sheltered a bit.
I know another missionary in an Asian Country who was called there to pray against demonic principalities. She would definitely tell you that Christians can be troubled by the recurring presence of demons. She once shared an accounts of evil spirits in her home, - playing havoc in all kinds of ways. Finally she discovered the source: her roommate who was a sweet lady on the surface, but an evil person and betrayer underneath. Once the lady’s sin was discovered, and she fled, the spirits vanished. (It would take pages to tell the story)
I myself have gone into churches where there has been a presence of evil spirits – perhaps through unintentional invoking. I would experience the oppression, while others seemed oblivious to them. Often the Lord would reveal the source of them to me so I could intercede. (Sin opens the door to them). I have at times cast out spirits, or some sort of oppressive influence that seemed to have attached themselves to me during the service and stuck with me after I left. They would immediately flee when I cast them out.
Once I took part in a highly charged Vinyard type of deliverance and healing service where all kinds of misguided incantations were going on in the name of the Holy Spirit during the “ministry” time. I even helped catch someone “slain in the Spirit”.
The next day I felt a powerful euphoria over me. However, because it kept me from prayer and Bible reading, I discerned that this was not of God, but of the devil. So I cast it out, and then could pray and study my Bible again. I had picked it up at the church service.
God can also permit an oppressive spirit to trouble us when we have buried sin. In this case, we must confess the sin as God reveals it. You cannot cast out sin like you cast out demons. Demons and sin are two different things.
Well, I’m no expert in this field, but thought I’d throw in my two cents – based on personal experience.
Diane
Yes.
I am a missionary in the Philippines and I hear many stories of demonic forces manifesting themselves in the natural realm.
Here at our missions base we currently rent a building that looks like a castle. It contains our church sanctuary, classrom for our Bible college, offices, living quarters for our staff and dorms for our students.
I have heard stories of the students seeing an ugly litte kid appearing in the dorm area over the years. He was seen by quite a few of the students over the years, and they all describe him the same way. I've heard one of our students was laying on her bed in the dorm room while no one else was around and suddently someone shook her bed and then turned off the lights. We heard there was a kid that died here years ago.
Our first cook for our base quit her job when one day as she was cooking and some kind of invisible hand grabbed her throat from behind and began to choke her.
One of our graduates who was living in our dorms a few months ago saw with his natural eyes a demon leaning on his dresser looking at him with a kind of smirking laugh on his face.
One of our staff members was taking care of our building for us while everyone was away. At night he walked through the building making sure everything was ok, and suddenly heard someone callign his name.
Now these are just a few stories of just what has happened here over the years. I have heard of many, many more stories from our staff and students of what they have witnessed throughout their life.
Lately these manifestations have ceased, with the exception of one of our students and one of our graduates seeing some demons.
But remember, we have power over the devil and have no reason to be afraid of him
Demons can manifest themselves in many ways. And seeing them is of great advantage to us believers. How much easier is it to cast them out when you know where they reside.
The "Ghosts" that many people see are not of their actual relatives, but rather ones called "Familiars". They take on the appearance of a person to distract you from what they really are.
Satan is tricky in how he goes about sending out the fallen angels.
Demons can and will cause range of things to happen from the mental all the way to the physical. They will use your mind and emotions against you, and they will make your body ache and pain.
The beauty in it all though is the knowing. The knowing that all you have to say is Jesus' name and they will flee. They cannot overcome the commands of the one that created them. When you cast out a demonic presence what you are doing is in fact asking Christ to come and cast the demon away for you. And HE will do so in all HIS glory.
Demons are nothing to fear, but are to be seriously watched for. They will do everything they can to keep you from the Lord's will.
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