"Ye shall not surely die"
Let me just start by sharing a few Bible verses. I'm sure many people have read these a number of times but perhaps not connected them with the very first lie, told to Eve by Satan. What was that lie?
Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman, ye shall not surely die.
This same lie is still being told in our world today, and now we're telling it to each other. It's the very basis for the belief in the paranormal, in ghosts, in hauntings. You will not surely die. What does happen to us after our earthly, mortal bodies are worn out? If you're a Christian and believe what the Bible says, then take a look at the verses below.
Daniel 12:2 says this - Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt
Psalms 13:3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, (referring to the passages in Thessalonians concerning those who are alive and remain when Christ returns)
Job 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
2 Samuel 7:12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
John 11:13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
John 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1 Kings 1:21 Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Job 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
Deuteronomy 31:16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
1 Kings 2:10 So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
1 Kings 22:50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.
1 Kings 11:43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.
Matthew 9:24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
Ephesians 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
These are only a few examples of what I found in my own personal studies. The Bible says that when our bodies are done, we go to sleep. The Bible says that Jesus will wake up the dead when he returns. Some will be resurrected to eternal life. Some to the condemnation of death. After the Judgement we'll all reap what we've sown; life in heaven with the Lord, or destruction.
So, if that doesn't happen until Jesus comes back, and we're all asleep until that moment...then where are these "ghosts" coming from? If no one is in heaven or hell yet...then what's with the haunted houses?
I grew up without knowing anything about the Bible, or about God. I grew up with the common secular notions that there were ghosts and that the minute we die we get to go to heaven or have to go to hell. Ghosts were simply dead people who were lost or confused and needed help "crossing over". There's an amazingly elaborate narrative and rules that we've made up as a culture about what ghosts can and can't do. Most of these rules were made up through movies and television. As a country we're addicted to these tales. And we've gone one step further and made them into a religion of sorts.
I was an expert on death mythology. Even after I started reading the Bible and had experimented with different church experiences I still clung to these myths. I even joined ghosthunting groups as recently as a decade ago. It was through one of these ghosthunting groups that I first met a "medium" named Mary.
Mary and I became fast friends. We went out on cases together and had many adventures. We had many MISadventures as well but that's a tale for another time. Mary had been seeing and speaking with spirits since the time she was a small child. We could go out to breakfast and she'd see dead people in the diner and go convey messages to other patrons. They were around her all the time, giving her information and accurate information at that.
So, how does this line up with what the Bible teaches? If she's seeing and hearing them with her own eyes and ears, how can it not be true?
Revelation 12:4 says, And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
The tail refers to the dragon's tail. Who is the dragon? Satan. Who are the third of the stars of heaven? The angels. Angels who started out their existence just as Lucifer did, in God's service. Lucifer fell and when he did he took a third of the other angels with him. Let's go back to Revelation again. 12:7-9 says, Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
So, not only were these angels cast out, they were cast out to the EARTH and now we have demons. If they can take our eyes off of God, then Satan wins. Creating a belief in the occult, the supernatural, the paranormal takes our eyes off of God then where ARE we looking?
Mary paid a huge price for her involvement in the paranormal world. It nearly cost her not only her life but her eternal life as well. Her new book, "The Place of Shadows" is a painfully honest look at her life walking in the shadows of death. If I hadn't been there to eyewitness so much of the last ten years I would have a hard time believing any of it myself.
But I was there. And I saw. And I believe. And my own Christian walk has been strengthened by it.
Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman, ye shall not surely die.
This same lie is still being told in our world today, and now we're telling it to each other. It's the very basis for the belief in the paranormal, in ghosts, in hauntings. You will not surely die. What does happen to us after our earthly, mortal bodies are worn out? If you're a Christian and believe what the Bible says, then take a look at the verses below.
Daniel 12:2 says this - Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt
Psalms 13:3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, (referring to the passages in Thessalonians concerning those who are alive and remain when Christ returns)
Job 14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
2 Samuel 7:12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
John 11:13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
John 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1 Kings 1:21 Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Job 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
Deuteronomy 31:16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
1 Kings 2:10 So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
1 Kings 22:50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.
1 Kings 11:43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.
Matthew 9:24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
Ephesians 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
These are only a few examples of what I found in my own personal studies. The Bible says that when our bodies are done, we go to sleep. The Bible says that Jesus will wake up the dead when he returns. Some will be resurrected to eternal life. Some to the condemnation of death. After the Judgement we'll all reap what we've sown; life in heaven with the Lord, or destruction.
So, if that doesn't happen until Jesus comes back, and we're all asleep until that moment...then where are these "ghosts" coming from? If no one is in heaven or hell yet...then what's with the haunted houses?
I grew up without knowing anything about the Bible, or about God. I grew up with the common secular notions that there were ghosts and that the minute we die we get to go to heaven or have to go to hell. Ghosts were simply dead people who were lost or confused and needed help "crossing over". There's an amazingly elaborate narrative and rules that we've made up as a culture about what ghosts can and can't do. Most of these rules were made up through movies and television. As a country we're addicted to these tales. And we've gone one step further and made them into a religion of sorts.
I was an expert on death mythology. Even after I started reading the Bible and had experimented with different church experiences I still clung to these myths. I even joined ghosthunting groups as recently as a decade ago. It was through one of these ghosthunting groups that I first met a "medium" named Mary.
Mary and I became fast friends. We went out on cases together and had many adventures. We had many MISadventures as well but that's a tale for another time. Mary had been seeing and speaking with spirits since the time she was a small child. We could go out to breakfast and she'd see dead people in the diner and go convey messages to other patrons. They were around her all the time, giving her information and accurate information at that.
So, how does this line up with what the Bible teaches? If she's seeing and hearing them with her own eyes and ears, how can it not be true?
Revelation 12:4 says, And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
The tail refers to the dragon's tail. Who is the dragon? Satan. Who are the third of the stars of heaven? The angels. Angels who started out their existence just as Lucifer did, in God's service. Lucifer fell and when he did he took a third of the other angels with him. Let's go back to Revelation again. 12:7-9 says, Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
So, not only were these angels cast out, they were cast out to the EARTH and now we have demons. If they can take our eyes off of God, then Satan wins. Creating a belief in the occult, the supernatural, the paranormal takes our eyes off of God then where ARE we looking?
Mary paid a huge price for her involvement in the paranormal world. It nearly cost her not only her life but her eternal life as well. Her new book, "The Place of Shadows" is a painfully honest look at her life walking in the shadows of death. If I hadn't been there to eyewitness so much of the last ten years I would have a hard time believing any of it myself.
But I was there. And I saw. And I believe. And my own Christian walk has been strengthened by it.
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