This is the Ask Pastor Alex podcast with your host, Pastor Alex.
All right, welcome back to the Ask Pastor Alex podcast.
We’re here with another episode and another question.
And the question today is, should Christians believe in ghosts?
Cool question.
It’s an interesting question, especially given the amount of TV shows that are currently
on air about ghost hunting and paranormal activity, especially considering the number
of movies that come out every year that have to do with hauntings and some sort of paranormal
activity.
So, really cool question.
And it’s an interesting question, one that we need to consider.
Should Christians believe in ghosts?
And I’ve actually gotten this question a number of times from people who have asked
me if I do believe in ghosts.
And it might surprise people to hear that my answer is usually, what do you mean by
ghosts?
Because I do think that we have to be careful about how we answer this question.
So what do you mean by ghosts?
For instance, if you are talking about and referring to ghosts in the sense that most
of our popular culture refers to ghosts as in a spirit or a disembodied spirit of a deceased
human being.
So this would be someone who actually lived on earth, lived their life, and then they
died and then for some reason their spirit remained after death and continued to be present
in usually the location they died or somewhere near there, things like that.
If that’s what you mean by a ghost, then the answer is no, absolutely not.
Christians should not believe in that type of a ghost because the Bible teaches that
when a person dies, their soul either goes to a place of comfort or a place of torment.
So the Bible tells us that when a Christian dies, someone who has repented of their sins,
they’ve trusted in Jesus for salvation, they’ve received the eternal life that Jesus offers
as a free gift to those who trust in Him.
When that person dies, the Bible says absent from the body, at home with the Lord, present
with the Lord.
And so we know that the souls of believers go immediately into the presence of Jesus.
Now we aren’t having our resurrection bodies at that time.
We aren’t physically resurrected, but our spirits, our souls are in the presence of
Jesus and will remain there until He returns and we receive the physical resurrection body
and we are ushered into the final judgment and then the final glory.
Well, for the unbeliever who dies, the Bible actually says that their souls go to a place
of torment.
And there’s a really great example of this in the Bible.
If you go to Luke chapter 16, you see Jesus’ story where He’s talking about the rich man
and Lazarus.
And we know that Lazarus was this poor man and when he died, he was taken to Abraham’s
bosom, which is that place of comfort.
But when the rich man died, he was taken to a place called Hades.
And Hades is not hell, but it is a precursor to hell.
It is a place where the souls or the spirits of unbelievers go and immediately begin to
experience torment that will continue until the final judgment where they too will receive
a physical body and then they will be cast into the lake of fire, which is hell.
And so the Bible very clearly teaches that when humans die, believers, the souls of believers
go to be with Jesus in heaven or in a place called Abraham’s bosom, which is probably
just another name for heaven.
And the souls of unbelievers go to this place called Hades, which is a place of torment.
So we know that is the case.
And so biblically speaking, it is impossible for someone to die and then their soul to
remain here on earth in the form of a spirit or a ghost who would then communicate or haunt
or things like that.
Now the reason I say that this is a qualified answer and one that we have to be very particular
about is because I do believe that ghosts are real.
And you might be thinking, well, Pastor, didn’t you just contradict yourself?
You just told us all the reasons we shouldn’t believe in ghosts.
I was talking about a specific type of ghost, the quote unquote Hollywood ghost, right?
And it biblically speaking is Christians should believe that ghosts are real, but a particular
kind of ghosts, because the Bible warns us very clearly that there are demonic forces,
that there are demonic spirits, and those demonic spirits can absolutely 100% appear
as ghosts, as we would be commonly referring to them as ghosts.
In fact, you look in the Bible and you see plenty of examples of demonic spirits trying
to corrupt the work of God, try to deceive the people of God who are causing harm to
the mission of God and things like this.
They are a pestering force where they are active in the world and they like to invoke
fear.
They like to invoke torment and things like this.
And so I believe biblically speaking, those are the type of ghosts that we should believe
are real and have very good evidence to believe are real.
But then there’s this other follow-up question.
Well, what about the fact that some people claim to have seen ghosts of real people who
lived?
And what about psychics and people who claim that they can communicate with real people
who have died and they’re getting real answers and information that only that person who
died would know about?
And what about these instances where maybe someone that you know or maybe you personally
have lost a loved one and you believe that they’ve appeared to you and things like this.
What about ghosts that don’t necessarily appear to be evil but in some ways appear to be a
pleasant force and things like that?
Well, all of those are legitimate questions and concerns, but I think we should remember
that 2 Corinthians 11, 14-15 talks about the fact that demonic forces often appear as angels
of light and servants of righteousness.
And so I think it makes really good sense for demonic forces.
One of the best ways that they can appear as angels of light, servants of righteousness,
one of the best ways that they can really do a lot of emotional harm and damage to people
is to appear as someone who really did live and exist and deceive people into thinking
that they are that actual person, the spirit or the ghost, the soul, the remainder, whatever
you want to call it, of that person who actually lived.
And I think in this way, these demonic forces are leading a lot of people astray because
people are beginning to believe more in a paranormal realm rather than thinking in terms
of a demonic realm.
And not only that, but people are turning to psychics and mediums and ghost hunters
and things like that rather than turning to the Lord and seeking out what the Word says.
And not only that, but a lot of people who have been convinced that these are the souls
of their loved ones are being cruelly deceived by demonic forces and spirits.
And so I think that’s the clearest answer that I can give on should Christians believe
in ghosts.
The answer is yes, but not the Hollywood ghost, not the type of ghost that would be the remaining
soul or spirit of a real person who has died.
But we should absolutely believe in ghosts who are demonic spirits who are seeking to
deceive, who are seeking to do harm, who are seeking to confuse, who are seeking to terrify
and frighten and do all these this type of things.
And so my last word on this would just be that Christians should not engage in these
type of activities or in these type of mediums and things like that.
Christians shouldn’t go to psychics, shouldn’t go to mediums.
Christians shouldn’t engage with people like that and seek out their advice about a loved
one who’s maybe passed away.
We should also be really careful about what we’re watching and exposing ourselves to.
I think a lot of these movies and TV shows do more harm than good because these are just
depictions of even if it is a Hollywood ghost, I think it is opening ourselves up to being
influenced by the demonic realm.
It’s opening ourselves up to being influenced by those evil demonic spirits who are seeking
to do harm.
And so Christians should be very careful about what we actually engage with and expose ourselves
to.
And yeah, good question.
Can Christians believe in ghosts?
Absolutely.
If by that you mean demonic spirits who are seeking to do harm in the world.
So thank you for that question.
Really appreciate it and I look forward to answering more in the future.