Today, last week, last year… heck just about any time I mention ‘Ghost Hunting,’ lo and behold somebody says that I am messing with demons.
So, today I am going to say outwardly, convincingly (I hope), that ‘All Ghosts are Demons’ is Biblically wrong.
So let’s start with some ground rules…
1. I am only going to use the Bible to back my claims. I find it best not to fight a battle unless we are fighting on the same ground. It is no use to have a submarine when you need a brigade of ground troops.
2. I am going to use the NIV version of the Bible. I find it an easy read and most genuinely accepted in most churches.
3. I am not going to debate the Greek, Hebrew, Latin or Aramaic context of words. Suffice to say, if a major Bible believing, Christian organization backs this interpretation of the Bible, then I will back it as well.
4. I will not debate ‘dogma.’ I believe the best interpretation of the Bible should be the Bible itself.
5. I take a contextual view of the Bible instead of trying to make words mean something they don’t.
That said, lets get started shall we?
I propose that the Bible, does make a clear delineation in context that spirits do exist. They exists as absent from their bodies and post mortem. Simply put, the spirit or ghost lives on past the death of the body. Here is an example:
Isa 14:9 The grave [fn] below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you– all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones– all those who were kings over the nations.
As you can see in this verse, Isaiah writes about how the wicked people will be treated and how the spirits will rise up to greet you. It later on mentions how the Messiah will then rise above death and all that is written. Thus God’s word clearly makes a note of the spirits or ghosts do exist after death.
Furthermore, we need a reference. Did the people of the day of Isaiah’s writing believe that there were spirits or ghosts? As you will clearly see that many non jewish many gentile nations such as the Egyptians believed in spirits as a way to consult an find answers. Isaiah writes:
Isa 19:3 The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.
Of course, one may argue that we have no proof that the Egyptians actually got any advice or heard from the spirits. However, one must gather that they believed in the practice of consulting with spirits and that practice was documented in the Bible. However, the Bible is silent as to how successful they were at getting advice from spirits so any argument for or against is rather mute. The idea however that the practice existed gives credence to the belief and the possible existence to ghosts in the Bible.
Some may argue that I am speaking in the old testament context and that Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection constituted freeing of the souls locked away awaiting his arrival to free them and overcome death. So let’s dig in a little further in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.
1Cr 12:10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, [fn] and to still another the interpretation of tongues. [fn]
As you can see here, there are many ‘Gifts of the Spirit’ or rather gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit. One is the ability to discern between good and evil spirits that may be around us. I would further like to mention is that these individuals who have this type of gift are the ones who should be trusted to determine the malevolence of a spirit instead of trusting just any roaming spirit medium. The Bible is very clear that God has a need and a way for us discern spirit activity around us so that we may not be persuaded or pulled away.
What is also interesting to note is about the Apostle Paul who was a Pharisee. While Paul converted to following Christ instead of the Pharisee doctrine, the author notes in Acts that Pharisees believed there was a distinction between angels and spirits as well as a future resurrection of the dead.
Act 23:8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.)
Finally, I would conclude that if God didn’t want us to believe in spirits, he would not have a test that we could use to discern whether a spirit is from God or from the Anti-Christ. It is important to note that John believed that if the spirit was from God then you should listen to it. This test in 1 John lays out what you should do.
1Jo 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Basically, the spirit must accept that Jesus Christ is both God and flesh, died and was risen again. If the spirit proclaims this, it is from God. If it doesn’t you should not listen to it. John further says it is from the devil or rather that any advice from a spirit that doesn’t pass his test, we could be led astray and fall to the devil’s clutches.
So clearly spirits are entities without bodies. Have a mind or purpose and can be good or evil. We also know that from God’s word that spirits are different than angels and should be separated. I believe that the Bible is pretty clear to outline the difference and the existence of spirits/ghosts.
Ghost Hunting Software The Plan
As you know, I love ghost hunting. The problem is trying to keep things organized and documented. When you investigate it is important to document all your findings, personal experiences as quickly as possible. There have been a number of times when I forgot to write something down and struggled to remember the experience or the important fact when reviewing evidence. It is also important to have a tool that your entire team could use so that more than one person can be responsible to make sure they document their findings.
Then came The Plan
The video below shows you how easy it is for you to use. I see this an one of a few essential tools that your team needs. If you building a group and don’t have a system (paper or otherwise) to organize your notes and investigation, check out this software and consider buying it.
ghost hunting software - the plan
If you do purchase it, please let me know. I am interested in hearing other’s experience with the software and how it benefited their group. Like i said before, I think it is a pretty easy to use and important tool for any serious ghost hunting group.
jeff barnes
We just finished an investigation in Historic New harmony Indiana. It is always a fun and interesting trip when I visit this small town on the banks of the Wabash. I love this town. It is small and beautiful. Our client asked us to investigate her antique store on one of the major streets in town. If you ever have a chance to get away, take the family and children for a nice walk through this beautiful town. It has wonderful parks, beautiful scenery, and plenty of local shops to keep your wife happy. You might just stumble upon some cool stuff yourself.
My first thoughts were of some creepy haunted dolls dressed up in Victorian garb and turning their head in a circle. Don’t know why I automatically went there but every time I do an investigation in this town, I come back with some eerie and truly interesting experiences.
Now we are going over the evidence. All I have to say is that I am very excited and hope we can find some video or audio proof of the experiences we were having while on location. The shop was beautiful and our client was a gracious host. I was blown away by their historic civil war memorabilia. It was a truly impressive collection. No dolls with their heads spinning… yet!
Jeff Barnes
Ribeyre Ghosts by Jeff Barnes
Ribeyre Ghosts FREE DOWNLOAD <- Click Here
Ribeyre Ghosts by Jeff Barnes
In 1925, the small little town of Griffin, Indiana found itself on the collision path of the world’s worst tornado in history. The Ribeyre gymnasium in nearby New Harmony was called into duty to serve as a makeshift morgue and hospital amidst this tragedy. Now the gymnasium is the crime scene of a strange and unexplained death. The police have no answers and now the influential of the town turn to a small paranormal investigation team for answers. History shows that the once quiet town of New Harmony is being plagued by a ruthless spirit bent on revenge.
This is the first draft of my book and while I am going to have to go through rewrites, I figured it was an opportunity to share with others my love of writing. This book was my first attempt at a novel and it has been a fun and interesting journey. For those of you who are really interested in ghost hunting, this would be both a fun and informational read. In it I share my ideas on ghost hunting while playing my part to spin a horror tale.
So, please take this opportunity to read this book. It is an absolutely free download and my gift to you. While, I know that are errors (grammar, etc), this is your opportunity to get it absolutely free. My next step is to make an audiobook and share it with the world.
Thanks,
Jeff Barnes
Don't Be Afraid of Ghosts
For centuries, cultures often have different accounts of spiritual phenomena that they cannot explain. Often these cultures are afraid of those who walk the earth after death.
From Folklore to the Bible, there have been accounts of spiritual interaction between the living and the dead that keeps ghosts on the forefront of our minds. So why then, with all this handed down tradition and history are we afraid of them?
Simply it is that we don’t want to think about our deaths or those around us. The deep rooted emotion of sadness and the realization of how finite we truly are overwhelms us and forces us to push it out of our minds.
I think it has to do with the fact that we as humans are fearful of our own mortality. We don’t want to think about our own deaths and let alone communicate with those who have passed on themselves.
Ghosts also represent something physically we cannot manipulate to our own will. The spirits then represent an intangible and something we cannot control. What we can’t
control, manipulate, or bend to our own will represents an unknown force we can fall victim to. That force for good or bad can impose its own will upon us and thus we fear our loss of control.
What ever the case be it fear of death or losing control, spirits or ghost present something fearful in our psyche that we still struggle to comprehend.
Ghost Hunter Dies
I just read an interesting post by another blog. You can read it here…
http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/ghost-hunter-killed-in-fall-from-building/
Police said the pair managed to enter the ivy-covered building through an open window and then climbed three flights of stairs to the roof. There was still dust used by forensic investigators to recover fingerprints around the window yesterday.
The man crossed from one roof to the other, but a wire the woman was holding onto gave way and she plunged several storeys to her death, Drummond said. Police tape was still blocking people from one stairway, which is suspected to have been used by the pair to gain access to the roof.
Just goes to show… trespass and you could end up dead.
Be Polite and Ask For Permission
A strange occurrence to say the least.
You might need to ask permission before you start recording or you won’t get anything at all!
A friend of mine emails me an interesting story about her trip to a local haunt where the night seemed to be rather dull. Nothing seemed to happen while they were on location. This was an active spot and a place they have gone to for many investigations. They really couldn’t figured out why they didn’t catch anything nor had any personal experiences.
That is until they turned all of their equipment off.
As soon as all the equipment turned off, the bangs, the clanks and all sort of paranormal events started taking place. I find it interesting to say the least. I have heard of teams capturing EVPs where the disembodied spirit says something like ‘is that an recorder’ or even ‘EVP.’
So are the spirits getting smarter? Maybe.
Our team always has at least an audio recorder going whenever we step foot on the premises until we leave the investigation. It stays on even when we pack up. The reason you might ask? In hopes of capturing something that maybe wasn’t going to communicate with us directly or didn’t wish to answer our questions. We have found that spirits can and will communicate with you when you least expect it and rarely on your schedule.
It makes me think about what the paranormal experiences will be in the future with so many people having this exposure to equipment, technology, etc. Will we become ‘mortal hunters’ seeking the living to communicate with them. If anything it makes for the trappings of a good science fiction novel.
Deonna K. Sayed
Deonna Sayed posted a great article on improving the professional image for ghost hunting groups. This is one of the main reasons why we started our own group. After being a part of an investigation with another team, we quickly realized that we wanted to be different and specifically more professional.
Deonna goes to give great advice on ways you can improve your ghost hunting groups PR image.
You can read more of the article by going here Ghost Hunters Appearing Professional
Deonna Kelli Sayed is a guest blogger at ghosthunterssecrets. She is an investigator with Haunted North Carolina, a proud TAPS family. Her work has appeared in TAPS Paramag. She lectures on the paranormal and has appeared on ParaChallenged Radio. For more information about Deonna, visit www.myspace.com/deonnakellisayed or follow her on twitter @deonnasayed.
No Ghosts Found? Now What?
We have all been there.
You spend countless hours reviewing evidence collected from an investigation and you end up empty. Now what?
First I would like to say that ghost hunting is not always about getting the ‘find of the century.’ It is a study and process trying to find the right way to prove the existence of the paranormal.
That is tough job even when you have all the cool equipment. When you wind up empty it is a good time to sit down and reflect on the investigation and come up with some answers as to what can be done to improve your probability to find good evidence.
Now, mind you that just because they say their home is haunted does not mean it is. You know that already.
Whenever I come up empty on an investigation which will happen, I like to ask myself the following questions to help ensure that I take the right steps in the future.
1. How viable where the clients claims?
2. Was I able to debunk the claims?
3. Did I spend enough time going over the audio?
4. Have I had a peer review the evidence?
5. Have I thoroughly reviewed all the images?
6. Have I spent enough careful time going over the video?
You have to be honest. You need to carefully review each item and give it your full attention. Neglecting this will ultimately result in the possibility of missing one key piece of information that you client may need.
That is why Posey County Ghost Hunters in Mount Vernon, Indiana has a careful review process and spends the extra time to ensure that we give the client our full attention they deserve.
Finding Good Evidence Takes Time
You can’t rush the review process. You can easily and quickly miss something that could or could not determine a location haunted.
Case in point. After coming back from our first trip to Wavely Hills Sanitorium in Louisville, Kentucky, Donna and I spent an enormous time going over the data we collected. We went over audio and video with some scrutiny. We flipped through the photos and at a casual pace looking for that one photo where some entity just jumps out at you.
So my first pass, I said I didn’t find any evidence during my photo review. Donna however spent a lot more time reviewing the photos than I. What she caught was an interesting anomaly. While we both agree that it is subjective as proof of the paranormal, it did teach me a valuable lesson. However, the picture is convincing.
You need to carefully review photos. Learning how to look for anomolies in a photograph takes time. You also have to be careful of ‘matrixing’ where your mind tries to make something out of nothing. It is where your mind naturally tries to find ‘order in chaos.’
So when you spend the time to review evidence…don’t rush!
