| Author | Message | ||
| Lori Registered user Username: Lori Post Number: 14 Registered: 11-1999 |
Growing up Adventist, I was always given the "security" of never seeing a ghost because I believed that dead people were "dead". One of the fears of accepting the idea of a soul departing "alive" and returning to God was the instilled fear of Adventism-you would open yourself up to "spirits". I still to this day have never seen a ghost even though I departed from believing soul death 6 years ago. However, my 10 year old saw 4 ghosts several weeks ago when he spent the night at a friends house. The home is a pre-civil war home; it's over 150 years old. When he came home that's all I heard about. He gave very detailed descriptions of these ghosts. A Confederate soldier, with a musket, sitting cross-legged in front of the fireplace reading a Bible. A lady in the dining room who sat in a rocking chair knitting something that he said looked like an American Flag. A man in the kitchen, who walked through my child's friend causing him to shudder. And, a boy named Buddy, in knickers. I have never experienced anything like this; I didn't know what to tell my child. I don't know if it is my Adventist past that keeps saying, "true believers don't see ghosts" or if that is true. It was scary to think my child actually saw these things. I saw the mother several days later and asked her about the ghosts. She said she can't see them like her kids but she can feel them. She said on several ocassions when she was fussing at the kids she had felt something brush past her, almost to the point of pushing her, and she could tell they were not pleased with her. And at other times she could tell they were pleased because a calm would be around her. She has experienced things like doors opening and closing, repeatedly. On one ocassion she said she actually called the little boy by name, "Buddy, stop opening and closing the door, you are driving me crazy". It stopped. The kids had gone out to play on the trampoline and were pulling the water sprinkler over to it. After they got the water sprinker in place it turned on. They could all see the water spout; no one was there. The last family who lived in the home moved out, suddenly, after the man had an experience with the little boy in knickers. He was awaken from a nap by someone pulling on one of his feet. He awoke to see a boy ghost looking at him expectantly. The mother says they have never experienced anything before moving into the house and that he youngest child doesn't only see the them; he can hear them. He has on going conversation with the boy, Buddy. I was alarmed, to say the least. I don't think that ghosts come from anything but something evil and I am alarmed that my child saw them. And, of course, I turned to the Bible for a little direction, comfort. When Christ walked on water, Peters first assumption of seeing him was that he was an apparition. He was frightened. Later, when Christ appeared to some of the disciplines on the Road to Damascus after the Resurrection those who saw him appear thought he was a spirit. Christ told them to touch him for spirits have not flesh and blood. Ephesians clearly states our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. What do you think about "nice ghosts"? I think their presence is for the purpose of familiarizing us with them. For making us think the spirit world is not bad; it's "o.k.". It's nothing to fear or to shun away from. I told my child that these ghosts were not something to "entertain"; they were not something to become complacent about. I told him, even though they didn't exhibit it they were from a source of evil. I don't know that I will ever let him go back there. I don't want him exposed to that again. However, I am extremely curious and wonder if I was there would I have seen it? Have any of you had first hand experience of something similiar? I would like to hear your comments even if you haven't. | ||
| Pheeki Registered user Username: Pheeki Post Number: 646 Registered: 1-2003 |
This ties in with another thread...I was telling everyone about my mother seeing her dead husband and it is so real...he sits down to breakfast with her...and she has a lot of mixed feelings and shame because of Ellen. When her daughter tried to come back and talk to her...she shut her out becuase she knew the dead know nothing and it was an evil spirit impersonating Sissy...Sissy never came back and now my mom is wondering if she drove away the actual spirit of her daughter. Now know this...she didn't seek these spirits...she didn't go to a medium or seance...nothing...she did nothing. I can't explain it...and I have never seen a ghost. I will say this...I don't think your child should go over there anymore. Because we don't know what ghosts really are...you don't want him exposed to them. I would most definately keep him home, and praise the Lord he told you about it! | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 2536 Registered: 12-2003  |
Lori, I agree with you entirely that those ghosts are evil. And frankly, I'd probably not let my children go there again. I know that some may disagree with me, but thiese phenomenon are not part of a Christian life. I haven't seen ghosts, but Richard and I did have a similar experience early in the days of operating this website. In the early months, anyone could post without a password. A certain person began to post regularly, and as time passed, those posts became more and more angry, disruptive, and threatening. There were even some attempts to hack into the websiteóand from things that were said, we believed this certain person was responsible for at least some of the really destructive things that were tried. One Friday afternoon after I came home from school, I couldn't shake the thought that I needed to sign onto the forum. Normally I didn't check in on Fridays because I was so busy, but I did--and to my horror, this person had begun posting multiple posts using different scrren names and speaking of this person in the third person. The screen names varied: "wounded spirit", "leaving spirit", "dying spirit", etc. One of the posts included a long quote from Ellen White in which she talked about Satan, and in every place where Ellen used the name "Satan", this person's name was substituted. I was quite shaken and began to pray. I also posted a prayer asking God to quite the evil spirit that was harrassing this person, etc. Richard got home about 30 min later, and when he read the posts, his first words were, "These posts are this person's evil spirit speaking." He took care of the posts technically, but we launched into prayer for the forum, for our protection, for the posters' protection, etc. The next morning I awoke suddenly at 6:00. I got up briefly, and saw that all my family was asleep. I went back to bed, and then I heard it: rhythmic knocking: three raps, then two, then three, etc. I knew it was not my boys, and Richard was sleeping beside me. The knocking sounded as if it came from the wall between our bathroom and the bathroom in the hallway. I know God kept me calm. I felt no fear, but I realized with absolute clarity that this was the evil spirit we had exposed and prayed would stop posting and harrassing that person. I lay in bed and with absolutely no fear and with a great sense of confidence in God's power, I prayed that the spirit would leave. As I prayed, I listened to that rapping move down the hallway and finally leave out the front door. It never returned, but since that time both Richard and I have persisted in praying that God would protect us and this forum from evil and deception. Indeed, we do not fight flesh and blood. Our opposition is always spiritual. There is no neutral ground in the universe. People are either born from above or they are dead in their sins. God brings those who respond to truth to know Him, and those who refuse to acknowedge Him even when they know the truth become increasingly sold out to evil. I suspect many people will think I am too black and white on this issue. Paul is clear, however, about the true nature of our battle. The good news is that nothing can separate us from God's love, nothing can take us out of His hands, and we have all the power of Christ when we are in Him. We have nothing to fear. God fights our battles! Colleen | ||
| Riverfonz Registered user Username: Riverfonz Post Number: 780 Registered: 3-2005 |
Colleen, Wow, what a story! That must have been frightening, now I know why you require people to register! Stan | ||
| Dennis Registered user Username: Dennis Post Number: 457 Registered: 4-2000  |
I still remember the days when registration was not required. Zealous Adventists, frequently surfing the Internet on Saturday afternoons, would post very offensive messages. Let us never cease from exposing the captors and evangelizing the captives. God is counting on us! Sylvia and I will be forever grateful for the existence of this forum. A special thanks to Colleen and Richard! Dennis J. Fischer | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 242 Registered: 8-2004 |
I second that thanks! Mary | ||
| Sabra Registered user Username: Sabra Post Number: 371 Registered: 10-2001 |
Hey guys, I haven't posted in a while because my home comp is dead again and I do check in from time to time at work but don't have much time to post. Just thought this was a weird subject since we were just talking about this at lunch. I lived in Chickamauga GA near the Battlefield and my -then 2 year old son- was asking me one day who was walking in the kitchen, I kept telling him there was no one there and he insisted that they were and said, "I see him and he is walking like this.." and he walked around the kitchen in circles. That house also had other weird stuff, like the remote truck my son had would take off running up the hall with no one touching the remote and there were footsteps and light bulb unscrewed, etc. WEIRD, I do not know what to think of it. Did the great gulf that was between the dead and the living disappear after the cross or are they all simply evil spirits. Boy, wouldn't our SDA relatives hate this thead! | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 1065 Registered: 7-2003  |
I've posted this story before about the spirit I felt one night sitting on my chest as I lay in bed and I could barely breathe. AND I WAS TERRIFIED for a bit. But I rebuked it in the name and blood of Christ, and it lifted to never return. I had been reading some SDA internet "classes" on the state of the dead .... I was taking screen shots of the stuff to contradict it with scripture. After that event, I never returned to the site again, as I was sure it was managed by the evil one. I have never be able to allow myself to open up those screenshots again either, though they're still on my computer. I just don't choose to subject myself to that kind of evil. I guess that's why the state of the dead is a topic I'm sure comes from Satan. If you merely cease to exist, what's the big deal about Christ? But each has to reach their own conclusions in their own time with God. Lori's story is fascinating, but I'd be too scared of what my kids were being exposed to to let them go back. I'd hate to seem as though I was rejecting the family, but I'd sure reject the house! Yes, Sabra, B would "know for sure" I was in cahoots with the devil then  . Good to hear from you! | ||
| Catalyst Registered user Username: Catalyst Post Number: 53 Registered: 6-2005 |
Colleen, I will bet that if you had tried you could have gotten an IP address of the person that was doing damage to your board. I will bet that it had PHYSICAL fingers and bones on the keyboard. <grin> If it was a SPIRIT - do you really think that Richard would have been able to "take care of it" that easily? Bill | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 249 Registered: 8-2004 |
I saw nothing that intimated that the person posted wasn't human, just that the spirit working thru him/her wasn't. Mary | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 1067 Registered: 7-2003 |
Colleen, I am praying for you that God continues to protect this forum you have provided us to come and share and grieve and rejoice. You are a great witness to what God has done for and through you. I, for one, am very thankful for your boldness to follow God at all costs in this forum, and those areas we don't see. I especially pray a hedge around you and your family that the darts that seem to come your way will be thwarted by God's mighty hand. I consider you a great friend and sister. THANK YOU! | ||
| Lydell Registered user Username: Lydell Post Number: 714 Registered: 7-2000 |
Melissa, thought you might be interested to know that my sister-in-law has also had that experience of something sitting on her chest. Lori, do hope you will accept the counsel here and not allow your children to go back to the house (the kids can always come to yours). When my husband was in college, he and some friends began playing with a Ouija board. Their experience with that, the pointner moving on it's own, progressed to the idea of trying a seiance. He tells me that they got together in a very small room, only large enough for them to all sit with their backs against the wall. They had a candle burning. They issued an invitation for whatever to manifest itself. Almost immediately, and simultaneously, several things happened. A cold draft suddenly blew the candle out (there was no window), there was an unmistakable feeling of something unfriendly in the room, there was a scream from one of the girls, and he felt a hand prod his shoulder (everyone was holding hands). He said at the time he felt the prod to his shoulder it struck him that this thing was testing, like you would check to see if a piece of meat was done cooking. (Later others told him that they had felt this as well....evidently this spirit was prodding to see who was most open). When they quickly turned on the light, the found that the girl who had screamed had collapsed. He tells me that immediately after that night he noticed that the girl had changed. She had been an honor student, happy, and seemed to be doing well. But she began to slide downward and soon had to leave school because of emotional problems. At the time he had no relationship with God, didn't actually really believe there was anything to the idea of the supernatural, they were just playing a game. He will tell you most sternly that you do NOT play around with even the potential presence of evil spirits. Remember the verse about the spirit that was cast out seeking a new home and finding one that was swept clean and was empty? Could be that is what happens in these cases of people seeing ghosts. Really, you should be just as concerned about what the family may be inviting into their home, innocently or not, that has opened the door for this stuff to be manifesting. We as believers don't have to be terrified. We are given the authority (not because of our goodness, but because we carry His name, just like the cop standing in the intersection can stop traffic because the power of the state is behind him, not because he has the strength to stop it) to stand against this stuff, to rebuke it, and cast it out. But can your 10 year old son understand and do that without giving in to fear? | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 2543 Registered: 12-2003 |
Melissa, thank you from my heart. And Dennis, it is really affirming to have the eyewitness memories of one who has been here since the beginning. Mary really answered your post, Catalyst,--I'll just say that Richard did indeed check the IP address--and it changed with every post. And yes, there are possible physical explanations for that as well. Those details don't negate reality. Lydell, your concern-- "Really, you should be just as concerned about what the family may be inviting into their home, innocently or not, that has opened the door for this stuff to be manifesting," is exactly right. Evil cannot be comfortable where Jesus is present. That doesn't mean evil won't attempt to confuse, disrupt, harrass, and derail--it just can't be comfortable and settle in where Jesus is present. Praise God! Colleen | ||
| Heretic Registered user Username: Heretic Post Number: 185 Registered: 2-2005 |
One summer, sometime around third of fourth grade, I spent 10 days out at their house in the desert with my step-grandparents and their son who was 5 or 6 years older than me but treated me wonderfully and really took me under his wing. Now they were very well-off, lived on a golf course, etc, and my step-uncle had just about every toy, game, and gadget a boy could ever want or certainly need. One of these "games" was an Ouija board and so he thought it would be great to introduce me to it. I really wasn't familiar with them and I remember being a little skeptical when he explained it to me and how it worked but I tried it anyways. Now this was in the middle of the summer in the desert, with the air not on very high. We asked it questions and it moved. Then the temperature dropped so low it seemed as though you could almost see your breath and the curtains began to blow like the window was open with a stiff breeze blowing in, except the windows were closed...and it WASN'T the AC. We both freaked out, stopped and put it away. I few weeks later I was back home when I decided to go next door to my grandparent's house to see what my grandfather was doing because I was a little bored. It was the middle of the afternoon, probably around 2 or 3. I came through the back door, which they used to leave unlocked during the day and called out for my grandfather even though the house was a little dark and no lights were on. Their house was a little dark normally due to a lack of windows. Just as I was turning around to leave I heard my grandmother calling my name from their bedroom. I thought it strange since she wasn't due home from work for at least 3 hours and she worked about 25 miles away in Los Angeles. Then I heard it again...my grandmother's unmistakable voice calling my name. So I went down the hall only to find no one in their bedroom. I bolted out of that house faster than I ever thought possible back to my house where I told my Mom about what had happened. She didn't seem too bothered and I think thought that it was my overactive imagination. That night, without telling my grandmother the story, I asked if she'd been home earlier and she said that, no, she'd gotten home at the usual time that day. I'm convinced that the two events were not disconnected from each other and very much believe that doing things like inviting evil spirits into your life via Ouija boards is only asking for continued problems unless help is sought from the Lord. Even then, I knew that what had happened to me was of Satan so I prayed like I never had up to that point. I haven't had any problems since. Melissa, that must have been absolutely terrifying! Your experience of having an evil spirit sitting on or pressing down on you I've heard of happening before. There were two academy teachers at a school in PA that one my good friends attended that had similar experiences happen to them on the same night at roughly the same time. One of them stated that when he invoked the name of Jesus Christ, with what the breath he still had, the spirit suddenly left and he'd been pushed down so far into his bed that he sprung up a few inches. When these things happen they are horrible, but at least for me, at that very young age, it served to reinforce my belief in the existence and power of God and just showed me how much we need Him to fight the forces of evil on our behalf. Heretic | ||
| Leigh Registered user Username: Leigh Post Number: 36 Registered: 2-2003 |
Several years ago, I was looking through a catalog, not sure which one. I saw a ouija board repackaged with soft colors and purple writing and renamed something like "talk to the Angels." | ||
| Loneviking Registered user Username: Loneviking Post Number: 371 Registered: 7-2000 |
Sabra, interesting story and it fits certain details of the Civil War. The muskets that were used fired a miniball that spun. A bullet, even spinning, will eventually expend it's energy and fall to the ground. Some of these nearly spent mini balls would hit troops on either side and cause severe concussions. Several battles had guarded areas in the rear where roped off areas confined troops who had been hit in the head by these bullets. These troops would just wander aimlessly in circles! | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 1069 Registered: 7-2003 |
Very fascinating, Bill. There's only one "ghost" I'd like to see, and I must admit that even he would be a bit intimidating. | ||
| Lydell Registered user Username: Lydell Post Number: 715 Registered: 7-2000 |
Okay, so we've talked about the creepy, now let's sit our minds on the other side WE had a guest speaker Sunday at church. He felt impressed to pray for someone who was suffering from extreme back pain, someone who had had a couple of surgeries to correct the problem, but the pain was still there. That was my friend Linda. He prayed for her healing. Then felt impressed to pray for someone who has had enormous problems sleeping for years. That was also Linda, she has actually been afraid to go to sleep, and has fought sleep. Several hours after the service she realized she had no pain. She slept well that night, her only problem was deciding which position to sleep in because they all felt so comfortable. She still is feeling no pain. I'd rather be friends with the Holy Ghost! yep | ||
| Esther Registered user Username: Esther Post Number: 245 Registered: 5-2004 |
Wow! I was very perplexed with this thread this morning when I signed on as I've only ever thought of ghosts as evil spirits and delusions of the devil (since, of course, I believed you slept when dead until last year). Then, to top it off, an associate of mine who is a very dear, devout SDA (a very gentle and Christlike person) was sharing some of his conversion story with us and mentioned a time when he almost died. And expressed how he felt his mind shift, to outside of his body. He literaly saw his life flash before his eyes and felt ashamed of how he'd been waisting it. Then he described crying out to Jesus to give him another chance, and he "came back together". After telling that part, he got perplexed and said he's never understood that and since he believes what the Bible says about death (read: soul sleep), he's always wondered... but he knows at death you experience something. And then everyone else skirted the subject and he finished telling of his conversion. I just that was interesting with this subject of "ghosts". When I was in academy there were several rooms I seriously believe were "haunted". Funny cause I didn't believe that could be the case and discredited several frightful experiences which I knew were demonic nonetheless. I still don't know what i believe about this whole subject, but am just glad that God is stronger than death...and those dead. And I much prefer having the Holy Ghost close at hand. | ||
| Seekr777 Registered user Username: Seekr777 Post Number: 263 Registered: 1-2003  |
Lydell, we do worship and serve an awesome God. It is wonderful when you see God's glory manifest and we can give Him all glory and credit. We serve a sovergein God and His ways are not our ways. I marvel at His manifest presence in each of our lives. Richard |
