The craze to dress up like ghosts, goblins, or some other ghoulish costume continues to haunt Americans, including God-fearing Christians and Jews alike. The lucrative 9-million-dollar American industry tempts even the religious to celebrate the creepy time of the year. What’s more frightening is many, if not most Americans, are unaware of the origins of this spooky holiday, much less what the Hebrew and Christian Bibles say about ghosts or more specifically talking to ghosts.
According to numerous credible internet sources, Halloween essentially originated and still is considered a pagan holiday known as the most ideal day to speak to the dead and as a bonus, the dead may even predict the future for you. Even more fascinating is the Torah, the first five books of both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, specifically warn against speaking to the dead either on one’s own or through a medium/witch to learn of the future (Exodus 22:17, Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 27; Deuteronomy 18:10-13). The prophet Isaiah also warns not to do so in Isaiah 8:19-20. Just the fact that God states not to converse with the dead to learn of the future indicates it IS possible to do; otherwise, a command stating not to do so would not be needed. It also infers pagans have been communicating with the dead for thousands of years. Jewish interpretation of these sentiments is that it is permissible to talk to the dead, but not to ask them to reveal the future.
In fact, did you know there is a fascinating story found in 1 Samuel 28:7-25 where King Saul sought out a witch or medium to contact the deceased Prophet Samuel to get advice about what to do about a pending battle? In this story, not only did King Saul break both God’s law and his own law banishing mediums or any other form of witchcraft and sorcery to predict the future, but the medium was successful in summoning the peacefully rested Samuel. The medium was shocked to see the ghost of Samuel for it was then she realized King Saul was in costume and deceived her as he concealed his identity (since he banished such practices). So, the medium worried that King Saul would kill her as a result (see 1 Sam. 28:8 -12). Meanwhile, the ghost of the Prophet Samuel was irate that he was disturbed from Sheol, the place all dead go to (vs 15).
As if all that wasn’t remarkable enough, the Prophet Samuel could STILL prophesize to King Saul WHILE DEAD (vs 19)! Prophet Samuel accurately predicted King Saul would be joining him in death the next day along with King Saul’s descendants.
What we can learn from this Biblical account are a few things:
- We have an immortal soul or eternal life, without a belief in Jesus;
- Whether you are a righteous person or a wicked person, it appears that when you are dead, you are hanging out awaiting the resurrection to be judged on your deeds, not your mental beliefs (Job 14:10-14; Daniel 12:1-3; Ezekiel 36-37) and not instantly ushered to “heaven” or “hell” – even the Christian Bible teaches as such (see John 3:13; Acts 2:29); also, notice ancient Jews already believed in the immortal soul and the resurrection (except the sadducees) way before Jesus offered it. So, why does Jesus’ claim only followers of him can receive it? ;
- The familiar spirit also known as a ghost can be disturbed and communicated with (it’s called a familiar spirit because a ghost is likely familiar with you personally like a deceased loved one);
- Some mediums do indeed have a gift or craft for summoning and communicating with the dead;
- A ghost can inform you of things you shouldn’t know about or ask about (i.e. like when you are going to die or what tomorrow holds);
- And evidently, prophets can still prophesize even when dead! Put another way, your personality and giftings live on even after you’re dead.
In addition to God stating that ghosts exist, many individuals have experienced paranormal or supernatural events, leading them to come to similar conclusions. So, what’s the harm in wanting to reach out to your deceased parent, spouse, or other loved one for advice? After all, haven’t we gotten advice from our loved ones many times before when they were living? While it’s okay to talk to our deceased loved ones, perhaps the One True Living God wants us to seek Him instead for said matters, not the dead.
Moreover, while we are on the topic of ghosts, have you ever wondered if there is a Holy Ghost or Spirit of Holiness, or however you want to label God’s Spirit, then that would indicate there also are unholy ghosts or evil spirits. Otherwise, the adjective of “holy” would not be needed to distinguish that Spirit from other spirits. Perhaps just like there are righteous and evil people, there too are good ghosts and bad ghosts, angels, and demons. Makes sense when you ponder our personalities live on. The problem is both good angels and bad angels, commonly referred to as demons, are allegedly all around as are possibly the dead, so who do we know for certain we are talking to when consulting the dead or when a medium is communicating with them on our behalf? How do we know whatever spirit we are communicating with isn’t a demon in a costume of his own, disguising himself as Aunt Betty, hoping to lead us into destruction?
As we study the Torah, God appears to focus on life, providing little information about death; and yet, validating that the dead live on just without a physical body. Torah teaches the living to seek the Living God for guidance. Go to His instructions (Torah) for answers to life.
To summarize, even though ghosts indeed exist as the immortal souls of those gone before us, we only need to fear God, not ghosts.
👻 Updated 10.30.2023 👻