It was not actually the first time I’ve encountered questions about visions of dead people visiting their loved ones or those ghosts that haunt places and often times captured in photographs. The latest I’ve seen were faces of a man and woman caught on digital photo by a child who took pictures of herself during a vacation in Baguio City. It was taken in a room adjacent to where the work holding was placed. That was really something that spooked the rest of us who tried to analyze those photos. It was real.

During Pinoywriters talk on ghost experiences at Powerbooks Live in Greenbelt last Friday, Aileen Santos laid down the facts from psychological, scientific to biblical points of view. Ghosts could be something that may have been conjured up by your imagination, an obsession or a persistent spiritual issue. Allow me to further explore the spiritual side of it.

The Bible remains the sole authority on matters related to the spirit realm. It accounts the reality of angels, fallen angels now called demons or unclean spirits, heaven, hell and the state of man.

Tracing your roots back to the Garden

In Genesis, Adam was formed by God from “the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” But when Adam and Eve fell into the deception of the devil, they did not die physically. That first act of disobedience cut them off from God’s presence and denied them eternal life.

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen 3:19)

The serious consequences of man’s first act of rebellion cannot be undone by human means. The punishment of sin is death. It took Jesus to come down from heaven and die on the cross to redeem the human race from eternal condemnation.

The state of the dead

Jesus referred to death as “sleep”. “After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” (John 11:11)

People who have died remain in their dust state with no memory or consciousness of things.

For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6)

In that state, dead people await for their resurrection Christ has promised on his Second Coming.

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)

But not all will receive the eternal life. Prophet Daniel had seen this end-time vision while in Babylon and thus wrote,

“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Dan. 12:2)

I see dead people walking

They are not your loved ones but familiar spirits or dark forces out to deceive you. A passage from the book of Hebrews says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…” (Heb. 9:27). No dead person goes back to this lifetime to make amends, ask for forgiveness or torture the living.

The witch of Endor

The story of the witch of Endor put light on this intriguing case of summoning dead people through mediums. The Israelite king, Saul, now verging on desperation after falling from God’s grace, decided to seek counsel from dead prophet Samuel through a medium or a necromancer. A medium, seance or a necromancer has a familiar spirit. The word “familiar” is derived from the Latin word familiaris, meaning a “household servant,” and implies that they had spirits as their servants ready to do their commands at will. But these are basically demonic spirits.

Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.” “There is one in Endor,” they said. (1 Sam 28:7)

God strictly prohibited and condemned this practice.

A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads. (Lev 20:27)

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in [a] the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. (Deu 18:10-11)

But a desperate Saul persisted, disguised himself and went on to consult the medium in Endor. The witch of Endor summoned the spirit of prophet Samuel from the grave.

So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”

But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?”

Saul swore to her by the LORD, “As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this.”

Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”

“Bring up Samuel,” he said.

The witch called a spirit from the ground Saul presumed to be Samuel based on her descriptions.

The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” The woman said, “I see a spirit [a] coming up out of the ground.”

“What does he look like?” he asked. “An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said.

Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.

The truth is it was not the prophet whom the woman summoned but a demonic spirit who took the form of Samuel. During this period, King Saul was at the critical stage of losing his kingship over to David and the spirit of God ceased from communicating with him through dreams and the prophets. God will not break his own rules to accommodate the request of a witch whose practice He condemned right from the beginning.

I hope this shed light over some matters that still confuse a lot of people. If there is one thing on earth that an ordinary man should most fear, it is not the demon himself but God who “is able to destroy both soul and body in hell…” (Mat 10:28). I hope that settles the basic unfounded fear.

Now what does that make of Harry Potter?  Your guess is as good as mine.