My definition of Christianity
Anyone who believes Christ died for our sins and that Jesus is the son of God. It’s wrong to accuse differing denominations of being cults.
One Bible verse haunted me
As my life spun 180 degrees after GFH, a verse from Isaiah 8:19 worried my spiritual consciousness. How could God thrust psychic abilities and ghostly encounters at me when the Bible detests them? The verse, “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (NIV)
Because the GFH experience led to great spiritual blessings, it made me question this Old Testament passage.
All Bible translations can’t be 100% divinely inspired
There are more than 20 different Bible translations in English—each claiming Holy guidance in recording an accurate version. While I’m sure theologians working to convey the meaning of the Good Book are dedicated, they could misconstrue the true meanings.
Plus, there’s a snag with the interpretation of ancient Hebrew. A rabbi told me the meanings of many ancient Hebrew words are uncertain. She said the English translation of the word NIV deemed to mean “mediums and spiritists” is not truly known.
God wouldn’t give blessings through something Satanic
Believing God bestowed positive paranormal experiences and an enhanced intuitive ability upon me, I can’t fathom the Great I Am being against it, especially when it forged a closer bond between Him and me.
The Bible endorses the paranormal
I’d had paranormal/psychic incidents prior to GFH, but as a Christian, I’d felt those experiences incongruent to making it to Heaven. It’s strange that many sermons decry psychic abilities and the paranormal, when the Bible is filled with positive references, such as
- The Holy Ghost guiding us
- Angel visitations
- Speaking in tongues
- Jesus appearing after his resurrection
- Prophetic revelations, and more
A Catholic friend said her priest admitted the paranormal exists, but the church feels there’s too much danger trying to engage spirits to encourage anyone to seek it out.
With God’s protection and the use of discernment, I can’t imagine why we shouldn’t use the gifts He’s given us to work with spirits who aid us on our spiritual journeys.
Read how my experiences with the paranormal enriched my Christianity in “A Reluctant Spirit: A True Tale of God, Ghosts and a Skeptical Christian.”
Gabsterz2…
Wonderful blog post, saw on…
I am sure you don’t want to hear this, but do not mess with that. There are no right or wrong questions. You can bring up sothmeing you cannot deal with. My kids once played with one and saw sothmeing evil. I thought it was just their imaginations. Years later we moved into a very old house built in 1904. Weird things started to happen. We thought the kids were silly. Then we started to hear and see weird things. I have NEVER EVER believed in that crap. We called a famous ghost hunter that has been on Discover Channel. He came in with his people. IT was soooo interesting. There were orbs and all kinds of things. Anyway, I asked him about the Ouija Board and he told us. “Do not ever ever touch one, it is not a game. It is very dangerous and once you open that up you cannot reverse it.” I don’t know if it is true, but I won’t take that chance.
I agree 100% about Ouija Boards (I’m assuming you read my post, Seeking Answers, which was about my experience with a Ouija). It is so important to use discernment when dealing with the paranormal. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
I’d also stay away from it My friends and I did it reullargy for a while and were convinced that a ghost named “Ed” lived among us. And that’s who we’d frequently try to communicate with. Well knowing a friend of mine’s Aunt is seriously devoted to the Ouija Board, and has had many experiences to share, I called him up asking him to call his Aunt for suggestions in furthering our friendship with the ghost named Ed. We then would set up fruit as a “gift” to Ed during our sessions .and one night, when we were all holding hands among the circle, and closing our eyes, we all felt a chill that quickly caused us to get up .And then one of my friends screamed, pointing at one of the apples we had laid out. It had a bite taken out of it. Way too close for comfort for me. Also, my friend’s Aunt ended up calling me pleading that we no longer try to communicate with the spirits.
Interesting story. Thanks so much for sharing. While I know some people who think Ouija is good fun, most agree with me, that it’s better to leave alone. I appreciate you stopping by!
[…] peg it as high as 41,000 sects). Compounding our different beliefs—as I pointed out in my post, “Good Christians can believe in the paranormal”—there are more than 20 different English translations of the […]