Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Do You Beleive In Ghosts?


David McMahon of Authorblog asks this question of his readers this week. It’s an interesting one indeed, because what is a ghost? Is it the spirit of a dead person come to haunt us? A lost soul stuck between realms? Maybe the question is broader in scope though, just asking if I think there are other things out there, things that perhaps we can’t see and that aren’t a divinity.

To that, I say yes.

When I was younger the Major of our Salvation Army corps helped my mother out by baby-sitting my brother and I on occasion. He had a trampoline that I loved and would jump on it the entire time I was there. My mother commented on how I could just jump on that thing for hours.

In what is probably not the norm for Salvation Army officers, this man claimed to have the gift of exorcism. He could also speak in tongues and translate when others did so. In fact, he regaled his congregation with stories of going to revivals where people were supposedly speaking in tongues. Then, he would speak in a foreign language and laugh as others mistranslated what he was saying.

We learned that if Satan or his demons come after you to say, “In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I order you to leave.” I woke up from more than one dream saying these words.

“Exorcism,” he explained to his congregation, “is not like you see in movies. It is not something ‘spectacular’ that takes place in hours. It is a long process. The person must want the demon gone, they must learn of God’s love, of his power.” It was more like therapy sessions that he did with these people.

We also learned that when a hypnotist puts a person under, they are making them susceptible to possession by another entity. In terms of past lives, it is the demon that has entered the body and speaking of their life they’ve led, not the person who is hypnotized. There is but one life for us on Earth, and then the other either in heaven or hell.

Now, our church had a big gymnasium and play room. I remember one potluck dinner when my brother and I were running around with all the other kids, then called in to hear the prayer before eating. As the Major prayed, one of the lights, the long bolted into the ceiling florescent gymnasium lights, pulled from the ceiling and swung toward him, then dropped to the floor a few inches in front of him. We all stood our mouths agape. It had literally swung across the room.

There were other things too, similar to what Shrink posted about in her response. Times when items just started flinging off shelves and my brother and I stood in the corner repeating, “In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I command you to leave” in our frightened young voices.

Maybe it’s not belief, maybe it’s knowledge that there is more out there. Angels, demons, poltergeists, ghosts, whatever you want to call it. They are there.

9 comments:

Amel said...

My friend's hubby can see ghosts. I'm SO glad I have no such ability. And my brother's girlfriend's Dad can also see ghosts...he said this "ability" had been subdued ever since he was baptised in a Catholic church.

However, I haven't seen any weird incidents in my life (gladly), but I LOVE watching horror movies he he he he...

dawn said...

I'm not sure what I believe in ghosts but I don't not believe understand. My husband fAMily is into Santeria which is why I got away from them. I didn't want my kids living with that. I say tolive and let live

Victorya said...

Dawn - or perhaps, as Sir Paul McCArtney sang, live and let die. I don't know much about Santeria, but know I don't want to know much more.

Amel - scary! but interesting that it stopped after the baptism. I'm not a fan of horror movies, only the comedic horror ones.

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid to seriously give an answer either way. (They might come to get me. brrr!)

david mcmahon said...

Hi Victorya,

What a great narration of a vivid memory. Thank you for sharing that with us.

Cheers

David

Jade said...

My second year of college, I had a dorm room all to myself. Over the course of that school year, objects repeatedly moved around the room. I'm very OCD about how things are arranged...I wanted the picture frames parallel to the shelf and that sort of thing.

I remember commenting about it while I was on the phone, thinking it was a stereo sub or something else equally innocuous thing that caused the items to move. I remember sitting in the computer chair, looking at some stuffed animals and a picture frame to the left of my monitor. I looked to the right, out the window, and commented on how silly it was that stuff seemed to move. When I looked back to the left again, the stuffed animal was no longer sitting there, and the picture frame had been turned almost 90 degrees.

After that, it happened more frequently. Although it only seemed to be trinkets I had decorating my room, never anything important. It stopped once I moved out of that dorm room, and hasn't happened since.

I also started having dreams a couple of years ago about my grandmother's farm. In one particularly vivid dream, I was standing in the front room with my (long deceased) grandmother. We were hiding behind a lacy white curtain, and a car pulled up in the driveway. A woman and two (three?) small children got out of the car, carrying suitcases, and were headed to the front door. My grandmother was insistent that we not let them in.

A week or so later, my mother told me that a lady had inquired about renting the house for her and her children. But, when my mother checked her references, it turned out the woman was known for 'renovating' the rental property and sticking the actual owners with the bill.

Victorya said...

Azhira - good catch! So do you think your grandmother was warning you about them? Sure sounds like it!

David - some things you can never forget :) Things flying around the room is one of those things.

Chewy - ah, come now, maybe they'll be like Casper! Nothing like a ghost for a friend.

Jade said...

Victorya,

My grandfather build that house, so it's possible. I've had other dreams about the house, mostly along the same lines...that's the one that was most vivid, and that I'm sure wasn't planted subliminally beforehand. Which reminds me--I had another one the other night, so I need to talk to my mom... :p

Anonymous said...

I too am post-charismatic and having a hard time coming to terms with some things that I saw that I just couldn't have seen...