Trapped Spirits ... What Would Jesus Do?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Many millions are curious or confused as to how to relate to the paranormal craze. If you are a Christian, then you have likely asked yourself, “How does my Christian faith inform my views of paranormal activity…how do they relate?”

Would it not be cool if we had a record of how Jesus viewed and interacted with the paranormal realm?  The wonderful thing is that we have four inspired biographies of Jesus’ life, which explicitly reveal Jesus attitude toward, and interaction with, the paranormal realm (or heavenlies, spirit realm, invisible realm).

WWJD?  What would Jesus do?  That is, what would Jesus do today regarding how to view and interact with the paranormal realm? Of course, if we can definitively answer how Jesus interacted with the spirit realm, then that should go a long way to answering how WE should view/interact with the spirit realm, shouldn’t it? May I suggest that you read the four gospels (or choose one) and while reading, have this question on the front-burner: how often does Jesus interact with the trapped spirits of His day? (given basic ghost formation theory, then there should have been a ton of dead humans trapped here on earth) Many Christians are curious or confused as to how their faith relates to the current paranormal craze, and what better way to answer that question than to watch our Master at work.

If you read, say the gospel of Mark, then what becomes immediately obvious is how much time Jesus spent dealing with folks who had “paranormal issues.” No other spiritual leader comes close to Jesus’ near fixation on helping those with “paranormal problems.”

That being the case—how often did Jesus speak to deceased humans? Put another way, how often did they seek Jesus out for help, and how often did Jesus approach deceased humans in order to free them? If you have never done this exercise before, it is quite revealing and instructive!

The first thing we will notice in His bio’s are the innumerable folks He helps who are demon possessed! Like today, demonic activity increased when Jesus was incarnated. Hence, true diabolical possession was a terrible reality which Jesus forcefully and authoritatively dealt with thousands of times during His three year public ministry.

So, when you read the inspired biographies with fresh eyes, how many deceased humans approach their Creator, as countless demoniacs did?  ZERO   Ummm… what is the deal? Since demons and deceased humans are generally said to dwell in same paranormal spiritual ghetto-world (don’t we allegedly have a lot of evidence revealing demonic bullying beyond the grave?) Regardless, I must ask the question again—how many trapped spirits approached Jesus for help…or just revealed themselves as they are supposedly doing to us today? In all four gospels, with a wide variety of spirit realm issues arising, there is not a single recorded case of a trapped spirit trying to get Jesus attention, or vice versa.

How about the opposite—how many trapped spirits did Jesus assertively contact?  How many instances of Jesus speaking to trapped spirits in order to help them? NONE. We have many Christians attempting communication with the souls of deceased loved ones, yet Jesus never did that. Never…not according to His Spirit inspired biographies.

WWJD?That question is rooted in what Jesus has already done during His public ministry. Jesus is our Master, our Lord—we follow His example (when appropriate). AND JESUS NEVER COMMUNICATED WITH EARTHBOUND SPIRITS.

The above argument is simple. Our Master is recorded as having innumerable encounters with demons (encounters with angels as well), but He never encountered trapped human spirits. When I wrote my book, this argument was the most persuasive one I had come across—it remains so. Will you read  the gospel of Mark and ask yourself…WDJD—what did Jesus do? Then you will be ready to ask, WWJD?

Genuine, Childlike Faith

By Bridgette O'Hare

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

When I was pregnant with my second child people would often want to know if I was having a boy or a girl.  Since I wanted it to be a surprise I never asked the doctors to tell me.  However, my four year old son, Patrick, was certain that he knew.  Whenever someone would ask if I knew, my faithful little boy would pipe in boldly saying, “It’s a boy.   I know because I prayed and asked God for a brother.”  He was confident that he was going to get a little brother. He believed God for his promise that if we ask, we shall receive (John 16:24).   He had an attitude of faith that his request had already been granted even though he could not yet “see” this physically. James 4:2 states, “You have not, because you ask not…” Patrick asked and, low and behold, his little brother arrived.   Granted, we do have to be careful what we ask for sometimes.   There have been moments when I heard Patrick mumble “what was I thinking?” and other times, when Patrick is rather annoyed with Dade, the little brother he so faithfully awaited, I hear Dade quickly remind him “well, YOU prayed for me!”  (There’s nothing like brotherly love, is there?)

This childlike faith is required for us to receive the blessings that the Lord longs to give us.   When we pray and make a request of God we shouldn’t murmur to ourselves “I hope this works out.”  We should have the confidence in God that little children have. We should believe that our prayer has already been answered and wait patiently for God to bring it to us in HIS time.  At four years old, Patrick had no concept of the amount of time he would have to wait for his little brother, though he did often ask “how much longer?”  He simply believed that God would send him his request.  Never once did he question God.  I can’t lie, I found myself wondering how I would explain it to him in the event that his little brother turned out to be a little sister instead. My faith was not as genuine as Patrick’s was. Thankfully God took care of that one for me.

Looking back I realize that I simply lacked confidence in God.  And who am I to question the dependability of God? He has always been there for me.  Genuine faith is not professing that you believe… genuine faith is actually believing what you profess.  It is having confidence in the dependability of God...and who is more dependable than He is?

Our Christian lives begin because of our faith in Jesus Christ, they are lived by faith and they end in faith.  Our faith is strengthened by spending time in God’s word, if we do this... it is guaranteed that our faith will grow and we will have more childlike confidence to ask the Lord for the blessings we long for…even the ones we think may be too much to ask.  Maybe it’s time that we stopped insisting our children grow up and start thinking about learning to be a little more like them...childlike in our own faith.

Hebrews 11:1 is a well known verse.  Many Christians can quote it fluently, but quoting it isn’t enough...do you live it?  Do you truly have faith in God for the things you are hoping for, but cannot yet see?  How childlike is your faith?