How Serious is the Belief in Trapped Spirits?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann    

My interest in the theological issue of spiritism accelerated like a rocket when I realized the titanic With the American spiritual landscape littered with the rubbish of all manner of crazy ideas and beliefs, it has the dubious distinction of being the arch-heterodox belief of the day…that is my opinion and I am prepared to defend that sentiment.

The first argument is simple but profound: fifty percent of Americans now believe in trapped spirits. HALF—ONE OUT OF EVERY TWO!—OF THE POPULATION HAS EMBRACED THIS ERROR…HIGHER WITH THE YOUNGER CROWD…AND GROWING FAST EVERY DAY.  No need to drone on here, but what other specific belief error comes anywhere near that quantity of people? Number of people affected should certainly be considered when determining if an issue merits being called a crucial issue, should it not?  Spiritism is a crucial issue which must be passionately addressed because more people have embraced this erroneous belief than any other heterodox belief.

Certainly one can believe in ghosts and still be saved, because Scripture clearly teaches justification by faith alone (Rom. 4; 5:1) However, the ability to discern the relative importance of theological/spiritual beliefs is vital for effective Christian life and ministry. The relative importance of certain issues/beliefs can fall within four categories. 1. Absolutes define the core beliefs of the Christian faith…what one must believe to be saved (the belief in absolute truth is a distinct issue); 2. Convictions, while not core beliefs, usually have significant impact on the health and effectiveness of the church and individuals; 3. Opinions, are less clear issues and are usually not worthy of dividing over; 4. Questions are issues which are currently unsettled. These criteria, and the seven below, are designed to help sort through the myriad of issues we face by categorizing them into four distinct levels of seriousness…hope they will help you in the future with thinking through the significance of other issues as well.

Where an issue falls within these categories should be determined by weighing the cumulative force of at least seven considerations: 1. Biblical clarity; 2. Relevance to the character of God; 3. Relevance to the essence of the gospel; 4. Biblical frequency and significance (how often in Scripture it is taught and what weight Scripture places upon it); 5. Effect on other doctrines; 6. Consensus among Christians (past and present); 7. Effect on personal and church life…all the categories should be considered collectively in determining how important an issue is to the Christian faith. The ability to rightly discern the difference between core doctrines and legitimately disputable matters will keep the church from either compromising important truth or needlessly dividing over peripheral issues. (pg. 2502 ESV Study Bible, emp. added)

In a sense, the main goal of my book is to provide the cumulative evidence (mentioned above and other) to argue that the issue of trapped spirits lies within the realm of convictions—see above for distinctiveness of four categories of issues…#2. While a biblically accurate belief regarding spiritism is not a core/absolute issue (not necessary for salvation…belief in the deity of Christ is an example of a belief that is a core issue), it is an exceedingly important conviction or teaching of the bible. Belief in ghosts, and attempting communication with them, can do serious damage to the church and to an individual’s spirituality. I should hasten to add, it IS doing serious damage right now. Let us look at the relative importance the bible gives to this issue, and the ramifications for the spiritual and emotional health of people by looking at these seven points.

1. Biblical clarity—using accepted principles of hermeneutics, Deuteronomy 18:9-14 and Leviticus 20:6-8, 27 are they key texts relative to communication with the dead (this is a distinct issue which is beyond the scope of this newsletter, but I devoted an entire article on this), and they are clear and explicit regarding the exceptional wickedness of spiritism. God as Judge used Israel as executioner of the Canaanites due to the latter’s occult practices which included spiritism. The land had become so defiled by this and other occult practices that it was vomiting them out. As I mentioned, using sound interpretive principles, it is abundantly clear that these texts have priority over all other “ghost” related texts. Then, when we look at these texts, we see that they are transgenerational in their authority. As far as biblical clarity, these texts are as clear as clear can get. There should be no debate if you under Christ’s Lordship. Remember that Jesus Himself quoted from Deut. three times when countering Satan’s climactic temptations in the wilderness.

2. Relevance to the character of God—the notion of ghosts casts a shadow over God’s omnipotence, and goodness (actually ALL the attributes of God are frontally assaulted by this notion)…what kind of God would leave deceased babies here as spirit babies? That “God” would be Satan-like. Spritism implies that the Lord is not sovereign over His creation—a godlette or McGod. “They died so quickly their souls got stuck here.” Are we to believe that manner of death can snatch believers out of God’s hands? God forbid! I could go on and on here…

3. Relevance on the essence of the gospel—the perfection of the Person and work of Christ is seriously undermined and impugned if we believe that some people get trapped when they die. What are we saved from, if death is NOT a doorway to heaven?  A McSalvation at best. While it does not utterly ruin the atonement, as denial of the deity of Christ does, it comes perilously close to it. Was Jesus’s salvation perfectly efficacious or not? Is Jesus the Son of Man, the conquering Warrior over evil and death, or not? Is it good news to believe that God’s blood was shed, only to wake up in the front porch to hell?

4. Frequency and weight—while spiritism is not mentioned often in the bible, where it is mentioned, the utmost weight or gravity is placed upon this issue (see 1 above).

5. Effect on other doctrines—pull out a book on bible doctrine and you will see how EVERY doctrine is undermined by the notion of people getting trapped here. For example, the biblical doctrine of hope is hopelessly destroyed by this belief. Hope is certainty regarding our future glory—how can one enjoy this basic fruit of the atonement when the fearful prospect of possibly being trapped here is hanging over our heads? Hope is not only an important biblical doctrine, but it is also crucial for a healthy emotional state. Another example is the believers union with Christ—we are in Christ, and indissolubly united with the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. We are already in heaven with Jesus, in a very real sense (Col.3:3). Our union with Jesus is unbreakable, and it is the hub from which all other spiritual blessings flow. What does it say about that union, if we can be separated from Christ indefinitely in a paranormal gutter-world…Satan’s home turf? The same corrosive effects occur to many other biblical doctrines. Please check it out for yourself….it may cast a whole new light on this discussion.

6. The consensus of Christians (past and present)—from the early church fathers who railed against the same pagan Gnosticism as we do today, up until today, the monolithic consensus of the doctors of the church has been that death ushers everyone immediately into their eternal destiny. I do not know of a single judicious theologian, in 2,000 years of church history, who has believed in ghosts—death has always been seen as certain entry into either eternal life or eternal death. Are we so foolish to ignore their collective wisdom?

7. Effect on personal and church life—how can you live with joy inexpressible when you are speaking to demons, and are being demonically oppressed?  Because the spirit realm is the God ordained temporary home of most of the fallen angels (rest already in hell), then when people summon spirits they immediately find themselves playing in Satan’s sandbox…and they are trespassing, which gives the demonic legal right to attach and attack. Since the notion of ghosts is so hostile to all that we call holy, then belief/speaking to the dead seriously undermines the stability of a Christian’s spiritual foundation—like a three legged table, it would not take much a “bump” to cause them to crash. As I mentioned, this belief is extremely corrosive to all it comes in contact with—other orthodox beliefs held side-by-side with it, will tend to be affected by it, and not vice versa. Kind of like when a Christian marries a non-Christian, the latter tends to pull the Christian down…having a corrosive effect on their spirituality.

The Foundation of a Biblical Worldview

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Last time we asked the question: is it possible to access the mind of God? We noted that the beautifully staggering truth is "yes, we can"--that is precisely what the bible is...God revealing some of His mind to us. I wonder, as bible-believing Christians, if we sufficiently appreciate the astonishing wonderment of God speaking to us...revealing His mind to us? As we shall see, this self-disclosure of God provides the foundation for everything--certainly everything pertaining to our worldview.

A provisional definition of a worldview is best conveyed like this: to see with a biblical worldview is to see all of reality through God's eyes...to see it as He does. Or we could put it like this: a worldview is how we view God and the universe, and our relationship to both. I suppose if there is one thing unique about my book, it is that it teaches about the nature and importance of worldviews. Worldviews are like spectacles through which we view the world, and it effects how we think, feel, and behave. We almost always hold them unconsciously, unless we systematically discuss them as we are now. This is not secret knowledge, like gnosticism/occult, but it is rare, even among pastors, to know how to think with a full-orbed biblical worldview

In my book I list what I consider the seven components of any worldview...

1. What is the nature of God or ultimate reality?

2. What is your purpose in life?

3. What is the nature of reality?

4. Is history going anywhere?

5. What is the basis for morality?

6. What does it mean to be human (essential traits of being human)?

7. What happens to us after we die?

Let me ask three questions: do you see how utterly basic these questions are...how divergent the answers would be depending upon whom we asked...and how seriously impoverished and "lost" one's life would be if they lacked certitude regarding them? Sometimes stating a thing negatively can have some shock value which is conducive to learning...like this. "I have no clue as to what God is like...no idea why I should get out of bed because I have no clear purpose...I think reality is all in my head...morality is whatever feels right to me....humans are just apes with little hair...we are annihilated when we die...I think..."  Get my point??!!

Before I proceed any further, I believe that one of the best ways we learn is just by doing. So, the next time you read a novel, go to an art gallery, watch a TV program or movie, and so on, please ask yourself how they/it are "answering" each of the above seven questions. Obviously, the movie director is not going to have one of his cast say, "Hey, this is the worldview of this film...god is energy, pleasure is our purpose...and so on...!" It takes listening carefully to dialogue, and other factors, to pick up the explicit or implicit expressions of the seven worldview components. That is, put into practice the habit of viewing everything through a biblical worldview.   But that involves being able to spot the distortions in one's worldview spectacles,as they are presented on the silver screen or in the novel, ect...After awhile it becomes second nature. We need to develop a distinctively Christian mind if wish to have a substantive impact on our culture (Rom 12:1-2)

I want to introduce a philosophical term--epistemology--a branch of philosophy which deals with the validity, nature, and extent of human knowledge. Put another way--it deals with how we know, and how we know we know..Christians should know this term because it lies at the heart of what ails our country We are not experiencing a generation gap, but instead we are experiencing an epistemological gap (which at root is spiritual in nature). Which has led to what some call "culture wars"Let me explain.

One-hundred years ago there was a basically Christian ethos in our country.. If you were to ask the average person off the street any/all of the seven questions above, most would have given an answer that was roughly based on the bible. If someone disagreed with them in conversation, it was understood that one of them was wrong...or both were. Today the responses to the above questions would be all over the map, leaning heavily toward New Age/neo-gnostic beliefs. And to even gently assert that someone is wrong is taken as an offense...absolute truth lies bleeding in the street. Yes, it is an epistemological gap. How we acquire knowledge regarding basic issues has radically changed.

The seven questions above, which comprise one's worldview, are either answered by God's revelation or man's autonomous speculation. These differing presuppositions lead to radically differing conclusions..as we shall see. Is it not instructive that the first temptation was epistemological in nature? Says Satan/serpant, "C'mon Eve, use your autonomous mind to determine right and wrong...and you'll also discover that YOU are the real god....be a big girl and THINK FOR YOURSELF." How we gain knowledge is the key to everything...we either fear God and attain true knowledge of reality or we trust in ourselves and distort reality.

Where do you go to answer these questions? What is your final court of appeal in answering life's most basic questions? Do you look inward...to your intuition...your experience...what your heart says--or do you look outside of yourself to the Living God who created heaven and earth, who in His kindness and love, has spoken true-truth to us in His written Word?

Let's go to Psalm 119 to get just a glimpse into what the biblical worldview is. Our epistemic assumption is that we can access the mind of God, and this is done via His special revelation in the bible. ALL knowledge, certainly all the knowledge pertaining to the seven questions above, can only be answered by accessing the mind of God--because we are incapable of ascertaining the answers autonomously...

Please read these verses carefully, and in light of these basic questions. As a philosophy major, it was a beautifully stimulating experience to see the basic questions philosophers had been asking for millennia, and how the bible fit like hand-in-glove in answering them!

"Oh how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day." (119:97)

"I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts." (vv. 99-100)

"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."(v. 105)

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word." (v.9)

"I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not Your commandments from me." (V.19)

"Righteous are You, O Lord, and right are Your rules." (v. 137)

"The sum of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever. (v.160)

"Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding that that I may learn Your commandments." (v. 73)

"Forever, O Lord, Your Word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You have established the earth, and it stands fast. By Your appointment they stand this day, for all things are Your servants." (vvs. 89-91)

Please forgive my repetition, but these concepts are new to some, and they are vitally important for us to understand (for a whole slew of reasons) Epistemology accents the wonderment of having God's personal revelation to us--explaining who He is....who we are....the nature of the universe--and our relationship to both. Using just Psalm 119 let us give a brief review of a biblical worldview.

1. What is the nature of God or ultimate reality? (119: 89-91, 137) The word used for God throughout the psalm is LORD....which is Yahweh in the OT--this is the covenant Name of God. He is infinite/personal God who created the heavens and earth...all creation is His servant. Energy is not ultimate reality.

2. What is our purpose in life? Frankly, had Yahweh not revealed this to us, our lives would be utterly meaningless. (v.97) speaks of loving the bible of God, and the God of the bible..the Great Commandment is our noble purpose as redeemed humans. (v.73) God Himself made and fashioned us...we are not cosmic accidents or descendants of monkeys. And of course Jesus Himself declares that loving God is the greatest commandment. Think of all the alternatives we have come up with to replace loving God as our purpose (or dominant life value, as some put it)...as Calvin said, we are idol factories.

3. What is the nature of reality? It is not an illusion. Matter/energy is not eternal.

(v.89-91) Again, we see that there is a distinction between the Creator and His creation. There are two basic types of reality--the self existent and eternal Creator, and His creation which He created ex nihilo. The physical world is not the full circumference of reality--there is an unseen, spiritual dimension as well. I finally saw The Conjuring movie last night--about Ed and Lorraine Warren who were pioneer demonologists. The movie did a surprisingly good job of expressing the reality of supernatural evil.

4. Where is history going? LORD...Yahweh is the faithful God of the covenants--the flow of history (including your personal history) has meaning because history is His-story. The whole psalm points to a God who will hold us accountable for our thoughts, words, and deeds. (v. 19) that we are sojourners here, means that we are preparing to go home! Eastern thought tends to see history as moving in endless, meaningless cycles..NO!

5. What is the basis for morality...or how do we distinguish right from wrong? (v 9, 137, 160) A young person can discover right and wrong by meditating on God's word, which is entirely truthful. Because God is righteous, His laws are righteous..forever. We know that right and wrong are based on the unchanging character of God, as expressed in his written Word. If energy is ultimate reality, then there is no adequate basis for morality. Or if we base it on anything other than God's Word, then it is not a sufficient basis for morality.

6. What does it mean to be human (essential traits)?  v.73 God made us and fashioned us in the womb ( see Ps. 139--fearfully and wonderfully made!) Human beings are not self-referential...As John Calvin said, knowledge of ourselves and knowledge of God are inextricably bound together in a thousand different ways, since we are made in His image. We are certainly not animals or glorified monkeys. We are noble, but we are sinners as well.

7. What happens when we die? Again, we are called "sojourners on earth" (v. 19) We are just passing through this time/place before we enter our eternal rest. We are a body/soul composite, and when we die our soul immediately goes before the Holy Judge of heaven and earth. Death is determinitive of our eternal destiny--either eternity in heaven or hell. At the Last Judgment we will be reunited with our glorified bodies. Hence, any notion of "trapped souls" is repugnant to scripture and to God's holy character. Ed and Lorraine Warren got this issue wrong--unfortunately. Annihilation is also wrong-headed.

(89-91, 99-100,160) All of this discussion would be for naught if it were not for the truth of these verses.The infinite and personal God of the everlasting covenant is really there, and He has not remained silent. His Word is true truth (forever His Word is fixed in heaven) Every one of His righteous rules endures forever. Amen!

Have you ever heard someone say, "I have 35 years researching the paranormal."? I certainly have, and it is often (not always) used as a fact to buttress the force of their argument against what I or someone else has said that contradicted a claim of theirs. Here the psalmist states that he has more true knowledge than his teachers BECAUSE it is grounded in the granite of revealed truth, and not in the shifting sands of man's autonomous speculation.

I have mentioned this example before but it bears repeating: an unbelieving friend of mine, who specializes in getting rid of spirits who are hostile (and they stay busy all year), loudly proclaims two things: they have nearly 40 years of experience, and they have never, ever seen a demon! This is usually followed by a sarcastic, withering criticism of those who stupidly believe that all ghosts are demons. This person is my friend and it grieves me that they are so blind that they cannot even recognize demons when they are attacking or harassing them. Every classic criteria used to determine demonic presence has been met many times over, and yet they still refuse to see reality clearly...tragic, but quite common.If our worldview glasses are distorting our perception of reality, then decades of experience will only make one more foolish in their understanding of the world.

There are no answers to the seven questions above if our epistemology is not grounded in the Word of God. That is, if we do not look to God's revelation to learn what: God is like, the nature of reality, our purpose in life, what is right and wrong...and so on, then we have no adequate foundation for acquiring any knowledge. This may not be exciting, but please know that this is bedrock foundation for building a biblical worldview...reason for getting out of bed and not committing suicide. I am baffled by this optimism which is grounded in a worldview in which impersonal energy is Ultimate reality....that kind of optimism has both feet planted firmly in mid-air.    

Each question is SO basic...if only one is wrong or even partially distorted, it will seriously impact ones life. Yet the majority of people in the world have all of them (seven questions above) partially or totally wrong! Why? Because their epistemology is wrong. This is not rocket science...we either humbly look to God to answer life's most basic questions, or we pridefully look to ourselves...revelation or speculation. We DO have access to the mind of God through the Holy Bible--and that is the foundation of a biblical worldview! Please do try to watch and read with these questions in mind this week...

P.S I still need someone to help revamp my website...please! Thank you...   mark                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

How Serious is the Belief in Trapped Spirits?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann    

My interest in the theological issue of spiritism accelerated like a rocket when I realized the titanic With the American spiritual landscape littered with the rubbish of all manner of crazy ideas and beliefs, it has the dubious distinction of being the arch-heterodox belief of the day…that is my opinion and I am prepared to defend that sentiment.

The first argument is simple but profound: fifty percent of Americans now believe in trapped spirits. HALF—ONE OUT OF EVERY TWO!—OF THE POPULATION HAS EMBRACED THIS ERROR…HIGHER WITH THE YOUNGER CROWD…AND GROWING FAST EVERY DAY.  No need to drone on here, but what other specific belief error comes anywhere near that quantity of people? Number of people affected should certainly be considered when determining if an issue merits being called a crucial issue, should it not?  Spiritism is a crucial issue which must be passionately addressed because more people have embraced this erroneous belief than any other heterodox belief.

Certainly one can believe in ghosts and still be saved, because Scripture clearly teaches justification by faith alone (Rom. 4; 5:1) However, the ability to discern the relative importance of theological/spiritual beliefs is vital for effective Christian life and ministry. The relative importance of certain issues/beliefs can fall within four categories. 1. Absolutes define the core beliefs of the Christian faith…what one must believe to be saved (the belief in absolute truth is a distinct issue); 2. Convictions, while not core beliefs, usually have significant impact on the health and effectiveness of the church and individuals; 3. Opinions, are less clear issues and are usually not worthy of dividing over; 4. Questions are issues which are currently unsettled. These criteria, and the seven below, are designed to help sort through the myriad of issues we face by categorizing them into four distinct levels of seriousness…hope they will help you in the future with thinking through the significance of other issues as well.

Where an issue falls within these categories should be determined by weighing the cumulative force of at least seven considerations: 1. Biblical clarity; 2. Relevance to the character of God; 3. Relevance to the essence of the gospel; 4. Biblical frequency and significance (how often in Scripture it is taught and what weight Scripture places upon it); 5. Effect on other doctrines; 6. Consensus among Christians (past and present); 7. Effect on personal and church life…all the categories should be considered collectively in determining how important an issue is to the Christian faith. The ability to rightly discern the difference between core doctrines and legitimately disputable matters will keep the church from either compromising important truth or needlessly dividing over peripheral issues. (pg. 2502 ESV Study Bible, emp. added)

In a sense, the main goal of my book is to provide the cumulative evidence (mentioned above and other) to argue that the issue of trapped spirits lies within the realm of convictions—see above for distinctiveness of four categories of issues…#2. While a biblically accurate belief regarding spiritism is not a core/absolute issue (not necessary for salvation…belief in the deity of Christ is an example of a belief that is a core issue), it is an exceedingly important conviction or teaching of the bible. Belief in ghosts, and attempting communication with them, can do serious damage to the church and to an individual’s spirituality. I should hasten to add, it IS doing serious damage right now. Let us look at the relative importance the bible gives to this issue, and the ramifications for the spiritual and emotional health of people by looking at these seven points.

1. Biblical clarity—using accepted principles of hermeneutics, Deuteronomy 18:9-14 and Leviticus 20:6-8, 27 are they key texts relative to communication with the dead (this is a distinct issue which is beyond the scope of this newsletter, but I devoted an entire article on this), and they are clear and explicit regarding the exceptional wickedness of spiritism. God as Judge used Israel as executioner of the Canaanites due to the latter’s occult practices which included spiritism. The land had become so defiled by this and other occult practices that it was vomiting them out. As I mentioned, using sound interpretive principles, it is abundantly clear that these texts have priority over all other “ghost” related texts. Then, when we look at these texts, we see that they are transgenerational in their authority. As far as biblical clarity, these texts are as clear as clear can get. There should be no debate if you under Christ’s Lordship. Remember that Jesus Himself quoted from Deut. three times when countering Satan’s climactic temptations in the wilderness.

2. Relevance to the character of God—the notion of ghosts casts a shadow over God’s omnipotence, and goodness (actually ALL the attributes of God are frontally assaulted by this notion)…what kind of God would leave deceased babies here as spirit babies? That “God” would be Satan-like. Spritism implies that the Lord is not sovereign over His creation—a godlette or McGod. “They died so quickly their souls got stuck here.” Are we to believe that manner of death can snatch believers out of God’s hands? God forbid! I could go on and on here…

3. Relevance on the essence of the gospel—the perfection of the Person and work of Christ is seriously undermined and impugned if we believe that some people get trapped when they die. What are we saved from, if death is NOT a doorway to heaven?  A McSalvation at best. While it does not utterly ruin the atonement, as denial of the deity of Christ does, it comes perilously close to it. Was Jesus’s salvation perfectly efficacious or not? Is Jesus the Son of Man, the conquering Warrior over evil and death, or not? Is it good news to believe that God’s blood was shed, only to wake up in the front porch to hell?

4. Frequency and weight—while spiritism is not mentioned often in the bible, where it is mentioned, the utmost weight or gravity is placed upon this issue (see 1 above).

5. Effect on other doctrines—pull out a book on bible doctrine and you will see how EVERY doctrine is undermined by the notion of people getting trapped here. For example, the biblical doctrine of hope is hopelessly destroyed by this belief. Hope is certainty regarding our future glory—how can one enjoy this basic fruit of the atonement when the fearful prospect of possibly being trapped here is hanging over our heads? Hope is not only an important biblical doctrine, but it is also crucial for a healthy emotional state. Another example is the believers union with Christ—we are in Christ, and indissolubly united with the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. We are already in heaven with Jesus, in a very real sense (Col.3:3). Our union with Jesus is unbreakable, and it is the hub from which all other spiritual blessings flow. What does it say about that union, if we can be separated from Christ indefinitely in a paranormal gutter-world…Satan’s home turf? The same corrosive effects occur to many other biblical doctrines. Please check it out for yourself….it may cast a whole new light on this discussion.

6. The consensus of Christians (past and present)—from the early church fathers who railed against the same pagan Gnosticism as we do today, up until today, the monolithic consensus of the doctors of the church has been that death ushers everyone immediately into their eternal destiny. I do not know of a single judicious theologian, in 2,000 years of church history, who has believed in ghosts—death has always been seen as certain entry into either eternal life or eternal death. Are we so foolish to ignore their collective wisdom?

7. Effect on personal and church life—how can you live with joy inexpressible when you are speaking to demons, and are being demonically oppressed?  Because the spirit realm is the God ordained temporary home of most of the fallen angels (rest already in hell), then when people summon spirits they immediately find themselves playing in Satan’s sandbox…and they are trespassing, which gives the demonic legal right to attach and attack. Since the notion of ghosts is so hostile to all that we call holy, then belief/speaking to the dead seriously undermines the stability of a Christian’s spiritual foundation—like a three legged table, it would not take much a “bump” to cause them to crash. As I mentioned, this belief is extremely corrosive to all it comes in contact with—other orthodox beliefs held side-by-side with it, will tend to be affected by it, and not vice versa. Kind of like when a Christian marries a non-Christian, the latter tends to pull the Christian down…having a corrosive effect on their spirituality.

The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

If you desire to serve Christ effectively in our generation, you MUST understand the essence of New Age thought. I've long known about New Age, but my studies in the paranormal have led me to a profound conviction that our planet is under terrible assault. December 7th was my mom's birthday, but we all know it as the day in 1941 "as a day of infamy." There were certain indicators that a Japanese attack was imminent but they were ignored...2,400 people died. There are much clearer indicators that ancient gnosticism is experiencing a global resurgence but they, too, are being ignored by most Christians. This attack is on the heart and soul of western civilization, and millions of casualties (eternal in nature) have already been sustained.

It is hard to believe that, given all of our modern advances, that we would fall prey to a mythological system which seemed to have gone into the dust-bin of history 1,500 years ago. Nevertheless these two movements resemble one another like two Siamese cats, sometimes even to the smallest detail. We don't wrestle primarily with flesh and blood but against the infernal general himself and his diabolical army; no wonder there is such similarity--the same massive evil intelligence is behind both. Diabolical influence on the earth in general, and human culture in particular, is Satan's standard operating procedure. We have this mistaken notion that demons sole focus is on individual temptation, accusation, and so on. Big mistake: they follow, and sometimes help create, the contours of human culture--national and international.  I have shied away from New Age conspiracy theories in the past because I knew it was beyond human capability to orchestrate such an elaborate global scheme. But I now realize there is an intelligence. (god of this world) capable of pulling it off--all played out on the space-time continuum on earth, but empowered and orchestrated in the paranormal realm.Let us now review the specific similarities between New Age and it's pagan, gnostic predecessor.

Cosmology: let us worship the great green one.This is where the New Age seems to have progressed far beyond the gnostic rejection of the material world. The goddess Gaia or Mother Earth (the bible says that God is our Father, but the earth is not our mother) gives to the universe its basic unity. We have now an earth goddess of witchcraft who is one with the universe, but not distinct from it. Remember how central Gen. 1-3 is to biblical theology...well all of that is being denied or inverted.So, like gnosticism, there is no given creational reality to which creatures must conform.Humans are inherently divine, and we are made up of divine energy, which allows us to be be co-creators. The idea is pantheism, with reincarnation as a result.Sounding like a gnostic master of old, Shirley MacLaine declares, "Birth into the physical is....a limitation of the spirit, and death of the physical is the return of the spirit to its proper domain."

Redemption: mind over matter, female over male. In Aquarian eschatology (end times) the ultimate incarnation of the antichrist may well be a woman.... As with the gnostics, contemporary New Age thinking sees the female principle as holding the keys to salvation. Many, including in the church, are calling for a return to goddess spirituality because of the alleged destructiveness of the male, patriarchal God of the bible. Much of radical feminism, which is largely responsible for the murder of over 50 million.babies since Roe, is borne along by the myth of the woman as the savior. They look to a mythical past (because it never happened) when there was comprehensive peace due to female dominance. The Jewish feminist theologian Rita Gross advocates the borrowing of Hindu traditions in order to effect the "the second coming of the goddess". (the bible is clear about role distinctions in the church, based on God's creation) As with gnostics, New Age teaching is intent on turning Gen.1-3 on its head.The Creator God and Adam were fools, and Eve is enlightened by Lucifer--who is emerging as the true spiritual leader under the New Age umbrella or rainbow.

Christology: Christ, a spiritual state and not a person. Schucman's "A Course in Miracles"  reveals that we are Christ's equals...being already perfect like Him. This is very similar to the gnostic gospel of Thomas where Jesus reveals to Thomas that he is not his master but His equal--twin brother. All we have to do is tap into this Christ consciousness. In New Age thinking, as with gnostics, the historical person and work of Jesus are superfluous.Christ is our higher self. If Irenaeus were alive today, he would certainly condemn New Age Christology as "an abyss of madness and of blasphemy against Christ."

Theology: "I am God in light." As with gnosticism, we all are divine. There is no separate Creator God. We are made of God energy, which means that God is impersonal and unknowable."God" is simply a term used to designate the cosmic energy that makes the universe turn. (This is precisely the lie that Satan enticed Adam and Eve with...becoming as gods) This idolatry has consequnces in sexuality (Rom.1:18-32)

Sexuality: the new androgynous humanity Both gnosticsim and New Age are monistic--they erase distinctions (like male and female, right and wrong, Creator and creation) and the result is that the model human is a perfect mix of feminine and masculine. The distinction between male and female is obliterated, and there logically follows the sexual perversion as seen in New Age ethics.The militant gay rights movement is indicative of this slide into darkness and societal chaos. Sexual perversion is notorious for bringing down civilizations. What was the most noble form of sexuality in ancient Greece...pedophilia. NAMBLA is now seeking to be recognized as part of the democratic ideal. We are playing with fire here and everybody is going to get burned.

Techniques for self-knowledge: going within via a passage to India As in gnosticism, New Age consciousness raising needs "spiritual technology." Instead of Jesus's historical ascension into heaven, the New Age speaks of how various techniques can help our souls or consciousness ascend into higher vibrational levels. The list of techniques used for self-realization and healing are endless. The promise of self-realization through self-knowledge is to be had through meditation.There is a growing sense of union with the universal divine. But, again, this is the old lie of the Devil. Since we cannot become like God, such procedures inevitably leads to the loss of any true identity or even possession.

The bottom line  There is an astounding similarity between the historical and theological parallels in gnostic and New Age thinking, which suggests a common generating source--Satan. All of these diverse elements that come under the New Age rainbow, are designed to be there.In its planetary vision and one-world philosophy, the New Age has far exceeded gnosticism. The gnostic empire is striking back after 1,500 years with renewed and added force. Satan is repeating himself in human history, and as Christians we need to recognize what is going on. This bottom line should alert Christians to take the New Age with utmost seriousness. Every believer needs to understand what is happening so that they don't get caught in one of its many traps, and to rethink their faith and witness in light of this pernicious heresy.This is not just another passing fad...I think this is Satan's last stand.

I am currently in the midst of the darkest nexus of supernatural evil I have ever encountered. The person I am helping has a husband who is a high ranking UN official--he is also possessed  She texted me tonight because, after picking him up from work, they both heard two very loud growls in their car, and they were petrified. Later tonight I read a personal message on Facebook which was threatening: "I have one thing to say--close your church or it will be closed for you." ...based on the Satanic symbols on her page, it would seem she is summoning demons against me. I will not live re-actively -all curses have been trumped by the blood of the Lamb and been declared so... I replied that I currently did not pastor a church, and that Jesus loved her and can liberate her from darkness--I was there if she ever wanted to talk. Love is the final apologetic to those caught in New-Age/occultic bondage.

By the blood of the Lamb, we WILL be victorious. However, it is up to us to have the compassion to understand Satan's schemes and warn others of it.  To God alone be the glory! 

How Serious is the Belief in Trapped Spirits?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann    

My interest in the theological issue of spiritism accelerated like a rocket when I realized the titanic With the American spiritual landscape littered with the rubbish of all manner of crazy ideas and beliefs, it has the dubious distinction of being the arch-heterodox belief of the day…that is my opinion and I am prepared to defend that sentiment.

The first argument is simple but profound: fifty percent of Americans now believe in trapped spirits. HALF—ONE OUT OF EVERY TWO!—OF THE POPULATION HAS EMBRACED THIS ERROR…HIGHER WITH THE YOUNGER CROWD…AND GROWING FAST EVERY DAY.  No need to drone on here, but what other specific belief error comes anywhere near that quantity of people? Number of people affected should certainly be considered when determining if an issue merits being called a crucial issue, should it not?  Spiritism is a crucial issue which must be passionately addressed because more people have embraced this erroneous belief than any other heterodox belief.

Certainly one can believe in ghosts and still be saved, because Scripture clearly teaches justification by faith alone (Rom. 4; 5:1) However, the ability to discern the relative importance of theological/spiritual beliefs is vital for effective Christian life and ministry. The relative importance of certain issues/beliefs can fall within four categories. 1.Absolutes define the core beliefs of the Christian faith…what one must believe to be saved (the belief in absolute truth is a distinct issue); 2.Convictions, while not core beliefs, usually have significant impact on the health and effectiveness of the church and individuals; 3. Opinions, are less clear issues and are usually not worthy of dividing over; 4. Questions are issues which are currently unsettled. These criteria, and the seven below, are designed to help sort through the myriad of issues we face by categorizing them into four distinct levels of seriousness…hope they will help you in the future with thinking through the significance of other issues as well.

Where an issue falls within these categories should be determined by weighing the cumulative force of at least seven considerations: 1. Biblical clarity; 2. Relevance to the character of God; 3. Relevance to the essence of the gospel; 4. Biblical frequency and significance (how often in Scripture it is taught and what weight Scripture places upon it); 5. Effect on other doctrines; 6. Consensus among Christians (past and present); 7. Effect on personal and church life…all the categories should be considered collectively in determining how important an issue is to the Christian faith. The ability to rightly discern the difference between core doctrines and legitimately disputable matters will keep the church from either compromising important truth or needlessly dividing over peripheral issues.(pg. 2502 ESV Study Bible, emp. added)

In a sense, the main goal of my book is to provide the cumulative evidence (mentioned above and other) to argue that the issue of trapped spirits lies within the realm of convictions—see above for distinctiveness of four categories of issues…#2. While a biblically accurate belief regarding spiritism is not a core/absolute issue (not necessary for salvation…belief in the deity of Christ is an example of a belief that is a core issue), it is an exceedingly important convictionor teaching of the bible. Belief in ghosts, and attempting communication with them, can do serious damage to the church and to an individual’s spirituality. I should hasten to add, it IS doing serious damage right now. Let us look at the relative importance the bible gives to this issue, and the ramifications for the spiritual and emotional health of people by looking at these seven points.

1. Biblical clarity—using accepted principles of hermeneutics, Deuteronomy 18:9-14 and Leviticus 20:6-8, 27 are they key texts relative to communication with the dead (this is a distinct issue which is beyond the scope of this newsletter, but I devoted an entire article on this), and they are clear and explicit regarding the exceptional wickedness of spiritism. God as Judge used Israel as executioner of the Canaanites due to the latter’s occult practices which included spiritism. The land had become so defiled by this and other occult practices that it was vomiting them out. As I mentioned, using sound interpretive principles, it is abundantly clear that these texts have priority over all other “ghost” related texts. Then, when we look at these texts, we see that they are transgenerational in their authority. As far as biblical clarity, these texts are as clear as clear can get. There should be no debate if you under Christ’s Lordship. Remember that Jesus Himself quoted from Deut. three times when countering Satan’s climactic temptations in the wilderness.

2. Relevance to the character of God—the notion of ghosts casts a shadow over God’s omnipotence, and goodness (actually ALL the attributes of God are frontally assaulted by this notion)…what kind of God would leave deceased babies here as spirit babies? That “God” would be Satan-like. Spritism implies that the Lord is not sovereign over His creation—a godlette or McGod. “They died so quickly their souls got stuck here.” Are we to believe that manner of death can snatch believers out of God’s hands? God forbid! I could go on and on here…

3. Relevance on the essence of the gospel—the perfection of the Person and work of Christ is seriously undermined and impugned if we believe that some people get trapped when they die. What are we saved from, if death is NOT a doorway to heaven?  A McSalvation at best. While it does not utterly ruin the atonement, as denial of the deity of Christ does, it comes perilously close to it. Was Jesus’s salvation perfectly efficacious or not? Is Jesus the Son of Man, the conquering Warrior over evil and death, or not? Is it good news to believe that God’s blood was shed, only to wake up in the front porch to hell?

4. Frequency and weight—while spiritism is not mentioned often in the bible, where it is mentioned, the utmost weight or gravity is placed upon this issue (see 1 above).

5. Effect on other doctrines—pull out a book on bible doctrine and you will see how EVERY doctrine is undermined by the notion of people getting trapped here. For example, the biblical doctrine ofhope is hopelessly destroyed by this belief. Hope is certainty regarding our future glory—how can one enjoy this basic fruit of the atonement when the fearful prospect of possibly being trapped here is hanging over our heads? Hope is not only an important biblical doctrine, but it is also crucial for a healthy emotional state. Another example is the believers union with Christ—we are in Christ, and indissolubly united with the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. We are already in heaven with Jesus, in a very real sense (Col.3:3). Our union with Jesus is unbreakable, and it is the hub from which all other spiritual blessings flow. What does it say about that union, if we can be separated from Christ indefinitely in a paranormal gutter-world…Satan’s home turf? The same corrosive effects occur to many other biblical doctrines. Please check it out for yourself….it may cast a whole new light on this discussion.

6. The consensus of Christians (past and present)—from the early church fathers who railed against the same pagan Gnosticism as we do today, up until today, the monolithic consensus of the doctors of the church has been that death ushers everyone immediately into their eternal destiny. I do not know of a single judicious theologian, in 2,000 years of church history, who has believed in ghosts—death has always been seen as certain entry into either eternal life or eternal death. Are we so foolish to ignore their collective wisdom?

7. Effect on personal and church life—how can you live with joy inexpressible when you are speaking to demons, and are being demonically oppressed?  Because the spirit realm is the God ordained temporary home of most of the fallen angels (rest already in hell), then when people summon spirits they immediately find themselves playing in Satan’s sandbox…and they are trespassing, which gives the demonic legal right to attach and attack. Since the notion of ghosts is so hostile to all that we call holy, then belief/speaking to the dead seriously undermines the stability of a Christian’s spiritual foundation—like a three legged table, it would not take much a “bump” to cause them to crash. As I mentioned, this belief is extremely corrosive to all it comes in contact with—other orthodox beliefs held side-by-side with it, will tend to be affected by it, and not vice versa. Kind of like when a Christian marries a non-Christian, the latter tends to pull the Christian down…having a corrosive effect on their spirituality.