In following up yesterday's post on the word "ghost" occurring in the Bible, I want to say a couple more important things. I do not wish to come across as argumentative. No one has said that I was, but I want to be clear in where I am coming from. It is not a matter of being argumentative, but a matter of bringing truth to light. This "crisis" is not only doctrinal, it is pastoral.
Our main goal as a paranormal investigation team is to help families in crisis. We do not consort mediums or psychics for divination. We do not consort with the dead (necromancy). We reject witchcraft and its modern nomenclature: Wicca. That is all condemned in scripture. The Spirit we consort with is the Holy Spirit. We teach and educate on the dangers of occult practices. So much is misunderstood about the paranormal. It is a neutral term. It can be bad or very good. People need to learn their terms before they make comments on things they know little about. Consorting with the Holy Spirit can accurately be deemed paranormal (more technically accurate: it is supernatural). We respond to people in need, and investigate to determine what is causing their problem. We hold their hand all the way through the process and help them understand what is going on by identifying the source(s) of the phenomena. Once that is done, sometimes we have to do follow-up work with the client, such as we are doing in two cases currently. This is all done from a Christian point of view, from beginning to end. The follow-up work we are doing right now with one client is ongoing work to bolster the client's spiritual formation, and might just as well be called discipling. So, this issue is not only doctrinal in nature, it is pastoral. Being a "pastor" to people involves much more than mere preaching. We do not simply "tell" people what to do, we walk them through it by coming into their homes time after time if necessary, and guiding them through a navigation to draw closer to the true Light of the world. I don't know how to be more clear than that.
In this current time, Satan and the kingdom of darkness are on the move. That is the "crisis" I am speaking of. Such a time as this requires a pastoral response, not merely a doctrinal one. Our doctrine must be true and defensible scripturally, but must also make sense in the context of human suffering and experience and meet the need of the common man and woman on the street and in the home. The times grow perilous and people are in crisis and suffering torment. The spirit world is very, very active in our current time. Meanwhile, while this is happening in the midst of families in crisis, far too many Christians are clocking in on Sundays at their churches and ignoring the reality all around them Monday through Saturday. Currently, we have a heavy case load with two separate families in Vidalia, one in Winnfield, La; another in Monticello, MS; and one case we have been on for weeks in Pomona, New York. The New York case involves African voodoo and animism combined with ancestral worship and Islam, and is one of the most serious, complex cases I have ever come across. I have done more pastoral ministry in the context of spiritual warfare the last few months than I have done in years. Indeed, in one case from Franklin County, MS, the client told us there was simply no way she could approach her pastor with the phenomena she and her family was experiencing. Why? Because they simply would not believe her, and would ostracize her immediately as a kook. Her "church" was not an option. We were an option, they chose us, and we helped the family. That is pastoral. [Click here to read a few of our testimonials.]
We provide an option that is sorely needed. The cogent option we offer is that we can approach paranormal investigation with an open mind, and can remain free to truthfully diagnose a family's problem with one of several possible causes, and not be hamstrung with limited causal properties. The average church as well as science, both limit themselves to an extremely narrow range of cause. We are free to move and choose properly among many possible reasons, including but not limited to psychological, emotional, psycho-kinetic; natural; architectural; physiological; paranormal; preternatural and the supernatural. I can promise you this, we will not be detered and we will carry the Light forward in this present darkness. We say, as Martin Luther said at the Diet of Worms in 1521 where he was on trial, summoned to reaffirm or renounce his views: "Here I stand, I can do no other - so help me God, amen."
Other Posts on This Topic:
CS Lewis On Purgatory Which Theologically Supports Ghosts
With all due respect, if I had to choose between a local pastor's thoughts or CS Lewis's thoughts, I believe I'd side with CS Lewis, hands down. He was far smarter than any of us and is someone who is certainly safe for us to trust theologically: http://natchezghosts.blogspot.com/2011/01/cs-lewis-on-purgatory-which-supports.html
Hebrews 9:27 Is NOT a Verse That Refutes Purgatory
This post covers a commonly cited verse used to attempt to refute the concept of purgatory - which it does not. What it actually does refute is the concept of reincarnation. This is the first in a series in which I will be looking at verses that misguided people often use to say ghosts can't exist, and shed light on their true meaning.
http://napsdemonology.blogspot.com/2011/01/hebrews-927-is-not-verse-that-refutes.html
It's a Shame We Have to Fight Christians To Help People
A lament of having to fight through the closed-minded fundamentalists' ignorant rhetoric and condemnation in order to help people, and how they are irrelevant. They aren't at the places we go trying to help people, we are.
http://natchezghosts.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-shame-we-have-to-fight-christians.html
There will be much more to come in the comings weeks and months as we build a polemic against such thinking and answer our critics with our apologetic.
"A lament of having to fight through the closed-minded fundamentalists' ignorant rhetoric and condemnation in order to help people"
ReplyDeleteAmen!