Introduction to Systematic Theology: Why Knowing God & Solid Biblical Content is Especially Important in a Pagan Culture

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Theology is applying the whole of the bible to the whole of life. For example, when we study God’s omnipotence, we will ask what does the entire bible say about it, and try to apply it.

My name is Mark Hunnemann and in 1973 I became a Christian, and it was quite a change. I immediately was introduced to JI Packer, John Stott, C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, RC Sproul and other wonderful writers who had profound influence upon me…their theology and love for the Lord. Kept me from slipping back into old lifestyle.

I went to seminary and was a pastor for many years and had the honor of preaching the whole counsel of God. I am sitting because this is not church, and I am teaching—not preaching.. I invite you to fact check everything I say. I’ve written a book entitled Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes and working on a second one. I have been deeply involved in helping folks who are struggling with demonic oppression—passion of mine.

 We live a pagan culture in which mind-less experience is the key to spiritualty, but it leads to delusion and oppression. We and our children need as much biblical content as possible, and the most loving thing you can do as a parent and grandparent is to grow in your knowledge and love of God.
In a sense, every Christian is a theologian—for better or for worse—and the ‘for worse’  aspect is no small matter. The epistles and Jesus warn us that heresies are destructive attacks by wolves against God’s sheep; and wolves are not very kind to sheep. Therein lies my passion for this series. Gallop recently did a poll and it left me speechless—the amount of biblical theological ignorance amongst professing Christians is astonishingly high. Breaks my heart. And my passion is to take profound truth and make it understandable and catch on fire! So, I invite you on a journey of discovery together—to delve deeply into the meat of God’s Word. I believe there are many Christians hungering for solid meat and I want to do my humble part to help in that regard.

The bible says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. The ideas that don’t just flit around our brains momentarily, but the ones that penetrate the heart, are the ideas that shape our lives. And ideas have legs. We are what we think. Sound theology is required for a godly life because we have to first know the truth before we can do the truth. So, no Christian can avoid theology. Some may strenuously deny it, but every Christian has a theology.  The issue is do we have a sound theology? Do we embrace true or false doctrine? You may be surprised to hear this but every wrong belief I embrace is sin due to not loving God with all of my mind.

Before giving a more concrete basis for studying theology let me address several common misconceptions or concerns—with brief replies.

1. First, does not Jesus teaching about embracing the Kingdom with child-like faith (Mark 10:15) imply a simple faith? Yes, but there is world of difference between child-like faith and child-ish faith. The latter is obstinate and refuses to bow before authority and settles for a diet of spiritual milk. The implicit trust of a child is something we never grow out of but we are to grow to into maturity—solid meat. 11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

2. Many Christians have developed an aversion to theology because of their distrust of theologians. I understand…and have experience first hand of the devastating effects of higher-critical methods of ‘scholarship’ which is just a mask for unbelief and often shoddy scholarship. Most seriously, they have vandalized God’s holy Word, and caused serious damage to people. Academia is filled with wolves who are unregenerate pagans who are intellectually arrogant. But please remember that we must not throw out the baby with the bath water; to reject theology is to commit spiritual suicide.

3. The false pietism of our day denigrates the mind. But the pattern in scripture is deep doctrine and then application. EG But we are told in Romans 12:1-2 to be transformed through the renewing of our minds. some emphasize a direct experience with the Holy Spirit, which bypasses the mind,

4. Theology breeds arguments and controversy. Yes, it does because truth implies error, and error must be confronted or we accommodate it by our silence. What kind of world do you want our grandkids to live in? Jesus’s life was a storm cloud of controversy, as was Paul's because truth matters. It is godless controversy we are to avoid, not godly controversy, which is needed. To avoid controversy is to avoid Christ. We are not to argue about non-important issues, and the THE mark of a Christian is love.

5. We have unconsciously been influenced by the relativization and subjectivism of the truth. The concept of truth has changed and this has belittled the importance of the content of truth and the intellect. One of the glories of our faith is that it is a system of coherent, rational truth. It is much more than a system of truth, but not less. We should rejoice in this in light of the content-less spirituality of pagan, New Age. One hand clapping may sound profound but it means nothing rational.  I recently did a video on the  “Cosmic Christ” and I chose this title carefully because I wanted to catch the attention of New Agers and I wanted to accent the cosmic dimension of the atonement-Christus victor. But it was mainly to show the CONTENT of the true Christ vs the myth of the pagan conception of Christ. I next want to do one entitled the Cosmic Christ and His alien, extra-terrestrial righteousness! Hehe  Actually, I am not kidding because the term ‘alien righteousness’ is a theological term for the righteousness of Christ which is extra-terrestrial—outside the earth, and reserved in heaven. See if I can work ET in the title too! His righteousness is imputed to us in justification.

Suppose someone says: why theology? All I need is to love to Jesus. First, which Jesus? (New Age, Jehovas Witness, etc.) Who is He and what did He do? What happened on the cross?  Second, ‘love’ can be defined and expressed in a thousand different ways. And Jesus Himself said: “teaching them ALL that I commanded you.”

Positive role of theology: just as we get to know a person better as we know more about them, so our knowledge of and love for God should grow as we study about His Person and work---in creation and redemption. For our soul to be inflamed with a passion for God then it first has to pass through our minds.  (CS Lewis quote)

I am at a point in life at age 62 where I wish to record the truths of God’s Word. Knowledge without devotion is cold, dead orthodoxy. But devotion without knowledge is irrational instability; one is left vulnerable to being undiscerning to the wiles of the devil…and I see people falling left and right. How can people believe in earthbound spirits? Recently a friend went back to being a witch. 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherdsc and teachers,d 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,e to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Avoid syncretism which is blending of non-Christian thought with bible. Solid theology helps avoid that..become discerning. Like eg of bank teller and counterfeit.

Growing in the knowledge of God is a great joy and honor. It is a delight to the soul. Takes effort and discipline, but this is a matter of life and death—even eternal life and death. And this series is designed, by God’s grace, to enable us to love Him more and be more effective in your witness to a lost and broken world. Dig in!

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook format.

What is Reality, Part 1...Reality as Matrix Illusion

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

What is reality…what is really real? If one is serious about defending their faith, then they need to wrestle with this issue. Though there are innumerable variations in the answers to this question, they can all be subsumed under one of these four answers. Reality is:

1.    An illusion
2.    Self-created
3.    Self-existent and eternal
4.    Created by self-existent, eternal God

How do we explain the world that we experience and perceive on a moment by moment basis? In this blog we’ll consider the explanation that the world is an illusion.

My presupposition is that the Triune God exists and has spoken to us in His Word. Hence, intellectual autonomy is foolish, self-destructive, and leads to irrationality. Intellectual autonomy is the view that people have the right to examine and define God’s world/reality without being subject to God’s revelation. How can anyone imagine that ignoring the Master of created reality could be a wise decision? It only leads to profoundly unreal views of reality.

In Proverbs 1:7 (the organizing principle of Proverbs) we are told that we must fear the Lord (loving reverence)if we are to be able to attain a correct understanding of God’s reality/world. Lack of this fear will lead to folly and unreality. Knowledge and wisdom are closely related but there is a distinction: knowledge is a correct understanding of the nature of the world (reality) and our relationship to it and God as creatures of the great King. Wisdom is the acquired knowledge of how to live in God’s world in a way that is pleasing to Him, and that includes right thinking. A teachable heart before Yahweh as the only God is the key to growing in both knowledge and wisdom.

In the Matrix movies, especially the first two, an obvious theme is that of illusion and reality. This is not a movie review, so I’m not going into detail regarding it but only mention it because it was enormously popular and borrowed themes that have become popular in recent days.

Neo discovers he is living in an illusory world, and it raises important questions: is what we perceive really an illusion? Can we trust our perceptions?

It seems that the movie series borrowed heavily from Gnostic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Neo-New Age ideas which have become ensconced in our culture. There are variations in their conception of reality being illusory but the main theme is that mankind has become ignorant of our true condition. We have become ignorant of our inner divinity, and the goal is not salvation but enlightenment. At the risk of over-simplification (because each of the religions mentioned above has a different idea of how this illusion started and the specifics of the illusion) each one does see life, in some sense, as an illusion.

Let’s not miss the forest for the trees: the consistent theme between all the worldviews mentioned above is the denial of the distinction between the transcendent Creator God and His creation. Instead, in one form or another, they affirm that whatever divinity exists is entirely immanent—coextensive with the universe…to the extent that it really exists. Again, the variations are so mind-boggling that it’s difficult to know where to start. So, let me quote from Walter Martin:

“Illusion or Maya….The material world to monists and pantheists is not real in the sense that it is a lower form or low vibration of the Higher Existence (God) or the Highest Vibration (Spirit). If all is God or all is One, then what we think is reality is said to be an illusion of Spirit; it is a slow vibration of the same substance which then takes on the illusionary (solid form). If we speed it up, it would disappear as spirit.” (W Martin, The Kingdom of the Occult, pg 210).

Some go so far as solipsism which is the view that only my mind is real and all else is a dream or illusion. One problem with this “game” (and I don’t know anybody who seriously believes this view) is how you express this view to another ‘person’? You HAVE to assume another person/mind exists outside your own. Forgive the crudity, but when I first heard this argument as an 18 year old philosophy major, I thought to myself: “Well, a good swift kick to the shin would show the utter stupidity of that game!” I stick by my initial, crude reply…it doesn’t pass the existential test—what we know intuitively about reality.

So, how does a Christian respond?

1. First, with Jeremiah (ch 9:1) we should weep for our generation that has become so lost that it has become unhinged from reality as a result of jettisoning God; they deny the very reality in which they live. What a horrible mess our quest for autonomy has brought about.

2. If one states that all reality is an illusion, then that assertion is itself an illusion, and therefore not true.

But what does a biblical worldview say about reality being an illusion?.God does not have to have “His papers stamped” by us, so I humbly presuppose that the Triune God exists and has spoken true truth to us about Himself and HIS reality. There’s plenty of evidence to support Christianity, but that’s beyond the scope of this blog.

3. Genesis 1:31 is God’s perspective on His material creation. Despite the invasion of sin later (ch.3) the creation retains its goodness (1 Timothy 4:4)and reveals God’s attributes Romans 1:18ff). This verse states that God looked at ALL he had created and declared it “very good”…there is a sense of wonderment and delight in all that God had created…physical and spiritual. Space and time was created first and then the rest of universe, with the earth as His temple. So, you have an objective reality being created in the finite past, AND God rejoicing in His objective creation. Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, God is transcendent: the Creator is distinct from His creation. Distorted views of reality begin by confusing this crucial distinction—creator and creation become co-extensive, and the fundamental duality (not dualism) at the heart of reality is lost. In the biblical view there is God, and everything else…the universe. In the biblical view, God is both transcendent and immanent—the Holy Spirit and supremely in Jesus Christ.

In many Neo-New Age ideas, there is a primacy of the spiritual; in some sense it is more real…or the material is altogether illusory.That view is on a collision course with the Genesis account of the creation of reality. Even some Christians view the spiritual realm as more important, but that’s not the biblical view.

As C.S. Lewis said: “God must love matter because He made so much of it!” How true!

4. In a biblical worldview, the spiritual and material realms are both real and neither is more important, nor is either an illusion. The notion of the world as an illusion is utterly foreign to the Hebraic mindset and a biblical worldview. Moses was acutely aware of pagan distorted notions of reality and this creation account is utterly unique in the ancient world in its view of objective reality in relation to the transcendent God. Moses was educated in the myths and magick of ancient Egypt, and it was into this cultural setting which was steeped in paganism, polytheism, pantheism, ect that Genesis was written; to refute these demonic delusions and illusionary thought. Moses self-consciously wrote Genesis to show that the only Living God created all things and to clear up distorted views of reality.

 5. Genesis 1-2 God presents the material world as objectively real, independent of our senses. What we see IS real because it was created by God, the author of all life. It certainly was not created by an inferior or even evil god. The first three chapters of Genesis provide the fundamental presuppositions of reality which the rest of the bible rests upon. So, it is no wonder that Jesus and Paul refer back to these chapters in dealing with controversies of their day, providing us with a model for dong the same.

6. The notion of the world being illusory undercuts the scientific enterprise. In Genesis 1:28 we are given the cultural mandate to have dominion as God’s image-bearers. We are to lovingly take care of God’s good creation and explore it. AN Whitehead and Oppenheimer, neither of whom were Christians, said that modern science could have only started in a biblical worldview/milieu because it assumes that a reasonable God created a reasonable universe which can be discovered by our reason. The notion of the world as an illusion, could never have given birth to modern science.

7. The entire drama of redemption was enacted in space and time on the earth. To assert that the material realm is an illusion is to imply that the cross of Christ was an illusion as well. Certainly that is a doctrine of demons.

8. Prophesied in Isaiah 65 and re-stated in Revelation 21-22, heaven will be here on a renewed earth. Hence, we see the eternality of the material realm is central to God’s plans for eternal glory. In Romans 8 the physical realm groans for freedom now, and since Jesus’ death was cosmic in scope, when He comes back the entire physical cosmos will be freed from the ravages of sin. Heaven is not an illusion—it is the dwelling place of God. And we shall see Him face to face forever here on this renewed earth. Praise God!

9. Basic reliability of sense perceptions:

I made the earth and created man on it;

it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,

and I commanded all their host.

For thus says the Lord,

who created the heavens

(he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

(he established it;

he did not create it empty,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the Lord, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:12, 18)

Notice the train of thought in this text. First and foremost it is God-saturated! He states over and over that He is the One who created reality. We must perceive His creation through His eyes. There is an affirmation of the Genesis account of Yahweh as the Creator of the objective heavens and earth…which existed before any human perception of it—God’s perception is primary! Second, God states that He created this world so that it would be habitable and inhabited; especially by mankind who alone are made in His image. If God created the world specifically to be inhabited then that has enormous ramifications.

Yes, the world is fallen and full of sorrow and suffering, but the answer is not to deny the reality of reality or suffering, but to see it and weep, and seek to alleviate its effects.

From the outset, God created the world to be inhabited by all sorts of creatures but primarily by His image bearers. And as such He gave us our sense perceptions in order to function and relate to the world and to each other.

Are our senses reliable? If you place an oar in the water, it appears different than it is, but that is due to an optical illusion, and not an illusion at the heart of reality or a denial of what I call: THE BASIC RELIABILITY OF THE SENSE PERCEPTIONS.

Immanuel Kant asserted that we could only see the phenomena but not the real thing in itself (noumena) In other words, we can’t trust our sense perceptions to give us an accurate understanding of reality itself. How sad, but that is what happens in autonomous thinking—it leads to irrationality and unreality.

However, He who made the world and sees it, also made our eyes and all the five senses in order to function fruitfully in His world. And He also made the categories of our finite brains to correspond to external reality. Is that not what you expect God to do if He created us to live fruitfully on this earth? What we see with our eyes, and our brains process, does correspond to reality external to us. Why? Because God created the world to be inhabited.. Hence, He gave us the necessary tools to inhabit it fruitfully and to carry out the cultural mandate in Genesis. So, for Christians, there simply is no problem with whether we can trust our perceptions of reality. When God brought the various animals before Adam in order to name them, the assumption is that Adam saw God’s creation clearly and accurately enough to be able to taxonomize it. In order to till the garden and enjoy its beauty, then all five senses had to be functional.

God made our senses and so we can joyfully affirm and know that we can trust the basic reliability of the sense perceptions. God created them, so any notion of their unreliability would be impious. The same God who made all of reality, also made His image bearers to be able to accurately perceive and categorize external reality.

However, if we are random products of evolution, then all we are is matter/energy in motion, and our skulls filled with brain gas, leaving us with no basis to trust either our thoughts or our perceptions of the world. How can we know, in the macro-evolutionary scheme, that external reality conforms to our perceptions of it? We couldn’t.

Dear friends, the world is not an illusion. Not only did God create and rejoice in the material reality He created, but our eternal existence will be lived out on a new earth! (Revelation 21-22)

Jesus did not come to save us from ignorance relating to an illusion, but to save us from the wages of sin. The drama of redemption was accomplished in space and time on this objective planet. And Jesus died in order to set the cosmos free as well—all of created reality, (Romans 8) from the effects of the historical Fall. Thus, for followers of Jesus, the material realm is not an illusion to flee from but the renewed earth will be the arena in which we shall experience His goodness for all eternity!  And that is no Matrix…it is utter, sweet, real, reality!

Read Part 2 here: http://eyeontheparanormal.blogspot.com/2017/12/what-is-reality-part-2reality-as-self.html

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook format.

Satan Would Not Do Good -- Would He?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

An argument that is persuading some folks is this--"Satan would not do something good, since he is pure evil". And they then give some extraordinary example of "apparitional humans" doing something that helps someone/s. The term "apparitional humans" is usually used to distinguish between deceased humans and demonic mimicry, but since I don't believe in true human apparitions, I use them as synonyms.

Examples abound of "apparitional humans" comforting or in some way helping to extend the Kingdom of God. What do we make of this?

I can see why this would cause problems for Christians, but we must not put Satan in a box as to what this perfectly evil creature is capable of. His intelligence is way above mine or yours, and intelligent deception will often include losses for the greater cause. What he considers an acceptable loss may not seem so to our inferior intellects. Yes, I have a healthy appreciation for the devil's capabilities. Below are a few examples or reasons for Satanic 'good works' .

Examples also abound of people who were wicked who appear to family to comfort them...does that mean folks on the way to hell may visit loved ones...I think not.

Some examples are more psychological in nature, w/o apparition--what if it is the Holy Spirit comforting a believer in extraordinary way? (e.g. C.S. Lewis) Comforting suffering Christians is a major role of the Holy Spirit.

What if demon did make tactical error...they HAVE to sometimes since they are not God. In other words, demons have had the "tables turned" (Romans 8:28)

Satan is in fight he knows he will lose. Hence, he is desperate, and desperate "persons" will do desperate things.

Satan's intelligence vastly exceeds ours. Like George Washington, he knows the importance of deception in warfare. Only, the devil IS  deception. If he perceives that a 'defeat' will serve greater strategy of his, then he will allow defeat.It is well known that Mexican cartels send some shipments of drugs as a decoy to be caught in order for larger shipments to have greater chance of making it through customs/border patrol. How many "human apparitions" who actually help people, actually allow for larger "shipment" of occult to filter in?

A 'healing' by energy healer may bring wonderful results to impress all involved, but the 'good work' will backfire at some point. This is simply an example of bad good works(see below) that is similar to apparitional humans doing 'good'.

As John Gerstner pointed out there are bad good works, and good good works. The latter are done for God's glory, but the former can be the outwardly looking most wonderful actions, but have nefarious motives.

To say an action could NOT come from Satan because it accomplished some good, shows a naive view of warfare in general, and of Satan's massive intelligence in particular.

From my own experience, seemingly apparitional humans who appeared tender and helpful at first, eventually showed that they were really seeking to steal, kill, and destroy.

I end with this, why do you think Paul spoke of Satan's/demons ability to appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), if they did not appear to be doing the Lord's work?

That is what the next verse speaks of....

If you allow for any form of apparitional humans, then what is your OBJECTIVE criterion for distinguishing that and demonic mimicry? 1 John 4:1ff calls us to distinguish between Holy Spirit led teachers and demonic led teachers....you cannot read apparitional humans as third option without reading it into the text. We must remain faithful to SOLA SCRIPTURA.

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook format.

Media, Movies, Creating, and the Supernatural

By Lisa Grace

Good becomes evil, and evil appears as good. The term "politically correct." The devil uses media to push truths as lies. The Bible says we are created in God's image. God is a creator. Ergo man likes to create too. From C. S. Lewis to Tolkien come worlds that are populated by creations drawn from early mythology.

Man creates worlds too, especially through various forms of storytelling (including books and movies), we must be careful to discern where the ideas are coming from. And for what purpose are we creating? Are we creating to magnify the glory of God or to pervert it?

Jesus himself told stories, the parables. Why? Because he understood we learn from what we can imagine, hear or see. Stories and storytelling are a means to communicating a truth or make a lie seem like a truth.

Through storytelling, we can create different worlds, times, places, to allow us to understand something about the life we are living.

How does this tie in with the supernatural?

Satan also uses storytelling to convey the lies he would like us to see as truths. Some literature and movies while harmless on the conscious level are extremely dangerous in their underlying themes.

Some of the universal lies that are popular in mainstream media are:

1) All roads lead to God

2) Do what thou wilt (The devil's creed)

3) Death is just the stepping stone to something better no matter what your belief system is

4) You will live another earthly life; and have many chances to get it right

5) You don't need a Savior, because you're really not bad

6) You are your own savior and deep down you know it

I have read many books and watched many movies that have at least one of these underlying themes. This is one of the most devious paths the devil uses to influence are belief systems. In many ways, horror movies come the closest to showing why we need a Savior, and the real motive behind the supernatural creatures that choose to interact with humans. Many people won't watch horror films, because they are scary. But what the devil knows is: don't scare people, that drives them a way, instead, entice them with what they want.

Nothing to me is more scary than appealing uplifting films that give a false message saying you don't need a Savior. The road to death and hell is unfortunately paved with really fun movies and books.

Lisa Grace is the author of the teen Angel Series, Angel in the Shadows, Book 1 is free through most major ebook retailers including Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052AI5W8
or all formats here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/236544 or iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/book/id563691002?mt=11

The Bible and Magic

By Lisa Grace

The Holy Scriptures address magic and witchcraft as an abomination, being against God. Those that practice it are going against God’s wishes.

Why is practicing magic against God’s wishes? Because it ultimately hurts us. First, we can be mislead into thinking we are in control, making ourselves and our desires our own god. Second, communicating with the dead is impossible (they sleep) so those who think they are talking to the dead are talking to demons or some other type of supernatural creature.

Magic, tarot cards, ouija boards, crystals, etc. can all be controlled by demons to get humans to do things that are not in their best interest. Who ultimately is controlling your life when you use these tools? Not you, but creatures who do not have your best interests at heart.

Prayer and reading your Holy Scriptures are the only communication you need—a direct line to God. Why go anywhere else for answers?

One practice I find disturbing in Christian science fantasy is the use of magic by “good” characters. I find this practice an oxymoron. Since God says magic and its practice is an abomination, showing it as anything but evil, is against His word.

I think those of us who write fiction about the supernatural world from a Christian world-view have a responsibility to uphold (in any universe or world we create) to reflect the basic values of God that displeasing actions (such as using magic) have dire consequences.

I think both C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien handle this well in their fictional worlds.

When you need answers in life the best place they can be found is through reading your Holy Scriptures and then on your knees asking the King of the Universe yourself, in person.

The Paranormal Christian – Purgatory and Ghosts

Dr. Michael Frisbee, DD/DM

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving last week.  The short work we last week left me a ton of work this week, and unfortunately, I spaced getting an article ready for my blog.  Thus, this week, my co-host on “The Paranormal Christian”, Rev Mark Hunnemann, is helping me out by presenting an article he wrote back in April regarding Purgatory.  We will be discussing this in greater detail on our show tomorrow night.

Purgatory and Ghosts.
Rev. Mark Hunnemann

Born the seventh of ten children, I grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family.  As a sensitive young boy, I understood Purgatory as hell with an ending; after the appropriate amount of time had been served, souls would be released. Who went to Purgatory? Any Christian who was not perfect when they died would spend a finite amount of time suffering in a hellish state in order to cleanse or purge away the remaining filth of sin.  After the soul had been perfected, then entrance into heaven was allowed. Thus, Purgatory was a virtual inevitability for every believer, except for a select few saints. Today, none of my siblings are Christians, and I suffer from scar tissue built up on my soul caused, in part, by belief in Purgatory. I would put bb's (bb gun) in my socks as a boy, and walk around in intentional discomfort, in order to suffer for Christ, and build up merit points which would lessen the length of my stay in short-term hell (Purgatory).

A growing number of paranormal investigators, especially Christians, are turning to the notion of Purgatory in an attempt to integrate their belief in earthbound spirits with their Christian convictions. Being trapped here on Earth, is seen as Purgatory. C.S. Lewis believed in Purgatory and he is the inspiration for some evangelical paranormalists embracing it too..

What response do I have? C.S. Lewis was one of the best read men of the twentieth century, as well as Christianity's most influential apologist (defender) during that period. He touched millions of lives, including my own.
   
However, Lewis never claimed to be a theologian. And I think he would disapprove of what many are saying about him in that regard. There were certain areas where he was aberrant: he did not believe in the inerrancy of the bible--AND he believed in praying for the dead and in Purgatory.
   
Regardless of what CS Lewis believed, the idea that the paranormal realm here on Earth is the place where souls experiences Purgatory is wrongheaded in a number of ways. First, from the data that we have from the vast corpus of EVP's, there is no correlation between official RC teaching on the nature of Purgatory and what is happening with alleged trapped souls. From their own voices, these entities--as a whole--give no expression of agony due to purgation of their sins. As I point out in "Seeing Ghosts through God's Eyes" precious little is said about sin, remorse for sin, longing for heaven, and the Person and work of Jesus. The body of EVP should be chock full of such expressions if the paranormal realm were Purgatory.
   
Second, official RC dogma states that only believers are allowed in Purgatory. Unbelievers are sent immediately to hell. That implies that every ghost trapped here on Earth is a Christian who is suffering hell-like torment. As seen above, that is simply not reflected in the data. Once you commit to using Purgatory as a means to explain the existence of ghosts, then you have painted yourself into a corner. To be consistent you would have to say that every ghost was a deceased Christian. That view does not have an ounce of plausibility.  If you mix Purgatory with the death criteria of becoming a ghost (any person can become a ghost given the right conditions), then you are left with a hopeless mess: some people are there because of traumatic death, and others are there suffering Purgatory! Again, official RC dogma does not allow for conversion/salvation in Purgatory--you already have to be a Christian to enter there and non-Christians go immediately to hell. There is no way a person can biblically defend the notion that hell is the paranormal realm.  If it is Purgatory (which it is not) then it can't be hell as well. RC dogma separates the two--one is temporal and the other is eternal; one has only believers in it, and the other (hell) has unbelievers and believers who die with unforgiven mortal sin. No time or need to elaborate on mortal and venal sins in RC theology-except it is repugnant to Scripture.
   
I cannot explain adequately the relief I felt as an 18 yr old young man when I first understood the gospel. In college I learned how the Reformation hinged on the debate about how we are justified before God. The concept of Purgatory is actually a symptom of a deadly disease-the belief that we are saved by faith in Jesus AND our good works. The Reformers restored the purity of the gospel by teaching that we are justified/saved by faith in Christ, plus NOTHING!! No more bb's...no more fear of Purgatory....no more angst about the possibility of becoming a Christian ghost. We are justified by the imputing of Christ's righteousness to us, and not by the infusion of grace. If it were the latter, then we would need to stay in Purgatory for eternity before we were righteous enough in ourselves to merit heaven. In Christ, the Father sees us as perfect; but in ourselves we are still sinners. Every believer is a saint. That is wonderfully good news! Purgatory is a reflection of confusion regarding the nature of justification--which is the heart of the gospel. The righteousness that saves/justifies us is outside of us-it is an alien or extraterrestrial righteousness that resides in Jesus who is in heaven.. He declares us "Not Guilty" and transfers or imputes to our account the perfect 33 years of living that Jesus lived for us. This is not a fictional righteousness--it is the perfect life that Jesus lived for us, and which the Father sees. Hence, the notion of Purgatory is contrary to the core of the gospel. Sure, when we die we are filthy in ourselves, but praise God He views us "in Christ"--union with Christ.
   
Every topic we touched on could have been elaborated on further but I trust this was sufficient to help you see that Purgatory cannot be used to support the notion of ghosts--unless you reinvent the nature of Purgatory. The scars received from taking the Catechism seriously as a boy, give me little patience with the Purgatory tinkering going on today. The problem with having infallible Papal decrees and councils regarding the nature of Purgatory is that they are then irreformable--it can't be changed.... There are many Catholic Christians who love the Lord deeply. What I don't understand is the rush to embrace a doctrine which should unravel you emotionally if you truly take it to heart. It unraveled the heart of a little boy I once knew ...