Why Don’t I Feel Like I Am Saved? If I Am Saved Why Don’t I Feel Like It?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Continued from: https://eyeontheparanormal.blogspot.com/2019/01/assurance-of-faith-its-importance.html

Imagine you have a very rich uncle, and when he died you are informed by his attorney that he left you 100 million dollars. Suppose this happened but when you heard the news you refused to believe it; it seemed unreal—too good to be true. So, for several months the full amount of the money was in your bank account but you made no withdrawals on it; it just sat there unused. That would be sad and unfortunate wouldn’t it, especially if you are struggling mightily just to make ends meet? You are a millionaire many time over but it has not made a bit of difference in your life; indeed you live as if you were a pauper when you are incredibly rich!

Similarly, by virtue of our union with Christ, we have NOW at our disposal all the spiritual riches imaginable, including the firm assurance of our eternal salvation; look at this verse in Ephesians.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (Eph.1:3)  He HAS blessed us…with every spiritual blessing. Pretty amazing deposit in our spiritual bank account! But how many of us live in light of this blessed truth? Lack of assurance will certainly make one feel like a spiritual pauper, but having assurance is heaven on earth!

In his lovely prayer which begins at v.15 Paul basically prays that we would deeply understand the fullness of the riches we have received in Christ. He knew that it was easy for Christians to live as if they were spiritual paupers, when we have no idea of how spiritual wealthy we are now. Like the rich uncle who died and left his inheritance, we have been left an incalculable inheritance in Christ but most Christians devalue or are unaware of how blessed we are in Christ. This ‘richness’ would certainly include the full assurance of faith; a deep sense that our faith is real and that God will not let us go. I said last time, that Christians with a robust assurance live as if they were experiencing heaven on earth!

How can we grow in our assurance? I touched on this last time but there are more issues to address.

First, we must not confuse the foundation of our salvation with its superstructure. Justification (foundation) is an eschatological reality; it is the verdict of the last day brought forward into our present experience. It is complete and nothing can be added to it. Justification is complete and perfect the moment we believe, and cannot be augmented or diminished. Sanctification is the superstructure built on top of this and sanctification IS progressive. But justification is final, complete and irreversible.  Justification is the Last Day declaration of ‘not guilty’ as well as the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to me. Please see the first segment which argues for the perseverance of the saints—without this foundation, it is impossible to attain to full and robust assurance.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)  Where does your faith come from? God.

We are justified by faith alone but our faith contributes nothing to our justification—it is 100% God’s gift to us—that could not be more clearly stated in above text. Faith is the instrument by which we lay hold of Christ. Yet the very folks who quote those verses all the time to show that we are not saved by good works, often do not see that it also indubitably affirms that we did not generate that faith; it was a grace gift from God. Faith is the empty mouth that feeds on Christ, or the empty hands that receive God’s free gift. The faith you express to receive justification is given to you by God; it is not self-generated from your flesh. Please listen: as long as we think that WE generated faith and it contributes to our justification/salvation, then instead of: experiencing weak faith which should lead to rejoicing in a strong Christ…when we experience weak faith it leads to loss of assurance of our salvation. So, when we experience bouts of weak faith, let that lead us to the object of our faith—an omnipotent Christ! We are not saved by faith in faith but faith in Jesus Christ. No matter how weak our faith may be, does not diminish one iota the strength of the object of our weak faith—King Jesus! Our assurance lies in the strength of our Savior and not the strength of our faith.

In some circles there is such a strong emphasis on remembering your conversion, that those who are uncertain about the timing of their salvation are then led to doubt the reality of their salvation. But as with physical birth where it is not important that we remember our birth, but the important thing is that we are alive now, and that entails that we most certainly were born physically! Similarly, you may not remember the moment of your conversion (I don’t) but the important issue is this: am I spiritually alive now? That is all that is needed for assurance of salvation.

Second, inconsistent obedience will lead to lack of assurance. Do we think that the indwelling Holy Spirit will give us inner comfortings regarding our salvation, when we are living in unholiness and grieving Him? A sweet and robust assurance is connected to striving for holiness. We are certainly not speaking of perfection, but a passion to please God in all areas of life. Low levels of personal holiness will lead to low levels of assurance of salvation.

Third, a misunderstanding of affliction or suffering will lead to problems with assurance. If you ask people how they know if God loves them, many will refer to His blessings as the evidence of His love. But what happens when God’s providence becomes hard and difficult? What happens when there is a ‘crook in the lot’? Do we base our apprehension of God’s love on our circumstances? If so, then we are in trouble because we live in a fallen world in which the godliest are promised by Jesus that we WILL experience suffering in this life. Circumstances neither indicate one's character (as Job’s wretched counselors assumed) nor are they indicators of God’s attitude towards us. God’s providence is mostly a mystery to us, and it often has harsh realities—we live in a terribly broken world in which we (and our loved ones) get sick and die. If you live long enough, you will experience suffering of some kind. The cross, and not our circumstances, is God’s evidence of His love for us.

In fact, many people will attest that their lives got more complicated and more painful after they believed in Christ. When the Holy Spirit indwells us, then that is when the warfare begins between indwelling sin and the indwelling Christ. The Lord promised peace IN the problems, not a guarantee of a route around the problems.

Lastly, the devil will throw up hindrances to assurance. He is a better theologian than most people. He knows that a true believer cannot be damned, so he will do all he can to make them doubt their salvation and drive them to despair. The Holy Spirit will convict you to lead you to repentance, but the devil ‘convicts’ to accuse—“You cannot be a Christian if you act or talk like that.” To which we reply: look to Jesus—He is my righteousness.

Building your assurance. In addition to things said in previous message, let me say this: make it your first priority of the day to GET YOUR HEART HAPPY IN THE LORD (George Mueller said this). What I mean is:  read your bible every day and ask God to touch your affections and to apply it to your life, with the expectation of coming away with your heart happy, assured and energized by the Holy Spirit. This is a general rule of thumb because there are valleys when darkness abounds and it is difficult to find happiness.

There are 3 areas that we should apply the bible in order to maximize its effectiveness in assurance: orthodoxy (right belief), orthopraxy (right action) and orhtopathos (right affections or feelings). Different denominations tend to be strong in one area but weak in the others, but biblical faith that leads to full assurance will need to be applied to all three. Reformed folks (like myself) tend to focus on orthodoxy but often neglect orthopathos. If you read the psalms or Philippians (e.g.) then one can see a strong focus on right belief and actions leading to proper feelings (e.g. joy—depending on what emotion the text calls for), and vice versa. There is a web of mutual reciprocity; they mutually influence each other.

Please be aware of the close connection between the physical, emotional and spiritual. If one is suffering chronic and acute physical pain, then it often affects the emotional and spiritual, and vice versa. Depression can make assurance a difficulty.

Lastly, let me mention meditation, which is a lost art. Biblical meditation is a way of abiding in Christ moment by moment. We take a verse or thought and think about it during the day and maybe even mutter to yourself about it. Unlike eastern meditation which is content-less and focuses on nothing or some placid scene, biblical meditation turns over and over in the mind some particular thought you gleaned from your daily reading of God’s Word. This helps immensely in bringing all 3 foci together (orthodoxy, orthopraxis, and orthpathos). By meditating on God’s Word we abide in Christ and the Holy Spirit assures us supernaturally of our status as God’s children, as He delights to work in conjunction with the written Word.

Next: how to deal with depression, loss and suffering.

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

Discovering God’s Will/s for your Life

By Revereand Mark Hunnemann

I can remember it vividly. I was looking at a chart (back in ‘70’s) which had a diagram of how to follow God’s ‘perfect will’ for my life—major, marriage partner, vocation, where to live, every detail of life. More than one para-church organizations used this approach with zest. Then the anxiety set in: what happens if I blow it? Am I consigned for God’s second best for the rest of my life? Such was my introduction to ‘God’s Will.’ But  I have grown a bit (older and waist size) since then and realized that there is more than one will of God, and what had been taught as ‘gospel’ regarding the perfect will of God would itself come under intense scrutiny. A book was published which finally brought some sanity to the situation, but it sure stirred up a hornets nest!

I hope this discussion, coming on the heels of our dealing with God’s sovereign decrees, will maximally benefit and edify you. I have seen that there are at least three ‘wills of God’ in the Word of God. God’s sovereign/decretive will, preceptive will, and His will of wisdom. Perhaps that we experience different kinds of wills, desires and pleasures ourselves are analogous. Theologians distinguish between God’s antecedent and consequent will but that does not serve our purpose, and His affective will.

God’s sovereign will, or decretive will (decrees) is His eternal purposes by which God foreordains everything that comes to pass. This focuses on His Lordship attribute of control, where His preceptive will accents His attribute of authority. For the most part, God’s decretive will is hidden (Deut, 29:29) until it happens. 1.20As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many peopleb should be kept alive, as they are today. 21So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Gen. 50:20) I included the next verse because this ‘will’ reminds us that God is our final situation/environment because he decrees all that happens to us (Rom. 8:28), and this helped Joseph to not be bitter and to calm his brothers fears. We can learn from this.

25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.(Matt. 11:25-27) (Ps. 51:18; 115:3; Is. 46:10; Jer. 49:20; 50:45; Dan 4:17; Acts 2:32; Rom 9:18-19; Eph 1:11; James 1:18; Rev 4:11)

These two verses explicitly refer to God’s decretive will, as well as the cited texts) Since we spent an entire segment last time on God’s decretive will I think we can leave it at that. Except to compare it briefly later. It just helps us to see that there are more than one will of God, though they are united in His mind.


2.21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Matt. 7:21)
7 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Eph. 5:17) b
2 Do not be conformed to this world,c but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.d    (Rom. 12:2)
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (John 4:34)

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:b that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own bodyc in holiness and honor, (1 Thess. 4:3-4)

16 Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. (1 Thess. 5:16-19)

We see in these texts, which could be multiplied many fold, reveal the purpose of God’s preceptive will—God’s words on how to live in a way pleasing to Him. And as we have noted, God’s sovereign will can never be broken, but God’s preceptive or moral will is broken all the time.
We are to meditate on God’s moral law (Ps. 1) and the entire 119th psalm is an eloquent appeal to obey to God’s glorious and lovely moral law. As we noted, God’s decretive will accents His control, and His moral law His authority. He has the right to elicit absolute obligation and obedience from His creatures, and especially those creatures whom he has ransomed. God’s preceptive will is His revealed law or commandments, which we have the power but not the right to break. If we are seeking God’s will, this is primarily it.

We see from the language of the preceptive texts above that their purpose is to show us God’s will for our lives. As a rule, God’s moral law is what we are to seek as God’s will. What is God’s will for you at any given moment? Love Him with all your being; be filled with the Spirit; flee from idolatry and sexual sin; all the 1,050 commands in New Testament in addition to moral law of Old Testament. If we obey His moral law, then 90 % of our guidance problems are solved.

3. However, speaking as a retired pastor, what if someone asks: “How can I find God’s will for my life regarding this job, marriage (fill in blank)?” It seems to me that it would unkind of me to speak in terms of God’s decree: ‘Whatever happens is God’s will for you.” And to speak preceptively, may miss his point entirely. He wants specific guidance regarding a specific issue: who to marry, if to marry, which vocation to choose, what city to move to, etc? Hard to find moral laws explicitly pertaining to those, except, for example, marry only a Christian.

We spoke of the sufficiency of God’s Word but there are situations where folks need help in applying that Word. Only Scripture can provide conscience binding norms for decision making but there are ways of seeking wisdom. Indeed Proverbs and James speak of wisdom relating to decision making. (James 1:5) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7). Seeking wisdom given by the Holy Spirit, we can apply the precepts of the Lord to life. The notion that the will of God is ONLY ONE COURSE OF ACTION, as I was taught (God’s perfect will) causes confusion and anxiety. If I have a choice to move to Chicago or Atlanta, the reality is that either possibility may be equally acceptable to God. If our motives are right and no moral law is broken in moving to either city, then we can assume that either decision is within the will of God.

But we can refine our wisdom decision further. Though nothing obvious is against God’s moral law in moving to Chicago, after prayer and meditating, it becomes apparent that my ‘motivated abilities’ in work would be better tapped into an Atlanta job—then I should pursue it. Or, knowing myself, Atlanta would present some overwhelming temptation situations, then I should consider Chicago. These pluses and minuses need to be weighed. And all along bathed in prayer….seeking the Lord.

According to Proverbs, wisdom is often found via intelligence, prayer, skills, feelings, imagination, understanding circumstances and other people, self knowledge, and possible consequences of an action. Scripture wants us to make decisions as wisely as possible. If it is clear that analyzing the pluses and minuses yields a clear result, then we can assume that is God’s moral will. God’s preceptive will includes primarily the Word of God itself but also ‘good and necessary consequences’ of Scripture. If something can be clearly deduced from the Word of God, then it is the Word of God in application (must be careful here, WCF 1:6—see below). Chapter 1: Of The Holy Scriptures, Section 6: VI. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture:

But if after doing a prayerful weighing of pros and cons, and both are equally wise, then either decision is within the will of God—contrary to the ‘perfect will of God’ notion, which has caused much anxiety and constant worry: did that one wrong turn consign me God’s Plan B for the rest of my life? That is awful and yet it reigned supreme for a long time as THE paradigm for discerning Gods will. I remember the brouhaha that ensued when a book was written that challenged it and thoroughly demolished the notion as contrary to God’s Word and harmful.

Let us summarize this discussion by seeing the connection of the various decrees and how it leads to wise decision making. God guides us through His decrees, His written Word/preceptive will, and Spirit given wisdom.

By God’s sovereign decrees He opens and closes doors—presenting some options and preventing others. If a house is sold then it is not for you. If a person is 3,000 miles away, then they are not for you as a potential marriage partner! Second, by His preceptive will He shows us how to respond to these circumstances. If a job requires you to work 90 hours a week, and wreck relationships, then it is not good/moral. Lastly, Spirit given wisdom through prayer enables us to apply the Word of God and other important factors (e.g. how close do you want to be to your aging mother?) to our circumstances.

I think it is this process that Paul has in mind in Romans 12:1-2 and Eph. 5:10 where we grow in maturity by reading God’s Word and constantly and prayerfully applying it to our lives. The more we read the better we can apply God’s Word, and the more we apply the Word, the better we understand God’s Word, and this leads to deeper understanding of application/circumstances, etc. The hermeneutical circle I mentioned before.

Again, when we make unwise decisions, we have not missed out forever on God’s will for our lives. After we have made an unwise decision, we should turn to God’s wisdom again, confident that we will be led in the path of blessing.

These three categories: decree, precept, and wisdom, are perspectivally related. God decrees to act according to His precepts and wisdom. His precepts includes bowing before God’s sovereign decrees and seeking wisdom. And His wisdom is displayed both in His decrees and in His Word.

May I quickly apply this to singles seeking to be married. Some would tell this to  singles: trust solely in the Lord, and when you give that desire over to  God, then He will bring the perfect man of His choice (applying this now to women). Usually some person will testify that they, too, wanted to get married but once they ‘gave that urge up to God’, then God brought a husband to her. Just pray, surrender your urges and He will bring the man of His choice your way.

First, it was in the perfect garden when GOD uttered the first malediction—it was not good for man to be alone. Here is perfect Adam with deep longing for suitable companion and God did not tell him that when he ‘gets over it’, then I will provide for you. No, it is a God-given desire…not to be sublimated. It is one thing to surrender the desire to God and wait assertively (see below), but it is quite another to imply you need to basically deny the very urge God implanted within us—mirroring Trinity. Bring that urge to God and honestly acknowledge it before Him as psalmist expressed his honest emotions.

Second, this is changing, but many Christian women still think they have to be entirely passive in their search for a husband. Would you be passive in a search for a job? Then why be passive here? It is okay to visit churches to worship AND to seek suitable singles ministries/people. I led a singles bible study years ago, and I knew that a big motive was to meet others, and that was fine with me. We could learn God’s Word and folks meet too. Numerous marriages came out of the bible study! Dating sites are a possibility.

Third, perhaps most controversial, I do not know if God has the ‘man of His perfect choice’ for you. I am certain there are no perfect men or women! We live in fallen world, and if you ever say: perfect marriage or none, then you will always get none.But I am convinced that if you follow principles above, then there are possibly numerous different guys/gals you could marry happily, if you are both walking in the Spirit. And it would be within God’s will for you to marry either Jim or Bob (or Jill or Lisa), if they both know the Lord, and everything else being equal—using wisdom regarding compatibility. Perhaps I should have done separate blog on this subject but these are the basic principles of wisdom. I’ll stop there but I hope this helped in your understanding and discerning God’s will for you.

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.

An Open Letter to Christian Paranormal Investigators (with signatures)

Click to enlarge image

An Open Letter to Christian Paranormal Investigators (with signatures)

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Preface:

This is a humble and heartfelt plea to Christian Paranormal Investigators from Mark Hunnemann (who initiated and drafted this communication) and Laura Maxwell (Former Spiritualist) and Dana Emanuel (Former Ghost Hunter) who support this statement and added invaluable insights, as well as the 60 signatures at the bottom.

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Cor. 10:31)
“Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16
“If I profess with loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not professing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace, if he flinches at that point.” (attributed to Martin Luther).

In our day, ‘that little point’ is our obedience to the inerrant Word of God in response to the onslaught of the pagan/occult worldview and techniques which have infiltrated the church. As Dr. Peter Jones has clearly shown (The Other Worldview, etc), the pagan worldview is THE dominant enemy of the biblical worldview today, and as such, it is that ‘little point where the devil is most fiercely attacking’. The question is: will we be faithful, loyal soldiers for Christ, in OUR generation, or will we flee due to accommodating it—or worse, practicing it ourselves (i.e. through occult methods)? Fascination with the paranormal has mushroomed and has demonized the spiritual landscape of America and Europe. And if we don’t respond quickly and appropriately, then our children and grandchildren will not be ready for the difficult days ahead.

Today, the Church and the world are being besieged; indeed there is an unprecedented disaster unfolding before our very eyes, and sadly, it involves Christians in the paranormal community. Hence, this letter is lovingly addressed to you.

Many of us (see signatures below) are former paranormal investigators, and all of three of us are actively involved in helping people with demonic issues, so this is not ‘ivory tower reflections’. We see it as our timely duty to write this declaration in light of the current lapses into occultic beliefs and practices amongst our fellow believers, and in the world at large. We offer this in a spirit of humility and love, with the hopes that it will stir further dialogue and change. We are all sinners, saved by grace—faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, plus nothing (Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 3-4). This is not us vs. them/you—it is all of US together. With a similar motivation that caused Martin Luther King, Jr. to write his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to fellow Christians, we offer this letter of our beliefs and concerns to you, our dearest brothers and sisters in Christ.

With tears, we must insist that Christians engaged in paranormal investigating are especially surrendering at this ‘one little point’, by the adoption of occultic beliefs and practices, which are opposed to the Lordship of Christ over the full spectrum of life (1 Cor. 10:31), and the clear teaching of God’s Word, which has absolute authority over us, and demands implicit obedience. The use of occultic/pagan techniques in virtually all paranormal investigations is distressing to God, and to us. Indeed, the solicitation of EVP’s (or other electronic equivalents) has become the backbone of investigations.

“The end justifies the means” ..."We are trying to help people" is an unbiblical form of ethical reasoning that has infiltrated the paranormal community, as a former investigator, Dana Emanuel, has affirmed from her own experience. You can never truly help someone by disobeying God. Instead you will hurt them and yourselves. God’s curses/discipline is still in place just as His blessings are. (See Acts 5; 1 Cor. 10-11; Heb. 12)

God’s Truth and the work of Christ’s church both insist that truth demands loving confrontation of both evil and error. What good is it for you to profess Christ ever so loudly, and yet surrender at this point where the devil is attacking? What good is it for you to affirm the full inerrancy of the bible, and a host of other biblical teaching, if you are not living under the Lordship of Christ over the full spectrum of your lives, especially when it comes to the occult, and how we interact with the spirit realm? It is this lack of obedience to Christ in a crucial area which we are lovingly confronting, and asking you to repent of.

Highlighted points:

The singular honor and dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His all-sufficient and perfect atonement, is our focus and passion. Certain beliefs and practices in the paranormal community, either implicitly or explicitly, deny the perfection of the Person and Work of Christ.

1. When Laura Maxwell realized she was deceived some years ago, by a group of Christians who all believed in, the now popular global Christian trend, that they were receiving revelation from alleged 'holy angels,' she left that group and sought a deliverance minister. She repented and had demons cast out of her! Even after her many years in healing and deliverance ministry, she, too, had been deceived but sought help! She shared this in a radio interview on angels we did together last year. Nobody is above being deceived!

2. Occult practices are so thoroughly and consistentlke an explicit command in the NT to abolish them. Instead, the NT continues to express God’s unchanging, implacable hatred of all occult beliefs/techniques. (E.g. see Acts and Revelation) The best book on biblical ethics (law and gospel, law and grace, and the place of OT moral law in the NT, etc, is John Frame’s book “The Doctrine of the Christian Life”, P&R).

3. The clients don’t need validation of something they already know is true; they need deliverance/conversion. If you are truly called by God, then you may consider deliverance as a vocation.

4. TESTING THE SPIRITS in Jesus's name, along with praying for protection, will often be ineffective because God does not listen to us if we are engaged in heinous sins or cherish sin in our hearts (Psalm 66:18).

5. Basing beliefs primarily on non-biblical books (e.g. Enoch) has become common, but it must be avoided, as it detracts from the sufficiency of Scripture, and has led to much unedifying speculation. For example, some take issue with our claim that all alleged ghosts are demons, and they frequently base their beliefs on extra-biblical texts, myths, folklore, and their own experience...none of which are infallible. Actually, they are all very fallible...

Dana Emanuel used to be the team leader of a highly proficient paranormal investigation team, and experienced severe oppression as a result, as are many of you. She is a vital part of drafting this letter, and here is the link to her testimony and articles, which we HIGHLY RECOMMEND.www.xposingtheenemy.com

To view dozens of articles by Mark Hunnemann on the paranormal, which we don’t have time to elaborate on, click on.....http://archive.aweber.com/paraworld

Many excellent articles and interviews by Laura Maxwell, a former Spiritualist and daughter of a Medium, and according to Mark and others, one of the worlds’s leading experts on all things
supernatural. https://ourspiritualquest.com/

We know that you like we, ache and agonize over the spiritually hostile situations many people today are experiencing. Further, we know that many of you have given so much of your heart, time, energy, and finances to help folks in distress. We know many of you personally and we love you, and are in awe of your desire to help people. That is not the issue. The issue is this: are the means by which you are attempting to help people honoring or dishonoring to God?

There are no morally neutral acts. 1 Cor. 10:31 is crucial to our view of this situation. 31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. “ (1 Cor. 10:31) Scripture has all the divine Words we need for every situation we face, including helping spiritually oppressed people. Every thought, word, and deed is either done to God’s glory or to the glory of an idol. So, how can we help people in spiritually hostile situations in a way that brings glory to God and not to an idol?

Sadly, we know that you are not glorifying God with your actions, regardless of your motives. How can we be certain of that? God’s Word is clear…very clear, as we shall see. Because God’s Word is certain, it is possible to be certain and not arrogant. We despise and despair of any self-righteous judgementalism; but we speak the truth in love, with a collective broken heart.

Wanting to help people cannot be the sole judge of whether an action is morally right: our actions have to conform to God’s Word and glorify Him. (1 Cor. 10:31) Whether it makes us feel good certainly cannot be the determining factor of an action’s propriety in God’s eyes. Due to distressing life circumstances, some of you find your purpose or significance in helping others with paranormal problems, and that makes it all the more difficult for you to imagine life without it. It is all you have that gives your life meaning, and so you cling to it. However, as new creations in Christ (Gal: 2:20), you have to realize that such thinking is idolatrous. (See Jer. 2:13) Christ, and Christ alone, can give us security and significance.

Perhaps the greatest need in the church today is a keener grasp of God’s burning holiness; a deficient understanding of God’s holiness has led to moral laxness and deficient views of both law and grace. God Himself is our ultimate ethical Norm; and He is unchanging. (Malachi 3:6) We meet the Incarnate Word as we read His Inscripturated Word (bible); both are equally, The Word.

Often we hear: “I’ve been involved in investigating for 20, 30, and 40 years…” However, longevity in the paranormal field does not make one wiser, as many assume, because the longer you are immersed in darkness, the more your mind will be affected with a spirit of demonic delusion, confusion and obsession; and your conscience will be increasingly defiled until it is seared. (As Dana points out, it happened to her, even though she was loathe to admit it at the time).

Countless ex-investigators have confessed that they had become obsessed with the thrill of ‘the hunt’ or the collection/review of data. Obsession is often a sign of demonic oppression, or a step in that direction. There are many rationalizations and objections that folks raise against what we are saying, and we can’t address them all, but the issue is: will you have a soft, humble, teachable heart before God and bow before His absolute, sovereign authority?
Proverbs 1:7

If you read nothing else in this open letter, please read this text which was breathed out of God’s own holy Mouth (2 Timothy 3:16-17) The entire text comprises an indivisible unit in the Hebrew bible.

9 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, [e]anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to Him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or[f]who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. (Deut. 18:9-25, ESV, emphasis added)
6 “If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. (Lev.20:6-7)

God wants you to listen to HIS voice (the Good Shepherd), and not the voice of demons! “Whoring after them...” reveals the true nature of what you are doing in God’s eyes: spiritual adultery.

20 “No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” (1 Cor.10: 20-21)

By communicating with the spirit realm (realm of Satan/demonic), you are participating/communing with demons; and are provoking the Lord to jealousy, and bringing unspeakable harm upon yourselves, which grieves us deeply. Your actions are affecting your children and grandchildren; your future offspring!! Generational curses are in the bible, and we have dealt with them time and again in deliverance. Some of you are suffering in various ways because of your unwitting involvement with demons.

We'd like to ask you a question: are any parts of these texts (especially verses 9-14) unclear to you? Indeed, God’s Word is so clear that it leaves us without excuse.

To make it even plainer, let us put it in the form of a syllogism, which is common in ethical literature.
Major premise: Attempting to speak to the dead is an abominable sin (10-11)
Minor premise: Investigators attempt to speak to the dead (often electronically)
Conclusion: Therefore, Investigators are committing an abominable sin.

This syllogism is both valid and sound; the conclusion follows irresistibly from the premises, and they (the premises) are true.

It doesn’t just say that the communicating with the spirit realm is abominable but that those who do it become an abomination in His sight. That is frightening, is it not?

In light of the manifest clarity of this text, why do Christian 'investigators' still attempt to speak to the dead, or use psychics/mediums? There is no excuse. None. 

However, here are several reasons why we did, until our eyes were opened.

First, we say with utmost gentleness, many of us have been drawn to seeking the paranormal due the traumatic death of a loved one. Our heart goes out to you if that happened to you, but you must resist this temptation because it will not help you, and will only compound your pain—the devil is so cruel, and often takes advantage of us when we are most emotionally broken. The strongest believers can emotionally unravel in the face of tragic loss, and some of us deal with this agony on a daily basis. Perhaps you cling to this practice as it is the only thing that gives your life meaning.

The second reason is that perhaps your conscience allows you to investigate; it doesn’t bother you, so you assume it must be okay. However, the bible doesn’t see our conscience as being infallible; it is subordinate to scripture. It is not uncommon for us to mute the voice of conscience by habitual sin.

From personal experience, we know that it is possible to sink into devastating sin (of all different kinds), and the voice of conscience becomes increasingly dim—but we cannot remain in that situation indefinitely because “He who perseveres to the end will be saved.” (Matt.10:22) Sometimes our conscience says that something is right when the bible says it is wrong, and vice versa. (E.g.Rom.14-15) We must seek to inform/educate our conscience with the content of Scripture, or it can lead us astray, as the following text shows.

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.”, (1 Timothy 4:1-2, ESV)

Third, many people think that Old Testament laws, like the text in Deut.18, are no longer binding under the New Covenant, and that the New Covenant gives them new freedom to contact the spirit realm.

False teachers in the church are promoting this antinomianism. We don’t have the time to adequately defend what should not need defending; namely, our comprehensive obedience to all of God’s Word.

However, God is the author of both covenants, and the covenant documents of each continue to be normative for God’s people. Jesus indicates in Matthew 5:17ff and Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that the Old Testament moral law (civil and ceremonial law has been fulfilled in Christ, but they are still normative in what they teach us) is a guide unto righteous living for New Covenant believers. In Paul’s text he is referring mostly to the Old Testament, and its abiding validity as a source for training us in godly living.

If the OT law cannot justify or save us, is it then obsolete for Christians? Do we just throw the law out? Quite otherwise. 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:17-19) we can see how very clear Jesus is on this point.

We are still obligated to obey God in the New Covenant. Indeed, we are told over and over that our love for Christ is expressed through obedience to the law/commandments. (Exodus 20:6; Deut.11:27; Daniel 9:4; John 15:4, 14; 1 Cor. 7:19; Rev.12:17 ECT,) The law commands us to love, and that love commands us to keep God’s commandments. Law requires love, and love requires law. A reckless disregard for God’s law could be a sign of an unregenerate heart. The “law of love” has no content without love of the law. Some will ‘cherry pick’ the few theologians who will support their attempts to circumvent OT moral law and indeed to circumvent the prohibition of communicating with spirits.

Occult practices are so thoroughly and consistently condemned in the OT that it would take an explicit command in the NT to abolish them. Instead, the NT continues to express God’s unchanging, implacable hatred of all occult beliefs/techniques. (E.g. see Acts and Revelation)

We say this with all humility, but if you have no qualms whatsoever about communicating with the spirit realm, then you are either: 1) abysmally ignorant of scripture, or 2) you are not a true, regenerate Christian.3) Although you are a born again Christian, you are being disobedient and grieving the Holy Spirit. Thus, this is an exceedingly serious matter.

Let us return to Deut. 18:

The entire section quoted above comprises a unity in the Hebrew text: the first half is devoted to illegitimate means of seeking spiritual guidance, which includes the abominable practices of seeking to communicate with the dead, and the use of psychics and mediums. In other words, seeking wisdom apart from God via occult methods. The second half of chapter 18 is devoted to the legitimate means of seeking God’s wisdom via His prophets. Indeed, there is a Messianic prophecy of The coming Prophet, which is quoted about Jesus three times in the New Testament (John 1:21; Acts 3:22-24; 7:37).

Hence, if you reject Deut. 18:9-14 and its prohibitions against communicating with the spirit realm, then to be consistent, you would have to throw out the Messianic prophecy of Jesus as The coming Prophet, because this text is a tight unit. Or if you object that you are not seeking illicit wisdom from the spirit realm, but confirmation of their presence, then we say that the method is as evil as the motive: contacting the spirit realm is absolutely forbidden in itself. Do not consult mediums/psychics or attempt communication with the dead. Period. God tells us what will help people or hurt them; not our misguided attempts to help people by engaging in syncretism (mixing beliefs/practices); the bane of God’s church since its inception.

Moses, who was educated in the Magick of his day in Egypt, was contrasting how we are to find divine guidance, and God’s abhorrence of pagan/occutlic rituals. (See also Lev.19:26; 1 Samuel 28; 2 Kings 17:17; Isaiah 2:6; 21:6; Micah 5:12; Rev.21-22 and all of the major prophets).

As Dana says in her testimony, it was easy for her to soft-peddle these verses by thinking that she was doing the right thing and God would understand; that the culture had changed drastically since then, and possibly God Himself had changed His mind. But then she realized that God does not change—He is immutable (Malachi 3:6) That God’s Truth is unchanged and unchanging caused Dana’s change of heart. May it change your heart as well; and ours too, as we all struggle with idolatry.

Specific Points:

1. It is out of love that we call our brothers and sisters to repent of beliefs and practices which God sees as spiritual adultery. Over and over in the Major Prophets, God exposes His heart regarding His holy and infinitely intense jealous hatred of paganism and occultic activities, and how much it tears at His heart. How can you read Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and not be affected by the constant barrage of God’s intense, jealous rage over occult practices, such as you are doing?

Entire reigns of kings in the historical books were summarized as good or bad, depending on how they dealt with the occult. In one sense, Josiah was the greatest Old Testament king, and his zeal for God was manifested in how thoroughly he rid the nation of all occult practices. “”4 Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25 Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.”(2 Kings 23:24-25) Notice the close connection between Josiah’s unprecedented love for God, love for His law, and his putting away mediums and necromancers.

2. We lovingly challenge paranormal investigators to see their primary identity as children of the Living God and part of His Church-the Body of Christ, and not primarily as members of the paranormal community. (Romans 12; 1 Cor. 12; Eph.5; Gal. 3-4) He wants us to transform culture and not be conformed to it (Romans 12:1-2)-to be salt and light. Further, we believe that it is the paranormal community itself which is accelerating this individual and corporate disobedience due to it being a plausibility structure; shared beliefs and passions make it easier to rationalize disobedience to God’s clear commands, and to believe things which are actually implausible. Two of the attributes of scripture are its sufficiency and clarity, and your lack of perceiving the clear truth is deeply concerning to us. The more deeply you become involved, the more of a deluding darkness takes hold of the reasoning process, where things that should be clear, aren’t; a dark veil has descended, and you begin to blame God for the distressing circumstances that your actions have brought about—God’s discipline and/or demonic oppression.

Praying for protection, or for discerning spirits in Jesus’ Name, before/during an investigation will often be ineffective because God does not listen to us if we are engaged in heinous sins or cherish sin in our hearts (Psalm 66:18) Why do you pray to Michael for assistance, or other angels, when neither Jesus nor the apostles ever did? Why pray to an arch-angel when God, the Holy Spirit, is infinitely stronger and present with us always? It’s one thing to pray to God for HIM to send His holy angels, but angels do not want us to pray TO them, which is a form of worship. And your requests for discernment will be blocked as well because of grieving the Holy Spirit, who gives discernment.

Does it concern you, as it does us, that so many investigators are themselves plagued with demonic activity, and are suffering in a multitude of ways? This is the deep, dark secret of the paranormal community.

3. Specifically, we call our brothers and sisters to stop all attempts to communicate with the deceased (e.g. EVP’s, Ghost box, Ovulus, etc.); to not view oneself as a medium/psychic, nor use mediums/psychics in investigations. It is disturbing to see the unabashed use of ‘Christian Mediums’, when that should be seen as an unholy oxymoron. You are utterly deceived if you believe God has gifted and called you as a medium; He has not. He does not speak out of both sides of His Mouth. He doesn’t condemn mediumship and then call one to it. It is a common error for folks to mistake their human spirit/passions for the voice of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit works in tandem with the Word. And the relativism of truth has crept into many Christians approach to the moral absolutes of the bible.

Investigators are increasingly using parapsychological categories in place of biblical categories; being conformed to the world by the allure of false science instead of being transforming agents of culture (Rom. 12:1-2) Many investigators affirm the dangers inherent in Ouija Board use, but they fail to see that there is no qualitative difference between soliciting EVP’s (or other electronic means) and a Ouija session.

Not all Ouija sessions are frivolous; some are serious and sincere attempts to communicate with the spirit realm, (just as you are doing), yet we know the horror stories associated with them. Many cases we are called to are rooted in playing with Ouija boards and the like. And those of us in deliverance ministries often have to come in after investigations have stirred up the hornet’s nest due to the use of occultic techniques.

Both Ouija and EVP’s address any spirits there to make their presence known. Both are explicit attempts to communicate with the dead, which is clearly forbidden and condemned throughout the bible. The means of communicating with the spirit realm are mushrooming, but they are equally heinous in God’s eyes. The veneer of science behind these methods must not be seen as excusing them, much less sanctioning them. It is whitewashing wickedness.

It is our experience from studying all the relevant biblical texts, that every attempt to support notions common in the paranormal community, always commit one or more exegetical/hermeneutical fallacies. Indeed, the texts appealed to usually undermine the very beliefs being defended by Christians in the paranormal community. (E.g. Mark 6)

In paranormal seminars what is often called "phenomenology'', is the tendency to identify entities in your investigations by your five senses and intuition...which is naive'. If Satan can appear as an angel of Light (2 Cor. 11:14) then it would be a snap for him/demons to appear as anything. (And we have seen some really bizarre manifestations.) In light of this biblical fact, why do Christian investigators continually attempt to identify entities based on appearance, sound of voice, smells, or some kind of intuition? Why believe the voice of a demon? If they are anything, demons are masters of deception, who were there 100 years ago and can mimic all the findings of the historical research. Thus, they have been successful countless times in misguiding investigators into thinking that they have discovered the alleged ‘deceased human’ who is causing the problems. Failure to take into account the reality of demons has led many Christians to embrace shameful beliefs and to view the phenomena/data through distorted lenses.

There are gradations of sin (and hell, Romans 2:5) and occultic sins are especially heinous in God’s eyes. (John 19:11; Lev. 4:2, 13; 5:17; Numbers 15:30; Ezekiel 8:6, 13, 15; Matt. 5:19; 23:23; Deuteronomy 18—all the Major Prophets). And to engage in them is to jeopardize one’s eternal destiny. How can you continue doing what you know God hates? “He who perseveres (in obedience) to the end, will be saved.” Since it is the HOLY Spirit who gives us assurance of salvation, it is impossible to have genuine assurance of salvation when engaged in such unholy activities. Hebrews 12:14 We fear that many, who profess Christ, don’t possess Christ. “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord…” Matthew 7:21-18 ... without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Have you ever stopped to ask if your spiritual authority is being compromised as a result of your grievous sin? And we know from painful experience that investigating the paranormal causes demonic oppression, whether you realize it or not. So, when you go to help someone, you are likely bringing demons with you, which unwittingly infest them further. And without a doubt, your occultic techniques make it worse for the client by opening new demonic doors, or making old ones ‘wider.’

Many of you are hesitant to even mention demons to your clients because it might ‘scare them.’ But is that wise since the bible says that there are only two entities in the spirit realm: good and bad angels (demons/unclean spirits/elemental spirits are all synonyms)? Laura responded the same way in her first few years as a Christian, scared she'd frighten people, until she felt God urged her to tell the truth or otherwise she’d be lying to them!

Have you ever stopped to ask if your spiritual authority is being compromised as a result of your grievous sin? And we know from painful experience that investigating the paranormal causes demonic oppression, whether you realize it or not. So, when you go to help someone, you are likely bringing demons with you, which unwittingly infest them further. And without a doubt, your occultic techniques make it worse for the client by opening new demonic doors, or making old ones ‘wider.’

Many of you are hesitant to even mention demons to your clients because it might ‘scare them.’ But is that wise since the bible says that there are only two entities in the spirit realm: good and bad angels (demons/unclean spirits/elemental spirits are all synonyms)? Laura responded the same way in her first few years as a Christian, scared she'd frighten people, until she felt God urged her to tell the truth or otherwise she’d be lying to them!

The bible mentions demons and Satan. It's the truth. They'll be more scared if they die without knowing the truth or knowing Christ as Savior... Laura was grateful when a Christian told her that the spirits she spoke with were demons. As soon as she believed this, she was desperate to be free of them, scared or not!

If you don’t tell them the truth about demons, you are in a sense allowing them to continue to believe a lie; you are lying to them.

And by appealing to earthbound spirits, poltergeists, and residual energy (a book is forthcoming showing how vacuous this notion is), you are telling the client there is peace, when there is no peace. False prophets were condemned in the OT for saying that. It also destroys biblical hope.

Hence, we see no positive purpose behind paranormal investigating, as it is practiced today. The clients don’t need validation of something they already know is true; they need deliverance/conversion. If you are truly called by God, then you may consider
deliverance as a vocation. In light of 1 Cor. 10:31, we can see no redeeming value nor any hope of paranormal investigating bringing glory to God. Indeed, it dishonors God’s holy Name, when we are called to “hallow His Name”.

We affirm that all genuine paranormal activity is demonic activity, as neither holy angels nor the Holy Spirit will act mischievously, and angels are our servants. (Hebrews 1:14). And humans immediately go to heaven or hell after they die. (Heb. 9:27)The perfection of the atonement is at stake regarding the demonic notion of ‘earthbound spirits.’, and it is one of Satan’s most effective lies.
If your ultimate authority is the Roman Catholic Church, and the teachings of its well known exorcists, then we gently but firmly state that their view of justification is a false gospel (Gal. 1), and no human authority must be placed on par with God’s Word. Purgatory is a direct assault on the singular honor and dignity of the Person and Work of Christ and His finished work on the cross.

Conclusion: There is much more we had wanted to say, but from the depths of our hearts we beg of you to listen carefully to what we have said, even if it initially upsets you. In summary, even if you persist in believing in earthbound spirits, the bible clearly says to not attempt communication with the dead. Neither Jesus nor the early church communicated with earthbound spirits (Moses and Elijah weren’t earthbound), and they didn’t conduct paranormal investigations or assist deceased spirits in “crossing over”, because our thrice-holy, omnipotent God and Judge Reigns over every atom in the cosmos, especially our souls! (Eph. 1:11)

We are called to imitate Christ, and Jesus Himself is the Light—let us point them to Him. Our Savior didn’t have a ministry to the dead, and neither did the apostles. They weren't involved in paranormal investigations. So, why should you? Certainly this would have been part of the Great Commission if it were true! Focusing your time and energy on paranormal investigating and assisting souls to ‘cross over,’ is not part of the Great Commission. Thus, we feel you have been distracted from that explicit calling to all believers.

We urge you to re-focus your energies on reaching out to the lost and making disciples, while they may still be found, and helping those who are demonically oppressed, by cleansing them and their homes of unclean spirits. God is so gracious and merciful and He can use you to re-direct your focus on reaching the ‘living lost’ and delivering people from demons! If He can use us toward that end, then He can certainly use you!

When Laura Maxwell realized she was deceived some years ago, by a group of Christians who all believed in, the now popular global Christian trend, that they were receiving revelation from alleged 'holy angels,' she left that group and sought a deliverance minister. She repented and had demons cast out of her! Even after her many years in healing and deliverance ministry, she, too, had been deceived but sought help! She shared this in a radio interview on angels we did together last year. Nobody is above being deceived!

Like Laura did, please seek deliverance if it is needed, as we know many of you are oppressed.

Please send any replies to Mark Hunnemann at mhunne@aol.com. He was the primary drafter of this letter. Laura Maxwell and Dana Emanuel gave invaluable support and insights.

P.S. We intend to produce several 5-10 minute videos in the near future which reply to the frequent questions asked and can be viewed on our YouTube channels and blogs.

Love in the Lamb,

Mark A Hunnemann, M.Div. (Author, Deliverance Minister and Former Pastor), http://archive.aweber.com/paraworld

Laura Maxwell B.A. Hons. (Author, TV and Radio guest, Radio host and Former Spiritualist) https://ourspiritualquest.com/

Dana Emanuel (Author, Deliverance Minister and Former Paranormal Investigator) https://xposingtheenemy.com/

The undersigned lovingly call you to ‘put off’ your pagan/occult ways, and re-affirm that Jesus’ Lordship extends over every area of life. Seek the Lord while He may be found, and bow before Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

Signed by: Jerry Blasé, Dan Langenfeld, Lena Bonnick, Garry Keogh, Bonnie Giese, Mary Kirk, Neil Thompson, Sonya Saporito, Tracy Jackson, Larry Thompson. Donald Jones, Philip Ness-Thomas, Christopher Milner, Richard Lohman, Ariel Vega, Sandy Ragland, Christina Steel, Darren Steel, Krystal Clawson, Danny Clawson, Jr., Randy Sims, Melissa May, Sheila Jones, Jonathon Chai, Tammy Dajamette, Deborah McBride, Michael Quillen, Ashley Sidney, Rhonda Anne, Debbie Tucker, Jason Tirre, Connie Williams, Dwayne Follick, Tami Jocasta, Lynda Smith

Miller, Cheri Kharsah, Kara De Jesus, Zita Grant, Tina Storey, Ruth McGuire, David Abreu, Joshua Hopping, Billy Posey, Joe Miroddi, Dana Carrigan, Garry Combs, Rose Queener, Kelly Dello, Liese Sukeforth, Marilyn Chastain Haning, Bre Greer, Jen Wigolo, Aaron Knight, Phillip T Oliver, Billy Vanderbilt, Cynthia Hampton, Pastor Michael Sanders-Biblical Counselor, Hope Glover

Can Unfinished Business, Premature/Violent Death, etc Cause a Person to Get Trapped?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

It just so happens that as I am finishing this blog, tragedy struck our apartment complex. Cops and CSI units have descended upon our little village. A young woman in her 30’s, with children (though taken away by the courts), was apparently dead for a week in her bathtub…the stench was so horrible it posed a biohazard. I’m speculating, but given her serious drug/heroin use, it may have been an OD…maybe a suicide, I don’t know. I just looked outside and her obviously bloated body is wrapped up on a gurney. So sad. From a human perspective, her death is marked by all the things I am discussing in this blog: unfinished business, premature death, highly emotional death…..and perhaps violence. So, I’m reminded in a visceral way that this issue is one that affects us all, in some fashion. Troublesome deaths happen all the time. My point is that this discussion is far from being merely academic. My heart aches for a woman I knew, who died a tragic death.

There is a monolithic consensus in the paranormal community (which is bleeding over into culture in general) that certain kinds of death may lead to entrapment here on earth. These alleged ‘death criteria”, as I refer to them, include: dying with unfinished business, a premature death, a highly emotionally charged death, a violent death, and a fear of hell. The last of these, the fear of hell, I have written about recently. We saw that nobody has the free will/ability after death to avoid the unavoidable summons to stand before the Judge of heaven and earth, immediately upon death. These kinds of death are assumed by the paranormal community to render one susceptible to becoming an earthbound spirit. However, I would like to humbly but firmly challenge this notion.

These criteria are repeated so often that they have almost become like a mantra. And when a group repeats a belief often enough it becomes so ensconced that it acquires a non-negotiable presuppositional status—a habit of the heart, which is not open to scrutiny. However, merely repeating over and over that certain kinds of death can cause entrapment, does not make it so…and neither does it explain HOW these kinds of death trap people. Stating a belief, does not explain that belief. And thus far, nobody has adequately explained the mechanism behind the ‘death criteria’….or how it squares with the bible.

In addition, the soul, death (including the consequences of how one dies), and the after-life are manifestly theological issues. Science can’t explain any of these three phenomena. Hence, the notion of the ‘death criteria’, since they touch on all these theological issues, requires a theological analysis. However, I have seen little theological reflection on HOW/WHY certain kinds of death would cause a person to be trapped here. Just speculation.Nowhere, I repeat, NOWHERE, in the bible are we told that certain kinds of death might cause people to become earthbound. In the book of Acts (or any historical book of God’s Word), we don’t see any examples of it either. Since the bible clearly speaks of spiritual warfare, as well as heaven and hell, then it SHOULD explain to us the reality of earthbound spirits due to how they died…if it was true. But it says nothing. The silence is deafening.
At the outset, let me give a very brief theology of death as presented in the bible. “Mot” is the Hebrew word for death, and we find it first used in Genesis 2. Adam and Eve were originally designed by God to not die. They were designed, body and soul, to live forever in Eden, IF they passed the test. But they failed miserably.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17, emphasis added)

Sadly, the couple made a beeline for the forbidden tree. However, instead of killing them instantly like God had threatened, and as they deserved, He graciously expanded their life spans by hundreds of years. Spiritually they died instantly, but physical death was also a consequence of the Fall. Death is not normal, as many assume. Rather, it is a monstrous abnormality introduced by the historical Fall of Adam and Eve. And as we’ll see more later, the violent ripping asunder of the soul from the body at death, was not God’s original intention.

As we approach the notion of the “death criteria” we need to be reminded of the biblical view of death…at least how it began.  Since we have all sinned (Romans 3:23; 6:23), and the wages of sin is death, then we are all “bene mawet” (sons of death).  The bible says that we all must die due to our having sinned. (Enoch and Elijah only exceptions) Even though forgiven in Christ, we still must die because of having sinned—in Adam and in our own lives. Most significantly is that the Living God is the Lord of death. The Lord of Life is also the Lord of Death…He is the All-powerful Lord over all things. God created death, and He is Lord over its process over every living soul—which He owns as well (Ezekiel 18:4) Specifically, for our purposes, it is important that we see from the outset, that death was created by God as a consequence/punishment for sin, and He is utterly sovereign over human death….and He owns our souls. And any notion that detracts from this crucial fact must be jettisoned because it diminishes God’s ‘absolute sovereignty. His unfolding drama of redemption includes victory over death; the death of death in the death of Christ. Until the Second Coming, God Himself is the One who separates our souls from our bodies at the moment of death. He owns us, body and soul, and back to Him we go after death….for judgment.

If you are a Christian, then I assume that you accept the full authority of the Bible over every area of our life. Please read Psalm 139 slowly and carefully, and ask this question: is the God presented  in this Psalm  compatible with the notion of ghosts in general, and the death criteria in particular?  

1.O LORD, You have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,"
12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Please search us God, and show us any harmful beliefs.
Four great truths about God are revealed in the context of personal experience, in this magnificent psalm. The Bible is never speculative, and it never considers a truth “known” until it controls the life of the learner. God is omniscient/all-knowing (v. 1-6), omnipresent/everywhere (7-12), sovereign/all-powerful(13-16), and holy (17-24) The psalmist delights in the security (both in life and in death) that these traits of God ensure, and he happily recognizes the permanence of Divine companionship (v.16…whole psalm)
Security in God amidst all circumstances is the main theme of this psalm. At all times, in all places, and in all circumstances, God is in control and the psalmist is joyfully safe. This all-encompassing security includes God’s pre-planning of all his/our days and deaths…. (v.16)…which has obvious implications for our topic. And v 8 where God’’s loving presence follows us when we die (sheol). We shall return to this great psalm, but please note that the psalmist never considers the option of divine abandonment, which the notion of ghosts and the death criteria necessarily implies. Indeed, as we’ll see, all the alleged death criteria are contradictory to the central theme of this wonderful psalm.
All the laws of nature, which are God’s Laws, reveal something of His nature—wisdom, power, glory, ect. Likewise, any laws in the supernatural realm are equally God’s Laws, and should reveal something of His glorious nature. However, what do these death criteria “laws” reveal about God? Nothing good—they trivialize or deny all the attributes of God mentioned in this psalm….especially His absolute holiness and sovereignty. It seems to me that the psalmist would have been aghast at the notion that certain kinds of death would have left him stranded here on earth, until they either ‘found the light’ or accomplished their unfinished mission, That idea bespeaks more of a deistic god, who winds up the world and let it/us run our course, on our own. God forbid!
Back to the notion of unfinished business as being the cause of some people becoming trapped here. Let me ask this question: who does NOT die without some amount of unfinished business? The obvious answer is: nobody. Having experienced the death of both my parents, four siblings, and my 9 month old still born granddaughter, I know that all of them, to varying degrees, died with unfinished business. When I was 16, my brother died in a tragic accident at age 20, and I went through a ‘door’ which I wish I had never experienced…the devastation of losing a loved one at a young age. And without going into detail, some of their unfinished business was pretty significant. ALL of us will die with unfinished business. The same holds true for every person who has ever lived, except for Jesus Christ, who accomplished every jot and tittle of His Father’s will for His perfect life. Unless you, or a loved one, lived a perfect life, then you can be sure they died (or will die) with some amount of unfinished business. That raises several questions.
How can you then have peace that they are with God, if they died with unfinished business? If you are consistent, then you can’t, because there will always be the nagging doubt that they got trapped due to unfinished business.
Someone may reply: “Well, that may be so, but some people die with a lot of serious unfinished business.” True enough, but who/what decides when the ‘line’ is crossed and the unfinished business becomes serious enough to entrap them? The bible certainly doesn’t enlighten us. In fact, from Genesis to Revelation, we are never warned (as we are repeatedly about spiritual warfare here, and heaven and hell in hereafter) that we need to be prepared to possibly get stuck if we die in a certain way. If that were the case, would not God have warned us? That oversight would call into question the sufficiency of Scripture, and the Greatest Communicator would then be (and I say this reverently) a lousy communicator regarding what happens after death. The very thought is detestable and painful to write.
My point is that there is no mechanism in these death criteria. Who decides when the line has been crossed, and causes the soul (which belongs to God) to not cross over? What quantity or quality of unfinished business can derail a person from making a beeline to God’s Throne room after death? I can assure you that it is not God...not the Living God, as revealed in this psalm..The reasons I have heard paranormal investigators confidently assert why this/that person died with unfinished business, and thus was trapped, (like tension in the family or ‘premature death’), could easily be applied to many of all the people who have died since the dawn of time.
I’m 61 years old, and if I were to die today, then I can confidently assure you that I would die with significant unresolved issues. We all have skeletons in our closets. This notion of unfinished business is so ill-defined, and so subjective and capricious, that we could never have a certain hope that anybody we loved has gone to heaven. And in that sense, it is unintentionally cruel.
Repeatedly, Jesus warns us to be prepared to die, because once we die, we immediately face judgment (Hebrews 9:27) Nowhere in the bible does it ever say, or imply that unfinished business, may cause one to avert this summons before the Judge of heaven and earth. We have one chance at this thing called living, and then we pass into eternity, and no amount of unfinished business can separate us from either the love of God, or His infinite wrath—depending on our relationship to Christ.
I repeat: nobody dies with no unfinished business, and it becomes a hopelessly subjective task for the paranormal investigator to determine when the line has been crossed. Assuming that a ‘haunting’ or an entity, which is allegedly connected with a person who died with unfinished business, is circular reasoning. Nobody has yet to show how/why unfinished business can cause a soul to get trapped. Just saying it doesn’t make it so! If we followed the logic of this criterion to its logical conclusion, then EVERYONE who dies is susceptible to becoming trapped...and this destroys the certain hope which God gives to believers in Christ. Worse, it smears dung into the infinitely precious blood of the Lamb, whose death assured our salvation from A-Z…justification, sanctification, and glorification. (Psalm 23, John 10, Romans 8)
Psalm 139:16 is comforting because all the attributes of God mentioned earlier ensure that the Creator’s work covers all of our life, including our deaths. The omnipresent, omniscient, all-powerful, and holy Creator holds our souls in His tender hands throughout every second of our lives and deaths. Our lives and our deaths are under His absolute sovereign control....meaning He has decreed every second of our lives and deaths…including how much unfinished business one dies with. How could unfinished business then take Him by surprise? In fact, this verse clearly implies that, in the ultimate sense, there is no such thing as unfinished business when it comes to our deaths. That does not mean that there isn’t unfinished business on a human level, but God has sovereignly taken that all that into consideration as to when He calls us home, or to hell.(see Ephesians 1:11) 11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”

This verse is both astonishing and pivotal because it implies that every molecule, and every event (no matter how evil or tragic), is under God’s sovereign control. If God is not sovereign, then He is not God. In a sense, God has decreed everything that happens. Every event, including our deaths, has been decreed by God, and He is absolutely sovereign over the moment of our deaths, and all that it entails (means, motive, and timing).
It is my belief that the reason the notion of ghosts has exploded, even among Christians, is primarily due to a deficient view of God’s attributes as outlined in Psalm 139….especially His holiness and absolute sovereignty. Eph. 1:11 is clear that EVERYTHING  is decreed by God. Our God is too small.
Listen to Romans 8:38-39….
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Did you get that?!

After reading verses 38-39 in which our union with Christ entails that nothing in all creation (that would entail unfinished business), can keep us from God, in heaven? It even mentions ‘death’! Our union with Christ is like an indissoluble, unbreakable umbilical cord which stretches from our soul on earth to God’s heart in heaven. NOTHING can break that bond...certainly nothing as universal as unfinished business.

I spent so much time on this criterion because, in a sense, all the rest, fall under this criterion in some way.

For many in America, God is either deistic in nature, or God is equated with the Universe. Either view, seriously diminishes the omnipotent love of God that is absolutely sovereign over death. My calling is to summon God’s people to re-gain a view of God’s utter holiness, and to see the notion of ghosts through God’s eyes. In my book, I go into more detail regarding the alleged death criteria.

Let us now turn to premature death. I’ll be more concise here. First, Psalm 139:16 clearly implies that there is no such thing as a premature death in God’s eyes. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Please look at this verse carefully. God’s absolute control/sovereignty over the course of our lives/deaths, was decreed before we were even born, and extends to every second of our life, and subsequent death. “Every one of them..” emphasizes the particularity and specificity of God’s control over the full course of our lives—from conception to death, and everything in-between….and all the particulars of our deaths.

Yes, in our eyes, loved ones do die young...and I’ve experienced this anguish first hand. And I certainly don’t want to diminish the pain of losing a child or something similar. And God’s tender heart is touched by this anguish. We must remember that God’s is sovereign over a Fallen cosmos. However, in the ultimate sense,,. God tells us that He is in control of every second of our lives and ultimate death—whether young or old. To the psalmist, that was very comforting and moved him to worship. So, in the ultimate sense, there are no premature deaths, in God’s eyes…and His perspective is what controls the after-life. So, the very criterion of premature death is incompatible with the bible’s clear teaching. Hence, we have no business speculating that a seeming premature death could lead to entrapment.

I ask again, who/what determines at what age that the line has been crossed to cause a person to be entrapped due dying too young? Is it 2 years old? 12 years? 22 years old? When?? I’m not being sarcastic. I’m simply pointing out the hopeless conundrum people put themselves in once they affirm that people can get stuck due to premature death.

Without meaning to, this criterion is exceedingly cruel. Taken to its logical conclusion, then all infant deaths should lead to entrapment. In fact, not a few people do believe in ghost babies…and many more believe in child spirits. How horrible!! And how anti-biblical, which implies that all children go to heaven, through Jesus.

And what of all the young men who have died in battle while serving in the US military? Millions have died in our nation’s multiple wars, and most who died were in their late teens or early twenties. Most of these KIA’s actually fit ALL the death criteria mentioned above (unfinished business, premature death, violent and emotional death, etc.). If one takes the death criteria to its logical conclusion, then almost all the millions of men who have given their lives to save ours, are shoe-ins for entrapment. What a terrible way to ‘honor’ them.

How many times have I heard that the men who died at Gettysburg or some other battle are at unrest and trapped, because they have unfinished business due to dying so violently and so young?. This notion makes me sick to my stomach…..literally.

How horrible….how absolutely cruel. If one cannot live with the logical extension of their beliefs, then there is something wrong with that belief. That is why I keep saying that the death criteria are unwittingly cruel, and are internally self-destructive—you can’t live with them in any manner that approximates consistency.

Often we hear that someone is stuck because they want to either seek revenge or get across some truth, due to how they died. However, see the below text which makes clear that a comforting truth is that GOD is the One who will take revenge. What kind of mcgod would allow us to stay here indefinitely after we die, and sinfully seek revenge, which so many alleged human spirits seem bent on? As an aside, most anecdotal evidence, as Ed Warren stated, indicates that most spirits seem to be “self-absorbed loners.” The only entities that populate the spirit realm are angels and demons.
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him who said,"Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again,"The Lord will judge his people."
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26-31, emphasis added)
We have lost the fear of God….that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a God who is an all-consuming fire. Reading this text, we see that it is God who takes revenge…and do we think that the Living God would allow us to stay here and avenge ourselves?

The point being that either here, or at Judgment, God will repay those who have hated us. How many times have you heard that so and so stayed behind because he either wanted revenge or to get his story out? It is assumed that the person’s anger is so strong that we forget, that the Living God is a God of infinite wrath and anger. But will not the Last Judgment deal with both issues? We have truly lost a biblical view of the mighty majesty and holiness of God Almighty. Do we really think that God will let people stay on earth and sinfully avenge themselves for decades or even centuries…as is claimed in many haunts?

Background checks are needed, but they must be done with extreme caution. Because death attracts demons, since they hate us, then it makes much more sense that the paranormal activity is demonic in nature. How people discern the alleged difference between a demonic infestation and a human haunt is fraught with peril and human subjectivity. The bible never tells us that we are to discern whether a spirit is human or demonic. For example, 1 John 4:1ff is an either/or between teachers who are animated by the Holy Spirit or unclean spirits/demons. Human spirits are not in the picture. THAT is what discernment is needed for: whether the supernatural activity is from God or Satan. We are NEVER warned in the bible to look out for human spirits…never—including those who are allegedly here due to an abnormal death.

Can we die and continue to sin grievously for an indeterminate amount of time? The notion casts a long shadow over God’s awesome holiness .

What of emotional deaths? I ask again: what death is NOT emotional, to the one dying and/or the loved ones left behind? Yes, there are degrees of emotion connected with one’s death, but there are different kinds of emotion, as well as degree..And some do die without any loved ones to mourn them, but that is not the issue.

Once again, who/what decides when a death is emotional enough to cause entrapment?
We can deal with violent death quickly because all that I said above applies here. I have heard the most absurd theories advanced simply because a person was murdered or some other kind of violent death (like death by IED) Did not God say that our deaths were planned by Him? (Psalm 139:16) Did not God say that death could not, and would not, separate us from His love in Christ Jesus? Does not v 8 say that God’s perpetual companionship follows us to death (sheol)? And if a person is an unbeliever, then they are a child of wrath, dead in sin—enslaved to sin, Satan and death….and sadly are hell-bound sinners. Upon death, God has an infinite hatred toward unbelievers who have scorned His Son. See the hatred in this psalm for God’s enemies. (Psalm 139:19-22)Their umbilical cord to hell is as indissoluble as the believer’s umbilical cord is unbreakable by virtue of our union with Christ. Ephesians/Col. says that we are already in heaven reigning with Christ, in a provisional sense, so how could manner of death keep us from heaven when we already have ‘one foot in heaven’?
Also, according to the bible, ALL deaths are, in a sense, violent. As we saw, physical death is abnormal and is a result of the historical Fall of Adam and Eve. PHYSICAL DEATH IS THE VIOLENT DISRUPTION OF THE VIBRANT FLOW OF LIFE. Please read that again. As originally created, humans are a body/soul composite. So, there is something profoundly disturbing, violent, and unnatural about the ripping asunder of the soul from the body at the moment of death. But that is one of the consequences of sin. My point is that, again, all deaths are violent in a very real sense. One could argue that God’s ripping asunder of soul from body, is at least as violent as any of the violent ‘means’ by which a person may die—like murder, suicide, ect. This is not to diminish the reality of a violent means of death, but to show that everyone’s death is exceedingly violent already. And God is the One who is the Lord over this ripping asunder process…and as Psalm 139 states, there is no place that we can escape God’s perpetual companionship…including a violent death.
Once again, (sigh), who/what decides when a death is violent enough to cause entrapment?  There is no mechanism.The most violent death in history was the death of the Lord Jesus because the sinless God/man was crucified. He died so that death would be conquered…He took the sting out of it. However, the death criteria inadvertently put the sting back into death..That should raise huge red flags.

What disturbs me is that there is very little self-reflection in the paranormal community regarding their most basic tenets about how people get trapped. I get upset when I hear folks speak so confidently to a client that they don’t have to worry about the entity in their home because it is simply a trapped little child, or a benign adult….or residual energy (please see my 4 blogs on this unscientific notion).

Why is it that the vast majority of deaths with significant unfinished business, very violent deaths, extremely emotional deaths, and premature deaths do not result in a haunting or evidence of earthbound spirits?  If one cannot find a discernible pattern that applies to the majority of problem deaths, then there is something wrong with the hypothesis. If this small percentage were applied to a scientific hypothesis, then it would be rejected quickly. At the very least, the paranormal community should show some willingness to subject its basic tenets to serious scrutiny.

Demonic activity is the best and most comprehensive answer which explains all the data. There is a profound irrationality at the heart of evil, especially demonic activity, that would explain the non-ability to predict results from problem deaths.

No doubt every day, there are technological advances in the paranormal community—empowering them to do that which is condemned by God (communicating with the dead), BUT there is very little desire or attempts to examine the mechanism behind the alleged death criteria. That doesn’t make sense. Folks should be looking at this relentlessly.I hope and pray that at least one person will have the courage and integrity to think for yourself regarding the death criteria...and see if it really stands up to honest scrutiny.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last,
18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18, emphasis added)

In close, it seems that all the death criteria can be subsumed under the notion of unfinished business. Be that as it may, all of the death criteria are flatly contradictory to the bible. No mechanism has been suggested as to how certain people get stuck and not others. Worse, they belittle the awesome nature of the Living God, as expressed in Psalm 139. Worst of all, it dishonors the infinitely precious and efficacious blood of the Lamb which ensures that believers will go home immediately upon death..and unbelievers to hell, for spurning the blood of the Lamb.

One last comment: the soul and the after-life are manifestly theological issues, which do not lend themselves to scientific analysis. Theological concepts/issues need theological answers, or we’ll be spinning our wheels.

Heaven and earth and all that is in it was created by God and belongs to Him. (Col. 1:16)…and in Genesis 3 God created death. Death is owned and controlled by God, and every human death (manner, means, and timing) was decreed by God Almighty. Hence, the death criteria are a blatant negation of that fact.

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.