Satan Is Still Alive

By Lisa Grace

Those who read my articles know I’m an unapologetic believer in the Holy Scriptures as the inspired word of God. I include this sentence first for those who don’t know where I’m coming from, especially since the article today deals with Satan and one of his great deceptions and all religions as a whole.

This week I’ve been busy with final edits on the third book in my Angel series Angel in the Ice, Book 3. As anyone who writes or explores the supernatural from a Biblical point of view has learned, many obstacles pop up when anyone dares to shed light on the truth about Satan, the fallen angels, or demonic influences on the modern world.

As part of my research for my books, I read what other authors write about the paranormal in the Holy Scriptures. This week my reading includes a book written back in in 1972 (but I’m reading the updated 1977 version) of Hal Lindsey’s (with C. C. Carlson) Satan Is Alive And Well On Planet Earth.

What I find so fascinating about this book, is how the author is shocked at the abundance of those practicing witchcraft and/or the religion of Wicca. Of course, the numbers are much larger today than in the seventies, and with the help of the Harry Potter Series and other movies, TV shows, and books the movements are much more mainstream. There are covens that approach the whole thing more as honoring the earth and then there are those who go all out with spells, books of shadows, and witchcraft.

Even witchcraft admits there is “good” and “evil”.

The funny thing is, while the whole witchcraft movement has grown, all religions, (not just Christian denominations), are being taught in the public school systems and modernism movements, as “mythology”. Just stories, myths. This watering down of all religion is fine with Satan and his forces. He loves it when so many people don’t believe he exists.

If God is just a myth, people lose their will to love or please God.

It makes it easier to justify “I’m basically a good person” so out the window goes any notion of needing a Savior. You no longer need forgiveness.

Believing evil doesn’t exist, makes it easier for people to deceive themselves. There is no longer any need to resist temptation. “Just do what you want as long as it doesn’t hurt others.”

Unfortunately, this kind of thinking devolves into “just do what you want, you deserve it”. Evil destroys. Any temptation (these are just examples as there are too many to list: pornography or gluttony) destroys those who indulge and creates victims. This is exactly where Satan wants you, destroying yourself, your relationships, and creating victims.

Satan is ecstatic that so many humans can no longer recognize evil or how it works. How can you resist what you deny exists?

He’s even happier when people experience evil desires and they realize they have no where to turn for help. You can’t rid yourself of demonic influences if you don’t believe they exist.

You may not believe in Satan, but rest assured, he’s still alive and he believes in you.

What Does The Bible Say About Ghosts?

By Lisa Grace

I’m not to gung-ho on any Bible study that does it from English and ignores the original Greek and Hebrew translations of the Scriptures. I’m also not happy with scholars that haven’t bothered to study Jewish, Roman, or Greek social norms and mores of the times in which the scriptures were written. Way too much of the meaning is lost in translations that ignore the root of the society and time the words were coming from.

For example if I said, “It’s raining cats and dogs outside.” You would know I meant it’s raining very hard. You would not immediately assume I meant that cats and dogs were literally falling from the sky. But when you attempt to understand the Bible without understanding what Jesus and the disciples really meant, because you don’t know the language, idioms, geography, social norms, and mores you will misinterpret so much.

The scriptures were written without punctuation or verse markers. Adding it makes assumptions and twists the meaning. A commonly misunderstood passage is when Jesus was dying on the cross, he said, in Luke 24:43 And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee today shalt thou be with me in paradise

When the punctuation is removed or a comma put after the word today, the phrase jives with the rest of the scriptures that say the dead "sleep". Deuteronomy 31:16 Shakab to lie down (in death) However, our first aware moment will be with Jesus in Paradise.

When we go with the meaning that the dead “sleep” and understand that the apostles understood this to be true, we can look at the words from the Greek and Hebrew that mean ghost or spirit.

Ghosts exist in Greek mythology as does communicating with the dead. The belief in ghosts was a part of their culture and did influence the cultural climate of the day.

When the apostles saw Jesus walking to them on the water, they could think of no other explanation.

However, when we look at the word studies for ghost or spirit we get:

Matthew 14:25-27 phantasma (Greek) spirit translated from (Hebrew) Av=Breath.

Genesis 25:8 Abraham gave up the ghost was the word Gava (Hebrew), which means to breathe out one’s life.

(These are just two of many examples)

In both we see it clearly does not refer to a “spirit“, but the act of dying, taking the last breath. Again, the early disciples knew death would be their estate until the judgment/rapture/second coming.

If an apparition is not that of a once living person, what is it? According to scripture, one third of the angels and supernatural creatures fell from heaven in the war (Revelations 12:7). Ghosts are simply different types of demonic/angelic/supernatural manifestations. I talk more about these types of creatures in my article: http://eyeontheparanormal.blogspot.com/2012/03/different-types-of-angels-and-demons.html

There are several types of apparitions from repetitive to poltergeist depending on what type of supernatural creature/demon/angel is manifesting. While most seem innocent, they are not. Their purpose is to lead you astray. Learn what the scriptures have to teach on dealing with the supernatural.

To learn how angels work in our life today you can read my fictional series which is soon to be a movie by http://www.Motionpicturepro.com

Angel in the Shadows, Book 1

Angel in the Storm, Book 2

Coming Soon! Angel in the Ice, Book 3.