Friday, September 7, 2012

Ghost Hunters Scratches and Provocation

On Wednesday September 5, 2012, the SyFy channel aired another episode of Ghost Hunters after a short hiatus. The episode prior to this one, viewers said goodbye to long time member and TAPS cofounder Grant Wilson. I watch these paranormal shows as an arm chair quarterback. It's a lot like the Men in Black, where Agent J and Agent K buy the National Enquirer to see "who is here". When you watch these shows with a core foundation in spirituality, you get a different picture and story than what is edited and being presented to you from a spiritist's point of view.

In the Wednesday episode, the TAPS team members were at an old historic haunted prison in Charleston, South Carolina. TAPS was last of the so so paranormal shows I could watch without having to turn off the volume to avoid witchcraft spells (Ghost Adventures) or yell at the television for the investigators doing something incredibly out of the confines of exercising good ol'common sense. Then again, I say that loosely, because there is no common sense exercised when ghost hunting. Well, Ghost Hunters jumped the shark, so to speak, in this episode, where the first time in eight years of the show, a team member was scratched by a demonic presence.

I will remind you, the core foundations of this show is spiritist. There is nothing Christian about this show. However, what I was surprised to see was how at ease Jason Hawes and the producers of the show were, to send a young woman Haggar, who had been scratched, back into a demonic environment to be scratched again -repeatedly! This video clip is a great tool in examining how spiritists have no authority over the demonic. Listen to Adam command over and over for the spirit to leave Haggar alone and it repeatedly scratches her in defiance to Adam.



Now, I said I arm chair quarterbacking from my experience. Here is what I see going on in this clip. In some clips you can see Amy Bruni wearing a cross around her neck. I don't know what her faith background is. Just because she is wearing a cross doesn't mean she is Christian. She could be, but some spiritists use the cross as a magic trinket for protection rather than having faith. It works! But we don't use the sign of the cross as a charm! Amy is also pregnant, which is a terrible place to be in with a fetus in your womb. Spirits are known to attack the spirits of the fetus. Spirits have been responsible for miscarriages. Amy do something else until your child is born!

Ok, so back to Haggar, she is repeatedly scratched because she has no spiritual authority. I would venture to say she is New Age or has some other godly belief. Based on the attacks, she is probably New Age and has a spirit guide. The demon in the jail is trying to dominate the lesser demon - the spirit guide.  Why Jason Hawes didn't remove her from the investigation I don't know. I mean that would be simple common sense. But maybe it was for the sensationalism of the viewer this young woman was left at the merciless clutches of a demon. When an attack like this occurs there is an attachment of a spirit of Fear. And God only knows what else attached itself during this attack. This was a very bad move for TAPS. And now a lot of other paranormal investigators are going to try and pull this same stupid stunt because they saw it on TAPS. Paranormal investigation is a lot of monkey see -monkey do. After an incident like this these people require deliverance ministry and some pastoral care. We have seen this quite a bit in our ministry with M16 Ministries.

Our team has been in houses where we see people getting scratched or tormented. But it leaves our team alone. It's about walking in your spiritual authority. Churches don't teach this. It's about faith and learning to walk in spiritual authority. Spiritual authority also requires obedience to God. Our team doesn't go on ghost hunts because it's an abomination to the law of God. PERIOD! We will go in to assist someone. That's a different matter. And first we pray to God to be released into the situation. Again, that's obedience to God.

The other method that has run amok from TAPS is the process of provocation of a spirit. Again, this is spiritist practices and nothing any clergy in their right mind would do. I have another clip below from the series The Haunted. Where a paranormal investigator provokes a demon and the demon responds. The provocation being shown here is opening this individual up for spirit attachment. I wouldn't doubt other things have happened to this individual since the attack in this clip.


As for our spiritual warfare team, we use the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We don't need to provoke the demon to know it's present. We can discern it's presence. Sometimes you don't even need to discernment to feel the pressure of the demonic oppression in the house.

If you're church clergy and you have a FORMER paranormal investigator in your congregation with spiritual attachment or even manifestations you must minister to the issues and break off the sin. Do not try and remove the spirit until the person has closed the door on this pattern of living. Otherwise, it can get worse.

These television paranormal investigators are amateurs, presented as experts, and put their cast at risk to get ratings. What they are doing and presenting as fact is erroneous and dangerous. My team never does investigations. In fact, we get calls after the investigators leave to help calm down the home after what the paranormal teams stirred up.

More information on spiritual warfare can be found in our book, A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare - the Power to PULL the IMPOSSIBLE from the HEAVENLY REALMS. Blessings Rev Mike

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Sign of Jonah - Resurrection


As a kid in Sunday school one of my favorite Bible studies was always The Book of Jonah. Maybe because it was the funnest story to listen to about a bald guy (which is how he was depicted in the accompanying coloring art assignment with the lesson) and this friendly big whale. In Sunday school the whale played the role as God's taxi. Unfortunately, to simplify the story for Sunday school, Jonah took on a fairy tale persona. He didn't seem real when he was taught. Perhaps my teacher didn't believe the story and so it came across as make believe. Jonah is not the Santa Claus of the Bible. Let me make something perfectly clear, the Bible is the infallible word from God. But poor Sunday school lessons can condition us for the rest of our lives. How did I break free of this?

As an adult, I read the book several times too. My head got several readjustments when Jonah was mentioned in the historical book of Kings. Jesus also referred Jonah, which really got my head thinking about this Jonah guy. But it wasn't until I read the book through the eyes of a someone who has prayed for healing and inner healing that the pages of Jonah illuminated a deeper story. It's a small book, about 4 chapters (2 pages in my Bible) and nearly every chapter has a miracle in it. Something I felt my mind was conditioned to overlook because of the Sunday school mishandling of the book. But it was pretty clear to me now. There were miracles going on in the Book of Jonah. For a tiny book it was actually overflowing with miracles!

In the Book of Jonah, God assigns the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh. Nineveh is the capitol of  Assyria, which is now modern day Iraq. Iraq is a brutal land today, it was more so in the time of Jonah. God sent Jonah to tell the barbarians of Nineveh to repent. Jonah decided he feared the Assyrian barbarians of Nineveh more so than God. So Jonah ran away to Tarshish. The first chapter of Jonah tells us he boarded a boat in Joppa and made his escape from the Lord.

The next thing we're told the ship is caught in a violent storm. Jonah finally divulges to the panicking crew, after drawing lots and loosing, that he is the culprit. His God is angry at him and he should be thrown overboard to spare the crew.

Chapter 2 is where things become interesting. We see Jonah's prayers from the belly of the fish. Was it a whale or was it a fish? Scripture doesn't specify. From chapter 2 verse 2,

“I called out of my distress to the Lord,
And He answered me.
I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.

Clue number one is from this verse, Jonah cried from the depth of Sheol. Sheol is death! Verse 5 is also filled with some interesting clues.

5 “Water encompassed me to the point of death.
The great deep engulfed me,
Weeds were wrapped around my head.

Basically, we see a description here of Jonah drowning. The deep engulfed him. What is the significance of the weeds wrapped around his head? Does it mean he was on ocean floor for some time before the fish picked him up?

In verse 6, Jonah descended to the deep. Metal crushing water pressure comes to mind at the depth he is talking about.

6 “I descended to the roots of the mountains.
The earth with its bars was around me forever,
But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.

I believe in verses 2-6, Jonah is painting a picture of his death. He died. The bars of the earth describe his fate was sealed.

What is difficult to piece together is if the fish snatched Jonah as he was cast overboard, like the Sunday school rendition, or the fish plucked the dead body from the bottom of the ocean. The verses sited paint the picture that Jonah was dead on the ocean floor when the fish plucked him up.

Whatever may have happened, we know from Jonah 1:17, that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days. Then in verse 10, the fish delivers Jonah.

10 Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

Now I can't help but feel this is a miracle of Jonah being dead raised. No matter how you paint the picture, Jonah was either dead on the ocean floor, or dead by the digestive acids in the fish's stomach. Jonah was vomited out of the fish!

An interesting correlation is from Jesus in the Book of Matthew (12:40).

40 for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus is speaking on his resurrection! And then in Luke 11:29-30, Jesus mentions Jonah as a miraculous sign.

29 As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. 30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

It's possible that the sign being referred to here is the resurrection of Jonah's body and spirit as he was vomited out of the fish. All the pieces are there for this miracle. If you look at all the other miracles in the Book of Jonah, the possibility of Jonah's resurrection is not entirely out of the question.