Curse Breaking Series - Ghost Hunting and Spiritism Part I

Jim was a Ghost Hunter in Northern California. Most of his Friday night's he would spend with his his friends,  toting electronic gadgets and going through haunted homes. Jim's paranormal team even setup a web channel where people could login and watch a paranormal team do an investigation. Jim was having the time of his life. Ghost hunting was thrilling and exciting.

One day an exciting case came in. They were invited to a house with demonic activity. They packed up their gear and off they went to the house they called, “the Hell Gate”.

Jim still remembers this investigation. It wasn't the thrill of the lifetime investigation he had hoped for. Instead, this investigation became the start of a living nightmare for Jim. A demonic spirit attached itself to Jim and went home with him.

Over the next few months Jim became violently sick, and something medically inexplicable was eating away at Jim from the inside out. Literally. Jim was afraid to go to sleep at night because a dark shadow would manifest over over his bed.

Jim's friends from his ghost hunting team were paranormal-ly perplexed. In reality, Jim's paranormal investigator friends weren't the great intellects of the paranormal as the TV shows portray these people to be. In fact, they didn't really contact Jim because they didn't know what to do with him. Now on Friday nights, Jim's posse~ went off on different haunted web productions -without him.

Jim was frustrated! So he did what any good paranormal investigator would do, he contacted a psychic. Jim consulted a top psychic-spiritualist over the phone.  She told Jim that the house he got the evil spirit from was on desecrated Indian ground. The demon attacking Jim was now communicating with the psychic and feeding her disinformation. If demons laugh, you know this was one chuckling out loud. Because now the psychic had Jim off on a wild goose chase petitioning the California Indian council for a cleansing ceremony on his home. Jim was frustrated that the council didn't return his calls.

Nobody returned Jim's calls except for the psychic. As Jim's condition worsened he decided the spiritualists and ghost hunter's around him were useless. Jim reached out and contacted a Christian ministry, M16.

It took numerous and long drawn out phone calls on our part to convince Jim he didn't need to contact the California Indian council for a cleansing. It was Jim that needed the spiritual cleansing. We had even a tougher time of breaking Jim from his psychic dependency. He would tell the ministry he wasn't in contact with his psychic, then in a lengthy phone call, have a slip of the tongue he was talking with her. So we stopped working with Jim. He had to choose, Jesus or the psychic.

A week later Jim called us back and decided to work with us. It took over a month to work with Jim. He, like most other people coming out of paranormal situations, didn't want to run to Jesus. They just want to be saved from their pain and move on in life. That's not how Jesus works. Jesus is a healer, but he wants to make you whole. This means you need to run to him. After a long and painstaking battle, Jim finally accepted Jesus. By battle, I don't mean between my spiritual views and his. Jim was struggling because Jesus was kicking this thing's butt! Only, the life style he was involved in, and hanging around paranormal investigators, Jesus was a myth. Jim had a lot of internal struggles and battles and lots of phone calls with Lisa and myself. He was perplexed that this Jesus person, had the power to push back on the realm of darkness. Jim's life turned around when he stopped being a spiritualist and started being a spiritual follower of  Jesus.

Spiritualism

 

Spiritualism has its roots in American history that dates back to the 1840's. In upstate New York, Christian revivals were so impacted in the area and so many occurring, the area was labeled the “Burned-over district”. One Christian revival after another swept through this region. Revivals literally “burned” through towns like wild fires. People were spiritually hungry for the power the revivals brought to their town. But as the revivals left town, nothing was left to spiritually feed the people that had powerful Jesus encounters. The revivals left a vacuum of the power of the Holy Spirit when they pulled up their stakes and departed.  The vacuum became filled by cults and non-Christian beliefs bringing their own revivals. 

Upstate New York spawned many cults during this revival burn over period. Joseph Smith founded Mormonism in this region. The Book of Mormon was reportedly unearthed in a hillside in Palmyra, New York.

The Fox Sisters

 

In the 1840's the Fox sisters, of Hydesville, New York,  founded the new religion, spiritualism.  After living in a haunted home, the youngest of the three sisters communicated with a spirit by having the spirit tap out yes or no to her questions. The three sisters became the first of what we now know as modern day mediums. The new religion spread like wild fire, through upstate New York, and soon the country was on fire with spiritualism. The religion was based on the belief that human souls could wander the earth as ghosts and you could communicate with them. It's interesting to see how the enemy re-invents old things and packages them up like something brand new. Spiritualism is still necromancy!

At the time of this writing, nearly every major cable network has some sort of ghost hunting or paranormal show. I was surprised to find that even Animal Planet has a paranormal show. All the ghost hunting shows you see on television and the Internet today are spiritualism based. They all employ the belief systems and methods for communicating with the dead, that the Fox sisters introduced in the 1840s. The television show, on the SyFy network, Ghost Hunters, you see the team members using this knocking technique developed by Kate Fox to communicate with the dead. Investigator Steve Gonsalves, on Ghost Hunters, uses his “Shave and a haircut” knock all the time on the show to drum up spirit response. This communication by knocking is what Kate Fox and her two sisters used in the 1840's when they started the religion. Mediums existed long before the Fox sisters came long. However, the Fox sisters were responsible for the modern movement of spiritualism.

Although the Fox sisters all passed away in the late the 1800s, their legacy lives on. It is thriving at the Lily Dale Assembly. Lily Dale is a spiritualist community comprised of mediums, located in Lily Dale, New York. The assembly is the existing church of spiritualism founded by the Fox sisters in the 1840s. Lily Dale is still flourishing today. You can go out there and pay a gate fee, only good for 24 hours to visit the community.

Psychics and God's Laws 

 

Before we discuss whether a Christian should be involved in ghost hunting, let's first take a look at some scriptural facts on ghosts and spiritualism. First of all, the scripture prohibits us from engaging in any form of contact with ghosts. Regardless if they're departed human souls or evil spirits.

‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.  (Leviticus 19:31)

A medium is a psychic. Psychics communicate with the dead. Communicating with the dead is necromancy. Scripture says that to seek the consultation of a medium is to be defiled by them. Why? Remember our friend Jim who was receiving the counter attacks through disinformation from his medium? Mediums are in contact with demons. Plain and simple.

9 “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you. (Deuteronomy 18:9-31)

There it is, in black and white, in Deteuronomy 18, verse 11,  being a medium is an abomination to God. It is an abomination because it is a counterfeit prophetic gift, what a deliverance minister would call a Jezebel spirit. God has prophets and seers that listen to his word. A medium listens to demons. Bringing the belief into the church that ghost hunting is okay is defilement of God's word. This is the movement of a Jezebel spirit, a counter prophetic spirit, and it needs to be shut down in the church body.

Uncertain of Their Own Faith in Eternity

The most compelling reason Christians get involved in ghost hunting and paranormal investigations is because they believe they are providing proof of the after-life. The problem is the proof they are seeking is spiritualism truth. Which is a lie from the father of lies. For one, Jesus chastised the Pharisees for demanding to see miracles. This is where the Christian ghost hunter is with their faith. The  ghost hunter requires to see miracles, which in the case of ghost hunting, are from the enemy.  Yes, it is proof of existence of the supernatural, but the spiritualist is so convoluted in lies they can't see the spirit is a demon. Furthermore, involvement in these activities brings curses, like the attachment of an evil spirit like our friend Jim had. The lure of chasing the supernatural also brings uncontrollable obsessions as well.

In Part II of this series, we'll take a look at what the Bible says about dead spirits.

Feel free to comment, slander, throw stones, or ask questions below.

Enjoy!
Rev. Mike

For further reading on the topic of spiritual warfare get your copy of,
A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare - the Power to PULL the IMPOSSIBLE from the HEAVENLY REALMS

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©2014 Michael J. Norton

Assisting Non-Christian Believers with Demonic Torment

How does a Christian assist a non-believing Christian who is experiencing demonic activity? Glad you asked. In this blog I will outline what our initial meeting at pagan or New Ager's house usually looks like.

First of all, you must ask yourself the question, are you the one who belongs in this fight. Many times Christians get over zealous and jump into a battle way above their pay grade. Yes, we were given authority over the demonic. But many Christians can't handle the midget demons in their own closet, then they go off and take on what they call "a giant". This is a remedy for a good old fashion spiritual butt kicking. It won't look very well if you go off half cocked into a battle, get beat up spiritually and quite possibly physically.

I didn't use to differentiate myself before from a deliverance minister, but now I do use the title exorcist. An exorcist is a minister who is operating under the anointing of God to assist individuals with long term and nasty battles against the forces of darkness and sometimes mental illness (from demonic forces). The anointing is critical because it protects you and helps you when severe demonic oppression is flung on you from warfare. This is a nasty demonic acid trip of depression to endure and it requires a supernatural battle. Many times while you're helping someone else. They don't call it spiritual warfare for nothing!

Many deliverance ministers cast out demons, bless homes and break curses. I started using the term exorcist because my ministry was recognized as such and operating at that level. At this point in ministry, your team includes therapists and doctors, It wasn't a self-appointed title. If you read my book, "A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare - the Power to PULL the IMPOSSIBLE from the HEAVENLY REALMS", I discussed this distinction. An exorcist comes in where the deliverance minister needs assistance with warfare. I help other ministers that have gone into homes and got slimed by the demonic activity taking place there. Exorcism and deliverance ministry is not for everyone in the church body. We were given authority by God to deal with our own spiritual warfare. Many Christians are misguided and believe that gives them a license to go out and start a spiritual bar fight. Some Christians are "DRAFTED" and not called into higher levels of spiritual warfare. Exorcism can be a life threatening ministry and only those equipped should be involved. PERIOD.- End of my disclaimer.

How do you help a non-believer who experiencing demonic activity? Simple. The same way Jesus would have. In the western church we only recognize one category of Jesus 3-fold ministry. We only preach the Gospel. Jesus ministry was comprised of teaching the Gospel, healing the sick, and casting out demons. When I work with New Agers and Pagans, many times a one fold Christian with lack of spiritual maturity has already gotten to them and vehemently hurt them. This is the person who told this individual that they are going to Hell rather than love them as they were like Jesus would have. I know I just rattled some religious spirits reading that line. But it's how Jesus ministered. Remember in the last days of the church the Holy Spirit was poured out on all of us. Jesus is seeking all of us!

When I am called out to a pagan's or New Agers home I respect their beliefs and not try to convert them. They are in the midst of a personal and spiritual crisis. I walk into their home with the confidence that Jesus is going to do something and make himself real to this individual. I am demonstrating the true Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Not the false jesus they may know from the unitarian perspective of spirituality. Yes, you are operating in the miracles, signs and wonders - the three-fold Gospel of Jesus. If you never seen a miracle through prayer this is not a good scenario for you. Why? Because these people are spiritual and you're not going to be able to give them a fire and brimstone sermon when you yourself have never seen the supernatural like they have. Get the picture? Many Christians aren't walking in the power their own God gave them the authority and power to walk in. Unless you are walking in this, can hear from God, can pull down the power of heaven through prayer, you won't be affective. These people have seen the supernatural through the forces of darkness. And pretty much the predicament they are in stems from their own dabbling in darkness. White witches don't realize their power is dark.

When our team ministers in these environments we use prophetic ministry. When we meet the individual we listen to God for him to give us something meaningful about this person. Usually, it is deep and touches their heart. At the right moment, we share the word we got during the initial meeting with the individual. When they hear what we have to share - it puts our team in a position where their wall with Christians comes down a bit so we can minister. We let God do the talking. We walk on egg shells in these environments. Recall that Jesus sometimes performed healing miracles before he shared the Gospel. Same situation here. It's a woman at the well encounter (see John 4). There is a correct and positive way to demonstrate the supernatural realm of Jesus. Word of knowledge or prophetic word is the tool of choice through Jesus. And whatever you do, avoid your "So sayeth the Lord" malarchy. It may fluff you up at church, but if you're word is wrong. You just shut down the whole meeting. What I am saying, is, don't be afraid your word is wrong. Be more afraid it is offensive to the individual. "So sayeth the Lord" is overly religious and usually used by people in church who fake it until they make it - so to speak. You must be experienced at hearing God to do this. We can ALL hear from God! Do you ever wonder why all these people on ghost hunter shows buy into the lie that their kids are psychics? We are all spiritual beings and we all have the spiritual listening equipment. If you are a deliverance minister - get trained. John Paul Jackson's Art of Hearing God is a great place to start. My team trains churches too. So if you're in Northern California, look us up. We'd be glad to come out and train your church.

With these individuals, they are looking at you and waiting for you to sound like the immature Christian who is going to tell them they're going to Hell. Jesus loves people where they're at. It's important to build a relationship with these people and gain their trust. Jesus will give you a dead on word to get their attention. We always laugh when the people ask us where did we get our psychic training from. We tell them we're not psychic, we're trained to hear the voice of our creator.

When we make appointments with New Agers and pagans they are always blown away that we are not the typical (Western) Christians. We are there to build a relationship with the individual. Sure there is a demon in their home -but Jesus will deal with that.

When the initial meet and greet is over we ask for permission to walk through their home. We're not carrying an over-sized ornate cross like we just stepped out of a horror movie. Many times we just show up in plain clothes and carry a Bible or an ipad - and some anointing oil. That's it for the items we bring to a house with activity. The Jesus inside of you -the minister, is who is going to be doing all the work. You just need to be listening and moving with him and not in the opposite direction of him. So yes, you read that correctly, no ovulus, no spirit box, no K2 meter, no digital recorders, no video cameras, nadda - just a small flask of anointing oil. We like to travel light, minimizes setup time for the ministry. Then we walk through the house, and we discern where the spiritual activity is taking place in the home. Yes - we kick it old school. Believe it or not the Holy Spirit is more accurate that a K2 meter! And we walk through the home with the lights on! We're not filming a lame ghost hunting reality show. We're actually helping someone who is in spiritual torment.

It is common, during the discernment walk through, the demon will reveal itself because it knows an anointing when it sees one. We did not provoke the demon - which is extremely dangerous and should never be done - EVER! If a demon manifests it's good to have team members who understand their authority and identity in Jesus Christ. Because now you have entered the miracle, signs and wonders moment of the meeting.  It at this point, my ministry team gets the thumbs up approval from the non-believer. It is at this point the individual is physically witnessing the power and authority of God. At this point it is okay to vocally pronounce the authority of Jesus Christ during warfare. You must discern if this is the appropriate time to take action and remove the demon or to just demonstrate your power authority over it. God could careless about the demon, it's already been judged and is going to Hell anyway. God cares about the person you are helping. If they clearly understand the power they just witnessed it is time to discuss, after the encounter, and it is shutdown, what just occurred and why. Jesus only wants people to love him through the individual's own free will. This is when you explain the angelic spiritual war and that these creatures -demons, are in rebellion to the God most high. This is not a convert to Jesus or perish speech. This is the time to give them information on what happened and why. They must process what they witnessed and make some decisions. You must be mature in your walk and know that God is big enough to deal with this individual and give them time and space to process. Exorcism is essentially prophetic and process evangelism while operating in the miracles, signs and wonders. Many times, you just need to be a good listener, discern when to shut up, and listen to their story. Some people will come to Christ, some will over what seems to be a very long period of time, and some never will. Some people will run to God just to be healed from their pain and not seek Jesus. This situation in itself is a whole other can of demonic worms.

It is through YOUR sensitivity to the individual plus the miracles, signs and wonders, that hearts change during warfare. The heart must change before the demons are expelled. Otherwise, 7 more horrible homies will return. Not always the rule of thumb. If you can hear God on one or two  occassions he may ask you to do otherwise and evict the demons before repenting. I know - the religious spirit person's head just spun around again. YOU MUST BE ABLE TO LISTEN TO GOD IN THIS MINISTRY!

This is not a methodology. It's building a relationship with the individual and understanding where they're at in their spiritual walk. I have used miracles, signs and wonders over the phone to help gnostics who called me. One gnostic went to a psychic and the psychic told them to call me! I didn't know the psychic. Sometimes God intercepts transmissions and gives psychics info. This person through a supernatural God was led to Christ. Using prayers and shutting down demonic voices over several phone calls this individual decided God was real. She had no where else to turn but to Jesus.

I have had power encounters with legion and shutdown their activity. Only in this case, the psychic didn't want to give up her legion of demonic spirit guides (we've seen this with Paul in Acts). In this case, the woman would rather be thrown down the stairs then seek Jesus. We broke off ministering with this woman. Her husband would call us every night for a week because we could shut down legion over a phone call on the speaker phone. But this individual didn't want Jesus so we couldn't help her any further. You must remember, this is all a process. Just because they reject Jesus now doesn't mean they won't call you back later. Exorcism takes time and it's all about the heart of the individual and turning their heart to Jesus. This ministry is not about kicking the BUTTS of demons. It is about the grace and mercy of God coming down and helping someone who is spiritually wounded - in their darkest hour.

If you require information on how to bless a house, or foundational information in starting a deliverance ministry, pick up a copy of my book.

A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare - the Power to PULL the IMPOSSIBLE from the HEAVENLY REALMS

Blessings

Rev. Mike

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