It's interesting watching the focus of an entire country shift every year to the paranormal for one month concluding with Halloween. You don't have to spend long looking at the TV shows and movies in the month of October to realize something has changed. Whether it is the fabled Headless Horseman, an evil doll, blood-sucking deals for power, or treating interaction with the spirits as child's play, people are drawn to the scary and downright wicked.
Should this fascination with the paranormal surprise us? Probably not. Scripturally speaking we are spiritual beings with physical bodies, not the other way around. On the other hand, the Bible speaks quite strongly against witchcraft, sorcery, charms, fortune-telling, consulting the spirits or the dead, and enchantments. See Deuteronomy 18:10-11. And this isn't just an Old Testament teaching, in Galatians 5, sorcery is listed along with things like sexual immorality, dissension, outbursts of anger, drunkenness, etc. which are the contrary to the fruit brought about by the Spirit of God.
Personally, I think we need to think more often about the world around us which is unseen. This is why my book series is called Unseen Dominion. We often like to treat the paranormal as either non-existent or something to be toyed with. This couldn't be further from the truth. Remember according to Ephesians 6:
We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
It is a battle and the easiest foe to defeat is the one that sticks their head in the sand and pretends there is no battle.
I an not one to argue that we should completely isolate ourselves from the world. We cannot avoid the battle, God says we are in it. I just want us to be aware of what we are truly dealing with. Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, even the ancient gods of mythology, don't really exist. But, are they harmless stories with which to obsess? Scripture is pretty clear about the existence of angels and demons, spiritual entities. We need to be careful that we are not deceived either to believe that there is no battle or that the enemies are harmless.
Ephesians 6 tells us what armor is required for the battle. That is a topic for another day. But, as I've attempted to convey in my book, In The Image of Man, some of the necessary tools are Faith, Prayer, and the Word of God.
If you're in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, you can stop over to my book signing at Baker Book House on Thursday, October 16, at 7pm to hear a bit more about my motivation for writing this particular story. Oh yeah, and get your signed copy of In The Image of Man.
'Til next time!
Should this fascination with the paranormal surprise us? Probably not. Scripturally speaking we are spiritual beings with physical bodies, not the other way around. On the other hand, the Bible speaks quite strongly against witchcraft, sorcery, charms, fortune-telling, consulting the spirits or the dead, and enchantments. See Deuteronomy 18:10-11. And this isn't just an Old Testament teaching, in Galatians 5, sorcery is listed along with things like sexual immorality, dissension, outbursts of anger, drunkenness, etc. which are the contrary to the fruit brought about by the Spirit of God.
Personally, I think we need to think more often about the world around us which is unseen. This is why my book series is called Unseen Dominion. We often like to treat the paranormal as either non-existent or something to be toyed with. This couldn't be further from the truth. Remember according to Ephesians 6:
We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
It is a battle and the easiest foe to defeat is the one that sticks their head in the sand and pretends there is no battle.
I an not one to argue that we should completely isolate ourselves from the world. We cannot avoid the battle, God says we are in it. I just want us to be aware of what we are truly dealing with. Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, even the ancient gods of mythology, don't really exist. But, are they harmless stories with which to obsess? Scripture is pretty clear about the existence of angels and demons, spiritual entities. We need to be careful that we are not deceived either to believe that there is no battle or that the enemies are harmless.
Ephesians 6 tells us what armor is required for the battle. That is a topic for another day. But, as I've attempted to convey in my book, In The Image of Man, some of the necessary tools are Faith, Prayer, and the Word of God.
If you're in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, you can stop over to my book signing at Baker Book House on Thursday, October 16, at 7pm to hear a bit more about my motivation for writing this particular story. Oh yeah, and get your signed copy of In The Image of Man.
'Til next time!
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