Response to Comment: The Afterlife, Ghosts, fortune tellers, mediums, etc

So I was asked a question from a blog follower and in trying to respond I exceeded the character limit for a comment. So I decided just to blog it out to you all.

 

Valerie thanks for your encouragement and I really do appreciate you asking me about anything pertaining to scripture. I don’t at all believe that I know everything or have arrived but I do believe it is wise to seek the counsel of other believers from time to time after first of course seeking God in prayer and his Word for guidance. So here is my best attempt to provide my thoughts on this topic.

To see Valerie's full question check out the comment on the blog titled "How did I end up here?"

Referenced Scripture: Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 20:27, Deuteronomy 18:10, 2 Kings 21:6, 1 Samuel 28:3-25, 1 Chronicles 10:13-14,

2 Corinthians 10:4, 2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 3:20-21,   

The Afterlife, Ghosts, fortune tellers, mediums, etc…

So first and foremost, yes in my opinion all these things are true and have very real aspects to all of them. All throughout the Bible we can locate accounts of each one of them. There was a time in my life where I too was a little unsure about how all these things related to us as believers. The world will tell you these things are just fictitious or just for entertainment, but they are very real each one of them. Depending on which translation you read you will see sorcerers, necromancers, soothsayers or mediums as someone that would speak to the dead (See Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 20:27, Deuteronomy 18:10, 2 Kings 21:6). This is not an exhaustive list just a few examples. In researching the Bible we can see that God did not approve of them. Leviticus 20:27 specifically tells us, “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death.”

What does all this mean? Well I believe it means, communicating with the dead is in fact real and possible but I don’t believe it’s from God. The hurts and trials of life can lead us to go around God and seek answers from avenues that we shouldn’t ever flirt with. Check out 1 Samuel 28:3-25 & 1 Chronicles 10:13-14, we see an account of where Saul did just that. He asked God for direction and God didn’t answer him so he then takes matters into his own hands and seeks out a medium (aka necromancer, sorcerer, soothsayer, etc). This was Saul completely losing faith in God and doing something God never asked him to do. We’ve all done something similar in our own lives; we go ahead of God and nine times out of ten make things worse by our own actions. When it comes to the paranormal, ghosts, ect there are some levels of it that are “hollywooded up” but much of it exists in the spiritual realm and we know from God’s word that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (2 Corinthians 10:4), meaning we have been giving spiritual weapons (i.e. – Prayer, Fasting, Scripture) which when used properly and with the right heart are guaranteed to work. So if you really have questions and want answers from God try these weapons, but remember there are some things that I truly believe will NOT be explained on this side of eternity.

Now on to what I believe happens when we pass on. When a believer in Christ passes on I do believe that we are present with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8) but our physical bodies stay here. When Christ does return we can see glimpses of what it will be like from the account of the Apostle Paul. Check out 1 Thessalonians 4:16, which says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” So we think, “Wait a minute! If we die and go directly to be present with Christ then how is this even possible?” Well, humans are three-part, body, soul & spirit. One of the best descriptions I’ve read about this is from Dr. Clarence Larkin’s book “Rightly Dividing The Word”. Larkin uses three circles to illustrate the threefold nature of man. “The outer circle stands for the body of man, the middle circle for the soul, and the inner for the spirit. In the outer circle the ‘Body’ is shown as touching the Material world through the five senses of ‘Sight,’ ‘Smell,’ ‘Hearing,’ ‘Taste’ and ‘Touch.’The Gates to the ‘Soul’ are ‘Imagination,’ ‘Conscience,’ ‘Memory,’ ‘Reason’ and the ‘Affections.’ The “Spirit” receives impressions of outward and material things through the soul. The spiritual faculties of the ‘Spirit’ are ‘Faith,’ ‘Hope,’ ‘Reverence,’ ‘Prayer’ and ‘Worship.’”

So in knowing this we can find in Philippians 3:20-21 where Paul once again shares insight through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” So, when I Thessalonians 4:16 was talking about the dead in Christ rising first we can draw an educated conclusion that this was in reference to the new transformed/glorious body rising that all Believers will receive when Christ does return. When Christ was raised from the dead he too had a transformed, renewed or glorious body. After His resurrection He was able to do things that He hadn’t done before. John 20:19 tells us that Jesus just appeared (materialized) in the middle of a room that the disciples were in and not to mention the accession (Um…flying, hello? Amazing!!)

The point being that diligently study of the Word God will reveal things to you personally just as He has done with me. Now some may read this and think, “Really…? This is just more fairy Tales from one of those Christian fanatics” and that’s fine but I know what God revealed to me and through different events many of these things have been confirmed over and over and over again within me. Now, I did leave out one very scary “other side of the coin”, if there is a life after this one with Christ for those that believe; what about those who do NOT believe? All I can say is study the scriptures that is in there too and as much as people don’t want to believe it it’s a real place too.

Thanks for your question Valerie,

Take Care and I’ll keep you and your boyfriend in my prayers

-Eric

How did I end up here?

Referenced scriptures: Joshua 1:5, John 4:24, Hebrews 13:15,  Isaiah 29:13, Philippians 1:6

As of late, not counting today, I had found myself in a familiar place but somewhere that I hadn’t been in a while. I had been dealing with a very real bout of depression. Immediately I began doing a personal inventory of things in attempts to find out where this was coming from. I had missed a couple of days with God in prayer due to houseguests and projects; so that could have definitely played a part in all this, but for the most part I was still in my Bible and seeking God and I was still praying, a lot. So why am I dealing with depression? It was like I was on the elevator of life and stepped off in the women’s shoe department but was looking for gizmos and gadgets. How’d I end up here?

This morning I brought all this before God and He responded again. At first it was so overwhelming all I could do is mumble through my tears, “Help me…are you there?” Immediately within my spirit I hear, “I’ll never leave you or forsake you…so you know I’m here” (see Joshua 1:5). This response from God was my breaking point, I fell to my knees and buried my tear-drenched face in my hands and allowed God’s presence to completely envelope me. I told Him, “I know that I am supposed to walk by faith and that this is not a feeling thing, but just like an earthly child needs a father’s touch and affection, I too need that from You this morning.” God’s presence was so strong I could literally feel the depression break off me. 

During this time and since God has been speaking to me through various avenues. He spoke through His Word, a Joyce Meyer podcast, and fellow believer. The bottom-line is this; when we desire to do something great for God and really impact this world for His glory that is going really tick off the enemy. Everything that could possibly trip us up will be sent and one of them is absolutely depression. How we react to these things introduced to us is the key. Joyce Meyer avidly speaks about the importance on audibly quoting scripture and honestly I hadn’t been doing that, until today. 

As I drove into work I continued to pray and just enjoy God’s presence. I prayed, spoke the word of God and wouldn’t you know it I had relocated my joy. You see it’s only through true worship and adoration from the creation to the Creator that genuine fulfillment and joy can be obtained (see John4:24). We were designed this way and what we were created for. I soon realized I had once again allowed projects; deadlines & life keep me from entering into my most intimate time of worship to God. Hebrews 13:15 tells us to continually offer up a sacrifice of praise (and worship) to God. Did you catch that; continually. I had become so wrapped up with life that my worship is what suffered.

Worship has to be something that is done on a regular ongoing basis and not just once a week while in a church building somewhere. It is through our worship that we turn away from our problems/issues and give our full (undivided) attention to the only One that can solve them. Through worship we tell God, “I trust You; I trust You so much that I’m going to worship you, focus on You and allow You to fill me.” So how is it that we can attend church some of us multiple times a week and still miss opportunities to truly worship God? Well, that’s easy Isaiah 29:13 tells us the answer to that, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by a rote”. This is the NLT version and I love the use of the word “rote” defined it means: a routine; a fixed, habitual, or mechanical course of procedure. I had allowed life to move my heart away from God and towards other things which caused my worship to become routine and the outcome of routine worship is emptiness.

So regardless of what may be going on in your life…STOP…SLOW DOWN…and take some time to really focus back on God. He brought you all this way and according to His Word (Philippians 1:6) He is faithful to complete what He started in you. Take time today to give Him at least 5 minutes of uninterrupted time. It is only when we truly seek Him that we will truly find Him. 

Take Care & God Bless,

-E

 

"Stop Complaining Already!"

Referenced Scripture(s): Philippians 2:14-16, Job 1:13-2:10, Job 19:25, 2 Corinthians 5:7,  

Romans 12:2, Isaiah 54:17, 1 John 4:4   

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain."

 

In this portion of scripture we see Paul giving instruction to the church in Philippi on how they should conduct themselves when "doing all things"; pretty all-encompassing isn't it? In verse 14, we see an instruction that I myself have failed at more than once before and one that I will probably fail at again before all is said and done. Paul says, "Do all things without complaining?" As we read on through verses 15 & 16 we see that if we do all things without complaining and disputing we will become blameless and harmless children of God without fault and that we will be as lights in the world. These are some very powerful benefits that we can walk in just by keeping a good attitude and do all things without complaining or disputing.

  

I have to admit that I find myself complaining about things more often than I'd care to admit. We get so caught up in our lives and what we are trying to accomplish and we loose sight of why we are doing what we are doing. Then today, I was thinking back to some interactions I had with some friends at church earlier this week and how their negativity towards an aspect of the ministry really bothered me. Then it hit me, "I wonder how God feels when all we do is complain about anything and everything?" I mean we live in a fallen and sinful world and sometimes bad things happen to good people. I'm not trying to make light of your specific situation by any means either but very few of us here in America have room for any kind of justifiable complaining. When I start to have a pity party for myself and start complaining of "how bad" I think I have it; I am always led to recount the life of Job (see Job 1:13-2:10).

In the book of Job and the recap of his life we learn that he literally lost everything. His family, his possessions, his health; everything was taken from him. If anyone in history every had a reason to justifiably complain it would have been Job, but he knew that God was in control and trusted him. There is another key aspect as to why we may tend to complain; we are not fully trusting in God. Instead of complaining Job chose to trust in God and in the midst of his circumstances makes a profound statement, "I know that my Redeemer lives" (Job 19:25). What I believe Job meant by this is, "Even though I many not see it or it doesn't look like there is a God in heaven based on my situation, I know my Redeemer lives". Rather than allow himself to wallow in self-pity in what he could see happening all around him he made the choice to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

So how do we practically combat this complaining & disputing part of our flesh? I have found that we must daily renew our minds (Romans 12:2) this helps us in keeping our eyes focused on where they should be; on Christ. It's when we lose sight of Christ in our day to day that we tend to start complaining about our circumstances. We also need to know what God's Word says about us; how can we walk in faith if we don't know that we are supposed to? How can we know that no weapon formed against us shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17) or that greater is He that lives in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4), if we are not learning it by reading and studying the Scriptures where we find these truths? If we don't know about the Biblical ammunition we have access to then what are we going to fight the enemy with?

Take Care & God Bless,

-E

"A Dry-Boned Zombie"

Referenced: Ezekiel 37:1-14, Romans 7:15

Why is it that we seem to go along just fine for a while and something we hadn’t struggled with in seemingly ages comes back and just envelopes us? I mean if you read through some of the previous blogs here you know I am completely transparent and many of you know my past ; the thing I seem to forget is so does the enemy. This morning, different than most, I got up later than normal, tried to spend time with God in prayer and ended up dozing off. So in short I didn’t get my time with God this morning. Which contrary to what some think, is more important then that first cup of coffee. The day continued on and, “Wham!” within a span of less than an hour two attacks on my mind that led me down a road that I hadn’t been down in a while. In the aftermath, I found myself asking God, “How could this happen, yet again?” I felt like the Apostle Paul in Romans (7:15) where he says, “I don’t know what I’m doing, because I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do the thing that I hate.”

In the silence at the end of my prayer before God, He spoke, not audibly but nonetheless it shook me to my core. What I heard was, “You didn't have time for me this morning and because of that you couldn’t stand against these attacks. You didn’t even cry out to me when you saw where the Accuser was leading you. You know I am more than able to help you, but you MUST call upon me.”  I was floored and immediately the conviction of the Holy Spirit hit me and I was once again before the Lord in full surrender and repentance.

You see, I couldn’t fight because I didn’t have anything in me to fight with. My mornings on my work days generally start very early with prayer and in God’s word. As I think back the last time the enemy attacked with this much force and stirred up the forgiven sins of my past it also was a day that I hadn’t spent time with God. We get so busy doing things that we tend to wear ourselves down and not only is that hard our bodies physically it’s also detrimental to our spirits as well. If we are too tired it’s probably because we are not taking care of ourselves (getting enough rest, eating properly, etc) or we are just doing too much; and, Yes, I have been going non-stop this week and it caught up with me. It’s time to slow down a bit and remember that everything in this world will compete for our time and if we give all our time to other things; what's left for God? 

“Jesus, you’re the one who saves us,
constantly creates us into something new.
Jesus, surely you will find us,
surely our Messiah will make all things;
will make all things new.”

The song titled “Dry Bones” by Gungor hit me hard today because thinking back to the morning I realized I didn’t get my time with God and now I was in a “certain valley” (Ezekiel 37:1) but I alone represented the "dry bones". These lyrics broke me “Jesus, you’re the one who saves us, constantly creates us into something new. Jesus, surely you will find us, surely our Messiah will make all things; will make all things new.” I was led to read through Ezekiel 37:1-14 and “The Valley of Dry Bones” and there are so many parallels here for me. This story shows how through our own tongues and, most importantly, the power of God, life can be restored. The question here is; how can the restoration happen if we don't spend time with the One who restores? I was in dire need of spiritual-CPR and I had become a walking bag of dry bones, a zombie (spiritually-speaking) straight out of “The Walking Dead!” I was in need of spiritual-life restoration this morning but “I was too tired, too worn out and I didn't have time”, and this left me in a weak or malnourished spiritual-state; unfit for spiritual warfare.

So, slow down people! We could all afford to take this advice to heart, slow down and enjoy the journey. We need to be disciplined and diligent to make time for God first and foremost and if we do we will find ourselves ready and able, through the power of God, to stand firm against the attacks of the enemy. Hang in there, don't give up and know that God is still in control and His grace and mercy is not measured by our actions or short-comings, thank God for that! Regardless of how well we do or how much we slip up, He is still God and He is still there to welcome us home with unconditional love, mercy and grace. He's right there with you with open arms encouraging us and saying, "get up, get it right and let's keep going."

Take Care & God Bless,

-E

What are you doing with what you have?

Reference: Matt 25:14-30

In this portion of scripture we come across a story that Jesus is sharing known as “The Parable of the bags of Gold.” In reading through this we hear of a story of a man that was leaving on a trip. This man leaves three of his workers with bags of gold. One he gives five bags, one he gives two bags and one he gives just one bag. We are told in Matthew 25:15b that the amount of gold they were given was based on each of their abilities. So the man knew what each of his workers could handle and gave accordingly.

As we continue through the story we see that two of the three workers were able to invest the gold and get a 100% return with what they had been given; they each doubled the amount of gold they had been given. One of the workers gave excuses and said he was scared so he didn’t do anything and just hid the man’s gold in the ground. The man proceeded to call this worker a “wicked” and “lazy” servant because rather than step out in faith he chose to let fear dictate what he would do with what he’d been given.

"What are you doing with what God has given you?"

You’ve been given the ability to sing or play an instrument; are you using that talent for God’s glory or your own? You’ve been blessed with the ability to discern things about people; are you using this to pray for these people or talk behind their backs?  You've been entrusted with running a large portion of a ministry; are you doing this as unto God without complaining or do you constantly talk about how bad things are? We've all been given different things from God that He wants us to use for His kingdom but more often than not we tend to do things for the wrong reasons or we lose sight of God along the way.

Time to get real: Years ago I was involved a local “Christian” rock band, the goal and purpose was to reach the youth through music. We even started off praying before each practice and asking God to direct us and guide us. I was trying in my own power to use the gift that God had given me for His glory. However, because I wasn’t seeking God daily and spending time in His word I quickly became caught up in the worldly aspect of the music industry. One compromise after another found us doing ungodly music, excessive drinking/drugs and plenty of sexual immortality. This is what can happen when we try to do things for God but forget to seek God during the process. After this time in my life I look back and I can see that along the way my motives and desires became so self-centered that I had completely left God out of the music.

God has given us each talents, gifts and abilities, we didn’t give them to ourselves, so shouldn’t we do all we can to use them for His glory and His purpose? In the pursuit of using our talents for God there has to be an understanding that we must be seeking His face and be in His Word in order to avoid the pitfalls of the enemy. Jealously, envy, pride & arrogance are just a few of the areas that will try to come in when we are using our gifts for God. If we are not diligently relying on God we will give into these things, trust me, I know all too well that this can happen. 

So ask yourself and be honest, “Why am I doing what I’m doing?” If it’s for God’s glory, if you can say "YES", then great, but if you can’t honestly say that it is then get alone with God and ask Him to change your heart. Once we have this aspect lined up we just continue doing what we know is right; reading/studying God’s Word (Bible), talking to God (Prayer), and stay plugged into a body of believers (Church). These are the basics that must be followed if we plan to hear our master say to us on that day, 

“Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Take Care & God Bless,

-E