According to the Bible, ghosts are real. Well, at least 1 was. And I don’t mean the “Holy Ghost” because that’s just an old English word for “spirit.” God is Spirit, but He’s no ghost (John 4:24). Ghosts are popularly imagined as the lingering spirits of the dead caught between this world & the next who may appear or cause disturbances. People have always seemed to believe in ghosts, which is why they would consult mediums or spiritists to contact the dead.
But God declares that seeking out spirits, sorcerers (witches), & mediums is “an abomination to the LORD” (Deut. 18:10-12, Lev. 19:31, Is. 8:19). Witches have come to be viewed as either fictional characters with pointy black hats & flying broomsticks or as harmless Wiccans following a pagan mysticism that promotes nature & goddess worship, occultic rituals, & gatherings in covens.
But throughout time, witches, wizards, & warlocks have been generally viewed as evil people who get their powers from the devil. We see that not only in the folklore stories, but also carried out in real life during the Witch Trials in Europe (15th-18th centuries) & Salem (1692-3). Witches were in the news last month when, just days before Charlie Kirk was killed, the leftist website Jezebel hired witches to cast hexes on him. One of them revealed: “Summoning demons & communicating with spirits were not inherently ‘evil acts.’ …Mediumship is also perceived as an ethically neutral practice. Is it effective? Yes.”
Today, witches are often viewed as good, from shows like “Bewitched,” “Charmed,” & “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” to characters in the “Harry Potter” books. Witchcraft is a prominent theme in many teen & young adult books. Ghosts can also be portrayed as good – think “Casper,” the 3 ghosts in “A Christmas Carol,” & Bruce Willis in “The Sixth Sense.”
“The Lord of the Rings” features good & bad wizards. “The Wizard of Oz” has a good witch & a wicked witch. When I took my wife to see the stage play, “Wicked,” it was intriguing to see how the Wicked Witch had actually been framed to look wicked. But what was unsettling about this moral ambiguity was during the key moment when she embraces her misunderstood identity as the supposed villain, & says, “I feel…wicked,” the audience erupted in applause…to my dismay.
The biblical account of Saul visiting the “witch” of Endor (who is actually a medium) is the only instance where contact with the dead actually occurs (1 Sam. 28:1–25). Saul asks the medium to summon the spirit of the prophet Samuel. Though hesitant, she complies & is shocked when he appears, describing him as an old man wearing a robe. God allows the deceased Samuel to appear as an exception—not because it was a good thing, but as a severe judgment on Saul.
But why would the medium be shaken? Because she wasn’t actually expecting a real “ghost” to appear! Mediums are notorious fakes. Most people claiming paranormal powers are deceiving people for the sake of money. But for those who may actually make contact with a spirit, what they’re actually dealing with isn’t human. I know a number of people who think they’ve encountered ghosts. I certainly can’t explain everything people see, or think they see, but if there is anything to these spirits, it could be demonic impersonation of humans.
In the New Testament, God allows Moses & Elijah to return from the dead to appear with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-8). But they were not ghosts in the sense of wandering human spirits. This was a unique event to give evidence to the deity of Jesus, along with the dead who came out of their tombs to appear in Jerusalem at the time of His death & resurrection (Matt. 27:51–53). These weren’t ghosts either, but temporarily resurrected bodies.
When Jesus walks on the water, His disciples assume He was a ghost (Matt. 14:25-27). When He appears to them after His resurrection, they again think He’s a ghost (Luke 24:37-42). But Jesus invites them to touch His hands & feet, saying, “A ghost does not have flesh & bones, as you see I have.” He even eats a piece of fish to prove His physical reality.
What the Bible teaches about the dead is that they transition directly either to Paradise to be with the Lord or to a place of torment (Luke 16:19-31; Heb. 9:27, 2 Cor. 5:8, Ecc. 9:5-6). Since the dead have no further involvement in earthly affairs, all attempts to contact them open dangerous doors to demonic deception (Eph 6:12, 2 Cor. 11:14, 1 Tim. 4:1).
These weeks leading up to Halloween will be filled with spooky stories, images, & movies about hauntings, from ghost-hunting reality shows to Ouija boards marketed as games. But keep in mind, it’s not all just fun. Unexplained phenomena should be viewed through a scriptural lens. Attempting to communicate with spirits, even under the guise of investigation or entertainment, risks spiritual danger.
The late Ben Alexander of espministries.com had been involved in the highest levels of occultism before becoming a Christian. I personally heard him speak decades ago, & then read his book, “Out from Darkness.” He says when you’re hunting ghosts, the truth is that the spirits you’re hunting are actually hunting you. Demons hunt humans because they seek to kill, steal, & destroy (John 10:10).