There are no ghost stories in the Bible. Right?
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2024 Blog #04
January 27, 2025
There are no ghost stories in the Bible. Right?
My daughter did make-up for the film industry a number of years ago. She worked on a number of movies while she lived in Pittsburgh before moving back to New Jersey. Perhaps the most interesting things that she did was creating “gunshot wounds” from make-up. One of the most bizarre things that she did was work on the crew for an episode of a show that went “Ghost hunting.” In this show, people went into old, abandoned buildings to sense if there were ghosts inside these structures.
My daughter was reminded of this adventure from her youth when she came across pictures of that job. She also remembered that she was asked, “You father is a minister. There are no ghost stories in the Bible, right?” Most people assume that there are no ghosts in the Bible but in reality, the Bible does record one ghost story. I’ll talk about that later.
On a related topic, it seems that every time that I turn on my radio, I am hearing an advertisement for a company that advertises Psychics. This company must have an incredible advertising budget for the number of ads that they run. I can only assume that they have a lot of customers. I am amazed, and a little disappointed, that so many people feel the need to seek out psychics to see their future. I personally feel that we would all do much better if we would inquire about our futures from God, and let the Holy Spirit guide us as we all walk toward our futures. If we trust God, and have a connection with God, why would we need to pay money to go to a psychic?
In my life, I have also known a number of people who follow astrology so they can determine what decisions in life they should make. Such people have frequently asked me “what sign are you?” I don’t put any stock in astrology. Usually in response to this question I show these people a cross that I wear and tell them, “The sign of the cross” or I ask them “do you follow the monthly horoscope of the west or the yearly astrology used in the far east?” Frequently this leaves the questioner speechless. I don’t like to think much about astrology. In my mind it takes a lot of personal responsibility away from our own decisions.
I’d like to return to the question about Ghosts in the Bible. Yes, there is one Ghost story in the Bible. King Saul, the first king of Israel is nervous about a battle that he is entering. Even though he has forbidden mediums in Israel, he disguises himself and goes to a medium to conjure up the spirit of the deceased prophet, Samuel. He hopes to seek advice from deceased Samuel. The intervention of the medium is effective, and the spirit of Samuel does indeed come but he brings a message that Saul does not like.
Samuel’s spirit tells Saul that he would have won the battle if he had trusted God, but since he had conjured up Samuel, Saul would now lose the battle. Had he simply relied on God, all would have gone well.
Yes, there is a Ghost story in the Bible. It comes with a warning; seeking out mediums instead of inquiring of God, comes with a punishment. It is an attempt to determine God’s will in an illegitimate way. The penalty for Saul was losing a battle and his own personal death in the battle.
My advice is to avoid psychics and horoscopes and simply spend more time in prayer seeking God’s will. There will be times when we don’t hear direct answers to our inquiries. During those times, let us be patient. God will give us the guidance we need at the time that we need it, even if that time isn’t our preferred time. Let us wait on the Lord and take directions from him.