In the gospels, especially Mark, we are told about the number of people who were demon possessed. We may wonder what percent of people are demon possessed today. We hear of murders, torture and extreme abuse and wonder if these abusers could be possessed. You may have seen the movie Poltergeist where objects flew around. We hear of homes and buildings being haunted. Some go to séances and hear voices. Many may not believe in inanimate objects being possessed but we believe they can be.

Ephesians 6:12 & 16 – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Verse 16 – “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

Many Christians will read these two verses and never understand their meaning. A lot of believers do not believe in evil spirits or at least they have never dealt with them. There always seems to be paranormal activity going on throughout the world. Steven Spielberg said: “I don’t believe in demons or ghosts, but…” • Mysterious giant ice balls discovered on Swedish coastline • Your cable is haunted • “Webisodes” detail paranormal investigations • Production begins on Trick of the Witch • Haunted hotels to keep you awake • Is your home haunted? • The miniature coffins found on Arthur’s Seat • Hole in Red Rock Lounge roof still a mystery.”

Most people do not believe what they see in movies or on TV in regard to paranormal activity as factual. They think much of what they see is made up with actors performing to scare viewers. The apostle Paul warned us in Ephesians to be aware of powers of the dark world and spiritual forces of evil. Do we ignore them?

A friend told me that his mother-in-law decided to get rid of her husband’s collection of beer steins that he had accumulated over the years. She brought him three steins and asked if he would take them? That night my friend had the worst nightmare he had ever had. He awoke, got up and took the three steins, put them in a sack and put them outside. He told me the story. Tuesday evening I awoke at 3:00 a.m. and was wide awake. I put in my ear piece and turned on the radio. They were talking about good spirits and evil spirits. They called them Jinn’s. According to Google: “IN THE WESTERN WORLD we have grown up with the concept of demons and devils – the evil beings of the spirit world, according to traditional Christian beliefs. Other religions around the world have their spirit beings, too, of course. In Islam, the djinn are a race of spirit beings that can be good or evil. (Djinn, or jinn, is the origin of the more familiar word “genie” in English.)” Like Barbara Eden in “I dream of Jeanie”. They were talking about a genie in a bottle and in some bottles are real evil spirits. In fact, some who had those bottles with bad spirits often would have nightmares. What a coincidence it was confirming what my friend believed had come from the steins! Thus, I decided to write this blog.

My daughter and son-in-law rented a home a number of years ago from some very close friends. These folks rented their previous home, out of town, to their younger son and daughter-in-law. In that home their oldest son sat at a desk and committed suicide. They decided they wanted to keep the desk but his son felt uneasy with it being in their home. They moved it to my daughter’s home. Weird things began happening. Doors would slam shut while they were in another room. The toilet would flush when no one was in there. I asked them if they would like to have our family come and pray over the house?

In my childhood they rarely built new houses. Some homes were many years old. When a person would move into a home they would have the pastor and other church members come and pray over the home to remove any spirits and asked God to protect the home. With our cities becoming modernized and new homes being built continually, you rarely hear of paranormal situations occurring in newer homes; and rarely do church people come and pray over homes today.

My daughter and son-in-law went to the desk and were talking and wondering if “sonny” came with the desk and why would he deliberately be scaring them? From that point on they never heard another strange thing happen as long as they lived in that home.

There are two things that caused me to write this blog. We need to realize that there are evil spirits that we must deal with whether we see them, hear them or not. They are not around to make life easy for us. It is possible to pick up an item at a yard sale and odd things could happen. Second, God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit to help us deal with spirits of darkness. It takes faith and belief that God can overcome. If unusual things are happening in your life the best advice I can give is to pray and ask God to intervene.

Lastly, evil spirits are not always attached to inanimate objects. They are everywhere and most Christians do not realize when they are being tempted or tested. But if we are allowing our self-centered natures rather than our spiritual natures to influence our actions temptations may be difficult to overcome. May I suggest we take Ephesian 6:12 seriously?

My Christian aunt was in an auto accident hanging onto life. Her minister son came with oil to anoint her and pray for healing. He told her that a number of Christians were praying for her healing. She told him that she didn’t want to be healed and that she was praying God would take her. She asked him whose prayer he thought God would answer. The next morning she passed away at 5:00 a.m. My cousin’s children were staying with a couple in their home town. At 5:00 my aunt (in spirit) came and sat on the bed of my cousin’s 12 year-old daughter. She was there to tell her goodbye and that she should continue to be a good girl. She was then gone. She woke the family that she was staying with and told them what had happened. My cousin called at 7:00 a.m. to explain that their grandmother had passed away. He was told they already knew it because his mother had visited Linda. Don’t ask me to explain it. Imagine the impact it had on the life of this family. It was a “God thing” and a faith builder.

Many people are skeptics. Scripture is very specific about angels, spiritual and evil spirits. Many paranormal occurrences can only be handled with prayer. If problems seem to unexpectedly occur, don’t hesitate to ask believers with faith to pray that the Holy Spirit will intervene.