The Supernatural

[Ryan&Amber2013]

I work in a senior living community, and it seems like we are always hearing about strange supernatural happenings in the community. Our latest experience is of a woman's apartment. She is currently in the hospital, and her door is locked, so nobody is in there. The lady who lives across from her, about 6 ft across the hall has been saying she is hearing things like footsteps in the apartment and sometimes sees the door shaking. This made us a little bit curious and us directors began talking about it a bit. Come to find out, when the resident was living in that apartment she would talk about people in her room. She even once said a man came out of a flower in her apartment.

My executive director has a friend who is a pastor, and sometimes he comes and does some supernatural investigating at her request. So he came in yesterday and went to this woman's apartment. He did not have any background information about what's happening in the apartment, but a little while later he came walking out of the apartment, and he had a flower in his hand. In a serious tone he said, "get rid of this."

It's interesting because when I hear certain things about the supernatural they don't always easily fit into my biblical worldview, but I have to accept there are definitely strange things going on that I can't explain. The world we live in is a very mysterious place.

I would love to hear if any of you have had any experiences.

 

[Taylor]

Paging @BayouHuguenot. lol

 

[RamistThomist]

Paging @BayouHuguenot. lol

Oh boy. Contrary to the legends about me, I usually find natural explanations for stuff. Of course, since I hold to a biblical and supernatural worldview, I don't rule out the supernatural (because I am not David Hume). Usually, I say, "I need the evidence for and against a supernatural explanation." If someone came back from a vacation in India or some Aztec temple, and brought something back with them, and then were supernatural manifestations, we could easily say, "Get rid of x." The flower thing is weird, though.

If you have given the devil a legal foothold to oppress you for whatever reason, then the solution might be a bit more complex than getting rid of a Ouija board, though certainly start there.

 

[TheInquirer]

Did he say what caused him to select the flower? Was it a fake flower or real?

I think Jacob's analysis is very sound.

 

[Pergamum]

My house in the jungle was built on land not used by the tribe because the landowner said somebody (or people...not sure if one or more) died on it in the past. That is where I built my house because it was slightly higher and drained better (it rains 14 foot a year there sometimes and is the northernmost edge of the 2nd largest swamp/lowland jungle in the world behind the Amazon).

My carpenter (a native Papuan) came and cut the wood and we slept in the unfinished structure with mosquito nets. After awhile the carpenter started complaining of a "choking spirit" that he saw and that choked him during the night. He actually had a nervous breakdown and could not sleep and his health and mental state broke and he screamed all night at the real or imagined spirit. But he wore other spirit charms even though he claimed to be a Christian, so maybe that is why he was the target. Or he was just more gullible. I told him to shut up and pray silently because I needed to sleep. But that was a mistake because I had to find a new chainsaw guy to finish his work because he had to be medically evacuated due to his mental state.

I thought the guy was just overly superstitious, but then I invited a different native New Guinea evangelist to visit and sleep over in the same room 7 years later. I never told him about the carpenter. But after two nights he said he had trouble sleeping and that he saw a spirit. What did the spirit do? It tried to choke him, he said.

I needed to use the room because my family was expanding. So I prayed over the room and then moved my kids into it. My daughter later told me that she saw a figure once in her room, as well as my son. I had instructed them to pray in the name of Jesus for protection if they were scared, and they did. Later, while recovering from malaria I also saw the same figure in the hallway at night at the entrance of the room for about 1 second and then it looked at me and entered my kid's room (which made me rush in and wake them up and look around like a crazy man). But who knows what is real or hallucination when a person is sick.

So...was it all superstition and imagination? Or was there something supernatural going on? I truly do not know.

I also met a man who was put under a curse and said he would die soon even though he looked healthy. A week later he was dead.

Also, on another island I went to an exhibition by a shaman who summoned spirits to enter him to do feats of strength like eating glass and bending knives using his bare chest, etc. I asked if it was dangerous and he told me that as long as his spirit was stronger than any other spirit near him then he was safe. I told him I was a Christian and had the Holy Spirit which was the strongest so he had better watch out or else he would be injured. And 20 minutes later they were rushing the guy to the hospital. So again.... real or imagined? Spirit influence or psychosomatic response? I do not know.

 

[VictorBravo]

I only have an anecdotal observation. People with dementia hallucinate. Sometimes those hallucinations come from places not easily explainable.

My wife is going through this. A few months ago she told me that God was speaking to her in a German accent. He told her that I was not saved, and most of the people in our church were not, either.

Alarming as it was to hear from my godly wife, and rather than make a big deal about it, I changed the subject for a while to gather my thoughts.

That evening we talked about how God speaks to us in his Scriptures. She resonated with that. Then we prayed that the Lord would keep away other voices that were not telling the truth.

Praising God because the German accuser has gone on somewhere else. My wife now wishes we could have church every day so she can be with the saints of God.

I think the woman in the OP needs prayer and maybe someone to sit with her talking about God's grace.

 

[TheInquirer]

Its hard for me to discount something if 4 different people saw the spirit and experienced roughly the same thing. Its hard to read the Bible and not walk away with an understanding that Satan and his minions have a degree of power over the physical world that is at times exceedingly dangerous and frightening.

Its interesting to me that so much of Satan's work is covert and in the form of lies and deceptions but now and again, chooses to use more visual and tangible manifestations that cause havoc. Of course the more physical manifestations can spread fear in families, small communities (like nursing homes) and even give rise to false religions in an attempt to fight off the harm being done as in the case with the man with the charms.

The enemy has many tools to use against humanity. Praise God for the tools given us to fight back (interesting that I am studying through 1 Peter 5:6-14 today and took a break to read PB...).

 

[Pergamum]

I believe that the apparitions of the Virgin Mary are demonic and that "She" actually appears and is not always a mass delusion. I just read a study that many of the sites where the supposed Blessed Virgin appears were once older sites where medieval peasants saw fairies. Graham Hancock documents this in his interesting book Supernatural and the hallucinations and drug trips described in the book correspond to some of the "visions" or hallucinations I have seen when my brain was cooking and feverish from malaria and dengue fever. DMT users often describe the same "machine elves" and shifting geometric shapes that happen during malarial hallucinations. Either the mind produces these objects when in a hallucinatory shape and they originate from our own consciousness, or else hallucinations open a hole in the wall between our world and theirs. I personally believe that this wall can thin or open under certain conditions or in certain locations or through certain practices. Don't tell Jerusalem Blade I admitted this, or he'll say that my CBD oil for sleep is demonic.

Here is a link to the book on audio: SUPERNATURAL BOOK

 

[TheInquirer]

My mom was deeply into marian apparitions at Bayside, New York. I believe it was entirely a work of Satan as the messages were apocalyptic (constant end of the world events predicted that the followers would "pray" back leading to both enslaving fear and savior complexes and "gnostic" pride at the secrets they knew), elevated the status of Mary as mediator, and filled with other false teaching. When you reference Mary as "Queen of heaven" and pray to her as mediator you are definitely into goddess worship territory no matter how much they try to deny it. There was also sexual immorality involved with some of the site "workers" and lots of supposed seeing of demonic activity. Two of my mom's friends who were into it have made shipwrecks of their lives. One got pregnant by one of the Bayside workers and the other's husband molested a younger family member. My mom's life has also been a wreck.

The times as a kid were I most strongly felt demonic presence in our home was when my mom was deeply into this stuff. I never saw anything but felt a chilling fear I have only experience a few times in my life.

This stuff is real and it gets a stranglehold on people's lives.

 

[JM]

Marian apparitions and interior locutions immediately bring to mind "The Queen of Heaven" Ashtoreth, the wife of Baal/Molech.

My wife had been telling me that she sees a shadow move in our room. I just rationalized it as something natural, a play of light, until one night we both woke up at the same time and seen the shadow move out of the room. It tends to happen around "the witching hour" between 3 am and 4 am. I was not familiar with these occult ideas until the last couple of years but Jeff Durbin mentioned that he had been experiencing sleep issues around the "witching hour" as well. He found out that a witches covenant was located in his neighbourhood.

No, we have never taken LSD.

I recommend listening to https://thecultishshow.com/podcast/part-1-the-exorcism-of-kristen-bellomy

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

I have long thought that evangelicals — and especially the Reformed, with their "intellectual prowess" — had an "allergy" of sorts to this kind of stuff. Of course there is the dark realm (life outside of Christ, and the sealing of His Spirit - Eph 1:13; Rev 7:3; 9:4), where all manner of demonic weirdness exists.

A man or woman of God who prays, fasts, and walks close with the Saviour is not troubled when such phenomena as noted above manifests. The word of power in the name, Spirit, and word of Christ is like a flaming torch amidst cobwebs when confronted with such manifestations, be it in spirit or in the persons of demonic practitioners.

Of course there are numerous hoaxes in the superstition-laden realms of the occult, but occasionally there is some real stuff. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God against such (Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:18; 2:4,5; Luke 10:20). We will be seeing much more of these things as the sorcery of the times allows the dark realm access into the zeitgeist, into our "normal" lives.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

Did he say what caused him to select the flower? Was it a fake flower or real?

I think Jacob's analysis is very sound.

I'm not sure. My boss shared with me today what happened, but didn't say much beyond that.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

There was this local guy who was having some strange things going on in his backyard. He definitely seemed like he was a drug using type. One night he went on facebook live to share with people what was happening, and as he was filming his backyard, this giant shadowy creature ran through. In the video there was clearly something there and it was probably about 15 ft tall. It was live so I don't think it could have been hoaxed. It definitely seemed like demonic stuff going on. If I can find it on my cloud I'll try to upload it.

Edit: I found the video on Youtube, but it is filled with profanity so I wouldn't feel right posting the link. It pretty much has to be watched on mute

 

[Andrew35]

While teaching in China, I once asked my students for spooky stories as a way of teaching about Halloween. Every student had one. Every student said their story was true. Every story was absolutely freaky.

One student told us about how when her parents moved into a new house, their neighbors upstairs started banging on the ceiling over their heads and being loud. Her mother was angry and complained to the landlord. The landlord told them nobody had lived in that apartment for many years. The family moved out.

Another student said as a young child, she kept seeing the same man whenever she was in crowds. He would smile and wink at her. She had no idea who he was, but she would see him at various times growing up. Everyone there seems to have a story like that.

Remember, this an officially atheistic country, where teachers tell students who believe in God they have "something wrong with their heads." The supernatural appears awfully hard to eradicate.

I only have one personal story of that type from while I was there:

I was walking down the street with my wife, and this youngish woman in weird, old, black and tan robes, came up to me and started talking to me. I couldn't stop staring at her face, because she had horrible scars, like cuts, all over her face. But she was speaking gibberish. Something about her made me angry and frustrated. I looked at her and said, rudely, "I don't understand a thing you're saying." Because I didn't. It didn't sound like English or Chinese. She said some more gibberish. I repeated, "I don't understand. Goodbye." And she left.

My wife, who was really freaked out by her, turned to me and said, "I'm so glad she's gone! But why did you tell her you couldn't understand her? She was speaking perfectly clear English! She kept telling you she had a golden dream, and could help make your dreams come true."

But I hadn't understood a thing. It was just incomprehensible nonsense in my ears, and somehow made me angry.

 

[hLuke]

My house in the jungle was built on land not used by the tribe because the landowner said somebody (or people...not sure if one or more) died on it in the past. That is where I built my house because it was slightly higher and drained better (it rains 14 foot a year there sometimes and is the northernmost edge of the 2nd largest swamp/lowland jungle in the world behind the Amazon).

My carpenter (a native Papuan) came and cut the wood and we slept in the unfinished structure with mosquito nets. After awhile the carpenter started complaining of a "choking spirit" that he saw and that choked him during the night. He actually had a nervous breakdown and could not sleep and his health and mental state broke and he screamed all night at the real or imagined spirit. But he wore other spirit charms even though he claimed to be a Christian, so maybe that is why he was the target. Or he was just more gullible. I told him to shut up and pray silently because I needed to sleep. But that was a mistake because I had to find a new chainsaw guy to finish his work because he had to be medically evacuated due to his mental state.

I thought the guy was just overly superstitious, but then I invited a different native New Guinea evangelist to visit and sleep over in the same room 7 years later. I never told him about the carpenter. But after two nights he said he had trouble sleeping and that he saw a spirit. What did the spirit do? It tried to choke him, he said.

I needed to use the room because my family was expanding. So I prayed over the room and then moved my kids into it. My daughter later told me that she saw a figure once in her room, as well as my son. I had instructed them to pray in the name of Jesus for protection if they were scared, and they did. Later, while recovering from malaria I also saw the same figure in the hallway at night at the entrance of the room for about 1 second and then it looked at me and entered my kid's room (which made me rush in and wake them up and look around like a crazy man). But who knows what is real or hallucination when a person is sick.

So...was it all superstition and imagination? Or was there something supernatural going on? I truly do not know.

I also met a man who was put under a curse and said he would die soon even though he looked healthy. A week later he was dead.

Also, on another island I went to an exhibition by a shaman who summoned spirits to enter him to do feats of strength like eating glass and bending knives using his bare chest, etc. I asked if it was dangerous and he told me that as long as his spirit was stronger than any other spirit near him then he was safe. I told him I was a Christian and had the Holy Spirit which was the strongest so he had better watch out or else he would be injured. And 20 minutes later they were rushing the guy to the hospital. So again.... real or imagined? Spirit influence or psychosomatic response? I do not know.

My mum had a similar experience with a 'choking spirit' when we lived temporarily in a house while the owners went to visit their family in England. She described it as a black figure with red ears and eyes (this detail might be fabricated), who jumped on her body and suffocated her untill she could nearly breath. My dad bore witness (him being a Christian), that he indeed saw her yelling on the side of the bed; and though I was too young at that time to remember those things myself, my parents still claim that there were other supernatural sightings on that property. I.e. seeing the face of an old woman.
Sacred and profane. Hot or cold.

 

[retroGRAD3]

There was this local guy who was having some strange things going on in his backyard. He definitely seemed like he was a drug using type. One night he went on facebook live to share with people what was happening, and as he was filming his backyard, this giant shadowy creature ran through. In the video there was clearly something there and it was probably about 15 ft tall. It was live so I don't think it could have been hoaxed. It definitely seemed like demonic stuff going on. If I can find it on my cloud I'll try to upload it.

Edit: I found the video on Youtube, but it is filled with profanity so I wouldn't feel right posting the link. It pretty much has to be watched on mute

You have peaked my interest with this one. Please do post the link if possible. Mute is a good idea.

 

[dhh712]

This is my one experience with the supernatural. It was way back when I was an unbeliever, when I was about 13 years old. I was lying on the couch after waking up my dad so we could deliver papers that morning (I had a paper route that my parents helped me with); the couch was in the living room and adjoining it was a hall which led to first the bathroom and then the next door down was my parent's room. While lying there in not too long a time (I don't recall if I had drifted off to sleep, but if I had I was wide awake after this), I hear the drawers in the bathroom opening and closing and the contents in them (they contained brushes and combs and such) being moved around as though someone was looking for something in there. I don't remember what I thought at first, but perhaps that someone of my family (my sister and brother were there at the time) was in here. This continued on, I would say for at least two minutes or so. I distinctly remember being scared to death and squeezing my eyes shut and cowering there because after a time I knew that something wasn't right. I remember thinking I really should get up and go over there because no one is going to believe me when I tell them about this, but I just couldn't because I was so terrified.

Then I heard my dad get up (he had a smoker's cough at the time--you could hear everything in the house too because it was so quiet) and the sounds stopped. I heard him walk down the hall. The light in the bathroom is one that you switch back and forth and it makes a loud sound when you do it and I heard him turn the light on, so whoever was in there was in the dark; and no one had left the bathroom either because as I said you could hear everything in that house at that time. I had never been so glad to go on my paper route! Later on that day or the next (I think it was a school week day), I told my family about it and no one said anything about it being a prank or something, and every time I talked about it no one said anything (which it would be unlikely because I would have heard if there had been someone in there, even if they moved into the bathtub since every little sound was audible since it was so quiet at that time). For years after when I'd talk about it or write about it I would still be so terrified at the memory. And how I wished I had been brave enough to get up and check it out, but I do not know even now if I would have.

So that's it. I'm convinced, since I alone know the veracity of what happened--that there was no possible way anything physical could have been in there making those sounds and yet I still can't expect others to believe me--that it was a spirit of some sort. Beyond that, I don't know what it may have been. A friend whom I told this to said I had a "waking dream", which in my understanding would be an hallucination. I dismissed this explanation however since I've never been diagnosed with any such psychiatric episodes and never had anything else even the slightest bit like this happen to me; and was not under any sort of mental duress at the time either.

 

[dhh712]

A man or woman of God who prays, fasts, and walks close with the Saviour is not troubled when such phenomena as noted above manifests. The word of power in the name, Spirit, and word of Christ is like a flaming torch amidst cobwebs when confronted with such manifestations, be it in spirit or in the persons of demonic practitioners.

Yes, now when I think of these things (re-living my one experience and reading others, kind of made me feel a bit frightened of such things) and if they make me scared I turn my thoughts heaven-ward to Jesus and consider his power over all; leaning upon him, trusting in his dominion over all things including the Spirit realm is indeed a tonic to such thoughts and fears.

Marian apparitions and interior locutions immediately bring to mind "The Queen of Heaven" Ashtoreth, the wife of Baal/Molech.

It is unbelievable to me (not literally, but in like a "wow" kind of way) that these so-called Christians (catholics), if they really do consider Mary as like a Queen of Heaven--how in the world do they not realize how heretical and pagan such an idea is? The only thing I can think of it that they've never cracked open their Old Testament. And yes, I do agree with Jim that any real visions of Mary are demonic in origin to further support the pagan practice of her worship.

While teaching in China, I once asked my students for spooky stories as a way of teaching about Halloween. Every student had one. Every student said their story was true. Every story was absolutely freaky.

And for the longest time, before that incident when I was around 13, I would hear stories like those and think, "I've never had anything happen to me!" (Now I can't say that anymore).

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

You have peaked my interest with this one. Please do post the link if possible. Mute is a good idea.

Search "ghost ft Pierce backyard." On YouTube it should be the first video that shows up. It has about 17,000 views and the thumbnail is in African American man. I definitely recommend listening to it on mute. At about 1 minute is where the weird creature is.

He got a weird picture and shared it on facebook, and to show people that he wasn't making anything up, he went on Facebook live and was getting video, and this thing just popped out of nowhere. To me it seems very authentic, and people at my job who know who he is said he left the house for at least a week after this happened. They said he was legitimately terrified. It seems like he was being stalked by something demonic.

 

[Phil D.]

When my wife and I were newly wed we moved into a mobile home. We were told it was formerly occupied by a couple who often had violent fights. One night about 2AM we were both awakened by the very loud sound of breaking glass in the kitchen. I went out to investigate, walking very carefully so as not to step on any shards. There was nothing at all...

 

[Tom Hart]

Search "ghost ft Pierce backyard." On YouTube it should be the first video that shows up. It has about 17,000 views and the thumbnail is in African American man. I definitely recommend listening to it on mute. At about 1 minute is where the weird creature is.

He got a weird picture and shared it on facebook, and to show people that he wasn't making anything up, he went on Facebook live and was getting video, and this thing just popped out of nowhere. To me it seems very authentic, and people at my job who know who he is said he left the house for at least a week after this happened. They said he was legitimately terrified. It seems like he was being stalked by something demonic.

Well, I watched it. Funny how these videos are invariably in such poor resolution.

I, too, was once surprised by a wild turkey.

 

[retroGRAD3]

Search "ghost ft Pierce backyard." On YouTube it should be the first video that shows up. It has about 17,000 views and the thumbnail is in African American man. I definitely recommend listening to it on mute. At about 1 minute is where the weird creature is.

He got a weird picture and shared it on facebook, and to show people that he wasn't making anything up, he went on Facebook live and was getting video, and this thing just popped out of nowhere. To me it seems very authentic, and people at my job who know who he is said he left the house for at least a week after this happened. They said he was legitimately terrified. It seems like he was being stalked by something demonic.

Ok wow. Either that was really good editing work, or I don't even know. It looks like something out of a horror movie, but apparently real? Based on some of the other comments I have been reading on these forums about demonic activity, I suppose it's not surprising that this man is being "demonized" based on the lifestyle choices he is exhibiting.

 

[retroGRAD3]

Well, I watched it. Funny how these videos are invariably in such poor resolution.

I, too, was once surprised by a wild turkey.

That was way too big to be a turkey. It was like 6 feet tall. However, I do agree with the general sentiment of what you are saying.

 

[JM]

This guy seems demonic.

 

[Tom Hart]

That was way too big to be a turkey. It was like 6 feet tall. However, I do agree with the general sentiment of what you are saying.

Sorry, what general sentiment?

I did actually encounter a wild turkey once. A female. Tall birds they are. They stand way up on their legs to run.

Watch the video again, and pay attention to those legs. It runs like a big chicken.

 

[JennyGeddes]

There is a slow motion video available of the clip in question. In my opinion, it’s definitely bird-like. I was thinking it was an ostrich.

 

[retroGRAD3]

This guy seems demonic.

no doubt

 

[retroGRAD3]

Sorry, what general sentiment?

I did actually encounter a wild turkey once. A female. Tall birds they are. They stand way up on their legs to run.

Watch the video again, and pay attention to those legs. It runs like a big chicken.

The Sentiment of that I agree that you need to approach these things with a level of skepticism. It does look like an Ostrich or large bird, but where he was, that would be very odd as those are generally not in rural America (though it does not mean it's impossible).

You could be right though. I am not saying I am sold on a demonic entity.

 

[Tom Hart]

The Sentiment of that I agree that you need to approach these things with a level of skepticism. It does look like an Ostrich or large bird, but where he was, that would be very odd as those are generally not in rural America (though it does not mean it's impossible).

You could be right though. I am not saying I am sold on a demonic entity.

Where in rural America was this? Thanks to efforts at preservation, in some places the number of wild turkeys has been on the rise for decades.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

Here is a video clip in slow motion. I know people at my job who know him, and they all would say this was a real experience. It starts around 8 minutes. If that's real, that is so crazy. It is walking upright. The picture after the video clip is what he originally posted before he did the video on Facebook live. It looks like some creature's face in the middle of the trees.