In my previous article I talked about The Unseen Realm,<\/em> by Michael Heiser. Some used that post as an occasion in the comments to start talking about paranormal experiences that they had. That really takes the comments off the post topic so I thought I would post a follow-up article where Christian paranormal experiences might be expressed. I of course am assuming that most commenting here are Christians. If you’re into pagan spiritualism comment elsewhere.<\/p>\n

I know some Christians think that all paranormal experiences are deceptions and have to be demonic but I do not believe that to be the case. Satanic spirits are only part of the unseen realm. The Bible is full of paranormal experiences. Many of them are of God.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, I am not like some hyper-charismatics that believe everything paranormal that happens to Christians came from God or even from Satan. We are limited beings we do not know much about the order of things outside of our own physical realm.<\/p>\n

If you deny Christian paranormal experiences, be careful. You are denying your own salvation. Becoming a Christian requires a paranormal spiritual rebirth. Most would agree with that, but some are still inclined to deny that anything paranormal could take place after they are saved.<\/p>\n

What then is the in-filling of the Holy Spirit for Christian service all about? I am not talking about a second baptism like some teach. There is only one baptism into Christ but there can be in-fillings of the Holy Spirit after conversion. We know that God also gives spiritual gifts to men to build up the Church (Eph 4: 10-16). Would receiving these spiritual gifts not qualify as a paranormal experience?<\/p>\n

Let’s not just be wooden headed about things that we know little about. We need to keep an open mind about Christian paranormal experiences. Even so, we should test all things and reject things that are contrary to what God said in His word or that are destructive to the Christian walk or to others.<\/p>\n

Christians must believe in spirits or they are not Christians. God is Spirit. The heavenly host are spirit beings. Angels are spirits. Demons are spirits. All of this is paranormal to fleshly humans.<\/p>\n

Most of the Church of God historically has believed in guardian angels. Some denominations still teach that every Christian gets their own guardian angel. I don’t know about that, but I do know that there are angels that interact with humans.<\/p>\n

The Old Testament is full of examples of angels interacting with people. Even the New Testament talks about angels intervening for the elect and dealing with humans. What did Heb 13:2 mean “Forget not to show love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares<\/strong>” if angels are not among us?<\/p>\n

Therefore, we should not discount Christian paranormal experiences. I think Christians have them. Even so, most of us probably are not aware of what is going on in the unseen realm.<\/p>\n

In my own life I can think of about a half-dozen times that I should have been killed but for some reason I was not. Was it just blind luck or divine protection? If I had been killed early, none of my writings would exist. Would the early death of me have been within the permissive will of God? Or did God have different plans for my life? I will tell you of just one of those events to set the tone for your own comments.<\/p>\n

I was in the military in Turkey in the early 70’s. We were sent to get some equipment that was about a 6 hour drive from the airbase at Erhac. On the way back I was sitting on the passenger side of a pickup truck. We were going down a steep mountain on very icy roads. The truck got in a skid. It started skidding sideways on the other side of the road. I was looking down the road through the passenger window and saw that there was a big truck coming up the hill heading right at us at full steam. I remember seeing the driver and the expression on his face. He looked more angry than anything else. At the last second the pickup truck did a 180 and started skidding sideways toward the other side of the road. The truck missed us by a few feet at most. Had that truck hit the passenger side I would have been crushed. If it even hit a glancing blow as the truck skid reversed, it would have knocked us over the side of the hill. It really was more like a cliff. There did not seem to be any way to escape that truck but somehow we did.<\/p>\n

The truck continued skidding and it was now heading toward the cliff anyway. Somehow the front axle of the truck caught on something and the truck spun around and hung on that cliff at about a 80 degree angle. The weight in the back of the pickup helped keep the rear end down against the cliff. We very slowly climbed out of truck and up the cliff face being very careful not to jar the truck. If the truck axle let go, the fall would not have been survivable. All of this happened so fast and there was nothing that I could do about it so I calmly accepted whatever would be my fate. I do remember thinking that I really did not want to die in the outbacks of Turkey.<\/p>\n

After it was over. The driver of the pickup looked at me and said we should be dead. He said, one of us must have a friend upstairs. I had almost been killed twice within a minute. Was it just luck that I survived?<\/p>\n

That is just one adventure of many in my life where something more paranormal than chance might have happened. Was an angel involved in any of these? Who knows?<\/p>\n

Now you get to tell your\u00a0Christian paranormal experiences if you so desire. You can also tells us about your paranormal experiences that you might consider demonic. Heck, you can even tell us about your paranormal experiences that fall into neither category. Ghost stories or ESP might apply.<\/p>\n

I do have a couple of ground rules. You can talk about some spiritual entity or paranormal experiences but I do not want to hear claims of direct messages from God. Also, keep your\u00a0Christian paranormal experiences under about 500 words.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do believe that God is working through angelic and human beings but I do not believe that God is directly speaking to anyone outside of His revealed word during the Church Age. That is why we were told to preach the gospel to all creatures. God chooses to give the gospel through His created beings. He chooses to speak to us through the infallible word that He supernaturally delivered and protected.<\/p>\n

Now don’t ask me what I think about your paranormal experience. I was not there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my previous article I talked about The Unseen Realm, by Michael Heiser. Some used that post as an occasion in the comments to start talking about paranormal experiences that they had. That really takes the comments off the post … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[53],"yoast_head":"\n