Some friends of mine rented a house in New England. It wasn’t long before they discovered that the house was haunted, possibly by one of the former occupants.
Copyright 2023 by H.D. Shively
Ghost Story: The Levels of Hell
My friend’s first indication that they were not the only residents came when Trudy decided to move the vase that was on a cabinet to the center of the dining room table. Pleased with the new arrangement, she left the room, only to return later to find that the vase had been returned to the cabinet.
It wasn’t long after that when the ghost actually appeared to them which it did on multiple occasions. It was a woman and they nicknamed her “Honey.”
My friends were Christians and they were never afraid of the apparition. They just felt sorry for her. Her soul was trapped. She had never accepted Jesus in her lifetime and without the Holy Spirit she was unable to ascend to heaven when her body had died and her soul was released. She was imprisoned in another level of hell.
There are multitudes of recorded examples of genuine hauntings around the world. For example, there is a lighthouse in Long Island sound, New York, that is so haunted that the Coast Guardsman refuse to stay there. That location is also where there have been many shipwrecks and the lighthouse has become a refuge for souls whose bodies perished in that vicinity.
Some Christians believe that all paranormal activity is demonic and there is no evidence in scripture that ghosts are departed souls. However, when Jesus was walking upon the water to His disciples, they thought He was a spirit, a ghost (Matthew 14:26). The word in the Greek for spirit in this example, is not the word that is used for demons. Some research will reveal that the belief did exist in Jesus’ day that ghosts were the souls of departed pagans.
The scriptures show us that at the last judgment and the second resurrection of the dead, which occurs after the second coming and Jesus’ millennial reign; the souls who have not repented and received the gospel in their lifetimes are retrieved from two locations. –
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
We can see from verse thirteen that some souls are gathered from the “sea” and the rest from hell. These are two distinct locations and we are shown from this example that not all souls are in “hell.”
The “sea,” (Revelation 13:1) symbolically represents the world, our dimension. Hell is another dimension and from the example given in Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31), it is a place of extreme torment.
The prophet David praises God for saving him from “the lowest hell” in Psalm 86:13, which indicates that there are levels of hell and the place of the most extreme torment is the “lowest.” The lowest hell is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 32:22.
We can conclude from these examples in scripture, that the souls who die without Christ are imprisoned in one of these two locations and we can also conclude that the souls who are trapped in this dimension, “the sea,” are the ghosts, and one source of paranormal activity.
Demons can also mimic humans and cause paranormal manifestations. That is one reason why we are specifically forbidden to have any involvement with the occult or communicate with the dead (Deuteronomy 18:10-14, Leviticus 19:31,20:6). A Christian who is confronted with any "ghost" should immediately invoke the mighty name of Jesus that will send a demon fleeing in terror.
There are many in this day and age that want to eliminate the Biblical concept of hell, even though Jesus assures us of its existence (Matthew 5:22,29, 10:28, 23:33). But these same people that are opposed to the concept of hell, ignore the fact that the paranormal does exist and that it is the evidence of another level of hell that cannot be erased that easily from the blackboard of mental reasoning.
We have been shown from the Bible where the dead are housed after the judgment. Who ends up where is God’s decision, which is based on the choices the souls have made for themselves in their lifetimes. All these souls have one thing in common; none of them have received the Gospel. –
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life - John 3:16.
Repentance and Faith in Jesus’ atonement for our sins, removes them and clothes us with the righteousness that can only come from God. This is turn enables us to receive the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of eternal life. The Holy Spirit is the lifeline that is secured to our souls that enables us to rise into heaven and live eternally in the freedom of God’s holy, loving presence.
You can make the decision now to repent of your sins and receive Jesus, the only one God has ordained to keep your soul out of every level of hell’s prisons.
I guarantee that if you refuse God’s offer to save your soul, it will be a decision that will haunt you for the rest of your life - and beyond.