Are They Ghosts or Demons?

That’s a question I hear a lot from both readers and the paranormally curious. In fact, many people believe they are one and the same. That is a point of view I vigorously disagree with because of my personal experiences. There are major differences between the two, and they are as wide as any ocean.
Maybe it’s a cultural thing.

Here in the southern part of the United States, many of us have deeply held religious beliefs. For one, it’s widely accepted that when you die you immediately ascend (to heaven) or descend (to hell). Others believe you rest in your grave until the return of Jesus Christ.

I am a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ but things aren’t always as cut and dried as so-called biblical scholars would have you believe. I encourage you to do your own study about the paranormal. Didn’t Rhoda believe Peter returned as a ghost? Didn’t the disciples fear that Jesus (who was walking on the water) was a ghost at first glance? Didn’t the ghost of Samuel appear to Saul after the dead prophet had been summoned back? (I don’t advise summoning.) People have recognized ghosts for centuries—no millennia. Why is it in the scientific age we largely reject anything of a spiritual nature?  

It's a quandary. That's for sure. Are we so evolved we can't acknowledge the invisible anymore? 

Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama. Photo credit: M.L. Bullock

Read my upcoming book Delivered Me From Evil to understand my views about death and life after death.  

We tend to forget that we are made in the image of God, a triune God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That’s right, I said spirit. We are made of spirit, soul and body. There is a difference between the soul and spirit. There’s a bible verse that makes this plain.

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has exalted in God my Savior.

That’s Luke 1:46-47, in the New Testament.

Our soul is who we are, our personality, and is composed of our mind, our emotion, and our will. God created us with these faculties so we can express Him.

Our spirit, the deepest part of our being, is related to the spiritual realm: it enables us to contact and receive God Himself and interact with the spirit world.

Our body is a corpse, a created vessel that allows the spirit to receive and the soul to give and interact with the physical world. The body is only temporary whereas your spirit and soul lives on.

I don’t know why some spirits interact with us. In my experience, many confused dead return just to tell their story to someone that will listen. It’s not usually a long encounter and for me at least, it often occurs when I'm asleep. I "dream" about them, hence the reason for all my books about dream catchers. 

I am one! 

I’ve had a dead child tell me about his brother and how he liked to play a certain game with him. Afterward, he passed on in peace.

I’ve interacted with a murdered young man who attended our church once. He died in the throes of addiction and found himself still fleeing that particular demon in death. I prayed for God’s help and he moved on. (I did not promise him anything except that God loved him and would lead him to safety.)

I don’t know why some of the dead walk around their old homeplaces or visit their loved ones from time to time but I know that it happens.

But there is a difference between a dead person and a demon. Demons would very much like you to fool you. They are all tricksters of the highest order.

Demons have never lived as humans. They are corrupt beings who have their own agendas. Agendas that always involve death, disorder, and dysfunction.

Yes, there are ghosts that aren’t nice but they are not demons. You will rarely encounter one but when you do, you'll know it.

The dead that refuse to pass through the light fear judgment. Demons have already been judged and will one day be banished forever. They have nothing to lose.

Unfriendly ghosts can create problems in a home and in families for generations. However, you have authority over these types of spirits. Matthew 10:1 says, “And calling His twelve disciples to Him, Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits, so that they could drive them out and heal every disease and sickness. And having summoned His twelve disciples, He gave to them authority over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out and to heal every disease and every sickness.”

Do a word study on the word “unclean” here and it will blow your mind. Unclean includes more than demons, my friends. Unclean spirits are the dead too. You have authority over and can create boundaries for yourself with prayer, anointed oil, sage and salt. You do not have to tolerate a haunting.

Demons operate a bit differently.

They need permission to really dig into the life of a living person and that permission isn’t as easy to recognize as you might think. The devil isn’t going to appear to you with a contract and a blood-soaked pen. (Not usually anyway.) That's only in the movies.

Permission is granted in degrees.

You ignore the things you see out the corner of your eye.

You don’t confront the shadow figures that appear in your home.

When terror strikes you out of nowhere and you feel threatened in a particular room and avoid it.

Degrees, my friend.

When we fail to take early action against the demonic those demonic entities interpret that as acceptance. An agreement. I know this from personal experience. 

Other ways you can unknowingly grant demons permission to interfere in your life is through your words. I’ve done this as a confused teenager and it took years to break that horrible covenant. Offering yourself to the darkness in exchange for ANYTHING is a huge mistake. You won’t receive what you asked for and you will put your soul in jeopardy. Not only that, you will be tormented in ways I can barely describe.

And yet another way to allow demonic activity is through dreams.

Have you ever had a sexy dream about a faceless stranger, or maybe a dream about a celebrity or someone you are attracted to? It’s natural to have those kinds of dreams but a simple kiss (or other activities) in your dream state can be considered agreements as well. You can’t stop those dreams from coming but you can recognize them for what they might potentially be--a covenant. Especially if you are a person who has abilities or sensitivities to the spirit world.

Next week I’ll share with you how to break those unwanted covenants. I hope this helps someone. Besides entertaining you with my ghost stories, it is also my passion to help the spiritually oppressed. If you have questions about this topic, be sure and post them below but please, no arguments. I won’t tolerate bullying on my website.
​
Until next time,
Monica Leigh