A Ghost Story by Tim Parkinson

These are from my notes to a message I gave on Halloween (which fell on a Sunday last year)

What are ghosts? 

Do you believe in ghosts?

Has anyone here seen a ghost/ seen evidence of supernatural activity?

Heard about ghosts from someone else?

What do people say ghosts actually do?

Are there ghosts in the Bible?…1 Samuel 28 3-25

Do you believe in witches?

Is anyone here afraid of ghosts/ witches/ demons?

What does a ghost/ witch/ demon look like?

God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear…2Tim 1:7

Jesus distributes authority… Matt 10:5-8 

Who is susceptible to the devil?…Matthew 16:16-23

1 Thessalonians 5:23

SPIRIT – make contact with spiritual world

SOUL – make contact with mental & emotional 

BODY – make contact with the physical world

What happens in salvation?

Pro 20:27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly. 

1 Corinthians 14:14

My Spiritual Experience 

After my salvation & baptism in October in 1984, I started playing and the band at Lakewood Church under Pastor John & Dodie Osteen. In 18 yrs, I missed less than a handful of church services. That is where my eyes were opened to the supernatural on regular basis. People moving in the Gifts of the Spirit, prayer for the sick (with accompanying healing), casting out of demons; words of knowledge, etc. Read 1 Corinthians 12

I was teaching guitar at a music store on Fondren Rd. in southwest Houston. One of my students, named Leslie, who was a Christian, told me that she had an evil spirit living in her house. I asked her how she knew there was a spirit there and she replied,  “I’ve been talking to it for years”. She also remarked how her mother got so angry with her recently, that she still had thrown a knife at her.

At that time, I was single and living at a small apartment complex on 6363 W. Airport Boulevard, a few streets away from the store where I worked. The next night, I was awakened around 3am to find and hear myself continuously praying in tongues rather loudly. I knew inside, that I was praying regarding my student, as I heard myself commanding the spirit to leave her house and pleading the blood of Jesus over her home and family. This went on for some time, when my tongues became more of a song. Psalm 32:7 which I continued in, not knowing what was really going on or what to do next.

I remember hearing myself speaking the words, “We have victory”. So I raised my hands while singing, still lying down, and began to praise the Lord.

Suddenly, I heard a loud noise, like a gunshot, in the midst of my apartment, which made me jump. I immediately called out, “Jesus”. Covered my head with a blanket and lay there shaking, not having the slightest idea what was going on. 

Of course, being nervous, I could not go back to sleep. After I got out of bed, I pulled back the curtain to my inside patio door to find the glass cracked into thousands of pieces. Bear in mind, this door was on the inside of my apartment and no other surrounding glass was broken. (photographs 1&2)

 It scared me even more,  when bits of glass started falling intermittently onto the floor. I didn’t know what might happen next, having never even heard of anything like this happening before. 

Being a baby Christian, I did not know or understand what the Bible says about spirits and the spirit world, I just wanted to get out of there, but since the time was around 5:30 am, I decided it would be a good time to do my laundry. Not having any quarters for the washing machines, I went to the a nearby all night convenience store and while there, picked up the morning newspaper. This was the cartoon I saw that morning. (cartoon)

That day, I learned and understood that God always knows everything that’s going on. Everything. That’s the lesson I needed to know. 

I talked with my student the next time she came in for a lesson and asked how everything was going at home. She replied, “Fine”, as  if everything was going as usual. I briefly told her what happened to me, but I don’t think she believed me.

Many people choose to ignore the invisible, spiritual world, thinking that if they do, spirits won’t bother them. This is wrong thinking. 

Evil spirits are varmints (like raccoons) and must be expelled or cast out.(raccoon picture) (video clip)

They are squatters, who claim “squatters rights”, with no legal proof of ownership and must be evicted. Otherwise, they will not leave.

In these past 35 years, I’ve never learned not to doubt anything I’ve read in God’s word regarding the spirit world. I felt that God was revealing spiritual things to me, personally, so I told few other people about it. 

Now I’m revealing it to you, that you might believe.