I was very interested in mysteries
at one time. I think it was because I was earnestly looking for answers to deep
questions I had. That’s probably it really. I was just earnestly looking for
answers that made sense to the many questions I had and the mysteries that
seemed all around and everywhere, but somehow always just out of reach.
Recently, I have started developing an academic interest in the paranormal
again, not in an unhealthy way but just by reading about it online and from a
book in a Christian cafe I go to in my hometown.
When I was a kid, and had just become
a teenager I knew that God existed, and I started praying to Him and walking
with Him. Side by side this, I was also very interested in witches, but not
necessarily practising witchcraft, ghosts, UFOs, yetis and all those other kind
of mysteries that in many ways always seem to be at the edge of our human
consciousness, our human reality and also often in geographically distant and
even romantic places like Everest or the vastness of the American wilderness or
some castle ruin in the midst of Wales somewhere, or strange lights in the sky
when someone is fishing on a lonely lake at night, and so on. These obviously stoke
many people’s imaginations and sense of romance and mystery, and they certainly
stoked mine. That in itself isn’t just a deep interest in mysteries and the
paranormal, it’s also an interest in places off the beaten track and
unpopulated places of beauty that many people are interested in. But it does
seem to be that ghosts, UFOs, strange beasts and the like always appear in
lonely places to a few people or to some lone individual here and there. I’ve
heard so many stories of strange encounters that deeply interested me, fascinated
me and some of them even scared me and made me feel a little shiver down my
spine. I’ve even seen a ghost, and fairly recently experienced some kind of
poltergeist activity in my house which wasn’t very nice at all. Not sure what
that was all about but I can say with certainty that there is a paranormal
realm. Only thing is now I don’t have a big interest in it, only in the context
of writing about it in regards to my Christian faith and walk with God.
I have at many times in my life
struggled with very strange dreams, and recently have had quite disturbing
ones. Not so much horrific, just dreams that have unsettled me. I have also had
a lot of very deep dreams and dreams that have made me question reality, but
not in a really healthy way at all. I can say that I feel many of these dreams
are delusion and obviously have no basis in any kind of reality. I suppose this
is why I dismiss them. If a dream was from God, I would know it. But these
dreams are definitely not from God. There is no confusion from God, and no
weirdness or nastiness either. I see no reason why God would send me weird
dreams about UFOs, being in my house and fearing being watched and dreams about
my dad who died over ten years ago arguing with me in an extreme fashion. They
are most certainly not from God, because they either upset me, stress me out or
confuse me, or a mixture of all the above. God does not sow dissension. I have
also suffered with physical and mental illness for many years. A friend of mine
in my church suggested that it may have been my messing around with tarot cards
that let something in that could be affecting me spiritually and emotionally
and physically. Sounds weird? It does. But is it possible, even probable?
Possibly.
Recently I have started to make
friends with a number of very nice Christians in a cafe I go to. One of the
people who works there has told me her testimony, and has repeated it again for
other people when asked. She spoke about how her mother was heavily into tarot
cards, and the strange things that went on in her house that seemed normal to
her when she was a kid, including objects moving by themselves in the house and
seeing apparitions of children running around the house, and other weird things.
She was also into a lot of new age beliefs, too, and very anti Christian. Then,
to cut a long story short, she felt Jesus was talking to her, not a voice but
something inside. And her conversion was that quick and that simple. She never
looked back.
But
there is, I have to stress, a very serious message here. As I could tell you
myself, and as many people who to whatever degree have had brushes, dalliances
or have even been completely immersed in the Paranormal, or as it could also be
called the Occult, there is something sinister about it all. It can be very
subtle, twisting its way around you seductively and enticingly, or it can be
very ‘in yer face’ and overwhelming and frightening. It can also be interesting
and mysterious, as well as plausible and matter of fact. Some people see it as
a load of old nonsense, and many others see it as something to be studied earnestly
and with scientific methods and often great seriousness. Witness how so many
people and scientific expeditions go to Loch Ness to find Nessie! To me, it
stands to reason that if the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie as she is often
called, was a dinosaur, there are so many reasons why it can’t be there, but
does that stop well funded scientific groups going there? No, not really. Good
for the tourism, though. But, I came to the conclusion that such quests often
involved people ultimately chasing their own tail, and not a great deal more.
The Paranormal seems to be like delicately and intricately peeling a large
onion, only to find another skin underneath.
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