GIVING UP THE GHOST

Giving Up the Ghost

I rushed from Tasmania to Scotland to be with my father before he ‘gave up the ghost.’ With my brothers and sisters I was able to visit him as he lay in a hospital bed as we all contemplated his imminent expiration. I regret that I wasn’t there to comfort him at the exact moment of his death. He was gone half an hour before we arrived with great haste. His face looked peaceful in death. I had been at the bedside of others when they died, but not my own dad! I remember being slightly annoyed by the second hand ticking on his wristwatch.  Shouldn’t it have ceased its circumnavigating the moment my dad gave up the ghost? The world continues to turn, even without my dad.

              Where do departed spirits go? Are ghosts disembodied spirits that float around old buildings and graveyards? The Bible warns against attempts to contact the dead. Why? Well, first let’s note that the words ‘ghost’ and ‘spirit’ are interchangeable in the Bible. Wind and breath are from the same word. Angels are spirit beings. So are demons, ie, fallen angels. Satan poses as an angel of light. Therefore those who try to contact the dead cannot be sure that they are really communicating with a departed loved one and not a demon. Even if no one else knows, demons know personal moments we once shared with our now departed loved ones.

The strategy of demons impersonating dead people is to try to get us to ignore God’s way of salvation. Why get right with God through Jesus Christ when ‘ghosts’ are telling us that being dead is not so bad? Why concern yourself with Heaven and Hell when everything is rosy on the other side? O sure, there may be some troubled spirits who can’t rest, eg, till their killer has been brought to justice, but once the dearly departed’s message has been communicated through a medium, it’s off to ‘the happy hunting ground’ or ‘the great golf course’ in the sky! Or so the ‘ghosts’ would tell us.

              When it comes to ghosts it’s all about trust. Should you trust those who say there is no such thing as ghosts? Should you trust what ghosts say about themselves? Or should you trust what God says about these things in His Word? The Bible teaches that there is only one of two places to which we immediately go when we give up the ghost: Heaven or Hell. Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’ Luke 23:43. The word ‘today’ means the very moment the thief gave up the ghost. This means there is no hanging around for a chat with living people when you’re dead.

              Jesus’ word ‘today’ means that my dad upon his last breath went immediately to one of two intermediate places; the place of everlasting torment or the place of everlasting bliss. It is our responsibility to get ‘right’ with God before we die, and I believe my dad got ‘right’ with God before he gave up the ghost. But what about you, dear reader? Where to from here?

             

Upon returning to my sister’s house not long after my dad had expired, I noticed a still-life painting on her wall; by my eldest brother some forty years previous. One of the items depicted in the painting was a Bible my brother had given dad. My dad had read that Reference Bible cover to cover, for over the years I had had some interesting discussions with him about it. Sitting on top of my dad’s Bible was an old alarm clock. I remember that clock. It had luminous hands. But unlike the hands on my dad’s wristwatch at the time of his death, the hands on this depicted clock were frozen in time. In the providence of God they are pointing to the time my dad gave up the ghost. That’s more like it!