Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: STIR (11/12/15)
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TITLE: What Do I Really Believe? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Carla Rogers
11/19/15 -
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Grabbing the remote as she flopped on the couch, Ashley was already figuring out her to-watch list for the night.
“’Ghost Hunters’ comes on tonight. I wonder if the ‘Long Island Medium’ is on. Hum,’ Paranormal Witness’ comes on later. With HuLu, I can watch ‘Buffy’ or ‘Charmed’ or ‘My Haunted House’. Choices, choices.”
She always loved ghost stories growing up, especially living in an area that was legendary for paranormal experiences. Growing up, the ghost stories would mainly come up around Halloween, but now-a-days it was as easy as clicking on the TV.
Deciding on one of the Harry Potter movies, she settled in for a nice night of escapist enjoyment.
Something started nagging her, but she couldn’t understand it nor would she expend her energy to try. Pushing down the voice, she decided to switch to another show.
“Maybe the’ Long Island Medium’ will lift me up. She always brings comforting news to people who are hurting. Sometimes I wish I had been born with a gift like that. I wonder why all of the people she encounters are at peace. Looks like some should have gone to hell.”
The little voice was a little stronger now, to where she could understand. “You shouldn’t be watching this. What she has is no gift. She brings death.”
Ashley again stuffed the voice down, switching to 'Ghost Hunters'. Why should she care if “something” isn’t right about a show, “If I am saved, and study my Bible daily, why shouldn’t I be able to watch a TV show of my choice and relax? If I know my Bible, I should know truth from the lies these shows tell.”
After watching the show for a while, she started wondering why “spirits” get trapped on earth especially since the Bible says when people die, they are immediately either in heaven or hell. “Oh well, those spirits never seems to be threatening. I guess there isn’t any problem with coexisting with them, even though the Bible says the demonic world is not anything to play with. These aren’t demons, just misplaced human spirits.”
Coming across I Dream of Jeannie, she settled in for some innocent mind numbing TV viewing. But she was hearing that voice again, “Mohammad listened to Jinns. Beware of even innocent shows. Satan is a being that imitates light, just like Jeannie."
Then Ashley remembered something very important she heard on the radio coming home from work. The number of people practicing the occult and Wicca has risen 1,700% in the last ten years. No wonder most of the shows on TV have this kind of demonic spirit. She tried to downplay that these shows were having a bad effect on her spiritual life, but she knew deep down better than that.
Wishing for gifts like Jeannie, wishing to communicate with the dead like Jonathan Edwards or the Long Island Madam, wishing for supernatural powers like Samantha or for hidden knowledge like the “Book of Shadows” on Charmed, believing that ghostly sights were innocent spirits who have lost their way had crept into her spirit. She had even played the Ouija board at the insistence of some friends. She had to admit that it was getting real hard to distinguish between New Age beliefs and the truth.
She was inadvertently stirring New Age beliefs in with God’s truth. Ashley now felt led of the Holy Spirit to read her Bible so she could better identify New Age. She desperately wanted to hear only her Shepherds’ voice and not the counterfeit.
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