'Ghosts are not spirits of dead humans': 'UFOs and God' author says the Bible points to demonic deception
'Dead human spirits don’t wander on Earth waiting to cross over to the next life,' Derrick Warfel says
Are ghosts a work of fiction or a question of theology? Author and filmmaker Derrick Warfel says it’s all about defining one’s terms.
In his new book UFOs and God: Revealing Deception and Truth Behind the Supernatural, Invisible War, Warfel argues that UFO encounters are fallen supernatural powers rather than extraterrestrials, citing Ephesians 6:12, according to the publisher. He told CP that ghosts are little more than "deceiving evil spirits or demons."
“Ghosts are not spirits of dead humans who didn’t make it to the other side: Heaven or Hell. They are deceiving evil spirits or demons,” Warfel told CP, pointing to passages like Luke 16.
“Righteous dead humans are in a holding place before they go to Heaven called 'Abraham’s bosom' and unrighteous dead humans are in a holding place called 'Hades' till they are judged and go to the 'lake of fire' [in Revelation 20],” he added. “What we refer to as ghosts of dead people are evil spirits impersonating the dead to deceive men and get them to follow them.”
It’s for this reason, said Warfel, that the Bible forbids consulting mediums “because the people are consorting with demons.”
He pointed to the infamous “witch of Endor” encounter in 1 Samuel 28, where a desperate King Saul, facing a looming battle with the Philistines and hearing no answer from God, disobeys his own edicts against witchcraft by consulting a medium in Endor to conjure the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel.
When Samuel's supposed spirit appears in response to the witch's necromancy, which apparently terrifies her, he rebukes Saul and prophesies that he and his sons would die in battle the next day, an event recounted in 1 Samuel 31.
While the story has prompted debate over whether the incident was a demonic deception or divine judgment, Warfel says he believes in the case of 1 Samuel 28 that God did allow Saul to talk to Samuel, but that the shock on the medium’s face indicates she was surprised.
“She was expecting to hear from her ‘familiar spirit,’ an evil demonic spirit, not the real Samuel,” he said. “And Saul was condemned for trying to reach the dead. He should have just prayed to God.”
While there are “countless other mentions of mediums who talk to dead persons, all are condemned because they believed ghosts were spirits of the dead. It wasn’t true then. It isn’t true today. Dead human spirits don’t wander on earth waiting to cross over to the next life,” Warfel added.
According to a May 2025 Gallup poll, 66% of Americans are generally skeptical of the paranormal, and 34% are generally open to it.
While Americans are nearly split over whether ghosts or spirits of dead people can "come back in certain places and situations" (39% believe it and 42% disagree), respondents "who infrequently attend religious services (40%) are more likely than weekly churchgoers (22%) to be among those open to the paranormal," according to Lifeway's report on the Gallup findings.
Those who attend religious services weekly or almost weekly were the most likely to be among the group with skeptical views of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena.
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ian.giatti@christianpost.com.
