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About Brenton Hepburn
Expertise
I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I can answer questions on the reliability of the NWT, the so called mind control problems, so called prophecies, and general practices and history of Jehovah’s Witnesses.....
>>>>WARNING<<<<<<
....Please be aware that there are at least ... 3 .... people here who ARE NOT practicing JWs and, (at other times there have been as many as 5.) These ones will, at times, appear to have an agenda against JWs., and will often give answers that are not correct in regard to JW teachings and practices. If you are after a answer from one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, please read some of the answers that the various experts have published before choosing someone. If you want to ask them a question that is fine, but if you want a balancing view after asking one of the NON JWs, ask a JW the same question

Experience
I have been a publisher since 1964. When I first went on the internet I found a lot of negative information dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses covering prophecy, mind control and what many said was a very bad translation of the Bible known as the NWT. It shook my faith. After may hours researching these topics I could see why some felt that way, but, I was also able to explain why there were these misleading views. I can now set matters straight for anyone that has negative information about Jehovah’s Witness to show them that such information is at best misleading and at worst dangerous lies.

Education/Credentials
I have been a student of the Bible for many years, am trying to teach myself Biblical Greek. Was a public tax accountant for many yrars untill SEP 2009 when I gave it up.

You are here: Experts > Religion/Spirituality > Christianity - Restorationism > Jehovah`s Witness > Ghosts are Demons ?

Jehovah`s Witness - Ghosts are Demons ?

Expert: Brenton Hepburn - 10/23/2009

Question
Hi Brenton, I am really struggling with the idea that if a dying person sees visions of long lost relatives who have previously passed away, it's just Demons. Why is it impossible tha they are the spirits of their dead relatives. What have Demons got to gain by masquerading as dead relatives? It just doesn't make any sense and that's why I juts can't go all the way with the JW's.
What is your opininon ?

Answer
Hello Collin,

Thank you for your question and please accept my apologise for the time delay as I have been very busy with family matters putting my blind mother into a nursing home she does not want to be in and clearing out here home unit for sale, that have kept me from spending much time on the internet.

I can understand the comfort dome individuals might get from seeing relatives that have past away. ... NO... this is not necessarily the effects of Demons. Personally I think that very few if any such experiences are due to the effects of demons. May doctors and psychiatrists have studied the phenomenon of what is called near death experience (NDE) Different patients have different NDE from seeing dead relatives to floating above their bodies on an operating table or at the scene of an accident. There is no agreement between the doctors and psychiatrists as to what these are. Some agree that it is a spiritual experience and others say that ““These experiences are common to a wide variety of arousal in the human brain, including LSD, sensory deprivation and extreme stress. The stress is producing the projection of the images into the brain. They are the same for most people because our brains are all wired similarly to store information, and these experiences are basically electrical read-outs of this wiring.” ….(See the web article ) ….. htp://ftp.beitberl.ac.il/~bbsite/misc/ezer_anglit/klali/05_1.pdf

Do those medical explanations show any support for what the Bible has to say? Bellow are just a very small example of the Bibles record of life.

(Genesis 2:7) "7 And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul. . ."

Notice MAN became a LIVING soul

Now please notice what happens to the soul of man whne he dies

(Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10 )“For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun. All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol [mankind’s common grave], the place to which you are going.”

(Ezekiel 18:4) "4 Look! All the souls—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul that is sinning—it itself will die."

(Ezekiel 18:20) "20 The soul that is sinning—it itself will die. A son himself will bear nothing because of the error of the father, and a father himself will bear nothing because of the error of the son. Upon his own self the very righteousness of the righteous one will come to be, and upon his own self the very wickedness of a wicked one will come to be. . ."

The next texts is interesting as it shows that man and beast have the same eventuality

(Ecclesiastes 3:18-20) "18 I, even I, have said in my heart with regard to the sons of mankind that the [true] God is going to select them, that they may see that they themselves are beasts. 19 For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit, so that there is no superiority of the man over the beast, for everything is vanity. 20 All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust."

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