Haunted House is Living Hell

I preface this message with the following warning, friends. The message you're about to hear is a very disturbing message. It's not for the faint of heart.

It's about the unseen spirit world that's all around us. My sermon is entitled, A Haunted House is a Living Hell. Sometimes a bad event that occurs in a house can mark that house forever bad.

This was the case in the following true events. My wife was having her hair done at a local beauty salon, and the hairdresser cutting her hair told her an incredible story. He said he had recently closed on a piece of real estate, a single family home in an older part of town.

And while he walked through that house, before he bought it, he kept experiencing a feeling of dread every time he passed by one of the rooms. And while he was at the closing attorney's office, he asked the realtor if anything tragic had happened in that particular home. But no one answered him, and he signed the papers anyway and bought the house.

His first week in the house, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him, because he looked and out of the corner of his eye one night, he saw a young boy about ten years of age standing in the hallway. And the young boy was just watching him, staring at him. The next night, he saw the image of the boy again, and it so startled him, he couldn't get to sleep.

Upon speaking with an elderly neighbor who'd lived in that neighborhood for the last 40 years, he learned that a terrible tragedy had occurred in that home. A young boy was drowned in the bathtub. This hairdresser was so disturbed by that presence and image in that home, he immediately put the house up for sale.

And when he did that, he learned from real estate records that the average time frame occupants stayed in that home was only about a year or two before they'd listed it. I know what it's like to grow up in a haunted house. I was just a boy of 13 when my family moved into a troubled house.

The very first week we were there, we felt an evil presence in that little home. My parents and I were sitting in the living room when above us, upstairs, we heard very heavy footsteps walking up and down the hall above us. We looked at each other in alarm.

My father tried to laugh it off by saying spooks, but it happened again and again, and it was no laughing matter. Slow, heavy footsteps plop, plop, plop down the hall they went. On one occasion, when these audible footsteps began, I ran upstairs to see if there was an intruder in the house, but there was no one there.

At least no one I could see with my eyes. It was an eerie feeling. We came to accept the fact that the house was haunted.

When you know there is an unseen, evil presence in a home, it can be very unsettling, especially to a young boy of just 13. Every time my family heard those footsteps, we experienced dread in our hearts, and we were powerless to do anything about this unseen entity. But we soon discovered that the footsteps down the hallway were quite tame compared to what would occur in that little home from time to time.

There was what most people would refer to as a storm closet beneath the stairway that led upstairs, you know of which I speak, friend, in bad weather. When a tornado warning sounds or a storm comes in, the family will often seek shelter in a safe room, like a closet beneath a stairway. Well, this little home had one of those closets beneath that stairway.

And occasionally, and quite suddenly, and without warning, a loud pounding would begin on that closed stairway door. The pounding was so violent and so loud, it would stop you in your tracks. You literally would just be frozen in alarm at that violent pounding.

It's hard for me to even talk about it. Well, one day, I'll never forget it as long as I live. It's been 53 years now since the event occurred, and it's as fresh in my memory today as I relate it to you now.

It gives me chills just telling you about it. It was a very hot summer day. There was no central air conditioning in that house.

Each floor had a window unit to cool that part of the house. Well, this particular day was extremely hot outside, over 100 degrees. And our downstairs window unit went on the brink.

It quit working, and it was extremely hot inside that little house, and I was alone. As I sat in the room reading a book, I was perspiring, until suddenly a pounding began on that closet door. It was a loud, violent pounding from a troubled, unseen entity.

And it took all the courage I had to go over to that closed door and place my hand on that crystal doorknob. And I turned the doorknob, and I quickly yanked to open that door. And when I did, there was a deathly silence, and a cool breeze came out of that closet and chilled me to the bone.

It was as if I was standing in front of an open freezer. It was such a noticeable coldness that went over my bare arms. I stepped back in horror, and I never went near that door again.

Living in that haunted house was really a living hell. Finally, my family moved out of that troubled home, and I was sure glad when we did. Now, I share all that with you, friend, because I want you to get a vivid reality in your mind about what hell is like.

Hell is full of demons. The words of Jesus are recorded in Matthew 25, 41, which states, Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. And again, we find in scripture a reference that hell is populated not only by the wicked dead, but by demonic entities.

We read in 2 Peter 2, 4, For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. Hell is crowded with demon entities. Let me share with you, friend, one last true story.

I came in contact one year with a Satan worshiper, and I wanted to know more about it. And I sat down with him one time and asked him to tell me all about how he got involved into devil worship. He said it began with an interest in the occult.

He said he started reading about those kind of books. And one night he began to pray to the devil. And after praying to the devil for a couple of weeks, he was visited in his room by a demon entity.

This demon made contact with him and spoke to him. This demon had an ancient name, which this young man could not share with me. But this demon entity was evidently a high-ranking demon who became his spirit guide.

And he took orders from this spirit guide with the ancient name. And he was put through a test before he could go any deeper into the spirit realm. This demon guide gave this young man instructions one night to go to a neighboring farm out in the country after midnight and to catch a goat and slit its throat with a knife and then sacrifice that goat to Satan, which this young man obediently did.

And after that, he was taken to a higher level in his demon worship because this demon guide that now controlled him had the power to open this young man's eyes to the unseen world. If you recall in scripture, friend, in the book of 2 Kings, we get a glimpse of this in chapter 6 and verse 17 regarding the prophet Elisha and his servant. God's word states, And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see.

And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Well, just as Elisha opened his eyes of his servant by prayer, so too evidently this demon guide of this Satan worshiper opened his eyes as well so he could see the unseen world all around him.

Because this Satan worshiper told me he could see demons all the time, that every time he went out in public, like to a shopping mall or a public place, he could see demons walking behind people, walking alongside crowds of people without their knowledge. In fact, this young man, this Satan worshiper, related to me that when he visited the city of Rome, he saw more demons there than any other place he'd ever visited. He said that the city of Rome, Italy, was literally crawling with hordes of demons.

And I say that to you, friend, that there is an unseen spirit world all around us. And I say to you that hell is a very disturbing and crowded place with inhabitants of the wicked dead from every generation of man since the world began and hell is crammed full of demons. You don't want to live in a haunted house, friend, and you don't want to end up in a haunted hell full of terror and screaming.

The damned in hell screamed incessantly night and day, Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Wailing speaks of great grief and loss.

Gnashing of teeth signifies great anger and regret. Oh, dear friend, the turmoil and unrest in hell is unbearable, Isaiah declares. But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest.

Whose waters cast up mire and dirt, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. That hell is a place of unrest and turmoil and torment cannot be denied. Jesus spoke of the rich man in the Gospel of Luke who died and went to hell.

Luke 16.23 states, And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments. When you read that story, you learn that Lazarus the beggar died and was carried by angels up to heaven. I believe that, friend.

I believe when a Christian dies, they are carried up into the presence of God by angels. But I also believe that when a person dies outside the blood of Christ, that demons lay hold of them and drag that person's soul down to the devil's hell. Don't go to hell, friend.

Don't go to sleep this night without examining yourself. You might wake up in hell. Regarding your spiritual state, what can you say about it? Do you know your destiny? Are you saved or are you lost? Turn to Jesus, friend, for the forgiveness of sin.

Jesus is the friend of sinners. Jesus is the only remedy for sin. Jesus is the pearl of great price worth selling all for so he may be gained.

Get to Jesus, friend. Cast yourself on Him and trust Him and own Him as Savior and Lord. Repent before it's too late, friend.

The Word of God declares, In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.