Seeing the Supernatural: Pulling Back the Veil of The Supernatural

FASCINATION WITH THE SUPERNATURAL

Lee points to the fact that public fascination with supernatural phenomena has surged in recent years, largely due to media.  “Interest in the supernatural is incredibly high in our culture.  And it’s not just in films, in articles, or at conferences.  In fact, you don’t have to persuade most Americans that supernatural phenomena are authentic. They’re already convinced.”  He cites findings from 2023 Pew Research Center and Gallup studies:

•    Eight in ten Americans believe in something spiritual beyond the physical world. 
•    Nearly 50% report having sensed something from the spiritual realm. 
•    69% believe in God, angels, and heaven, while 58% believe in hell and the devil. 
•    38% claim to have experienced at least one supernatural event. 

Lee states his motivation for writing the book: “As an evangelist, seeing that non-believers are fascinated in the supernatural, too, I want to provide a bridge to the gospel.” 

DEATH-BED VISIONS

One aspect of the supernatural world that Lee found most intriguing is death-bed visions.  These encounters differ from near-death experiences (NDE) in that the person sees something in the heavenly realm before irreversibly dying.  In an NDE, a person is found clinically dead for a time, but comes back to life, reporting what he saw in an out-of-body experience.  For this topic, Lee interviewed Dr. Steve Miller of Kennesaw State University, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on death-bed visions, based on eight hundred relevant sources.  One of Miller’s studies showed that 88% of patients in a New York hospice facility had such visions.  “They were so realistic that patients reported them as the most awake, alert, and present they had ever felt,” Miller says.  

An example of one such death-bed vision is quoted by Miller about a woman named Doris in 1920’s London.  Dying after giving birth, Doris looked toward one corner of her room with a radiant smile and talked about the lovely brightness and wonderful beings she saw, as well as God Himself. Then she said, “He has Vida with him!”  Lee asked Miller who Vida was.  “That was her sister,” he replied.  “She had died three weeks earlier, a fact that everyone had kept from Doris because they didn’t want to upset her.”    
          
ANGELS

“I’ve been a Christian since 1981,” Lee says, “and I’ve never heard a sermon on angels, though the Bible clearly teaches their existence.”  While studying what Scripture teaches about angels, he acknowledges that there are many false notions which have arisen from a variety of sources.  “For instance, the idea that people become angels when they die seems to persist, despite having no biblical support. (I blame Looney Tunes.)” Lee points out that angels are mentioned in half the books of the Bible, roughly 300 times, but are not the focus. “The primary focus of Scripture is on God and our relationship with him.  This means that a lot of details about angels aren’t spelled out with specificity.  They aren’t supposed to be.  Why? Because they are a sidelight to the central plot of the Bible and unnecessary information for us to have at this point.”  

Talking with Professor Douglas Potter of Southern Evangelical Seminary, Lee asked Potter to describe what Scripture clearly tells us about these celestial beings.  Potter was able to cite a long list.  “First of all, angels are not eternal like God is.  There’s a finite number of them, but that number is incredibly large.  Because they are immaterial in nature, they have no gender and don’t engage in marriage or reproduction.  And they are persons because they have the characteristics of personhood – intellect, will, and emotions.”  They are not omniscient.  “Only God is omniscient.  Angels are greater in both knowledge and power than humans.  Angels rank lower than God, but higher than humans.”  Potter went on to affirm the idea of guardian angels, based on Matthew 18:10, where Jesus says, “For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven,” and in Acts 12:15, where Peter, having escaped prison, shows up at the gathering of disciples, who don’t believe it’s him, saying, “It must be his angel.”

MYSTICAL DREAMS AND VISIONS

Lee shines a light on the countless Muslims who have experienced supernatural visions or dreams – many of them corroborated by outside events – which led them out of Islam to a saving faith in Christ.  “In fact, more Muslims have become Christians in the last couple of decades than the previous fourteen hundred years since Muhammed, and it’s estimated that a quarter to a third of them experienced a dream or vision of Jesus before their salvation experience.  If those statistics are accurate, this phenomenon of Jesus supernaturally appearing to people is one of the most significant spiritual awakenings in the world today.”  

Lee interviewed Middle East missionary and expert, Tom Doyle, who told him much more about Jesus dreams to Muslims, along with a number of examples.  One story revolves around Kamal, an underground church planter in Egypt.  Strongly impressed to go the busy, Friday market in Cairo one day, Kamal didn’t have time, but heeded what he believed was God’s leading.  Once there, a Muslim woman named Noor spotted him across the market and began yelling, “You’re the one! You’re the one!”  She pushed her way through the crowd to Kamal, and exclaimed, “You were in my dream last night!”  She knew because he was wearing the same clothes, glasses, and smile.  Knowing what the woman meant, Kamal asked her if he was with Jesus in the dream.  Noor said He was, and explained how Jesus told her He loves her, gave everything for her, and died for her.  She said she felt greater peace than she’d ever known.  The encounter led to a three-hour discussion about faith, and Noor left wanting to know more about Jesus and counting the cost of leaving Islam.  

USING DISCERNMENT

Realizing there are many misunderstandings, a thirst for sensationalism, and just plain error regarding the supernatural realm, Lee consulted with expert Ron Rhodes, who debunks much of what is believed to be spiritual, but is in fact, demonic.  This includes ghosts, psychics, and the paranormal, which Lee describes as a twisted version of the supernatural.  Rhodes offers a number of ways to exercise discernment in the supernatural arena:

•    Immerse ourselves daily in the Scripture to know truth versus error.
•    Pray for discernment, asking God to keep you from false and misleading ideas.  
•    Seek counsel when needed.  
•    Always consider the source of the report for reliability, beliefs, biases, and motives.

Lee adds, “The Bible warns about the dangers of pursuing answers about life from sources that aren’t grounded in God’s truth.”  He reminds us to assess spiritual experiences though a biblical lens to ensure they align with God’s nature and Christian doctrines.

For more information on Lee Strobel: www.leestrobel.com 

CREDITS

NY Times Bestsellling author, Seeing the Supernatural (Zondervan, 2025) / Former teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, Saddleback Church, and The Woodlands Church / Former TV host, Faith Under Fire / taught First Amendment Law at Roosevelt University in Chicago / Professor of Christian Thought at Houston Baptist University / former investigative journalist, The Chicago Tribune / married to Leslie more than 50 years, two grown children, four beloved grandchildren