Mark Driscoll Answers: What Does the Bible Say About Zombies?
Pastor Mark Driscoll of Trinity Church in Arizona continued his Halloween-themed video series this week by sharing his experiences with so-called zombie villages in Haiti, and said that depending on how one defines the word, the Bible has plenty to say about zombies.
Driscoll started the video off by talking about his humanitarian work in earthquake-hit Haiti several years ago where he was helping to distribute relief supplies alongside a local ministry.
He said that a fully ordained, Bible-believing and theologically trained pastor who was showing him around gave him quite the shock after he told him that he would keep him away from the "zombie" villages in the area.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The Trinity Church pastor inquired about what the Haitian minister was saying, and found out that locals truly believe that there are some villages that have a zombie problem, in the form of spirits taking control of dead bodies.
"There are certain villages where spirits will enter dead bodies, and guys and gals will come back as zombies," Driscoll recounted of the local belief, which is tied to Voodooism and transported over from occult traditions in West Africa.
Driscoll then turned the discussion to the Bible, and shared what the Gospel has to say on the subject.
As one example he cited Zechariah 14:12–13, which reads: "This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another."
Reflecting on the passage, Driscoll said it "almost sounds like a zombie apocalypse war."
On that note, Driscoll said there are also "demonic counterfeits of resurrection," where a person could be controlled by evil spirits. Driscoll said that such spirits could also be linked to the effects of substance abuse, where the end result is that a person, much like some definitions of a zombie, appears to be alive but his actions are controlled or "possessed" by substances or spirits.
He also cited verses found in Matthew and Revelation, where the Bible talks about Godly people who have died and been revived for a certain period of time, such as Lazarus.
Driscoll said that in a sense all people on Earth are destined to rise from the dead before they face judgment by Jesus for the lives they have lived.
"For those who are Godly, there is revivification where occasionally, very rarely, somebody is brought back in this life for an extended life, so that they can proclaim Jesus," he said.
"There is also the resurrection of the dead and eternal life. Everyone who is deceased or will be deceased, will arise. Everyone who died will ultimately stand before Jesus, and receive their sentencing of Heaven or Hell," he added.
Driscoll concluded that in the end, it's important to focus on the Resurrection of Jesus, which is the promise of eternal life and new bodies for Christians.
Last week, Driscoll said Christians are faced with a dilemma about whether or not to celebrate Halloween, and positioned that the three choices ahead of them are "receive, reject, or redeem."
