Pastor Yu Bin's Truth of the Spirit World, Part Two: Ghosts and Spirit Mediumship

1. Article Note: This Is a Transcribed Video Summary

This article is organized from the public video content of part two of Pastor Yu Bin’s “Truth of the Spirit World” series, 《鬼与交鬼》. The original video focuses on the story in 《圣经》 of Saul seeking the medium in Endor, and further discusses phenomena such as “ghosts,” spirit mediumship, channeling, fuji (spirit writing), pen-spirit (ghost games), and horse-spirit mediums.

It should be noted that this article is positioned as an observation of religion and spiritual culture, and does not make absolute claims about “whether ghosts exist,” “whether spiritual communication is real,” or “whether mediumship is effective.” It also does not seek to defend any single religious position. The judgments presented are primarily explanations from the speaker’s Christian faith framework.

2. Starting from Saul’s Spirit-Summoning Story: Can a Spirit Woman Bring Back the Dead?

1. Background of Chapter 28 in 《撒母耳记上》

This episode continues from Chapter 28 of 《撒母耳记上》. In the text, Saul, in a state of fear and with no avenue for inquiry, seeks the spirit medium in Endor and asks her to summon the late prophet Samuel.

In Christian tradition, this passage is often used to discuss spirit-summoning, necromancy, sorcery, and spiritual taboos. Different denominations and theological traditions may interpret details differently, but most generally view Saul’s act of asking a spirit medium as a departure from God and a turn toward forbidden forces.

Pastor Yu Bin’s question in the video is: if the spirit medium truly had some ability, could she really summon back the spirit of the dead?

2. The Speaker’s Basic Judgment

According to Pastor Yu Bin’s explanation, practices like mediumship and spiritual channeling may be real at the level of phenomena, but the entities contacted by mediums are not the souls of the dead.

He clearly rejects the claim that “when a person dies, they become a ghost and can be summoned by a medium.” In his Christian understanding, when people die, the soul enters a post-mortem state that is not an object a medium can summon, control, or communicate with at will.

Therefore, he argues that what so-called mediums bring forth as “ghosts” is not the deceased themselves, but impure spirits, evil spirits, or Satanic entities assuming deceptive forms.

3. “Ghosts” in a Christian Context: Evil Spirits, Unclean Spirits, and Fallen Angels

1. “Ghost” Is Not Equivalent to a Dead Soul

In Chinese folk thought, a “ghost” is often understood as the spirit of a dead person, especially in relation to ancestors, the dead, wronged spirits, and wandering souls. Pastor Yu Bin, however, uses a different Christian interpretive framework.

In his wording, what are called ghosts, evil spirits, unclean spirits, Satan, and devils are not beings formed simply by human death. He believes those contacted by mediums are not dead human souls, but evil spirits that deceive, mislead, and tempt.

This distinction is important. It shows a semantic gap between Chinese folk belief and Christian theology in the use of the term “ghost”: the former often centers on dead souls, ancestors, and the relational world of the yin world, while the latter emphasizes Satan, evil spirits, fallen angels, and spiritual warfare.

2. Satan, Lucifer, and Fallen Angels

In the video, Pastor Yu Bin notes that “Satan” means “the one who opposes.” He also uses traditional Christian terms such as “Lucifer” and “the morning star,” explaining that Lucifer fell from grace through pride and rebellion against God and led a host of angels who abandoned their proper place into enmity against God.

It should be noted that the name “Lucifer” has a specific interpretive history connected with Chapter 14 of 《以赛亚书》 in Christian tradition; different theological traditions differ on whether it directly refers to Satan. This article reports the speaker’s faith framework and does not present this as a universal Christian consensus.

In this narrative, the devil not only appears as a terrifying figure, but may also “take the form of an angel of light,” using images of religion, superstition, gods and Buddhas, ancestors, and the dead to seduce people. The speaker emphasizes that spiritual phenomena do not always appear in obviously evil forms; they can also appear familiar, sacred, effective, and seemingly helpful.

4. A Critical Interpretation of Chinese Folk Spiritual Phenomena

1. Ancestors, Deities, and Images of the Dead

Pastor Yu Bin argues that the devil is not concerned with what specific objects people believe in; as long as a person does not believe in Jesus, the devil may seduce them through false paths in religion. This includes beliefs in ancestors, ghosts and demons, gods and buddhas, or belief that mediums can communicate with the deceased.

This is a typical Christian apologetic-style framing. Its core is not an internal analysis of folk religion as such, but a Christian exclusivist theological claim: any spiritual path that leads people away from God can become an instrument of spiritual deception.

From a neutral-observational perspective, this section reflects common tension between Christianity and Chinese folk religion: Chinese communities may emphasize ancestors, deities, and experiential efficacy, while Christian tradition emphasizes not worshipping idols, not practicing spirit summoning, and not treating created things as divine.

2. Animal Immortals, Protective Village Spirits, and Chumaxian Traditions

The video also discusses common notions in Chinese folk culture that some animals possess special spiritual power—foxes, badgers, snakes, and others—and can become immortals or fox-spirits with extraordinary capacities.

Pastor Yu Bin contends these claims are not about certain animals truly being more spiritual than others, nor are they about animals cultivating themselves into beings beyond humans; instead, he sees them as the devil deceiving through such images, or binding people’s minds through fear.

He specifically mentions Che Ma Xian and Bao Jia Xian, common in Northeast China, and says their essence is still mediumship and spirit calling. In his interpretation, the fox, weasel, snake, hedgehog, mouse, and similar “immortal” figures are not animals who cultivated themselves into transcendent beings, but unclean spirits operating through folk images.

This judgment is clearly a Christian theological interpretation and should not be confused with neutral descriptions from anthropology, religious studies, or local belief ethnography. For non-Christian readers, it can be read as an internal religious discernment and warning perspective.

5. Fuji, Pen Spirit, and Spirit Boards: Different Forms of Spirit Communication Tools

1. Fuji and Folk Mediumship Traditions

When discussing spirit communication, Pastor Yu Bin lists several forms common in Chinese cultures, including Taiwan’s tongtong (spirit mediums), Hong Kong’s shen-da, grassroots fuji, jumping gods rites, and Northeast traditions such as Bao Jia Xian and Che Ma Xian.

He highlights fuji in particular. In Chinese folk religious and Daoist-related traditions, fuji is relatively common and usually refers to receiving revelations from gods through a spirit brush, sand tray, or written media. Different regions and religious groups differ in how they interpret and perform fuji.

From a Christian perspective, the speaker classifies fuji as a form of mediumship and spirit-calling, arguing that its essence is communication with the spirit realm and therefore spiritually dangerous.

2. Pen Spirit, Tray Spirit, Silver Spirit, and Western Spirit Boards

Pastor Yu Bin also treats modern youth games like pen-spirit, tray-spirit, and silver-spirit as variants of fuji. He sees these seemingly game-like, playful forms as still attempts to contact entities in the spirit world.

He further states that fuji was commercialized when it spread to the West, becoming spirit-board-like tools. This can be understood as the Ouija board tradition, where communication is attempted through letter boards, pointers, and similar devices.

In the speaker’s view, regardless of the name, the underlying logic is similar: people want to use tools to know the future, access hidden information, or gain help beyond ordinary human capacity.

6. Why the Speaker Considered These Practices Dangerous

1. Temptation Through Curiosity and Practical Benefits

Pastor Yu Bin emphasizes that spirit practices are easy to attract people because they appear to deliver real-world benefits: knowing the future, solving problems, receiving help, satisfying curiosity, and even doing things ordinary people cannot.

This aligns with what he discussed in the first episode under “pragmatism.” Many people are not concerned with what the source is; they care only whether it “works” and whether it solves immediate problems.

In his theological understanding, this attitude is precisely the danger. If people enter these practices for benefit or curiosity, they may unknowingly be deceived, harmed, or tempted by the devil, becoming spiritually bound to powers of darkness.

2. “Dark Mark” and Spiritual Attack

The video includes a strong claim: the speaker believes that anyone who has engaged in these practices may carry a kind of “dark mark” in their life, giving the devil special opportunity to attack.

This language belongs to Christian spiritual-warfare discourse. It is not meant to be interpreted as a medical diagnosis or psychological assessment, but should be read within its religious context: the speaker is warning believers not to underestimate prior involvement in spirit communication, mediumship, sorcery, or spiritual games.

At the same time, he stresses that people need not live in fear, since in Christian faith God’s power is greater than the power of the devil. Believers can, in Jesus’ name and through Jesus, overcome demonic activity and break spiritual bondage.

7. Reading Value as a Religious Cultural Text

1. It Presents a Christian Reframing of “Ghost Culture”

The most distinctive feature of this video is that it reinterprets familiar Chinese-language “ghost culture” entirely within a Christian spiritual-warfare framework.

In folk belief, ghosts may be deceased souls, ancestors, wronged creditors of fate, and they may connect with local deities, animal immortals, and the order of the underworld. But in Pastor Yu Bin’s interpretation, these phenomena are no longer treated as a pluralistic spirit-order system; instead, they are drawn into a system of the devil, evil spirits, and deception.

This interpretive method has cautionary value for Christian readers: it warns them not to treat folk spiritual experiences as culturally neutral and not to engage in spiritual-contact practices out of curiosity.

2. It Also Reflects Boundary Conflicts Between Religions

From a broader cultural perspective, this content also reflects boundary conflicts between religions. Chinese folk belief is often inclusive and syncretic: ancestors, gods and buddhas, local spirits, animal immortals, talismans, spirit mediums, fuji, divination, and other forms can coexist.

But Christianity, especially traditions that stress spiritual warfare, tends to treat many of these phenomena as requiring separation, rejection, and resistance. This yields markedly different worldviews: one emphasizing a plural symbolic system of spiritual efficacy, and the other emphasizing a single true God in opposition to demonic deception.

Therefore, when reading such texts, it is most important to distinguish two levels: one is the speaker’s faith judgment, and the other is the cultural presence of these phenomena in Chinese society. They can converse with each other, but they should not be collapsed into one.

8. Conclusion: Discernment of Spiritual Experience Through “Ghosts and Mediumship”

In this episode, 《鬼与交鬼》, Pastor Yu Bin’s core message is not to tell a sensational supernatural story, but to answer a theological question from a Christian standpoint: is the “ghost” one contacts actually the soul of the dead?

His answer is clear: no. In his view, the soul after death is not something a medium can summon at will; the practices of mediumship, spirit communication, fuji, pen-spirit, and Che Ma Xian are not about dead souls or animal immortals, but about deception by evil spirits, unclean spirits, and Satan.

For Christian readers, this is a spiritually cautionary text: do not involve yourself in spirit communication for curiosity or practical gain, and do not treat folk spiritual experiences as harmless entertainment.

For non-Christian readers, it can also serve as material for observing how Chinese ghost culture is being reinterpreted through Christianity. Regardless of whether one accepts the theological conclusion, this kind of text demonstrates an important reality: the same spiritual phenomenon can be assigned wholly different meanings within different systems of belief.

FAQ

Which religious tradition is discussed in this article?

See the specific notes in the main text. The Religion section of this site includes Christianity (including Catholicism, Protestantism, and Pentecostalism), Eastern traditions, and mystical traditions, with each article taking a different stance and perspective.

Is this a religious advocacy piece or an academic discussion?

The articles on this site are primarily cultural observation and academic introduction, and do not represent a specific religious position or constitute religious persuasion. Readers should read with attention to their own faith background and critical thinking.

How can I study the religious topics covered in this article more deeply?

It is recommended to consult the original works, academic papers, or course materials listed under “References” at the end; readers interested in the intersection of Eastern religions and divination culture may also use this site’s I Ching Divination Tool as an entry point for cultural exploration.

Where can I find the related series mentioned in this article?

The Religion category on this site includes multiple series, including the “Yu Bin’s Spirit World Series” (nine pieces), which can be browsed on the blog category page for similar articles.

References

• Pastor Yu Bin’s “Truth of the Spirit World” Series, Part Two: Ghosts and Spirit Mediumship
• Pastor Yu Bin’s “Truth of the Spirit World” Series Playlist
• 《撒母耳记上》 Chapter 28: Saul and the Spirit Woman in Endor
• 《申命记》 Chapter 18: Prohibitions on Divination, Mediumship, and Sorcery
• 《哥林多后书》 2 Corinthians 11:14: Satan Appears as an Angel of Light