A Christian Perspective on Annabelle

There's so much already written. When I was researching, I found Reddit threads that go on forever. Christian magazines, websites, etc... Most written by people who have a lot more knowledge and experience than I have. But I wanted to give my thoughts on this, as the doll has recently come to our area on tour and created a big stir when it reportedly "got lost."

Now, I've never really given Annabelle more than a few minutes of brain space until the big tour. Why would an object that supposedly has "evil power" be traveling the nation... for profit?

The whole idea is absurd. If you believe in it, why would you pay to be near it? And if you don't, then why are you paying to see a rag doll?

Let's try to clear this up and add some Biblical truth.

Q: Was Annabelle a real doll?

A: Yes. Annabelle is a Raggedy Ann doll. Not the version you see in the movie. It was part of a famous case handled by paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren back in the 1970's.

Q: What's the Story?

A: It started when a nursing student received the doll as a gift in 1970. Soon after, she and her roommate reported unusual activity, the doll changing positions, moving to different rooms and writing notes. A psychic was called in and informed them that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a young girl named Annabelle Higgins. The Warrens investigated the case and concluded that the doll was manipulated by a demonic spirit.

The Warrens took the doll and placed it in their occult museum in Monroe. Connecticut. It was sealed in a glass case with a warning:

"Positively do not open"

They believed this helped contain any spiritual influence the doll might carry.

According to the Warrens, a visitor to the museum who mocked the doll was later killed in a motorcycle accident.

That the doll could draw blood by "psychic slashes" if it didn't like someone.

There's a report of the doll even stabbing someone.

New claims continue to circulate today.

Q: What about the movie The Conjuring?

The Conjuring is a fictional story, very loosely based on Annabelle, and heavily dramatized for entertainment.

Q. Can inanimate objects carry evil attachments?

This depends. The Bible does speak of cursed objects, idols and magic books that were burned.(Acts 19:19)

People have reported feeling anxious and sick after viewing Annabelle. Their experience is valid.

Satan will use whatever is available to create confusion and fear, using that as a way to gain power in our mind. But demons want to inhabit and influence people, not cloth or old furniture.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:43-45

"When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worst than the first. So shall it be with this wicked generation."

This is a warning that when a person is delivered from evil, they must not remain spiritually empty. The emptiness must be filled with God.

I want to point out that the spirit went through "dry places" and wandered without rest until it found a host.

He doesn't say that the unclean spirit made a home in a doll, or a table, or a car. (Christine anybody?)

It returned to a person.

Q: What does the Bible say?

According to the Bible, demons are real but are always subject to God's authority.

Jesus Christ has absolute power over all demonic forces.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that inanimate objects can be possessed.

Christians are warned to avoid necromancy, (attempting to communicate with the dead) witchcraft, or spiritism.

We are never told to fear cursed objects. We are told to trust God, walk in holiness and stay far away from occult practices.

In Acts, the early believers burned occult objects when they turned to Christ.

"Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all" -Acts 19:19

We are told to not bring objects into our home that were used in occult practices.

"You shall burn the carved images and not covet the silver or gold nor bring an abomination into your house" -Deuteronomy 7 :26-27

Q: What does all that have to do with Annabelle?

The Bible is clear: demonic spirits exist, but they aren't bound to dolls or boxes. There's never been any substantial evidence to prove that Annabelle was ever anything more than a doll.

No official documentation, no police reports, no medical or photographic proof.

But if you still want to believe, (hey, it's obviously entertaining) here's my question: How can a glass case keep a demon in? Spirits aren't contained in boxes. If Ed and Lorraine believed that all those objects were evil, then they should have destroyed it all. Not build a museum around fear and suggestion. Fear opens the mind to anxiety and spiritual confusion. We are called to be a people of discernment. Especially in so-called, "Christian" paranormal practices.

Satan is a deceiver and will use whatever he can to create fear, superstition and confusion to distract people from truth and keep them from God.

Q. Can a Christian be possessed?

Nope. A true born again Christian cannot be possessed by a demon. A demon cannot inhabit what is already inhabited by God.

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

However, Christians can be influenced and oppressed. What we call a spiritual attack.

Satan can attempt to:

Tempt (remember,even Jesus was tempted)

Deceive

Accuse

Oppress or torment

"You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" 1 John 4:4

Bottom line

The Bible is clear. Good and Evil exist. One of those is God and the other is....not.

Stay away from evil. Don't play with or use it for entertainment.

A born again believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit. No room for double occupancy. Light and darkness cannot dwell together. We do not live in fear.

*"Abstain from every form of evil" 1 Thessalonians 5:22

*"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good" Romans 12:9

*"Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it" Psalm 34:14

*"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them" Ephesians 5:11

*"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" James 4:7