JamesCarvin.com

Yes, I am the founder of GhostSurfers Intl. but I do not believe in ghosts and never did. I enjoy watching Medium (the TV show), occasionally but I understand the difference between entertainment and belief. I didn't watch The Exorcist until last year. When I did I regretted allowing images like that to enter my head. You are reading a page from JamesCarvin.com. This web site is about me. GhostSurfers.com - is not about me. It is about a company I started. It is self-explanatory so I don't need to talk about that here.

 

I may be providing some allegories, but I won't be saying anything directly about my beliefs at GhostSurfers.com. It would be bad business to do so. I will explain my faith at JamesCarvin.com because this web site is about me personally. It always has been. I'm a theologian, a church historian, an eschatology professor. It's what I do. Founding GhostSurfers was my way of creating financial independence so that I could be freed up to write books and teach. It's a way of doing something lucrative that I love so that I can get to the less lucrative things that I love even more. Being thought of as "taboo" on account of being associated with ghosts is an obstacle to those career goals though, and the very type of business partners I would like to surround myself with daily, so I've got to spend some time explaining myself. That is what this page is for. I've got some very unusual photos. Some of them look "paranormal" but I'm not into the occult! Let's look and I'll explain along the way ...

 

The picture to the left was taken by my son when he was in fifth grade on his safety patrol trip to Washington. Reportedly, the other students who took photos of this same graveyard, the Arlington National Cemetary, had similar effects. And since it was a clear day that is a very odd thing. What happened? Were the white streaks of light ascending from the grave sites in this photograph ghosts? Absolutely not. There isn't any such thing as a ghost! However, I would not discount a number of possibilities.

 

1. My son just doesn't know how to stand still when he takes a photograph.
2. The Lord wants to send a sign of encouragement to the families of fallen soldiers by showing their spirits rising towards heaven.
3. The above takes place through the agency of my son wiggling the camera
4. The above takes place as a sign of an eternal truth rather than a particular moment and event in time.
5. Spirits and souls of the redeemed really do rise to heaven prior to the resurrection of the body.
6. Any and maybe even all of the above.
7. I don't exclude the possibility that the image had this effect through a supernatural cause. Saying I do not believe in ghosts does not mean I don't believe in the supernatural.

 

I'll stop here. There is a difference between faith and science. Science is about what we can observe and know. Faith is about what we believe. In my set of beliefs God does involve Himself in the world. Nothing happens by chance. There are both holy and unholy supernatural events. Holy things come from the Holy Spirit and may include apparitions of angels or even the appearance of the rising spirits of human beings. Unholy things are demons, or fallen angels and the after effects of the fall of mankind and fallen creation. However, all things work together for good. The world is fallen but it is in a process of redemption and renewal. So there is room for things like this, and we can interpret them as having spiritual significance without having to suppose that we are looking at pictures of ghosts.

 

There is also an explanation not often heard in conservative Christian circles. "Ghosts" are thought of as energies. The explanation of "auras" or "halos" centers on these things, the theory being that symbols associated with souls or spirits of people, (and of animals as well), retain a certain energy. The chakras of yoga enforce this type of theory with so many anectodal accounts. It's from this that the idea of haunted houses comes into play, and of talismans and amulets. I don't view this an an alternative explanation but as one that fits into the broader dominion of God doing or allowing everything for a purpose. If a spiritual energy becomes somehow visible to someone, God uses that manifestation or awareness for His purpose, as He does all things - Romans 8:28. I would approach such things with the caution that the knowledge of the enemy of our souls deserves. He is a crafty tempter and a master deceiver. His first and greatest deception is to convince you that he does not exist. His second is like it. He pretends to be the good guy and proceeds to persuade as many as he can that any warnings you may have read about in the Scriptures are invalid. Just ignore it. It's all a fable.

 

Let me offer some simple advice. Be an exorcist. No one wants unholiness in their life. They are just easily confused about what unholiness is. They rationalize both their behavior and their beliefs. A true prayer of exorcism is humble yet effective and requires no talisman or amulet. Try this and you will have no question about holiness. Memorize Psalm 51. Then when you encounter any strange phenomenon simply pray this Psalm in your heart. The demons will flee very quickly if you will truly make this prayer your own. There is nothing more effective than a humble and a contrite heart.

 

Here is another photo ...

 

What cause there may have been for this printer glitch is still unknown. I had scanned the image and the scan was just fine. But when I went to print it, the printer stretched out the image, probably by shooting it out faster than it was printing. It was not a touched up photograph. However, all of my computer files were deleted in the 2001 hacking incident and I was unable to find the original photo until recently so in the meantime I rescanned the image. The stretched picture on the right side is something I created using a program called FireWorks, but I have finally found a copy of the original printer glitch, (a stretched image produced by the printer glitching, and not by any retouching of mine), and I have copied it below to the right. It was on p. 441 of a rough draft of my book, A Family Portrait: Seeking Unity in the Age of Communication, that I had printed out before the hacking incident. I do not plan on publishing that book. It is just a journal that included a collection of memoires. One day, I may revamp the whole thing for publication.

 

Anyway, how should I interpret this? I've experienced plenty of printer glitches where printing gets bunched up because paper gets stuck, but this is the only time I've ever seen an image get stretched out. It didn't happen because I was pulling on it. It happened entirely of its own accord. And more importantly, it happened at a very special time in my life - to a very special photograph It happened to the one photograph in which my father was trying to reach the whole world on the world's biggest billboard. It just got even bigger. It was curiously reminiscent of the stretching of the entry room to Disney's haunted mansion. Whose name is on it?

 

To this there is context I must add, too much to provide briefly. It leads to what prompted me to start GhostSurfers.com so I have to provide at least a few points ...

 

1. I had just had a dream where my father, dressed in his business suit, had sent me out commanding me with just two words - "total marketing!" I had interpreted this as meaning reaching the entire world with the gospel through the Internet. Ultimately, these two simple words were what got GhostSurfers Intl. started.
2. The reason I had interpreted it as meaning through the Internet is that my family had been drawing together very closely at that time to comfort one another after my father's death. The Internet was brand new. My father never used it but my mother got onto email immediately after my father died. At that time we were able to share memories together and comfort one another on a daily basis. We shared lots of stories. My mother's participation was particularly touching and potent. It became clear to me then that the Internet could be used to restore families.
3. We shared the Gospel after dad's death and encouraged one another concerning the resurrection of the dead. The family had differing views about it. I realized what a touchy subject death was, and the after-life is, as well as what differences in religious perspectives can do. We also discussed funeral arrangements and the meaning of certain traditions, such as whether it was important not to cremate a person. In America there are many religions. My family has a good sampling.
4. It occurred to me that every family that experiences the loss of a loved one has to make arrangements very quickly to remember that person respectfully and that what is done is probably very rarely adequate for providing closure and peace for a family or proper respect to the deceased.
5. It occurred to me that the family was going to continue to stay very close on the Internet long after this event too.
6. Then one year after my father's death, his oldest son, my oldest brother Charles W. Carvin III died of a sudden heart attack. The family drew close again. All of the same experiences and feelings ocurred a second time and with even greater intensity. It was a very emotional time, full of prayer and reflection.
7. Charley III had down syndrome and was like pure goodness on this earth. He brought more joy to my family throughout his lifetime than anyone or anything I can think of. He loved the Lord and his family in simplicity and sincerity without guile - and we loved him in return. The family descended quickly from out-of-state when he died. We had decided as a group to have both my father and him cremated rather than buried in a casket. Since I was still living in Palm Beach County where my father and brother died, but the rest of the family was out of state, I wound up with the ashes and had to agree with the family about what to do with them. Those decisions took place by email. The subject of what was done with the ashes brings me to the most difficult photographs to explain of all, but I will save them for last. Let's first consider my son's baptismal photo...

 

Some people see an angel in this photo, (and I'm not talking about the baby). Other's don't. To me it is very obvious and quite detailed. The angel has a beard, is kneeling in the water, lifting my son up in the palm of his hand, praying for him. He has a covering over his eyes. Perhaps they are glasses that can only see good. And he has a very interesting hat. At the top of the hat is a small chapel. As I have the actual photographs in thier original size some of these things are easier for me to see, including a dove descending on the angel at the very top of the picture, with an image of the open mouth of God - giving breath, giving truth. You will probably not be able to see the dove or mouth in this scan. Let me assure you they are there. Believe even if you can't see because what is in this image is truth. God speaks. I say this not as proof - as if anyone could see it, but by faith. I have no question about this, not because of science, but because I understand what baptism is. It is an expression of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, the Living God become flesh, whose flesh we share by grace, so that if we receive Him, we die with Christ and rise with Him to the newness of life. As a baptismal photo, this is what God's word is to us. It is simply the Gospel, whether you see the image of the dove, or of the open mouth, of the hat, or the the eye coverings, or of the kneeling angel or not. This meaning can be conveyed whether or not a person is opposed to the practice of baptizing babies. When the Lord referred to children as having angels he did not debate about their understanding or their faith. It is not as though the heavenlies wait for us to grow before they speak to others or rejoice among themselves or begin to pray for us. Quite the contrary their good hearts are constant in their blessings toward us.

 

Now once again, this is an entirely un-touched up photograph. And what matters, is not the ghost, or the idea that something supernatural happened, but the meaning of the image and its context. If a miracle happens, if something supernatural, I am not the type to base my faith on it. The fact that I see things and interpret things a certain way is because I already have faith. It doesn't give me faith. Faith is what brings out the meaning of the image.

 

What is important is that there is a reason that things happen, including supernatural things. In this case, the fact that I will always remember my son's baptism this way is very comforting to me. Right now, my son hates going to church. He shows no interest in the Christian faith. In fact, he has said that he does not believe in God, though deep down I think this is really just an excuse to avoid going to church when he would prefer to sleep in late and then go skateboarding. Throughout these difficult teenage years, this photograph has served to remind me that there is hope and that the Lord does not plan to let my son end his life in unbelief. If the image serves no other purpose for anyone else, I don't know. For me, it gives me comfort. That is how I interpret it. I think the Lord wants me to be at peace about my teenager. I might act like a raging codependent otherwise.

 

I will skip over to the present now and save my most difficult photos for last, because the next one I will show you, I believe is also for the purpose of providing comfort and peace, only not for me, but for others, most epecially a comedian most people know quite well. This one happened very recently, November 6th, 2010 to be exact. I immediately uploaded it to the Internet as a YouTube video. Excuse the fact that my wife was in the bathroom at the time. I should probably redo it, but maybe there is some value in first reactions...

 

Now for some background. Jonathan Winters lived a few houses away from us in Rye, New York in the 1960s. I used to canoe over to his house across the pond in search of ducks, swans and minnows. Our old house was conspicuous and ostentatious. The huge patio jutted out over the pond so that when there were parties at the house the whole neighborhood knew. And Dad made sure that Mr. Winters was there, and anybody who was anybody. That's pretty much what that house was for, but I think that my father and Jonathan Winters were more than business partners. I think they were very good friends. If I've got the details right, Dad, despite his drinking and not particularly holy life in those days, was something of a spiritual partner for Mr. Winters. It's easy to joke just because of who it is we are talking about. Jonathan Winters had such charisma that he didn't even have to say anything before people would start laughing. I think my father and Mr. Winters were very serious with eachother on certain very tough issues, especially during Mr. Winters' recovery. I say this because before my father died I spent a great deal of time at his side. We had some fascinating conversations.

 

That's the background. Out of respect for their privacy I won't go into detail. I don't know if Mr. Winters will say anything about my Dad in his autobiography but I'm sure he will remember Charley Carvin in a very special way. It had to do with my father's spiritual growth, as well as that of Mr. Winters, along side the fun and laughs they were all having.

 

That is why I think this particular glitch is important. Once again, a little divine intervention has kicked in. Much in the way the picture of the angel in the baptismal font gave me comfort concerning my son, Jonathan, right about now I would guess that Jonathan Winters may be seeking comfort in his old age. Here it is not my interpretation that matters. It is Jonathan's so I'll say no more. I do wish Mr. Winters would call me though. I would like to discuss ways I think GhostSurfers could boost his legacy. I would have him, and any celebrity really, consider the About Charley link.

 

What About Saints?

I have more photographs to share below. In order to get to their meaning, I have to ask a serious question. I have to ask whether the saints in heaven, living without bodies yet, have any consciousness of what goes on on earth. Is my father, or is my oldest brother aware of what I am doing? Do they pray for me? Are they praying for Mr. Winters? Should anyone bother praying to a saint to ask them to pray for them as if they could hear us? Should we, seeing the aura that is around the photograph of Jonathan Winters start asking him to pray for us after he goes to be with the Lord? We are probably all well aware that some Christian traditions strongly reject such an idea. Other ones might not be too quick to accept the saintliness of a Jonathan Winters or a Charley Carvin, but might be approving if the names were drawn from one of their own lists of "canonized saints." These are called "canons." And those whose names appear on these lists are called "canonized saints."

 

It would seem that answering the question of what I believe concerning this would be as simple as saying what Christian tradition I belong to. It's not. I appreciate timeless traditions, that is why I study church history, but I am not wired to be that traditional. Besides, what does my opinion matter anyway? I'm just a theologian whose got some unusual photographs. All I can provide is context.

 

As I mentioned, my brother died a year after my father died. Dad died in the summer of 1995 and my family was sending emails back and forth. Some of the discussion centered on what to do with their remains. While the discussion was taking place, I kept the ashes on a filing cabinet that I referred to somewhat imprecisely as my "altar." Sometimes when I prayed I would light a candle. I kept the "altar" in the room where I prayed, and where all my Bibles and church history books were kept, a few feet from where my computer was. It was 1996. That was the year there was what is called a "Blue Moon." Charles III (Chickie) died just before the first Blue Moon that year.

 

Genesis 1:14 says that the sun and the moon are for signs and seasons. The eve of that first Blue Moon was my wedding anniversary. Midnight marked the midway point of the year. I attended a memorial service offered by a friend of the family for my brother that day. I thought deeply about the ones I loved, memorializing both a death and a marriage on the same day.

 

It's too bad I have to skip over most of the details to save space. It was a fascinating time of very intense prayer for me. A Family Portrait: Seeking Unity in the Age of Communication was over 500 pages and records many of the details. To summarize, having those ashes in my private prayer room kept reminding me of my father and my brother and of my hope for them and for all those I love in my Savior. That room became a very holy place for all that prayer. There were so many many tears. There was so very much love. Ironically, the intensity of the prayer and the feelings of love were particularly strong not so much because of how special Dad was with all of his achievements in life, but because of how special Charles III was, with his simplicity and his down syndrome. We called him "Chickie." The picture on the right is of me and him and another older brother - just one of many very happy moments. He loved his brothers. What in this world is more precious than that smile?

 

You see, the real "saint" in the logo behind GhostSurfers.com is Charley III. It's Chickie, and as the months went on Halloween approached - the Eve of the Feast of All Saints. Halloween was a day that up until then I really disliked because of the way it revelled in the dark side. I'm all for fun and games, dressing in funny costumes and giving candy to children, but that is how many Christians like me feel. We don't like joking about horror and hell and the unholy. On the contrary, that time of my life was such a powerful time of tear-filled prayer that when quite a bit of candle wax had spilled onto my "altar cloth", and some ants had started to crawl up around the filing cabinet so that it was time to clean it, a simple towel, I couldn't bare just throwing it into a trash can. It seemed too sacred, too holy. It would have been irreverent to toss it out. I had too many special memories of praying there to do that.

 

That was Halloween night. I sang and I prayed. And I had to go into work that night. So I decided I would pray about what to do about that "altar cloth." I got as far as clearing off the pictures and putting my Dad's ashes down on the floor, but not as far as removing Charley III's ashes - my brother who echoed for me a symbol of the third person of the Trinity - the Holy Ghost. I just left his ashes there on the "altar." I had snuffed out the candle, cleaned up half way, but realized I had to make a decision about that "altar cloth." I decided to pray about it and do something in the morning when I got home after thinking about it a bit. I had to do the right thing. You see, context is everything in pictures. The photographs you are about to see were born out of much very holy prayer.

 

And that's how I entered into the Feast of All Saints in 1996. Charles III's ashes were on the altar with a snuffed out candle, a little bell, a small plastic figurine of Michael Angelo's pieta, and an empty bowl of incense. That was all I left on the "altar." I left the room, went to work, prayed and returned in the morning.

 

That is when it happened. I had just cleaned out the incense bowl. Despite this, when I arrived at the prayer room I smelled incense from outside.

 

How much I wish I could give you all of the details. That scent reminded me of something I hadn't smelled since I lived in Rye. It was wonderful and exciting. It had a touch of the frankincense I sometimes used. But there was something deeper in it, woodsy, savory, full of life. It made me feel young. Can a scent do that? It did. Can you remember the scent of your childhood home as you revisit it in your mind, or when you really go there? That's what it was.

 

I remember walking in. There had been a fire on the "altar" that night while I had been away working. You will simply have to believe me when I tell you that I had snuffed the candle out the day before. The room was always kept locked as I kept my computer and music equipment in there. Excuse the many explanatory boxes with arrows, but this is a picture of what I saw ...

 

Nothing in the room was destroyed except for the container where my brother's ashes were kept and the altar cloth, which was entirely consumed in the fire. It was as if my brother's ashes had been poured out with the incense bowl. There were also some scorch marks on the filing cabinet and on the wall. The miniature plastic statue of the pieta (pictured above) was also wholly consumed by the fire.

 

The fact that plastic had burned but the smell was sweet makes no sense whatsoever. For this and an endless number of other reasons it is as clear as day to me that this was a supernatural fire. It sounds crazy, but I believe that God literally "brought fire down on my altar" while I was away that night. I wish I had been there to see it, but I suppose then I would have tried to put it out? It just didn't happen that way. A work not by human hands seems to have been intended.

 

Some people say that they can see an image on the wall. I needed to replace that portion of the wall afterwards anyway, so I cut it out and have kept it to this day for anyone to examine who might have questions about the alleged image on the wall.

 

The image, some people say, is that of the mother of Jesus leaning over my brother's ashes at the breast. Other people say they can't see anything at all and still others do see something but consider the manifestation as having been demonic. They have been taught that apparitions and manifestations of Mary are really demons and they have Scripture passages to support this view.

 

Everyone, it seems, interprets what they see based on what they already believe. They very rarely base what they believe on what they see, and I am no exception to that general rule. I will give my explanation below, but first let's look at another photo of the same from the other side ...

 

On the top drawer of the filing cabinet was a small depiction of the resurrection. Jesus can be seen pulling Adam and Eve up from the grave. Even though this was just a piece of paper it was not damaged by the fire. You can see here also the bell I sometimes used to ring while I prayed and the same ashes on top of the altar and the spilled over empty bowl of incense, with its open side pointing towards the ashes and the wall, where some people say they can see an image of the mother of Jesus burned in. You can also see here books leaning on the filing cabinet's left side. Even though they were mostly paperbacks and they were directly adjacent to the box of ashes that was completely consumed, none of them was touched by the fire.

 

To the left side of the filing cabinet I kept all of my church history books. Being a church history professor, I had arranged my books chronologically from left to right so on the right side of the filing cabinet/altar I kept all my books on prophecy. I had a specialty in eschatology, (the study of the last days) and had written some books on subjects like what the church taught about the return of Jesus in the years between 100 and 300 CE. I was also very much interested in sorting through fact and fiction in stories about saints and early Christian beliefs so it is kind of ironic that I find myself now attempting to explain pictures like these. These books on the lives of the saints were closer to the center right up against the filing cabinet, as you can see in the picture above. None of these paper back books were touched by a fire that was strong enough to entirely consume the towel they were leaning against and enblazen the wall.

 

It is stuff like this that can turn people like Charles III into a recognized saint, because even though my mother was a Protestant, he was raised up Roman Catholic by my father, not that the RCs need to add still more to their recognized roster of saints. This is what the Feast of All Saints was four, and the Feast of All Souls, which would take place the following day. This occurence was the Feast of All Saints, or perhaps the Eve of it - the Eve of the Feast of All Hallows, as it was originally called, but in America we now call it Halloween.

 

If only they had photography and email back in the days of Jesus, I sometimes think. One thing I can tell you is that when you are the one who experiences something like this it becomes very difficult to explain, even with pictures. I can fully understand why most of the stories of miracles back in the old days were kept private. Even if you document a miracle, nobody believes you. Meanwhile, if your faith is true, then there is nothing about the occurence of anything supernatural that should effect your faith positively, because it is already real and expectant. There is no reason to get all excited and tell everyone about it, as so many do. The testimony of your faith ought to be found in your serenity in all things. The man of faith also expects the manifestation of demonic powers and assaults from the enemy of our souls. Often these appear to be sent from God. The most destructive lies are always mixed together with truth so they can be accepted by the uncautious.

 

So what do I think? To me it seemed clear that the Lord created the fire. It was a direct answer to heartfelt prayer. No one can know what I had been praying at that time except for me.

 

I do, however, think that this occurrence was not for me alone. As I interpret it, some other signs were given at that same time for the benefit of others. As I sometimes say, there are just some coincidences too coincidental to be coincidences. I suppose that if there was ever a way to base faith on what we see, rather than the other way around, it would be in considering those coincidences. Faith is indeed ignited sometime somewhere in each soul. This may have been one of those instances. That year, I observed two blue moons and two lunar eclipses right before the fire and I had been writing about them in my book. The term "blue moon" itself is a reference to rarity. The second of these lunar eclipses, which surrounded those blue moons that year, was particularly rare. It seemed like God was declaring the time and the season special - rare - unreproducible. The news made note of it while history itself was lined up symbolically right on my shelf with this "altar" and that moment at its center.

 

Was it then coincidence that what was leaning up against that "altar" was every conceivable book on the lives of saints on the very day known as the "Feast of All Saints" and that for some reason these were not consumed by a fire I couldn't explain? Coincidence? Since there was a fire, if there was any natural explanation, why were they, being made of paper, not burned up while a thick towel and heavy plastic and cardboard were burned up? Why was the entire building not burned up but only a small portion of the wall? Why only what was on the altar? How did the fire start? Why was the incense bowl turned over? I don't know the answer to these question but even if I was a very stubborn agnostic I wouldn't just dismiss it as coincidence. Others may dismiss it as coincidental. I can't expect anyone else to see what I see but to me there is no question. I'm content to have a world view that centers on my faith. As I saw it, the incense represented well pleasing prayer unto the Lord (Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4). Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Psalm 116:15). I don't know if any others will see it this way. The burning of the pieta represented the incense which was the death of Christ, well pleasing to the Lord. With this consumation of Christ and his mother holding his dead body, wailing to God as I had done, was the well pleasing death of Charles III. These were the focus of the prayers offered at that altar, hence the burning also of the altar cloth, and my sense of its holiness.

 

The pieta - a small plastic statue of the mother of Jesus holding her son right after He died, was fully consumed, but with no foul smell of burned plastic, quite the opposite. The plethora of meaningful things abounded. There was so much more. A depiction I had of Mary's soul being received into heaven that had been leaning on top of the two boxes of ashes for the past year, had been removed the day before and was now replaced by this supposed image on the wall that some people say looks like the mother of Jesus. That is to say that this new image was now in the place where the other image had been resting up against the wall, where I had been contemplating the reception of souls into heaven, right on top of my father's and my brother's ashes. I had removed my father's ashes the day before as I began to clean off the "altar," as well as the paintings, the little icons. As a result, none of these were harmed at all. The focus was entirely on my brother's ashes with the pieta in the foreground, magnifying and signifying my unceasing prayers before God. The one body, that typifying the second person of the Trinity in the body of Charles II, was lowered to the ground so that the other, that which pointed to the the third in Charles III, might be lifted high - to comfort not just me, but all of us who are united in faith. The entire gospel was thus typified.

 

I should emphasize here that I can find no good natural explanation for this event. The fire was spontaneously generated. If someone came in and used the room while I was away that is just simply strange. What kind of thief comes in and lights incense rather than stealing your valuable computers and recording equipment? This was a music studio we called Wisdom Studios. The candle was burned entirely in the fire but I had snuffed it out before I started cleaning. Perhaps, I had a memory hiccup and just don't remember lighting the candle before I left? I understand that the mind can play tricks sometimes. Maybe I knocked the incense bowl over at that time, as well? I don't remember that. What I remember is cleaning it out! Perhaps, there is a natural explanation, but God is still the author of all things as He works them together for good (Romans 8:28). Some things remain mysteries but other things are subject to interpretation. There is no question in my mind that God was speaking. The only question was how to interpret what was being said. Each person interprets as they are able.

 

What then? Should we be praying to the mother of Jesus like the Catholics do? Should I interpret this as an encouragement concerning my brother's heavenly joy? I did interpret it that way even though I was already confident that my brother's soul would be just fine.

 

The first question is more difficult. If you wish to carefully examine it, click here.

 

 

Calling On Angels ...