Outposts of the Spirit Horror Book Review

William Justice, a Protestant minister with a curiosity about the paranormal, searched for spiritual truth within and beyond traditional beliefs.  His memoir of his explorations, Outposts of the Spirit, has now been posthumously published by Hampton Roads.  In the Editor’s Introduction, they explain that they published a book written nearly twenty years ago because the need to look at the paranormal in a way “that accomodates prior beliefs, doubts, and natural skepticism” still exists and that “William Justice provides this masterfully, in a manner both cordial and fair, clear and incisive.”

Justice himself was not a psychic and had only three brief experiences that could be described as paranormal.  He did, however, have an open mind, and he had the ability to convince others to discuss their experiences.  He met and talked with Edgar Cayce, and other noteworthy spiritualists of his day.  He was also a researcher who studied the writings of men like Socrates, Abraham Lincoln, and Charles Lindbergh.  He says that “instances of spirit guides such as those who directed Lindbergh and Socrates are more numerous than many might imagine.  In fact, many of the world’s great owe their places in history to the influence of spirit agency.”

He also investigated the ouija board, astral projection and the nature of life after death.

After a challenge by a friend, Justice began studying the Bible, looking for instances of paranormal experiences within it.  He cites the particular example of Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah as described in Luke 9:28-36 as communication with the spirit world by a living being.  He came to regard the Bible as “probably the most psychically oriented book in the world,” adding that “the early church was built on the fact of spirit phenomena; without it, Christianity would never have come into being.”

In his forward, George Ritchie writes that “Justice has shown that the Holy Spirit of God that lives in Jesus is still in contact with us every day in ways that go beyond our five physical senses.”  Readers who heretofore haven’t been able to reconcile their religious beliefs with the metaphysical will find the answers they seek in Outposts of the Spirit.