his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.
Nowadays mediums even have their own TV shows, where members of an audience are given an opportunity to communicate with the deceased. 16 These mediums will speak about God and spread their teachings and philosophies of the spiritual realm, as if they are spiritually enlightened, yet they make their living by glorifying their sinful activities on national television. They obviously don’t think they’re sinning, but it should be noted that they don’t take their definition of sin from the Bible.
Just about everyone has a few ghost stories, and I don’t see how it could be a sin if someone just happens to see a ghost. Some people see and hear them all the time, however (I actually know a few people who have this ability), and here’s where a distinction must be made. People who have this ability should use it for what God wants them to use it for, rather than blindly wandering about in the dangers of the spiritual realm, believing the words of every voice that speaks. All true mediums probably start out with a God-given spiritual gift, but it becomes corrupted after years of subjection to deception.
Interaction with the deceased should only be taken to the point of testing the spirits (1 John 4:1-4), but once the test results are in, if the spirits in question don’t pass the tests, all communication should immediately cease. Interaction with the deceased is dangerous because the lower realms are full of evil spirits seeking ways to penetrate the physical realm for the sole purpose ofpursuing their own agendas, which vary widely but never include the will of God.
1 John 4:1-4
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Interaction with spirits isn’t completely forbidden, because if it were, the prophets Daniel, Ezekiel, the apostle John, and Jesus himself would be guilty of sin, but this is clearly not the case. John spoke with the deceased spirit of a prophet (Revelation 22:9), Daniel and Ezekiel spoke with beings (angels) who could’ve been construed as ghosts, and Jesus spoke with Moses after Moses was physically deceased (Matthew 17:3; Mark 9:4). The difference in all of these cases, however, is that these spirits passed the test. They were good spirits, faithful to God, not evil spirits.
The reason for the prohibition of interaction with deceased spirits should be obvious. The barrier that divides dimensions from each other is there to keep the corruption of lower realms from spreading into the higher realms. If beings are stuck in the lower realms, it’s because they are cursed in great measure. Their appearances, questions, activities, and requests can never fully be trusted, and that is why they must be tested if encountered (1 John 4:1—3). Personally I would include even more tests over and above 1 John 4:1—4 because spirits can be very tricky! (I know—and don’t ask how.) In short what they
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