Contacting the Dead
Some seek witches and psychics in an effort to contact their dead loved ones. But the teaching that the spirits of the dead are heavenly angels, or some righteous ghost like entity that can be contacted, is not biblical.
The Bible teaches that humans are souls, and souls do die (Ezekiel 18:4). Man is mortal (Job 4:17). Only God is immortal “The King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality” (1 Timothy 6:15, 16). The righteous will receive immorality only at the second coming of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:51-54) not before it.
The Bible often refers to death as sleep (Psalms 13:3; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 27:52; Acts 7:60; Job 14:12; 1 Corinthians 15:18,51). Jesus Himself referred to death as sleep (John 11:11, 14). The following verses describe the unconscious state of the dead:
- The dead know nothing. “The dead know not any thing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6).
- The dead have no activity or knowledge. “There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
- The dead have no thoughts. “His breath goeth forth … his thoughts perish” (Psalms 146:4).
- The dead sleep until the resurrection. “So man lieth down … till the heavens be no more” (Job 14:12).
- The dead have nothing to do with the living. “Neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done” (Ecclesiastes 9:6).
- The dead have no emotions. “Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished” (Ecclesiastes 9:6).
- The dead praise not God. “The dead praise not the Lord” (Psalms 115:17; cf. Isaiah 38:18).
Witches and Psychics
So, if the dead are sleeping unconsciously, who do the witches and psychics really communicate with? When psychics claim to be contacting spirits of the dead, they are really in touch with Satan’s fallen angels (Isaiah 8:19,20).
The devil has worked powerful miracles through the ages by people who claim to receive their power from the spirits of the dead (examples: Magicians of Egypt Exodus 7:11, Woman of Endor 1 Samuel 28:3-25, Sorcerers Daniel 2:2, A certain damsel Acts 16:16-18). The angels who were cast out of heaven with Satan (Revelation 12:7-9) work miracles to deceive people (Revelation 16:13, 14). They use “all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
God commanded Moses that witches, wizards and others with “familiar spirits” (who claimed to be able to contact the dead) should be put to death. This shows how God regards the false teaching that the dead are alive (Leviticus 20:27) and those that promote it to deceive His children.
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In His service,
BibleAsk Team
