How to Interpret Dreams and Visions Perry Stone

Samuel. Most believe the witch saw an apparition of some familiar spirit and the king did not, but the king “perceived that it was Samuel” (v. 14). The reason for suggesting the spirit was a familiar spirit is because God had refused to answer Saul through known biblical methods such as dreams, prophetic words, or by the Urim (v. 6). The Law of God forbade contact with witches: There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer. —D EUTERONOMY 18:10

Alleged contact with the dead is called necromancy . This was practiced among the heathen nations and empires of antiquity, but it was also forbidden by the Lord in the Law:

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. —L EVITICUS 19:31, KJV

There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar