Secrets from Beyond The Grave

message from another world? There is no other biblical record of a person asking for a message from a departed person. Third, a witch was used to release the information. Saul had already made a threat to put all witches to death (1 Sam. 28:9). The Old Testament law required that witches, wizards, and familiar spirits were to be cut off from among the people (Exod. 22:18; Deut 18:10-11). Just as Elijah destroyed the false prophets of Baal and refused to join their allegiance, the Almighty was jealous for His people and for their righteousness. Fourth, the witch was operating through a familiar spirit, which is a demonic power that can actually imitate the dead. Again, it was forbidden to consult or to listen to a familiar spirit, as this type of spirit uses known information involving a person, place, or thing and can deceive the living with such knowledge (Lev. 19:31; 20:6; Deut. 18:10-11). Those in the occult world who conduct actual s é ances often deceive grieving families by tapping into a familiar spirit that imitates the departed loved one. The same could be true concerning this witch and the spirit she conjured up. Fifth, the witch saw "gods" going up and down in the earth (1 Sam. 28:13, KJV). I would suggest these were either the spirits of departed souls that were dying and being carried into the underworld (such as occurred when the rich man in Luke 16 died). Or these alleged "gods" were a manifestation of evil spirits that have access to the earth and the underworld. In the Book of Job when God asked Satan where he had been, the adversary replied, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it" (Job 1:7; 2:2). Angels have access to heaven, and evil spirits have access to the chambers of the underworld. When this spirit emerged, King Saul never personally saw the person but asked the witch for a description. She described the spirit as an "old man . . . covered with a mantle," and Saul perceived it was Samuel (1 Sam. 28:14). Notice that Saul never visibly saw the spirit, because the information came from a witch with a familiar spirit. The woman would have related the information with her own mouth. This was how (as it is today) a person who allegedly consults the dead brings information to the living. The alleged departed never actually audibly speaks through the air in a voice but only through the voice of the medium or, in this case, the witch. All of the above evidence indicates that this spirit was a familiar spirit that had specific knowledge. The main argument given that this spirit was literally the departed spirit of Samuel relates to the precise accuracy with which this being from the underworld predicted what would happen to Saul and his sons: Then Samuel said: "Why then do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy? And the LORD has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines." --1 Samuel 28:16-19 The details of this prediction are: The Lord had departed from him. Saul's kingdom had been stripped from him and given to another (David). The reason for Saul's rejection: He did not destroy Amalek earlier in his rule as king. Saul would lose the battle, and he and his sons would die the next day.