1 Samuel 28: 1 – 31: 13
The setting: King Saul of Israel at the foot of Mt Gilboa. He was old and weak.
His predicament: GIdeon is gone, Samuel was dead,e David was no longer by his side, and as Saul had slain the priests, Saul was utterly alone. He saw the Philistine army advancing and he did not know what to do. God had forsaken Saul and would not giveh im his help in need.
Saul's deceived solution: Saul heard that there was living at Endor, a witch (Hebrew word used in the scripture means 'mistress of a demon', in fact she was a necromancer). She would call up the spirits of the dead.
Saul was so desperate to know what was going to happen, that at night he changed into some old robes and sought this woman out who was living in a cave.
"Bring me up from the dead the spirit of a man whom I greatly long to meet" Saul anxiously and impatiently asks.
And the witch said "What spirit shall I call up?"
"Bring me up the spirit of Samuel, the prophet" replied Saul.
Theological interlude
Once a person dies his/her spirit goes back to God the Father of all spirits. When Jesus died he commended His spirit to His Father and then he gave up the ghost. Meanwhile His soul and body went down into Hades for three nights, then the Father returned His spirit back to him and raised Him from the dead (He was the first of the resurrection of the dead).
Any other person who has died his/her spirit is returned to God but their soul and body lies in the grave -- asleep until the first (eternal life) or second (damnation) resurrection. They cannot be communed with, their spirits are with God until those two resurrections take place.
When a clairvoyant or any other medium believes they are communing with the spirit of the person they are wrong. They are communing with a 'familiar' spirit or 'attendant' spirit. This spirit would be very familiar with the person who is trying to be reached by the medium.
Continuing the story:
The witch called for the spirit of Samuel. Business was as usual and she attempted to be a medium in contacting his familiar spirit or demon.
But she became terribly afraid as this is not what should be happening. Her own familiar was suddenly in abeyance to a higher power, her satanic accomplice was paralysed by the apparition of a being who she had neither part or lot with.
The Lord in His anger had allowed the spirit of Samuel to return to him and He rises him up for the dead as a phantasm to speak to King Saul. For since Saul sought unto the dead, God had in His anger sent up the real Samuel as the bearer of a fearful message of doom.
When the witch saw Samuel's ghost she was filled with fear and shrieked, as this time a real phantasm had appeared to her.
Saul replied "Do not fear; but tell me what you see?" For Saul could not see the spirit like the witch could. "I see one like a god * rising up. He is an old man, covered with a long robe."
Saul could not see but out of the darkness he heard Samuel say "Why have you troubled me and called me out of my rest?"
Saul replies "I am in great distress for the Philistines make war upon me and God has forsaken me. He will not speak to me either by a prophet or a priest or in a dream. And I have called upon you that you may tell me what to do?"
And the spirit of Samuel replied sternly with Saul "Tomorrow you and your three sons shall be as I am, among the dead." And so it came to pass.
The crime of consulting a medium sealed the doom of the first King of Israel.
* resurrected body made in the image of God, an incorruptible body with a radiance
Spiritual application:
In Perry Stone's book How to Interpret Dreams and Visions he gives some succinct information of the working of demons "… familiar spirits are familiar with information from the past and are able to relate it through the voice of a person who opens himself or herself up to being controlled or possessed by these spirits. In what is called the New Age movement, individuals connect to spirits by channeling them in their bodies."
The manifestations of such spirits are NOT the spirits of the departed (as only God the Father can return their spirit, like He did with Samuel) they are demonic entities that have existed since the fall of satan.
Any past information can be revealed to a medium or clairvoyant who channels the evil spirit -- the demons already know this, but as for the future, they do not know and only speculate. Don't be caught out by these false practises masquerading as divine insight.
