I was reading the book of Samuel, more specifically 1 Samuel 28:4-16. The passage refers to Saul being desperate since no longer hearing God's voice, he then ends up consulting a medium. During his session with the medium Saul asks for her to channel the spirit of Samuel, the prophet that had passed. The medium proceeds with Saul's request and connects with Samuel. During that encounter Saul is capable of obtaining answers from Samuel, though what Samuel told him were already known to Saul, I guess he did not want to accept his faith and wanted reassurance, which he did not get. I strongly encourage you read the verse ; https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2028&version=NLT
That passage made me think, are the dead not really dead then? Is it then possible to be in contact with a passed loved one? Was that an isolated event that Saul was capable, according to the bible, of getting in touch with Samuel that passed?
Let's get things straight, I do not condone the practice of consulting mediums of any sorts as the bible prohibits it, see Leviticus 20:5-8 : https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2020%3A6-8&version=ISV
When it comes to my questions, I find my answers in Ecclesiastes 9: 4-10
'' 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope[b]—even a live dog is better off than a
dead lion!
5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. [...]
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the
dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor
wisdom. ''
The dead are in fact dead according to the bible and there is nothing left of their past life, no love, hate or any knowledge of some sort. In saying that, there would be no relevance in consulting the dead since there is nothing they can bring us nor teach us since there's nothing left of them.
It also answers the question of contacting a passed loved one. If there is nothing left of the dead not even their love, why would one want to contact a passed relative? I also personally believe that there is a danger to opening up to contacting the world of the dead as we do not know for sure who or what we may open ourselves to. There is a spiritual world around us (maybe a next topic) therefore we need to be cautious of what we invite in our world and what we may inadvertently attach ourselves to.
My conclusion is when we die, we die from this world with all that it implies. We no longer have a play in it but I believe our spirit is taken back by God as we can see in Act 7:59 when Steven is being stoned for preaching about Yahshua (Jesus) and he asks for his soul to be received by Yahshua. The same is seen in Luke 23:46 as Yahshua dies, he entrusts his spirit in the hands of God. That theory can also be supported by Revelation 6:9 when a crowd of martyrs plead for revenge at the opening of the fifth seal and then again in Genesis 4:10 when the blood of Abel cries out to God from the ground.
Finally I think the passage in 1 Samuel 28 when Saul contacts Samuel is one of the isolated few times where contact was made to someone that had passed in the bible. One of the other times I can recall is when Yahshua spoke to Elijah and Moses on the mountain in Matthew 17 . If we correlate the two events, we will notice that the common factor is that they were all prophets that were seen after they passed. There is no recollection of regular people coming back after death as ghosts in the bible. Therefore I believe those are isolated incidents and we ''regular folks'' should stick to talking to the living and consulting God for all things.
Thank you all for reading, please share your thoughts and until my next post!
Charly
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