June 26, 2007
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Did Saul really speak with Samuel by Pastor Don
It is exciting to me to see others from Living Word Chapel starting blogrings and sharing their ideas. I am now going to introduce you to Barb, and her blog. Please go and say Hi to her.
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Before our guest speaker spoke at Wednesday’s Bible study, a member asked Pastor Don if it was really Samuel who appeared to the witch at En Dor. This brought us to 1 Samuel 28.
God forbids talking to the other side. Unless discernment is high, we do not know who or what we are talking to. Familiar spirits will speak, appearing to be loved ones or other famous people, but what they can share is only what they are familiar with. But these familiar spirits are demon spirits. The devil is a liar and will use partial truth to trick us. Satan is smart enough not to tell a bold faced lie, he will tell mostly the truth with a twist.
What a medium shares is one of two things. The devil will tell you what he is going to do to you in the future or the devil can masquerade as an angel of enlightenment.
Mediums cross over into the spiritual realm, and tell an answer that we have not discerned yet. But we can fall into trouble listening to this because discernment is needed. We do not want to react to what satan shows us, but to act according to God’s will.
When the witch of En Dor was asked to speak to Samuel she probably spoke to a familiar spirit, not to Samuel. Samuel would not violate the law of God and return to speak through the witch. Where would Samuel be? He would either be in Abraham’s Bosom where righteous who did not know Jesus went, or in his righteousness he was brought up to the throne room of Heaven.
Pastor Don pointed out that after Jesus died he went to Abraham’s Bosom and preached to the souls there, and then brought those saved to Heaven. Before that, Jesus spoke about Lazarus and the rich man and pointed out that there was no way for those souls who were in Gehena or the Bosom of Abraham to cross over to each other or to leave where they are at that time.
We cannot for certain say that Samuel was not with God, for the disciples did see Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration, that they went straight to Heaven, but with Samuel he was either there or in Abraham’s Bosom.
Is it possible for a familiar spirit to appear as Samuel and give information to Saul, yes. It is possible for a demonic spirit to know how Saul will die, if the demon spirit is to kill Saul. Saul was under the influence of demonic spirits. (Remember David had to play to ease the torment that Saul had when the demon spirits came upon him.)
The demons might have had Saul under their influence to seek an answer from the witch.
One thing that we know was that the witch was surprised when it was shown to her that it was King Saul who was seeking the information. She recognized that Saul was in disguise and was fearful of her life because Saul had made a law that any seeking information from mediums would be killed.
All we have to do to realize that it was not Samuel is to ask ourselves if God would permit what he has outlawed? No, he specifically stated that he did not want us to seek the spirits of the dead. God does not violate His laws. So it is safe to assume that the familiar spirit that appeared to Saul was not Samuel.
Hope that helps with this question.
Have a blessed day,
Heather
Comments (11)
Very interesting.
Well, I agree that it is possible for a demonic spirit to know what its assignment it. I do have to say, however, that your argument was not enough to prove that it wasn’t actually Samuel. And why would the evil spirit say that Saul would be with him tomorrow? That lie would be completely pointless.
I have always heard that it was interesting that the medium was surprised when Samuel actually appeared, as if that type of thing never happened to her. As a result, I think that it was Samuel.
Thanks for your comments on my site. I think you are almost the only one who ever comments! Thank you for your encouragement! Jerusalem is very hot right now. We are having a heat wave. I have been on antibotics for some time so I am physically very weak. My ear infection is taking forever to heal. I liked your pictures from Israel. May the Lord bless you!
Christian thought – regarding your two points. Remember God has laid down the rule against talking with the dead – He does not go against His word, so Samuel would not have come back. Moses and Elijah – no one saw them actually die – so that is not going against His word. The evil spirit is in the spirit world, so if he tells Saul that he will be with him tomorrow – he just might be where the evil spirit’s world is. Not a pointless lie especially since Saul died the very next day. The medium might have been a faker – and when a real manifestation came it surprised her. Maybe she was like the mediums of the 1800′s with lots of tricks to make a person believe that they saw something when they didn’t. So I think it is not Samuel. But one day we can ask Him. For now I have to hold to God’s word that He does not want communication with the dead to occur.
Heather
Good question. Good answer. I wondered myself about this. I know others have studied this in some depth and found other scripture references. It is worth noting, however, that just because God says we shouldn’t do something, it doesn’t mean we cannot do that thing. The reasons, however, are more along the lines of what you talked about in this case.
Hi Heather. stop by to see how youre doing.
Hope you are having a Wonderful day!…………In Christ’s love………Monic
I’m sorry, but I’m with ChristianThought on this one. It was when she saw Samuel that she cried out with a loud voice… she got WAY more than she bargained for, and if she was one known for calling up spirits, she knew the way demons functioned to that capacity. Just because God tells us (as a rule) not to contact the dead doesn’t mean that he won’t allow the dead to be contacted. Jesus Himself tells a story about Abraham being contacted by the rich man who went to Hell, and the Bible is clear that the schizm between the two is (ordinarily) not communicable.
Further, I have a HUGE issue with Pastor Don’s statement that Abraham’s busom is in Heaven at this time. If that were true, then Jesus could not have been the ‘firstfruits’ of those to go to the Father… (1 Cor 15:20-23) Abraham and the forefathers would have beaten Him there while He remained on earth for another 40 days before going to Heaven. It causes scripture to contradict.
Dear Anna, I showed Pastor Don your question and he emailed me this response for you.
Mediums and trans-mediums are deceived to begin with, therefore your statement that the witch of Endor knew the way demons function is not always an accurate statement. This is because devils and demons are liars, masqueraders and pretenders. They have usually tricked and deceived not only their victims, but the mediums as well. I have ministered to many people that were mediums that were deceived by transmissions, visualizations and appearances.
In regards to your second statement that God tells us not to contact the dead doesn’t mean that God won’t allow the dead to be contacted: Would a holy God assist in violating His own commandments at the request of the demonic – would not that put us in moral jeopardy and confusion if God can’t be trusted?
Concerning Abraham – please note in the story Jesus tells about Abraham – all the people are dead. Abraham, the rich man and Lazarus are all spirit beings. Jesus is telling us the view from the spirit end. There must be some mistake in that I read the Xanga site and nowhere did I say or would I say that Abraham’s bosom is in Heaven. I am sorry for the confusion, but I don’t teach that, and from looking at the Xanga site, Heather didn’t write that. Abraham’s bosom is a holding place inside the earth that was emptied by Christ when He descended into hell. It is still in the earth and evil souls are still stored there until the judging of the dead.
So Christ remains the first fruits, those righteous from Adam to Christ are in Heaven, and we are glad about that. Hope this clears it up a little bit. Keep asking, keep searching, and keep us on our toes.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Don Moore
Hey I did this last year….too cool!
http://www.xanga.com/noahsmom7312001/486720937/1-samuel-28.html
My Bible (NKJV & KJV) says that everyone who has died is in the grave and in the grave they will remain till the proper resurrection occurs.
Jesus is the only one who has ascended to heaven, because it says no man has ascended to the Father except the son, Jesus the Christ.
You can read of the resurrections in Daniel 12 and Revelation 20, so if you went to heaven when you die, what would be the need for a resurrection?
You come back and get in your grave so you can be raised, now just how stupid is that really?
Acts 2 V 29 shows that even David – a man after God’s own heart DID NOT ASCEND into the heavens, but is in the grave till resurrection.
And the Bible tells us many more times that we remain in the grave till resurrection. Even in Job.