Reader Feedback on Talking to the Dead

I agree with mia. So then are you saying that god does not allow people to speak to the dead or have the gifts to see them? That it’s not from him.
Can it not be used for good in some way?

Patti –

Did you read the article?

Personally I think it’s all a distraction to draw our attention away from God. But you should draw your own conclusions and positions based on God’s Word and not mine.

I like these debates. Actually, after studying this matter in the Bible, I noticed it really never said anything about telepathy, clairvoyance, and other items considered part of the sixth sense. People try to say this is part of spiritism, but there is no proof some of these functions are of a demonic or of spirits. If a person somehow can read another’s mind, i believe it is more of mystery to be solved, rather than to say it definitely is or isn’t something.
As for speaking to the dead, I believe the passages refer to rather more of the seance type talking. If one tries to conjure up or magically make a dead spirit talk to them is more of the issue I believe that the Bible refers to. If you see so called “dead people” and are able to talk to them, I don’t believe that is the issue, as the spirit bothered you first. If a person isn’t purposely going out and looking for making this happen to him/her and just sees the spirit–it’s different. The shows of today don’t seem to even show us what is defined as a medium in the Bible. The medium of the Bible called up the spirit of Samuel. Called him up means that she purposefully used some ritual to call up a spirit sighting which was not naturally occuring. Also, if that spirit was not Samuel, why does the Bible name it Samuel and not a demon disguised as Samuel, if spirits are always demons?
That’s why I believe TV shows us mediums who aren’t really what the Bible means as mediums.
Also, I have original Greek to English and Hebrew to English Interlinear translations. I have also found by having these it is apparent no translator can really translate the Bible perfectly to English and have found multiple meanings for a lot of the New Testament translated Greek words, which I have debated on forums, which a lot of people don’t always want to hear about. I am just providing this as an example just to say I don’t worry so much about the types of things you describe as being this or that. The problem is that a lot of people might subscribe to a lot of stuff being demonic–such as a person sees an angel and it says to love our enemies, even people from Iraq. However, another Christian may believe differently as the Iraq people are Muslims and they consider them an enemy of Christianity and tells the person it was a demon because it told the person to love the enemies of Christianity. What problems this causes is in trying to judge what God’s will is, we might be ignoring the better part, such as loving our enemies in this case–which yes, multiple Christian beliefs actually do interpret in their own ways.
Also, what is unusual is the spiritual gifts part of Paul’s scripture. Prophecy, dreams and the like have actually been said to be a warning from God at times in the Bible. An angel visited Mary, which is spiritual visitation. Why are the prophets allowed to see the future?
You see I’m just trying to say I just don’t worry so much about tacking this into a particular category. Whatever God allows, he does. There are some very unusual things in the Bible such as Gomer married to one of the prophets that if it happened today we would just wonder how God could even be involved in such a thing.
I just relax and figure whatever is bad will prove itself to be bad. This is because I think would should be careful in what we judge to be this or that as we might miss out on something from God that way.

Ami –

I get what you’re saying, I think. In other words, “We Christians try to put God in a neat little box, but an infinite, all-knowing God cannot be contained within our finite, limited, human ‘boxes of understanding.,”

I consider myself to be a man of God, not special or better than anyone else. In fact, I am VERY down to earth. I smoke, for instance, which many fellow Christians have already condemned me to hell for. But I have a calling from God to help people. And I have special spiritual gifts. I have had angelic visitations since I was a child. On the other side of the coin, I’ve had demonic attacks since I was a child also. I have premonitions and dreams. In the last couple of years I have seen the spirits of the dead. As a hobby and a “door opener” for ministry I also do paranormal investigations. Part of that is getting EVPs (when you ask spirits questions and they answer on your recording). I have been doing lots of research lately to feel out if communicating with the dead is wrong or the spirits are demonic. This is a very tough question. I believe that psychics that have spirit guides are guided by demons possibly. My guide is the Holy Spirit. I NEVER seek guidance or advice from any other spirit other than Him. The more gifts God gives me, the more questions I have. I don’t believe that because someone has a gift like prophetic dreams they have all of the answers about it. I have a very powerful gift of premonitions, but it is NEVER 100%. I only get pieces to the puzzle and ALWAYS end up with more questions than I have answers. Is it wrong to talk to the dead? I don’t know, but when I find out I promise to let you all know.

Good article. I feel the same about the signs that follow under your birthday dates.

I notice that people like to rationalize about communicating with the dead. It is very dangerous and it is most certainly condemned in the scriptures. Remember that Satan and his demons are extremely deceptive and can appear to be the spirits of the dead. Don’t fall for it.

Luke 16:19-31 states that one who is dead cannot speak to one who is alive

I found this site very interesting. I have been pondering these thoughts with me for a long time. I was raised in a christian home, and in a christian school system my whole life. I have three small children and they to go to a small private Lutheran school where I live.
Can we communicate with the dead, or spirits? Yes, I believe what TJ had to say is true. I believe that people are given a gift. I believe it is about how they use it, and interpret it. I believe we are all influenced by spirits and energy around us every minute of our lives. Good or Bad? I believe that in life you will stop and at that very moment remember a person who passed on in your life time, and at that very moment they are touching your heart, they are communicating to you. They are giving you the positive thought, a smile, etc. Is this wrong? I believe it is how you as a cristian live by it. God tells us that you should not live your life by what a spirit advises you. You live to the example of what God whats you. Afterall the Holy Spirit speaks to all of us. So we know that there is other energys out there talking to us to. You just have to know who it is, and sift through what it is saying. Ignore the ones that are making problems and drawing the negative energy to you, and think about Jesus and what he did for us. Find that “Happy Place”, and the bad energy will be drawn away from you. You will be left with the thought of a happy life.

My husband was at a business conference when he was waylaid by a psychic. The psychic handed him the book “Gone With The Wind” and asked him to open the book and point to a word. He pointed to Hamilton and the psychic said that there was a connection between that word, the author of the book (Margaret Mitchell) and me. My maiden name was Hamilton and my grandfather would have been a Mitchell if he wasn’t adopted. This really spooked my husband. He said the only other time in his life he had felt fear like that was once when he was in Santa Cruz. There are a lot of witches in that area. One day he was there with his brother-in-law and a young woman walked by. They both felt an intense sense of evil. Two grown men were shaking in their shoes. I’m not interested in psychics. Either they are false and would just take my money. Or if they are real I find that scary, and I don’t think I would want to know the future.

Hello, my name is joy, and I find this topic and the following comments very interesting…

I would like to know are you able to, and will you share your own personal opinions on the existance of psychics, mediums, and super-natural beings and their works, in an future article?
Note: I think that it would be an interesting article.

Joy –

Yes, it would be an interesting article. I will add it to my “to do” list. However, I usually avoid giving my own personal opinions and try to simply explore what the Bible says about the topic.

I just read this and wanted to leave a comment. I have always believed that it was evil to speak with spirits. That it would be of the devil. So, I was very upset the morning that I was woken up by my mother-in-law talking to me in a very urgent manner. She had just died in a horrible accident that in fact made national news. As you can imagine, it was a very emotional time for us. I loved her dearly. She never had anything mean to say about anyone and was a very loving person. The only thing that she “needed” to tell me was for me to please tell my husband that she loved him. Then, she told me, she had to go and she was gone. There was nothing sinister or evil in what was said to me. So, I wonder if the scriptures in the bible were talking about going out and finding those who are “psychic or mediums” being evil, because they are opening their brains up for the demons to walk through the door of their soul? I, clearly wasn’t expecting this to happen to me and was very scared afterward. So, I’ve begun to wonder if the reason it never pertains (scriptures) to the individual itself that it’s happening to is because then it’s not evil or of the devil? It didn’t feel evil. It just felt like she wanted him to know that she loved him. They didn’t say it a lot when she was alive. He had already lost his father a few years beforehand and he was an only child. My son and I were all he had left. Thank you.

Hi…I am an exorcist and deliverance minister of Bread and Wine Ministries.

I am baptised by the Holy Spirit and thank the Lord Jesus daily for my salvation and for the precious gifts the Father has given.

I am one of the few exorcist who know that unclean spirits are the spirits of the deceased.

I know this because when I do exorcisms (in Jesus name only), the Holy Spirit allows me to see the faces of the deceased.

The disciples already knew this and it was in the bible they had…2 Esdras.

From what I do know, the saved also have 7 days on earth with an angel before going to be with Jesus…so Julie, I pray that you heard from the dead in this time frame, otherwise your loved one will most likely have to wait for the second judgement.

The reason one isn’t to ’socialise’ with the dead is that God doesn’t want you to follow them into death. Nothing like following the lost to get lost!

Never seek the guidance, wisdom, and council of the dead. When you seek them out to ask questions they most often ‘move in’. Such has been the case with those who use ouiji boards, etc.

Jesus spoke to them, but only in such a way to help someone get free of them. But you should never befriend them no matter what relative they are. Whatever disease they died from, if they enter you, you will get that illness.

In the exorcisms I do I do speak with them. I command them to answer and obey in Jesus name and make them do so by the authority that Christ gave us just like the disciples did. The result?….people get healed.

Reading this article along with the comments was helpful in understanding Christianity’s view of Talking to the Dead. However, there is too much about the “supernatural” that is unexplained. Because of that I will continue to perform more research about the subject.

I became a born again Christian on June 22, 2003. Jesus set me FREE from Witchcraft, Vampirism and Satanism. But I always had problems in talking to the dead, mosre so recently because my GrandMother and my Father passed away in 2008. I was always curious about what the bible actually said about it. That is when i came across these Reader feedback on Talking to the dead. Even though I continued to Talk to the dead I knew it was wrong, that it was demonic forces decieving me but at the same time I really wanted to believe that my Father was still roaming around this house. I took pictures and asked questions to the death and I got responses and I even got a Picture of what looked to be my deceased Father. So I really believe that through this site the Lord has been trying to tell me how wrong I am and I should not talk to the dead. So I make a promise to the Lord God that I will not do it again. But please keep me in your prayers concerning this issue. Thank you and God bless you all.

I really wish someone could help me sort this experience for me and give me a plausible explanation.
First of all, I am just an ordinary person. I have had no previous paranormal experience nor do I wish to have one.
Last year at about this time, my bf , 35 years ago, I thought, woke me up from my afternoon nap instructing me to find him in the internet. I had no contact with him since 35 years ago. I didn’t find it strange then, but I did look for him in the internet. It took me 3-4 days before I got into a site of 7 pictures of a very sick man in a wheel chair, who could be dying. He did not look like my bf, whose face I realized then , I don’t remember anymore. In any case, I left that site and stopped looking for him.
Then, I had this strong urge? or feeling that I had to communicate with him. I tried to find his email, but found some emails of his possible friends who graduated in the same military school he did. The 3 emails went back as error. I narrated in that email what I just wrote to you now. I also told the friends that I had said masses for him, as advised by my superstious friends. I was feeling troubled mentally for a week which prompted me to have masses said for him. In any case, I left it at that for a week.
I left for another city to attend a high school homecoming. Alone in my hotel, I “received another urgent feeling” that I had to send him a card. I felt more troubled because I did not know his whereabouts. Besides what in heavens name would I tell him? “It” did not stop from “harrassing” my thoughts for the night. So, I composed another letter with the same content of that email I sent to his friends. This time, I addressed it to him and to his wife and children , which I presumed, he would already have. Less the letter would really be sent, I began the letter that I felt wierd writing it and that I was not really sure if the letter made any sense at all. I also wrote upon the instruction of my well meaning friends that I apologized for whatever wrong I did to him eons of years back and that I forgave him for whatever wrong he did to me eons of years back, both of which I don’t remember anymore as they happened in another lifetime.
Then, I searched for his name and address in the internet…The first time, I found his name, his age was 54. He could not be 54 as I knew he was older than I was. I searched for another site..and finally I found his name with an age of 59, which would be his possible age already. I used that address when I sent the card with the letter in it. The “feeling” I had was that I had to send it the fastest way. The fastest way was too expensive for a “wierd” letter so I sent it by airmail. I am in the Philippines and his address was in the U.S. btw.
Two weeks after, his wife emailed me that her husband was in comma for a year already. She did not want to reply to my wierd letter until her son convinced her to. The second email I received from his wife which was the next day, was the information that he no longer received medicine. In a week’s time, the next email I received was that he died!
I thought that “strange occurence” was finished at last with his death..
That was a year ago. Yet, I still find myself getting the feeling that he is with me and he “communicates” with me about “the past” which I could not have remembered on my own, and “what could have been”..which I swear I did not think for the last 35 years..He was just completely out of the picture of my left for the last 35 years!!!
What in heaven’s name going on in my head? I have included him in my mass’ intentions and daily prayers..just so “he/it” would go away..I don’t mind including him/it in my prayers, but I mind him/it “giving me a heavy feeling of regret??” of “sadness”…??? all of which I never experienced before last year, even during the last 35 years!!
What in God’s name going on??? I’ve told my friends and anyone who would care to listen..and even asked them if I have gone crazy…No one seems to agree that I’ve gone crazy…I still could function in my job..Unless I tell anyone, no one seems to notice what is going on in my thoughts…
Please help me..Thanks..

Hi, Mia!
BTW, what I really really want is any advice how I could get away from “communicating with him”..I want my life back before last year..
Thanks..

The bible clearly tells us that talking to the dead is impossible because at Ec.9:5,it says that”the dead are conscious of nothing at all”,so just as the article brought out if a person encounters a ghost of their dead loved one it’s only a demon pretending to be that person.The same is true when it comes to mediums,they don’t realize that they’re being thoroughly deceived because what they’re communicating with aren’t the dead but are actually demons.

Here’s what’s been going on with me. I am 29 and my sister passed away in January she was 26. She had problems with addiction, mostly what she was prescribed – she has been on medication all her life. She was switched to a new medication that was stronger and she accidentally overdosed, we found her 2 days later. She left behind a 5 year old son. My mom recently talked to this lady who believes that dead spirits or something communicates with her, she is a mayor of a city and hides it from almost everyone. She knew my aunt through a mutual friend and was getting clear things about my sister. My mom just talked to her, she didn’t want any money or anything. She talked about things she didn’t or couldn’t even know about. Telling my mom that she shouldn’t feel guilty she made a mistake and my mom couldn’t have found her because she couldn’t have handled it. My mom kept a sweat shirt of hers and said to give it to her son to comfort him, which he wears every night to sleep in. Basically this woman didn’t want anything from my mom, but said that my sister wanted us to know she was ok. I have never believed in mediums, or rather that they are from God because I believe exactly what the bible says. But this has thrown me for a loop, just what she knew about my sister… but my question is could it have been an angel? It seems like the visit was just to let us know that she was ok and to make us feel better from a tragic death where we had no real idea of what exactly happened.

As a Christian who takes my faith very seriously, I must rely on what the Bible says to determine my beliefs. If it says to leave these things along, I must obey, whether or not I understand why. I believe God knows far more than I can ever hope to understand, and I trust his teaching. It is not your “fault” if you have an experience like those explained above, but believers should not seek them out. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and HE will direct your path. May God bless us all as we seek to serve Him.

I believe that we can pray for the deceased and that they can intercede on our behalf as well.

My daughter sees deceased relatives [and pets] as a result of a lightning strike 16 yrs. ago. She does not approach them- before my parents died she had really bad experiences with her paternal grandmother who had been evil in life. My parents now protect her. However, I have sensed visits from the “evil” grandmother many years ago when they were at the worst- since then I have had several experiences with my mother being present, although I have not seen, nor spoke with her. In all of these situations we have not contacted someone to speak/experience these events. Where does the Bible stand on this?

Diane –

I’ve written an article:
What Does the Bible Say About Talking to the Dead?

I read your article, but I tend to disagree. My daughter does not seek out my parents visitation, nor does she go to anyone to connect with them. She does not do anything with these visits.

how about premonitions, in 2000 my motherinlaw was living with us, she wasn’t in very good health, and one night I had a dream, it was really weird, we have a lake in front of our house, and out of the lake 3 fish came out of the water but I thought of them as owls, well first thing in the morning I told my husband my dream and instantly he said somones going to die, my first thought was my motherinlaw, the month before my grandson was born, well not long after that dream my grandson became very sick and died, was this a real premonition if so why the hint