Speaking to the “Dead” Is Forbidden

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. —Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6

The Israelites were forbidden to deal in any fashion with those who purported to speak with the dead. God made it plain that the dead “know not any thing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Whomever the Israelites thought they were talking with, it was certainly not their dead relatives. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4). Those who sought wizards were to be cut off from among the people of Israel (Leviticus 20:6). “The ‘familiar spirits’ were not the spirits of the dead, but evil angels, the messengers of Satan. Ancient idolatry, which, as we have seen, comprises both worship of the dead and pretended communion with them, is declared by the Bible to have been demon worship. . . . “Modern spiritualism, resting upon the same foundation, is but a revival in a new form of the witchcraft and demon worship that God condemned and prohibited of old. It is foretold in the Scriptures, which declare that ‘in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.’ 1 Timothy 4:1.” “Under the name of spiritualism the practice of communicating with beings claiming to be the spirits of the departed has become widespread. It is calculated to take hold of the sympathies of those who have laid their loved ones in the grave. Spiritual beings sometimes appear to persons in the form of their deceased friends, and relate incidents connected with their lives and perform acts which they performed while living. In this way they lead men to believe that their dead friends are angels, hovering over them and communicating with them. Those who thus assume to be the spirits of the departed are regarded with a certain idolatry, and with many their word has greater weight than the word of God.” God has warned us not to place any credence in spiritualism (Isaiah 8:19, 20).