"HELLO! IS ANYBODY THERE?"
Yes! but not who you think it is!
SPIRITUALISM, and the practice of anything like it, is strictly forbidden in the Bible, as the following quotations show:
Lev.19:31 (TEV). "Do not defile yourselves by consulting mediums and wizzards, for I am Yahweh your God"
Isa.8:19-20 (TEV). "Why are you trying to find out the future by consulting witches and mediums? Don't listen to their whisperings and mutterings. Can the living find out the future from the dead? Why not ask your God? "Check these witches' words against the Word of God!" he says. "If their messages are different than Mine, it is because I have not sent them; for they have no light or truth in them."
Deut.18:10-12 (RSV). There shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, any one who practices divination [fortune telling - Acts 16:16-18], a soothsayer [observer of times/astrologer - Isa.47:13], or an augur [enchanter], or a sorcerer, or a charmer [those who use luckycharms, enchantments, black magic, etc.], or a medium [anyone who attempts communication with the dead or with spirit agencies], or a wizard [sorcerer, magician - Acts 8:9; 13:6], or a necromancer [one who supposedly consults the dead, e.g. medium or anyone who attempts this]. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord."
1 Chron.10:13-14 (RSV). "So Saul died for his unfaithfulness; he was unfaithful to the Lord in that he did not keep the commandment of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance, and did not seek guidance from the Lord."
The spirits consulted by mediums, or anyone indulging in that sort of thing (e.g. Ouija Board. etc.) are not the spirits of the dead. The Lord makes it quite plain in His Word that the dead have no portion with the living (Eccles.9:5-6). See also Job 7:7-10; 20:8-9 and Luke 16:19-31. Communication between the living and the dead is not permitted by God.
The spirits contacted are demon spirits - the spirits of devils that impersonate the dead and possess the bodies of those who indulge in these practices (see Acts 16:16-18; 8:7). This doesn't mean they run about with a forked tail and horns sticking out of their heads; what it does mean is that they are evil, and only intend to harm!
We ourselves are spirits dwelling within a physical body (2 Cor.5:8). They are evil spirits without a body, so they will try to take over yours if they can (see Luke 8:27-30 and Matthew 12:43-45); and that is exactly what you are inviting them to do at seances and on other similar occasions. Hence the term, "A man...or woman hath a familar spirit" (Lev.20:27, KJV); a person who has another spirit in their body with them, e.g. a medium with a control or "guide" spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ, in His great love and mercy, spent alot of time casting these "devils" out of people (Matt.8:16), and He still does this today.
The Bible says "the soul that sins shall die" (Ezek.18:4, RSV), and "the wages of sin is death" (Rom.6:23, RSV). But Christ died in your place to bear the penalty of your sin. He invites you to submit your life to Him in order to serve Him in purity and love.
