Reconciled by the Light: the after-death letters from a teen suicide.

Someone asked me today if spirit communication is against the Bible. Well, if it were, then we would have to say that prayer is against the Bible, too. Since God has no physical body, he is Spirit; praying to God is the most widely practiced form of spirit communication there is. As far as the Bible goes, it both condemns spirit communication, and endorses it! So the answer to whether or not the Bible opposes spirit communication is an emphatic YES! — and an emphatic NO!

In this entry I will explore the Bible’s condemnation of spirit communication; another time I’ll talk about Biblical support for it. The strong condemnations of spirit communication are to be found in the Hebrew Bible, which Christians refer to as the Old Testament. I don’t know of any condemnations in the New Testament, but there is lots of support in the New Testament.

Dr. Raymond Moody talks about this subject in his book Reunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones. He quotes the following three Bible verses as examples of opposition to spirit communication; these are the strongest ones I know of in the Bible, because they indicate that it is God himself who condemns spirit communication:

” ‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. Lev. 19:31 “

“I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people. Lev. 20:6 “

“A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.’ ” Lev. 20:27

Dr. Moody then provides some of the other condemnations contained in these two chapters so we can see the broader context:

Leviticus 19

19 ” ‘Keep my decrees. ” ‘Do not mate different kinds of animals. ” ‘Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. ” ‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

27 ” ‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. 28 ” ‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

31 ” ‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.

35 ” ‘Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity.

36 Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin.

Leviticus 20

6 ” ‘I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people.

9 ” ‘If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.

10 ” ‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

27 ” ‘A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.’ “

These are just a few of the many laws prescribed in the Hebrew Bible that few people observe today.

So, as Dr. Moody would put it, anyone who feels the Bible forbids him to practice spirit communication must also realize that he is also forbidden to breed a mule, plant more than one thing in his vegetable garden, wear any kind of blended fabric in his clothing, cut his hair, shave or trim his beard, or have a tattoo. He must also be willing to accept the death penalty for anyone who curses his parents, commits adultery, or practices spirit communication.

Other laws would forbid him to eat pork barbecue, which here in the South, would be about as popular as repealing the Second Amendment. Also forbidden would be bacon, shrimp, oysters, crawfish, lobster, and clams, just to mention a few. Next time, we’ll explore some of the innumerable Bible passages that support spirit communication.

This entry was posted on April 25, 2010 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Mediumship, Uncategorized.