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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 1
1 June 2008
Demonic Necromancy
(Message delivered by Rev
Hien Nguyen at the Worship Service, 2:00 pm, May 25, 08)
Text:
Deut 18:10-14
Last week we drew some lessons
from the failures of King Saul’s life and ministry, who was getting
worse since the Lord departed from him and demons troubled his soul due
to his unrepentant and rebellious heart against God and His Word. After
that what did Saul do when the Philistines gathered themselves together
to fight against the Israelites? “And
when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart
greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered
him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets,”
(1 Sam 28:5-6), and then Saul
inquired of a necromancer, transgressing God’s commandment and breaking
his own regulation set up in his earlier years, “Saul had put away
those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land”
(v 3, 7). Exactly, as the Scripture says, “The dog is turned to his
own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the
mire” (2 Peter 2:22). It is so dangerous when a person’s conscience
is hardened and not sensitive anymore because he does not feel guilty to
do the wicked things against God’s commandments and even against his own
conscience. Saul could not escape God’s judgment due to his sins and
transgressions, “So Saul died for his transgression which he
committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he
kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit,
to inquire of it; And inquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him,
and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse” (1 Chron
10:13-14).
Nowadays, we have heard that
even the policemen inquired of “psychics” (actually, some of them
practice necromancy) to track down and catch the culprit who murdered a
child several years ago. Then, what proper attitudes should we have
toward necromancy? Was it a real Samuel who talked with Saul when the
necromancer called him up? Is there any discrepancy when the Scripture
records that Saul inquired of the Lord and the Lord did not answer him
(1 Sam 28:6) but God said that Saul did not inquired of the Lord (1
Chron 10:14)?
No Discrepancies in the
Scripture
Many read God’s Word, the
Scripture, like an ordinary book, without any reverence, prayer or
faith, so they cannot understand God’s Word and arrogantly say that
there are discrepancies and mistakes in the Scripture! God forbid! God
is always holy and perfect and His Word is always holy and perfect, so
when we cannot understand His Word, the proper attitude is to humble
ourselves, set aside our pre-understanding and prejudice, ask the Lord
for His illumination, and use the Scripture to interpret the Scripture.
If we still do not understand God’s Word because of our limited
knowledge, we just wait until our Lord Jesus comes and everything will
be clear.
Then, why did God not answer
Saul when he inquired of Him? It is because Saul had rejected God’s Word
and transgressed His commandments (1 Sam 15:19-23) and did wicked things
(1 Sam 22:18-19). The Scripture confirms that the prayer of those who
reject God’s Word will be rejected in their affliction, “Because I
have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man
regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my
reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh;… Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me” (Prov 1:24-28), and
“He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer
shall be abomination” (Prov 28:9), and “If I regard iniquity in
my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps 66:18). Saul only sought
God for help in his distress but failed to humbly and sincerely repent
of his transgressions. King Manasseh, the most wicked king of Judah, who
“made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used
enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought
much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger”
(2 Kings 21:6), but in his affliction, he “humbled himself greatly
before the God of his fathers” and prayed unto Him, and God heard
his supplication (2 Chron 33:12-13). Then, Saul did not humble himself
in repenting of his transgression before the Lord, so God did not listen
to his prayer.
In 1 Chronicle 10:14, God said
that Saul did not inquire of the Lord. Why? First, Saul did not humble
himself in repentance as his transgressions and wicked rebellion hinder
his prayers. Next Saul did not sincerely, fervently, seriously and
wholeheartedly seek the Lord in dependence on and submission to the
Lord, so he neither patiently waited upon the Lord nor looked unto the
Lord until God had mercy upon him (Ps 123:2-3), but turned to a
necromancer for help when God did not answer his prayer. In God’s sight,
Saul did not inquire of Him properly. Joshua and the elders humbled
themselves before the Lord when their men were defeated before the
enemies, and the Lord required them to take away transgressions and
accursed thing from among the people before He could bless them (Joshua
7:6-15).
What should you and I do when
we pray to God in our distress and He does not answer our prayers? We
should examine ourselves, humble ourselves and submit ourselves to the
Lord, fervently cry unto Him for His mercy and help, and wait upon Him
alone, not anyone else, no matter what may happen, even death. Then,
surely the Lord will have mercy upon us.
Necromancy, an Abomination
unto the Lord
God’s Word clearly states that
He is strongly against necromancy and it is an abomination unto Him:
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exod 22:18), “Regard not
them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be
defiled by them: I am the LORD your God” (Lev 19:31), “And the
soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after
wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against
that soul, and will cut him off from among his people” (Lev 20:6),
“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or
his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an
observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or
a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and
because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from
before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God”
(Deut 18:10-13). If you and I have the same mind as the Lord’s, we shall
be against necromancy, witchcrafts, black magic, divination, sorcery,
etc., which are under Satanic/demonic influence and power.
Not Real Samuel
Several commentators think
that it was the real Samuel who came up to communicate with Saul (1 Sam
28), based on these arguments: (1) The medium was startled by the sudden
appearance of Samuel (v 12); (2) Saul identified the figure as Samuel (v
14); (3) The message Samuel spoke was clearly from God (vv 16-19); (4)
The text says that the figure was Samuel (vv. 12, 15, 16); (5) The
prediction was accurate; and (6) There is no inherent difficulty with
God bringing back the spirit of Samuel from heaven and allowing him to
appear to Saul in spite of the woman’s evil profession. How about your
view? Was it the real Samuel? Based on God’s Word, we surely know that
it was not the real Samuel.
First, the souls of the dead
cannot come back to the world. Our Lord Jesus confirms that the souls of
the dead in faith, like Lazarus, were “carried by the angels into
Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22) and no one could disturb their rest
while the ungodly were in the place of torment in hell (v 23) and that
the dead in faith were not allowed to leave their place of rest (vv 26,
29, 31). God’s Word also affirms, “As the cloud is consumed and
vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no
more” (Job 7:9). Then, we can see that it is so wrong to bring
Samuel up (vv 11, 14, 15) while the real Samuel was not down in the
place of torment, and it is seriously wrong when Samuel, actually Satan
in disguise, said to Saul, “to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with
me” (1 Sam 28:19) because the real Samuel was in the bosom of
Abraham and the wicked Saul could not be there with him the next day.
Then, the concept that the
souls/ghosts of the dead can come back to the earth or can be called up
to communicate with the living through necromancers is only the deceit
from Satan and demons, “for Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14) and even “false Christs, and false
prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it
were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matt 24:24),
“after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,”
(2 Thess 2:9), “working miracles” to deceive people and nations
(Rev 16:14). It is not difficult for Satan to quote God’s Word (Gen
3:1-5; Matt 4:1-11), to create a similar figure and similar voice of the
dead through necromancers (in my country there are many seeking
necromancers because of this deceit), or to tell the past and predict
the near future of someone (1 Kings 22:20-23; Acts 16:16). Therefore,
Satan was able to disguise as Samuel to
communicate with the necromancer and with Saul, to shock her and to tell
Saul the same God’s Word spoken to him through Samuel when he was still
alive and to predict Saul’s impending doom the next day.
The incident recorded in 1
Samuel chapter 28 is a narrative, describing what was happening. The
necromancer and Saul who were deceived by Satan by the similar figure
and voice of Samuel thought that they were communicating with the real
Samuel, so the name of Samuel was recorded in that chapter, but as
mentioned above, the dead cannot come back to the world, so we know for
sure that it was Satan in disguise.
Finally, it is seriously wrong
and blasphemous to interpret that God allowed the real Samuel to come
back to the world through the demand of the wicked Saul and the
necromancer whom He condemned. The holy and righteous God cannot
contradict Himself and His commandments against necromancy. If God had
allowed a necromancer to “bring up” the real Samuel to speak to Saul,
why would He have condemned Saul for his transgression, and for his
inquiring of a necromancer (1 Chron 10:13-14)? Moreover, God cannot
contradict His command of separation from Satan, unbelief, wrong
doctrines and unclean thing, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what
concord hath Christ with Belial?... Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing; and I will receive you” (2 Cor 6:14-15, 17).
Conclusion
Dear friends, thank God that through the death,
resurrection, and ascension of Christ, we shall be with the Lord when we
are called home (Phil 1:23). While we are living in this world of
darkness, may the Lord help us fear Him, depend on Him, submit to Him
and His Word, be alert and discerning, and keep ourselves from unclean
thing, unbiblical concepts and doctrines and the deceits and lying
wonders of Satan and his demons. Amen.
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