Gary :
You’re listening to a special edition of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still to ahead in this revisit to our 2000 series, Religion in the News, plus answers to your questions in Contending for the Faith, and in Understanding the Scriptures, Dave and Tom will continue their discussion of God’s salvation. In addition to this radio program we publish a monthly newsletter which we make available free of charge. We also produce and distribute a wide variety of teaching materials including books in print, e-book and audio book formats, CD’s, DVD’s and other items to encourage the serious study of God’s Word. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast write to us at POB 7019, Bend , Oregon 97708 , call our toll free order number 800-937-6638, that’s 800-937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org . If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk ask for Program #2709, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program. Now, back to our special revisit to the year 2000. Now:
RELIGION IN THE NEWS
A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from the Portland , Oregon , Oregonian with the headline: “Medium’s Talk Show Aims to Connect Guests and Deceased Loved Ones.” “Crossing over with John Edwards is a talk show with a difference. The audience is live, but the guests are goners, out of here and into the hereafter, in other words, dead. Host Edwards is on hand to act as a go-between. He’s a grown up version of the boy in The Sixth Sense . What you are about to see is real, we are told at the beginning of the new sci-fi cable channel series. Edwards crisply leads New York audience members and celebrities including Linda Dano and Carmen Electra through heavenly exchanges with late relatives and friends. The host tells one woman that a man, apparently her late husband is reaching out to her. She is unnerved when Edwards relates details of a trip she took to Niagara Falls with the couple’s daughter. “Did you find a feather there and did you tell your daughter that was her daddy?” Edwards asks the woman, who nods weeping. “Is there a husband or brother for you that’s passed?” He asks another woman in the same episode. Yes, she replies. This has got to be an ex-husband we are talking about because he’s removing himself from you Edwards says. He wants to be known as the “ex,” that’s how he’s coming across. Edwards compares his vision of the dead to daydreams in which information is delivered by sight, by sound and feeling. He hasn’t been briefed according to the show. “If someone is into New Age or spiritual programming they have show like ours supervising,” producer Paul Shavelson said. Imagine trying to sell a show like this a decade ago.
Tom:
Well here we are Dave, séances come to cable, and basically that’s what this is. The Bible calls it necromancy. It condemns trying to communicate with the dead, but as the guy says, hey there are people out there who are interested—New Age—but I am also concerned that people who believe they are Christians get into this.
Dave:
Yes, well this has been around since the beginning of course. We get that from the Bible and you quoted from Deuteronomy 18 where it condemns—you are not to try to communicate with the dead—I mean, why?
Tom:
Well, why not?
Dave:
Well yes, good question, because the dead can’t communicate with you. But there are seducing spirits who will pretend to be the dead and who will lead you astray. This has happened; you know we’ve written some books about this. We’ve research it and this has happened down through the ages. Some of the—well, Queen Victoria was very much into this through one of her servants and she thought she was communicating with the dead. Lincoln ’s wife wanted very much to communicate with the spirits of their dead sons. You could bring it up to date—the CIA from the information that I have—they may deny it, but the CIA has even consulted some of these people to contact the spirits of dead agents—this is in the days of the Cold War, maybe they still do it, to find out how they were betrayed, what secrets they may have given out when they were tortured, you know and so forth. This has been a common belief of mankind—the desire to look beyond and you know and you probably—maybe some of our listeners would remember James Pike. He was an Episcopal bishop from California .
Tom:
Yes, we’ve mentioned him before.
Dave:
He thought he was in touch with the spirit of his dead son. Always it’s like you have here, the demon who is impersonating can even sometimes put on the voice, but can tell of only the things the deceased and the survivor know about supposedly and that convinces people. Well, it’s got to be because here comes factual evidence.
Tom:
Dave on the one hand we quote the scripture where necromancy—the communicating with the dead is condemned. On the other hand we have the example of Samuel and Saul.
Dave:
Yes, the witch at Endor.
Tom:
Correct.
Dave:
…And here comes Sammy. Did we talk about this before? I can’t remember.
Tom:
We mentioned it, but I think it—related to this—I think we should go over it again.
Dave:
Well first of all you have one example, so that’s not enough to base—well now I am going to do this because it happened once. I believe (and now there are differences), I think Samuel really did appear. The witch was shocked (it says) and here he comes. I believe that God allowed it as an exception, and Samuel in fact, says why have you disturbed me, so obviously he wasn’t flitting about on the astroplane ready to be interviewed by anybody, so that would indicate this is an unusual instance. I believe he came because God allowed him to and he pronounced judgment. He told Saul he was going to die and that’s not the kind of message you want to get from beyond the grave. That wouldn’t encourage too many people.
Tom:
But it’s also a fulfillment of the commandment God said don’t do this and the penalty for it was death and Saul indeed died.
Dave:
That’s right. Yes, so definitely there are a lot of phonies out there. I think we mentioned it in one of our books. There’s a whole community of them and they have their networks and they gather information on people and they pass it on to others. You can come out with some pretty impressive things. On the other hand there are those who are really in touch with the spirits of the dead so-called, being impersonated by demons. They are really the dangerous—well they are all dangerous. Part of the problem is Tom and I think in some of our books we’ve given examples of people who have gone to these séances and been led astray and disasters have come into their lives. The scripture says in Isaiah:8:20To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. “Why consult the dead?” Why is Aunt Jane who wasn’t too bright when she was alive, how come she’s so all wise now? And you want to consult her spirit and get all this information. The Bible says to the law and to the testimony. Let’s go to what God has to say, not to what these deceiving spirits have to say. And if they speak not according to this Word there is no light in them and one of the things this Word says is don’t consult them.
Tom:
Right and one of the sad things Dave is that people are attracted to that because they’ve lost a loved one and they want to be comforted and they want to be counseled, but they’re not going to get truth, they aren’t going to get what they hope for even though it’s a lie that may soothe them for awhile, but that’s what it is, it’s a lie.
