ROMANS 6:23: ” The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.”

I thought we do an in-depth study on the truth of mediums, magic, and the consequence it brings.

So often it is touted by society as just fun make believe, like carnival fortune-telling.

And sure some of it is fake, I remember in the nineteen-nineties when television was bombarded with psychic hotlines offering first readings free and all that money grab nonsense and funny story about that, someone once called a persons home and stated that they were from one such company, and said that someone had called from that number and they wanted to reach back out if these people were supposed to be psychic shouldn’t they have known who called?!

However, all that aside, even the fake can lead into dealings with the real and how would anyone know the difference until it is too late?

This is a another one of those subjects that so many want to argue as a separate point, but that just is not true.

God is very clear concerning the subject.

God does not need us, we need him and when he gave his word and commands for human life it was for the good of our lives.

He warns us concerning these things because we are human the forces behind this are not human.

That has been the story since the Garden of Eden .

People being swayed into actually believing that they can play with the devil and not pay a price or that someone has a built in sixth sense that allows them to contact their dead loved ones and on and on.

We will tackle that one first, psychics, mediums , fortune-telling this all comes from the same realm.

It is not something we are just born with or a special gifting, whether that person is aware of it or not, it comes from the demonic and I will back that up with Bible in just a bit.

Speaking to the dead, this is the one that is most maddening, it takes advantage of those who are in mourning, so stricken with grief that they listen to the enemy whispering to them to that they can know of their departed loved ones fate through a psychic, not possible.

ECCLESIATES 9:5, 6: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead knoweth 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.”

The dead are unaware.

They know nothing because they are asleep until the resurrection.

I do want to take a second to address that the dead are often referred to in scripture as asleep.

Such as when Bible genealogies mention that someone slept with their fathers that means that they had died and were buried with their ancestors.

Jesus brought Jairus’ daughter back from the dead, even telling those with him that she was not dead only sleeping.

Lazarus had been dead for four days and Jesus resurrected him also specifically having told his disciples that their friend was asleep and that he must go wake him.

Those who have been martyred throughout time residing under the throne waiting for their deaths to be avenged are told that they should rest a little season, which means sleep for a while, until the fulfillment of others that will be martyred also.

So there are accounts of those who are briefly awakened but this is strictly for the purposes of God and we should remember that loved ones are now asleep in Christ.

DANIEL 12:2: ” And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Their memory being forgotten is not being harsh as it is stated in our opening passage, as if it means that loved ones would ever forget those who have passed.

It does not mean that, while we would always remember our loved ones, the world would not because they are no longer here to have homes, make new friends, be employed , the ways that we are woven into society no longer exists at death.

It goes on to tell us that they also no longer nor will ever have any connection to any thing done on earth.

So how can anyone possibly be having converstaions with them about how they are doing in the afterlife?

They aren’t.

God has comfort for his people through mourning that only he can give.

MATTHEW 5:4: “ Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”

He himself comforts his people by blessing them in his presence, it doesn’t mean that we are blessed by the death, it means that it in the pain and suffering he is with us.

ISAIAH 61:3: “To appoint (give) unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning , the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (oppression, gloom); that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”

We are to seek God not the occult.

ISAIAH 8:19: ” And when they say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: Should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

Familiar spirits , the demonic force that they consult with, and why would anyone seek to ask questions of the dead , when they are just that, dead .

Rather than seek the living God who holds all answers for the living.

There is so much on this subject and I am really trying to keep it concise, but we can understand his reasoning especially when we understand that the dead are not aware and whatever people who seek them are being told is through demonic forces.

Proof of that:

ACTS 16: 16-20: “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel (young woman) possessed with a spirit of divination met with us, which brought her masters much gain (money) by soothsaying (fortune telling)

The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew us the way to salvation.

And this she did many days, But Paul being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught (grabbed) Paul and Silas, and drew (took) them into the marketplace unto the rulers.”

Notice, it was not this girl or something she was born with, it was a spirit, and those who controlled her was making money from that.

They went on to arrest Paul and Silas because they had lost their money maker and you should read that entire chapter if you get a chance, but the girl was freed by the power Of God.

Now for the story of just how becoming involved in these things do not just affect the one doing the dabbling but how others can also be pulled in to the same trap and pay a horrible price because of the actions of another.

To give us a quick background King Saul was made king after the people chose to reject God as their king and demanded a human king.

They were warned what would happen by giving control of their lives over to a human rather than the Creator, but people are people and God let them have their way.

Needless to say, He was a very bad leader and continually did things he was warned not do concerning the things of God and God left him and we pick up our story here.

He had been specifically ordered to rid their nation of witchcraft, yet another direct command he had refused and his final rebellion cost he and his sons the kingdom and their lives.

The prophet Samuel was the messenger of God to Saul and had been his advisor until Saul had lost his place with God, by this time Samuel had died and Saul thought it was a fabulous idea to contact Samuel from the dead for his answer.

Which brought down the wrath of God, as Saul had constantly acted in disobedience, arrogance, and pride. He could have stopped this behavior right here, he could have repented and lived out the rest of life, he had multiple opportunities to do just that before escalating to this level of rebellion, but no, he had to further try the patience of the Almighty Creator.

1 Samuel 28: 5-19: ” And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.

And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

Then Saul said to his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and enquire of her.

And his servants said to him, Behold there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.

And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment (clothing) and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee (ask you) divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring him up, whom I shall name unto thee ( who he asks for by name) .

And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest (you know) what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and wizards, out of the land, wherefore then layest thou a snare (why do you set a trap) for my life , to cause me to die?

And Saul sware unto her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall be no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.

And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake unto Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art (why have you lied to me, you are) Saul.

And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou (what did you see)? And the woman said I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

And he said unto her, What form is he of (what does he look like)? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself.

And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me , to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed (deeply troubled); for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.

Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me (why are you asking me) seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?

And the LORD hath done to him, as he spoke by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand (taken the kingdom from you) and given it to thy neighbour, even to David.

Because thou obeyest not the voice of the LORD, nor executedest his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day.

Moreover (Also) the LORD will deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: And to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”

Not exactly what he had wanted to hear.

To get us back to the dead knowing nothing, this was a very specific account because Saul had brought down the wrath of God on his head and dared ask for a message from Samuel, and he got the message, the message that God will not be mocked.

To make matters worse, he specifically asked her to do this by a familiar spirit and went to her at night, as if God would know.

It is even more disturbing that he tried to use God as a way of promising her that she would not suffer any retaliation for doing this for him, he was that far gone in his absolute arrogance and rebellion.

In that arrogance and rebellion he destroyed not only his life, but the lives of his sons, and the lives of those of his kingdom.

He could have repented at a point but instead he trusted his own arrogance and defiance and that cost everything.

1 SAMUEL 31: 2-13: ” And the Philistines followed hard (pursued for battle) upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew (killed) Jonathan, and Abinadad, and Malchishua, Saul’s’ sons.

And the battle went sore against Saul (he lost terribly), and the archers hit him; and he was wounded of the archers.

Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse (torture) me . But his armourbearer would not; for he was afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell on it.

And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he feel likewise upon his sword, and died with him.

So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.

And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side of Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on mount Gilboa.

And they cut off his head, and stripped his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish (proclaim) it in the house of their idols, and among the people.

And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth (pagan): and they fastened his body to the wall in Bethshan.

And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul:

All the valiant men arsoe, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.”

How truly dreadful an ending. Sin has consequence and often the unfortunate truth is that others are harmed in the process, Saul cost many lives through his rebellion against God.

He was given to the very enemies he had sought advice against.

We read through all these passages that these practices are not of God, and God does make any allowance for any of it.

The good news is this, as any sin it can be repented of, Saul had opportunity to repent but he refused, imagine how differently the stories of so many could have ended, especially the stories of his own sons.

Finally, the story of just such a mass repentance, brought forth by the witnessing of the dark side trying to produce the same effects of those of the light, think of “ghost hunters” and “Paranormal Experts”, trying to remove spirits from properties.

Don’t think so, not without the power of God.

They are just being led down the wrong path, played with like a fish on a hook by the enemy.

ACTS 19: 11-20: ” And God wrought (performed) special miracles by the hands of Paul:

So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, we adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling (living) at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.

And many that used curious arts (witchcraft) brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. “

This was the original ghost hunters! Seeking out the possessed to make a name for themselves, not being saved, not knowing God, but using the name of Jesus, without authority to do so.

Only God and his power can bring deliverance, no human will ever have that power, God uses his servants to pray for specific things and then sends his anointing that actuallly does the work.

I know this has been quite long, but I really wanted to do an in-depth especially since we discussed paganism being welcomed into the churches.

And we could go and on with examples from the Bible, Simon the Sorcerer trying to buy the power of God and that did not end well for him and he could have used this to truly repent.

Many statements from God on the subject we could do post after post.

We discussed some key examples and suffice it to say, all this includes, tarot cards, astrology, (astronomy is fine) palm reading, numerology, horoscopes, and of course ,seances, seeking mediums, fortune-telling, ouija boards.

And all books on “magic” because again there is no such thing as white magic or good wizards, no where does scripture differenate between good and bad versions, it is all bad.

Notice the price of the books that were brought and burned by those who repented, fifty thousand pieces of silver in todays market that would be around four hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

It has to be invited and once it is in, it brings all the other with it so do not invite it in any form.

Any thing promoting, “magic” is evil.

Hollywood and the music industry is full of it and constantly bombarding kids with it.

Mega media producing show after show filled with it and stars proclaiming that they practice it, when you hear these things shun it.

It is what it is and don’t make the mistake of Saul, no one plays with it for free, it never ends well and is never worth the price.

God only wants the best for humans.

EZEKIEL 18:32: “ For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves ,and live ye.”

Turn away and repent.

Φλογιζω 2026/ Rev. N Brown Johnson