Dhis explanation is provided for people who have concerns about what churches say about mediums and the afterlife.
Some people in the church ascertain that any contact with those on the next plane of life must be demonic.
They say that Mediums speak with demons and speaking to mediums is forbidden by Biblical mandates.
Those assertions simply aren't true and I will explain "WHY".
The traditional teachings of many different churches throughout the ages have become completely distorted, manipulated, twisted and the claims that they ascertain, did not come from Jesus. I will completely outline that with history and an understanding of scripture, especially passages in Leviticus.
So, we will go into some Bible study for all those that don't really know anything about mediums.
There are some people out there that will say that they have been a medium, they have been converted and they claim that this is evil. But we must ask? Converted from what or whom?
It goes without saying that if you have been living your life in a good manner, you will attract good things in your life. It also goes without saying, that if you have alot of emotional problems, hurt, pain, anger, malice and live with negative or addictive behaviors, you will only bring about evil or negative spirits in your life. Add to that the mix of adding spiritual things and/or messing with the occult and surely, you have a recipe for disaster.
But that holds true for everyone, no matter what it is that you do.
If you were an addict, alcoholic, thief, etc., what do you think you would bring about in your life? Most people can't see the spirit world with their naked eye and many times they don't really realize where addictions and these types of behaviors come from. Of course, there is always mental illness and depression which can be attributed to a true medical condition, such as a chemical imbalance or vitamin deficiency but I tell you that we should also not discount the spiritual aspects of the spiritual world either. We find many physicians are now adding this subject to their practices and have even sent people to us because they felt that they could be helped by a spiritual means rather than medical. So, now let me ask, what if you lived with those types of negative behaviors and then you were doing mediumship as well? You'll find that "Like attracts like".
So, what we find is that the work is not what is evil, it's about you not living your life properly and what you attract.
It's all about where you stand spiritually in your life. If you live a good life, good spirits will interact with you. The Holy spirit will guide you. If you live poorly; I think it goes without saying, that you'll bring about your own problems.
Furthermore, let me say that true Mediumship/being a Seer is not something that should be taken lightly. It is a calling, dedication, and service for those that were meant to serve God, his will and his people. You cannot do this type of work if you are not living your life right. It requires a very strong relationship with God with complete and utter trust in his will. I also believe that it requires being a very Charismatic person, one that I feel has been chosen to do this line of work. Otherwise, yes, you will have problems. This should not be taken lightly and it requires deep prayer and trust in God.
For any Catholics out there that may want a better understanding on this subject; (as I find many battle internally having gifts themselves and yet, what they were also taught religiously), stay with me until the end of this page, as there is important dialogue from the Vatican that just may change your opinion on what you have been taught.
Bible Study
Its so common to find that most folks don't really know the bible or it's contents historically, behind the passages that they quote.
Specifically, the most commonly quoted scripture in Deuteronomy 18:10-11. It says,
"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead."
Well, let's first start by saying the word "medium" was never even in the original bible. YUP, THATS RIGHT! The word medium was added in as a "interpreted" translation.
Bibles dated prior to the 1900's do not have any mention of mediums at all. In fact, they weren't actually mentioned until the movement of spiritualism in 1864. The word was an addition by man in 1902 after the interest of spiritualism and spiritualist churches evolved.
What that has done by adding it into the bible is; that it has altered the Bible's content and now modern day people believe it to hold true. Because no one really takes the time to find out about what they are reading, we have incorrect teachings. Everyone just always takes things at face value because they honestly believe preachers, ministers, priests, etc as someone that would never steer them wrong religiously and THIS is the reason it is so important to do your homework.
Now many who would read the Deuteronomy passage above and say "See, those Paranormal People and Mediums are practicing evil and doing the devils work".
Well, not really. Let's understand this passage first. Let's learn the "historical" aspect of scripture, so that people can get a better understand as to why passages were written. It is important to understand that.
Historically, Polytheism was rampant and obviously Moses was fighting against this and trying to establish a Monotheistic culture. People at that time adored and worshiped many deities and those deities were not good. Period! I'm sure you have seen movies where people were worshiping such things as cows that they thought were also deities.
Now, regarding the sons and daughters passing through fire.....this is important "historically" because that is a historical ritual that worshiped the deity Moloc. With some tribes, they allowed their children to just jump over the fire without actually sacrificing them, but there were tribes that actually sacrificed their children to Moloc by throwing them in the fire and this superstitious act was condemned by the Council of Trullo (65).
It continues by describing soothsayers and wizards and keep in mind that many who practiced polytheism at this historical time period claimed to have received special "powers" by the many strange deities and these wizards and soothsayers used these "powers" to threaten others and manipulate the culture at the time. Yeah, to sum it up, these folks were just bad people acting as cons-artists.
Finally, there are many translations of this particular passage. But it speaks of charmers, witches, etc. Charmers of serpents meaning those who made a pact with the devil. Those individuals who mean do to harm to others.
Fortune tellers, or "wise men" known in Hebrew promised people great knowledge from the secrets of caballa or magic and this was very misleading. It was lying. Period. It was wrong! They promised the world and delivered smoke and mirrors; if only you would give them your money, they would give you special powers. That would be like me telling you, you give me $500 and I will give you the power to fly and yet, I never give you that power. That is lying. That is cheating and then you try and get a refund and I tell you, you are crossing the line and if you threaten me, I will send my evil powers after you and the issue is dropped. That is wrong and that is what occurred.
However, there were also "Wise Men" that were not frauds, but had very good spiritual senses about them. This is the reason they knew to follow the Star of David to the birth of Jesus. The bible was also filled with prophets.
Necromancy was very common in those days. Now keep in mind that necromancy is a magic that summons the spirit by "magic" or raising them bodily by "magic" for the purpose of DIVINATION (imparting the means to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge for self gratifying purposes). - BLACK MAGIC! It's also considered conjuring.
However, we do not conjure anything, they are already here asking for our help for whatever it is that they need, whether that be prayer or resolution.
Now, let me talk about this ideology that Frankincense and Myrrh are okay just because they were symbolic of the Wise Men visiting Jesus right after his birth after following the Star of David. While, yes, I think that these articles are symbolic, we must remember that they were brought to Jesus by Wise Men or Maji. None of which Mary turned away and their gifts became symbolic to Christianity.
First, let's talk a little about how these "Wise Men's" gifts are made and distributed . People in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula have produced frankincense and myrrh for some 5,000 years. For much of this time, these aromatic resins were the region's most important commodity, with a trade network that reached across Africa, Asia and Europe. Frankincense and myrrh were desired for personal, religious and medicinal use. In a time before daily bathing, people would use the sweet smoke from the resins to make themselves smell better. Egyptian women utilized the ash of frankincense for personal use as well, mixing it into their eye shadow.
These substances were also widely used in religious ceremonies and burials. Frankincense and myrrh also had medicinal uses. Other ailments they were once reported to cure include hemlock poisoning, leprosy, worms, snakebites, diarrhea, plague, scurvy and even baldness.
So what does this all mean? Well, we can clearly see here, that frankincense and myrrh were widely available when the Magi visited the baby Jesus around 5 B.C., and would have been considered very "practical" gifts with many uses. The expensive resins were not only practical, but also symbolic. Frankincense, which was often burned, symbolized prayer rising to the heavens like smoke, while myrrh, which was often used for burials, symbolized death. Accordingly, a mixture of wine and myrrh would be offered to Jesus during his crucifixion. My point here is that the Maji could have offered any other type of resin to Jesus as gifts, but they chose these because they most likely were readily available, symbolic, useful, and they readily had them available on them when they visited him. Because of being more expensive than other types of resins that were presently traded in those days, they made the perfect gift at that time, combined with gold. So is this to say that all "Wise Men" are bad or that all other resins are bad as well. Absolutely not! That would be ludicrous to even think such a thing. If other resins also hold properties that can help organically, medicinally or calm one's nerves due to the wonderful aromatic fragrance, we should be grateful that God has given us all these gifts. Yet, when we think of the three Wise Men, we relate to them religiously in a positive manner. Yet, there were Wise Men who were also bad, blowing smoke and mirrors to customers. Stay with me as this will make more sense in just a minute.
Now, lets get a couple of things clear here. Paranormal Investigators and Mediums do not participate in Necromancy. They do not chant to raise dead bodies, participate in divination, and they are not charging clients on cases and therefore, there is no form of black magic, white magic or fraud that they are committing.
They clearly have people and homeowners who call them. The clients are frightened, they come to their home and they try to help. They try and debunk what is occurring in their home. They also try to help people who have loved ones missing.
We do not pray to the evil being Moloc and no-one is throwing our children in the fire. We are not summoning the dead through black magic and we are not using information for the purpose of power.
We are using proof of their existence to help families who are frightened or hurting because they are hearing things that go bump in the night and sometimes, even worse. As for mediums, we use the proof of their existence to bring serenity, peace, healing and closure to someone's life.
Therefore, this passage in scripture, is null in void when it comes to Investigators and Mediums doing the work of God! ;-)
You see, at that time in history, many "wise men" or fortune tellers told people that they had powers from these "other" Gods.
Because Polytheism was rampant, these fortune tellers told others that they had magical powers and that they would impart those magical powers on to others but IT COMES AT A PRICE. They were "lying." (Noone here is trying to give someone else powers, committing an act of fraud or lying. We provide peace, closure, uplifting, hope and love. )
So, citizen Jane would go to see these "wise men" who promised to impart the DEEP secrets of caballa and other magic and yet, impart nothing but smoke and mirrors. When citizen Jane got upset, they would not dare question these "wise men" out of fear of dark magic or evil placed on her. "This was evil" what these people were doing. So, those particular "wise men" were what we would consider nowadays as con men. That is completely different from people who are gifted with psychic talents. That is also completely different from "Wise Men" or prophets who were spiritually orientated, just like many Native Americans are.
Scripture is FILLED with Prophets. And YES, they even foretold future events often and yet, they were NOT labeled as evil sorcerers. Why? Because these folks were not the "wise men" that were conning people, taking advantage of them, committing fraud and participating in black magic. This is what some of those biblical scriptures are talking about; not modern day mediums that are devoted to helping others. Yes, there are some mediums that give do mediumship a bad name, just like there were good wise men and bad wise men. It is your job to do you research before believing them so not to be taken advantage of just like any other profession. Do you just go to the first doctor you pull up on the internet or do you research for a specialty and then read reviews?
I firmly believe that there are some VERY gifted and talented psychics in this world.
There have been MANY psychics who have helped police departments find missing children and if I was a parent of a missing child and if a psychic was able to help me find my child, I would DARE someone come up to me and say that that all psychics are evil.
The things "they" have to endure on a daily basis to try and help someone is not evil, but if you think so, then you certainly have not received the proper education about this and are not in touch with the realization of what this is all about.
God gives certain gifts to certain people that can handle these type of things in this lifetime.
Can you imagine what it is like for a missing children psychic investigator to have to deal with the visions of these missing folks and feelings, like if they were actually there while the tragedies took place. Having visions of someone waterlogged or face down in the river because of a drowning is something less to be desired. But God allows these gifts to certain people to help his children with peace and closure, and especially to glorify his name. It takes a special kind of person to accept this kind of service plan for their life and give God glory through it. Although the images may be disturbing and you might say, "God wouldn't allow you to see such grotesque things", I believe that you are wrong. God wants us to help one another and he does allow certain people the ability to see things that only they can handle in order to deliver peace. A criminal may not actually be caught without all the specific details that they need in order to get the evidence necessary that they need to convict him.
When one finally comes to the realization that these visions are not meant to torment, but rather for validation, helping and loving others by being of service to them, then you come to the realization that these God given gifts were meant to help humanity and his children. He did not and has not ever abandoned us.
So, we have to be careful to place psychics in the same boat as the sorcerers as it speaks in scripture. It was not the same thing; as we now understand from a historical perspective.
Connecting with the deceased is not necessarily for the deceased, but rather, I have found its for the living.
The grieving process is so challenging and quite bluntly, it hurts. So many of us want to be able to say that last goodbye or to know that our loved one is ok and ya know, that is understandable. But that last goodbye is not necessarily for the deceased, its for the living.
Sometimes, the deceased also have issues that they feel they need to be resolved. I also believe that even when we pass, that our God is so loving that he is willing to allow us continued opportunities to learn what unconditional love is really all about. Maybe when some people die, they just didn't get it? Do we just die and then pay the price for all our sins by just going to hell? Well, I suppose some people will, however, for the most part, "No". THAT is why Jesus came. If we just automatically go to hell, then why did Jesus come? He came in reparation for our sins. He released many souls from hell. I do believe in a loving God and if a spirit wants to move forward in their spiritual growth, I believe that our God wants that for him/her. He wants them to understand what caused them to be where they are and "why" they are where they are and why it was justified in his eyes. I believe that he wants all souls to continue to ascend towards being closer to him.
Now, I understand the need for us to be able to re-connect to our relatives and friends who have passed on in hopes that we can just have that last goodbye. So that we can know that they are ok. But, we don't need to go to a psychic for that. God will make sure that they are ok. We can rest assure of that. We need to be careful about reducing the role of God when we pass and I have noticed that some have done this and I am somewhat concerned about that belief system.
I believe that when we pass, Heaven is present to us. It is not forced upon us. And I believe that God's love is always around us. When we are ready, we move forward. People often pray for the deceased and the intercessions of their guardian angels to intercede on their behalf; if needed, so that strength is given and encouragement is bestowed.
I know and understand that the living may have the void in their lives because they lost a loved one. But their relationship continues. The relationship does not just stop with their loved one; it just transforms from the matter into the spiritual - it deepens. And through a Spiritual Journey, we come to understand that and with healing, we will begin to see our loved ones tell us that they are there.
1 Corinthians 12:11 " It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have." Jesus said to the Pharisees in the first text I cited "Why would Satan cast out Satan? A kingdom divided can not stand", so it makes no sense that myself and other gifted peoples here can heal, bless, exorcisize evil spirits, and undo someone's foolishness (example, sealing spirit portals, banishing bad spirits, undoing pacts or spells that went heywire, etc - yes, we can and do 'fix' these situations like a surgeon can help heal the body) and that all this great work that we do somehow benefits the Devil?. Ridiculous, you might as well be saying Jesus and the Apostles, Prophets, and just about anyone else in the Bible were in League with him too. Anyone who is pure in their faith and love for God is anointed by God to do Priestly or Godly work.
With all that said, all I can say is that Corinthians is very clear about people having gifts to help raise up God's church. Prophesy being the greatest. It also says clearly that only those that have truly been given the gift of wisdom will truly be able to interpret God's word. Corinthians also talks about striving for higher gifts, so I choose to focus on all the things that are positive in the Bible rather than the things that appear negative and/or don't bring any unity to God's kingdom. It says that the gifts are bestowed upon people to give glory to God and help God's church by raising people up with encouragement, hope, and love as well as providing peace.
AND, I'm going to continue to go on with even more facts.....At this point, I truly hope that I am not boring you, but rather opening your eyes.
With all that said, if you quote scripture in The Old Testament, you must also strive to take into account the 612 other Mitzvahs of Torah.
You can't just pick and choose biblical scripture to suit your own needs.
The "Mitzvahs" are the rules an Orthodox Jew must follow based on passages in the Old Testament.
We have to assume that those who choose to cite passages of the Mitzvah against mediums as their banner must strive to adhere to the other 613 as well. Which means that they don't eat pork, don't work from sundown on Friday until after nightfall on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), don't travel beyond the city limits on Sabbath, read the Sh'ma twice daily, wear Tephilin of the head and hand, cancel monetary claims in the Sabbatical year (every seven years), eat matzah on the first night of Pesach, fast on Yom Kippur, whip transgressors of certain commandments, behead transgressors of certain commandments, don't shave their beard, don't pronounce the name of G_d, don't have markings or tattoos on their body, don't curse a ruler, and on and on through the rest of the total of 613 Mitzvahs.
We know that after 2000 years have passed, that you don't really follow all of these rules.....Do you????
I apologize for being blunt, but don't just sit there and pick and choose scripture to validate what you "WANT" to be justifed in religiously.....because I'm telling you that if you do, you will face a judgement price for this, as it is consider deceitful.
The Leviticus admonitions also include these rules: If you curse your father or mother, commit adultery, or have a homosexual relationship, you must be put to death. If you have sex with your partner when the female is having her period you have to be banished from your family and community. If a man marries his brother’s wife, they are to have no children. You are to eat no pork, etc....Maybe the Amish community still banishes people, but I am not sure there are any other communities that are still doing this these days?
Of course most people today don't obey the Leviticus rules or the 613 Mitzvahs of Torah; they would agree that the Old Testament Mitzvahs are not relevant for Christians today. However, in spite of that, modern day preachers continue to cite the passages that support their unfounded contention that grieving people must not talk to their deceased loved ones. In so doing, they block people's growth in understanding the afterlife, in understanding what being gifted is truly all about and it keeps them from learning that their loved ones are alive and well, that they've just stepped into another room for a few years, and all will soon be joined in a wonderful reunion.
Just as in the New Testament, there is no mention here of the odd concept that a medium speaks to demons. The passages state clearly that mediums speak to real people who have left the body, but are very much alive in the afterlife.
Jesus communed with Moses and Elijah in materialized bodies before Peter, John, and James. Clearly Jesus didn't see anything wrong with doing so. He certainly wouldn't have disobeyed the Old Testament and allowed the disciples to witness it, unless, of course, he was saying the new laws replaced the old, as he several times did.
These passages in Leviticus, are comprised of the 613 Jewish Mitzvah practices that we no longer adhere to, as we now know that, historically, they were talking about Polytheistic cultures. The 613 rules of the Mitzvahs in Leviticus and Deuteronomy no longer apply to a Monotheistic culture of the one Christian Divine God; and especially since many people do not practice the Jewish culture or religion.
I don't think anyone today practices the whole 613 rules of the Mitzvah, (well with the exception of someone that may be Jewish), however, I still have trouble believing, that present day, even the Jewish adhere to EVERY single 613th rule.
People often forget that these rules in the Old Testament became obsolete when Jesus came to establish the Monotheistic culture of just one God.
Even though people like Moses tried to set the stage in the Old Testament, by telling people what they were doing wrong, by them worshiping other deities and sin, it wasn't until Jesus came that the rules actually changed because of his sacrifice. And I don't mean changed them, by "changing" Old Testament practices and that they weren't valid at the time, but rather the rules eventually became null and void by the elimination of the Polytheistic culture.
By his death and resurrection, he was able to establish Christianity as a Monotheistic culture at that point.
Since Jews don't believe Jesus is the Messiah, that is the reason the Jews think they should still honor the Old Testament. We of course, have different beliefs as Christians since many of us believe his was the son of God. Since we no longer hold Polytheistic belief systems, these rules for the old Polytheistic cultures no longer apply to Christians.
The Mitzvah rules were based on spiritual practices of the Polytheistic cultures, such as honoring other deity's, for instance, including but not limited to: the deity Moloc where children were actually thrown into fire for sacrifices, soothsayers who practiced "Black magic" and worshiped other non-christian Gods and yet, even other Gods, like the golden Cow, representative of the Egyptian bull storm gods Apis and Ptah in the earlier period, the chief god El, and of the Canaanite fertility god Baal in the latter, all in which they also performed sacrificial ceremonies to these Gods.
Most people take these passages at face value and don't look into what they actually mean or meant historically.
The history of many of the Leviticus passages also refer to the barbaric funeral practices that these people who believe in Polytheistic Gods would perform. They would actually cut the dead person's body to get a sample of their blood, and use it in either a sacrifice or worship procedure to attempt to call up their dead loved ones. They were trying to raise the dead against their will, (again, I say, AGAINST THEIR WILL). They would conjure them up to try to talk to them. Their primary goal being to try to get personal information from them, such as where gold and riches were stashed and what their futures held for them. Conjuring anything in that manner is witchcraft and conjuring for personal gain. Not to mention, some of these practices were very barbaric. That is NOT what modern day mediums do.
A huge problem with our society is that people "choose" to follow traditions and rules without ever looking into the reasons the rules were established.
Sometimes old traditions were very barbaric, such as when villages would ceremonially stone a person to death to represent re-birth. Of course, we no longer do such things like that today either. It would be considered barbaric.
Yet, we still have some folks that think they should still adhere to the Old Testament and Polytheistic cultural teachings?
The rules were established to get people to stop the worshiping of other gods and performing their ceremonial practices in honor of those other gods.
I wonder how many people today believe in these scriptures as traditional fact just because of their belief systems, and yet they break the rules of the 613 Mitzvah in Leviticus on a daily basis? It sounds just a bit hypocritical to me...Yet they pick and choose scripture to justify their belief system and continue to adhere to the concept of the Polytheistic traditional rules laid out in Leviticus? I'm just saying.....We must be reasonable and think before we act. God gave us minds to rationalize the truth, however, some people get so sucked up in traditional teachings that they lose the real truth and couldn't see it even if it were right before their eyes. Such as in the case when Jesus stated, " For they do not even know who I am." John 14:9 "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?" Sometimes people are blinded by truth until someone points it out to them.
The abominations and sins that the Polytheistic cultures were committing were symbolic of breaking the covenant relationship with God, so they needed these rules at the time to get them back in line. You must remember that the belief back then was that God was not to be reckoned with in the New Testament and that everyone back in those times were convicted to hell if they were not living their lives right. Much hasn't changed in the theory of how we live our lives, but we now believe in a more loving God that is merciful and gracious because he loves us.
However, going back to the Mitzvah rules, they have become Null and Void since Polytheism is no longer rampant in our times. If people really believed that Jesus was our savior, there wouldn't be such a need to focus on the Old Testament. Yes, it is good for reading and it still holds many lessons for us that we can learn things from, derived from inspirations of the Holy Spirit. But do you think the inspirations just stopped there? Absolutely not, he is still inspiring people all around the world for the last few thousand centuries. People surely wouldn't break the 613 rules of the Mitzvahs, of course, unless they are "actually" saying (by not adhering to the 613 Mitzvahs daily) that the rules no longer apply to a monotheistic Christian culture. Could this be due to the historical significance of why they were written back then and/or because they don't apply to our times now? So, which is it?
Also it seems to me that, when you focus on all that, you are not completely focused on God instead and the teachings in the New Testament. He came to put an end to all those abominations and sacrificial practices of the Polytheistic cultures; where we now only serve one God. In my religious beliefs, I believe he did this by Jesus dying for our sins and being that he was the ultimate sacrifice. The Mitzvah rules have historically become null and void since we no longer worship in a Polytheistic culture and Christianity has been established where we worship the one Divine God now.
However, what is most important is the clear context of what the writers were saying.
In Deuteronomy, people were "consulting the dead" instead of God. They wanted to know where the gold was stashed, what path they should take, who was their enemies, and so on....All things regarding personal and selfish gains.
For instance, Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord, not because he went to a medium; he "consulted a medium for guidance" instead of consulting God. Let's not underestimate the importance of the fact that he had been doing many things that angered God right up to the point of him actually going to the medium, (looking for knowledge from Samuel) which is "why" he went to the medium to begin with. God was not answering him anymore in the first place because he was angry with him. He most likely had been lying, deceiving and was going against God's word before he even ever met up with the medium. He "went" to the medium because he had not been hearing from God any longer because of his actions prior to meeting up with her. That's what angered God and the fact that he no longer turned to God for guidance overall. People can receive messages of love and upliftment from their loved ones in the spirit world, but the guidance still needs to come from God. God allows them to give this guidance if he feels it will help their spiritual path and growth. We must be careful not to try and take his place but rather prove through his gifts, that the after life does exist and that our loved ones are there ready to help us all while remaining to look to God for guidance.
Mediums do not provide guidance, they provide messages, encouragement, uplifting, love, peace and closure leading the person to God for guidance. John 14:27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid." I feel our jobs, as Mediums, should be to strive to send you towards God to receive only the kind of peace that only God alone can give. But, I also believe that sometimes that peace is also distributed as a gift through his people to let you know that he cares until you get the real concept of it. We just plant the seeds, we don't play the hand of God.
Saul saught guidance and fortune telling for his own purposes. This is what angered God. He did not go for consolation. We are actually instructed in Corinthians to console the people.
The Old Testament Yahweh wasn't a God to be trifled with; he certainly did his share of killing people who got on his bad side. We don't believe in that God any more; God doesn't kill people who aren't faithful. He strives to convert sinners and the unfaithful and focuses on getting them to turn to him. It's a good thing because that would mean many Americans and many other people would be wiped out.
At the times all of these passages refer to, religions existed that were based on spiritism or mediumistic activities. That is what the writers were railing against, not speaking to a loved one who had passed away. The writers were putting mediums and spiritists in the same list with idols and household gods, as the representatives of these other religions. You must remember that there was worship of many deities back then. It is NOT the same thing as we have today. Do all men and woman wear robes as clothing like they did back then? "No". - We have changed with the times. One must also remember to put the context of the Bible into perspective from the time frame that it was written in and all the laws, feasts, deities, messages, gifts, prophets, lessons, etc.....
Jesus taught through his apostle and gifted Paul that there are two worlds, and that every human has two bodies, one for each world. In the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul explains that we are born with two bodies.
"It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body."
"I tell you this, my brothers: an earthly body made of flesh and blood cannot get into God’s kingdom. These bodies are not the right kind to live forever." He was expressing that the spirit body is what lives forever and beholds the kingdom of Heaven. And do we really know what or where the kingdom of heaven is? Couldn't it be validly possible that there are many places in this vast universe, in which we can continue to obtain the enlightenment that our soul needs to learn unconditional love and be one with and closer to God? It's just continued SPIRITUAL growth for those that continue to need it. No one person here on earth now can say they are perfect. I believe we all have spiritual growth opportunities that we must harvest, even if that includes, when we die. If God loves us enough to have freewill on earth, why would we not have freewill in death?
Saint Paul taught when death comes to the physical or flesh body, the spiritual (etheric) body called the soul, is released to live in another dimension. Most people call this other dimension heaven. The important thing to remember is that the soul or spirit is living, breathing, and having its being in another dimension, called the Spirit World. This other dimension is not above or below the earth, but is congruent or intermeshed with our own physical world. However, the Spirit World exists on a higher frequency, than most people’s physical senses can detect. I believe we ascend, but the dimensions are actually entwined with our reality. We just can't see it for the most part, with the exceptions of mediums, seers, prophets or other types of very spiritual people.
In the air we breathe, there are billions of sounds and pictures transmitted from radio and television stations. They are transmitted on vibrational rates much too high for the human eyes and ears to detect. However, when the proper instrument is used, a radio or television that is attuned to this higher vibrational rate, the instrument receives this invisible information and modulates its vibration down to a rate that human beings can hear and see.
The World of Spirit vibrates on a much higher frequency than the radio or television waves. Therefore, the World of Spirit is also right here, just as radio and television vibrations, but most of us are unable to detect them. The people that can regularly communicate with the Spirit World are the people who are gifted mediums or highly spiritually advanced.
A medium/seer is one who has the ability to become the communication link between the spiritual and physical worlds. Nature has always provided certain people with the ability to alter their state of consciousness. This occurs when certain brain centers in a medium’s brain is activated. These centers are the receiver of Spiritual frequencies. These same centers are dormant in most people’s brains.
A Spirit can "broadcast" messages to a medium, whose brain centers receive the information. Then the medium can repeat these messages to other physical people, which brings about perfect communication from the Spirit and physical worlds. Therefore, a medium is "the person in the middle," between the Spirit and physical people. Many times, its just a blending of the two spiritual energies.
A medium has one of the Gifts of the Spirit, (the same gifts that Paul described in 1 Corinthians 12). Each gift is connected to a different brain center. Depending on which brain center is operational in the medium’s brain determines which of the Gifts of the Spirit that medium will demonstrate. Gifts of the Spirit have been known and demonstrated all the way down through the centuries of time, even farther back than Biblical times. God came to explain his kingdom and let people know how to use these gifts properly for his glory.
Mediums, who possess the Gifts of the Spirit, are sensitive to the vibrational rate of another world. Mediums are able at times, to raise their own vibrational rate (altering their consciousness) while the Spirit lowers its vibrational rate, thereby creating a linkage or bridge between the two entities. People who are endowed with these Gifts of the Spirit have been known by many different names.
Shaman, Seer, Prophet, Person With A Familiar Spirit, Man In White Clothing, Man Of God, Psychic, Medium, Instrument.
The terms psychic, and instrument are the most commonly used words to refer a medium.
As God first breathed into the nostrils of man he became a living soul, or to borrow an expression from the Greek, he became a living psyche. Psychic derives its meaning from the Greek word psyche meaning soul and mind. Therefore any study pertaining to the mind, and any study pertaining to the soul consciousness is a study of psychic science.
Everyone is psychic to some extent, however, not everyone is a medium. A psychic can often get a sense of future events, or a feeling that danger is ahead, however, they cannot identify the source of this information. A medium, hears or sees a Spirit, therefore, the medium can provide information that can identify the Spirit. The medium can also convey the Spirit’s message to other physical people.
The term INSTRUMENT is often used to describe a medium. A violin has the potential to create beautiful music, but it takes an outside force, the musician to cause the music to be produced. The musician also has the potential to produce beautiful music, but he can not create his music without the instrument, or violin. Music can only be created though the combined effort of the instrument and the musician.
A medium is the instrument for Spirit. Through the use of a medium, Spirit is able to transmit their messages from the Spirit World to a person on the earth plane. The medium cannot bring this message about without the help of Spirit, just as Spirit cannot bring the message about without the use of the instrument. The cooperation of both is needed.
A Gift of the Spirit is having the ability to demonstrate psychic phenomena. It is considered a gift from God, just as Michelangelo had a gift of art, and Beethoven had a gift of music.
Jesus taught us through the prophet Paul in Chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, that everyone should be educated in the Gifts of the Spirit.
"And now, brothers, I want to write about the special abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each of you, for I don't want any misunderstanding about them."
"Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all."
"There are different kinds of service to God but it is the same Lord we are serving."
"There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are His."
"The Holy Spirit displays God's power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church."
"To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; someone else may be especially good at studying and teaching, and this is his gift from the same Spirit."
"He gives special faith to another, and to someone else the power to heal the sick."
"He gives power for doing miracles to some, and to others power to prophesy and preach. He gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through those who claim to be giving God's messages -- or whether it is really the Spirit of God who is speaking." (And, yes, I have seen folks that make these claims, while I sat there watching the tendrils of an attached spirit coming out from the middle of their back. These are the folks with familial deceiving spirits. But God gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through that person, just as in the case where we can spiritually "see" this. It's also called discernment)
"Still another person is able to speak in languages he never learned; and others who do not know the language either, are given power to understand what he is saying."
"It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have."(LIV)
Jesus wanted the people to be educated in the Gifts of the Spirit so that they would realize that life continues after the change we know as death.
The World of Spirit is the world that we will enter into when our soul or spiritual body, leaves the physical body, at death. It is important that we here in the physical world, or earth plane, know and understand that the Spirit World is real, and exists now, not off into the future. Because whatever we do with our lives here on earth, whatever we build or make of ourselves, we will arrive in the Spirit World with the same talents, the same understandings, the same misconceptions. The sooner we understand and come to the realization in our own mind that the Spirit World exits, then we will be preparing ourselves for our life in the Spirit World.
All of the Gifts of the Spirit that Saint Paul mentioned can be found in the Bible. In fact, as you will see if you took all the Gifts of the Spirit or psychic phenomena out of the Bible there would no longer be much of a Holy Bible. Many pages would be empty.
Jesus spoke later in his account of going to be with the Father, God, and being available for the disciples to communicate with. He said they could ask him to do things and he would do them on the other side of life. In other words, Jesus had a very clear conception that his life would continue and that he would be available to communicate with the disciples, although ordinary people would probably not be able to see him. That is a perfect description of the next plane of life where people are able to walk among us and see us, but we can't see them.
In a remarkable description of being on the next plane of life, communicating with the disciples, and appearing to them at times, Jesus is reported to have said this:
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. Anyone who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. John 14:18-21
These remarkable words aren't concepts known among the first-century Jews. The writers who recorded Jesus' words undoubtedly had no idea what they were writing—they just wrote down what he was reported to have said. Jesus' description shows insights into the afterlife that could only have come from guidance from God and those on higher planes of being. They are testimony to his knowledge that he would be living on the next plane of life and if the disciples just had faith and were open to him from the other side, he would be able to guide them and even appear to them.
In other words, there is no evidence that Jesus believed that his followers would go into cold storage after passing away and enter a heaven at some far-distant time, and early Christians closest to Jesus' time believed people were guided in the afterlife upon death. On the other hand, there is direct, clear evidence that Jesus believed that those who passed away would immediately enter the next plane of life and have etheric bodies. He spoke with Moses and Elijah as they materialized, and he allowed Peter, John, and James to witness it. Finally, he assured his disciples that even though he was not going to be in a physical body, he would be with them, would give them guidance, and even might appear to them. So would it be wrong for the apostles to commune with him when he is dead? In his case, is he the "Exception" to the rule of not speaking to the dead? Is it "Exceptions" to the rules that children spoke with the Blessed Mary at Fatima and other locations? So what are the rules? Its clear that he taught us what the rules were; however, most people just live in such a real fear of the spirit world, because it is such an "Unknown" for the most part. We fear what we do not understand.
We do have evidence that Jesus knew there is an afterlife into which people go immediately after passing away.
While on the cross, one account has Jesus saying to the thief beside him, that the thief would be with him that day in paradise. There was to be no delay for the thief or Jesus; they would be together in paradise the moment they passed away.
Another account has a description of Jesus taking Peter, John, and James with him to a mountain to pray. There, two men appeared, "in glorious splendor," and talked with Jesus. The three disciples recognized the two men as Moses and Elijah. In other words, Moses and Elijah had etheric ("glorified") bodies and were very much alive in spirit and Jesus spoke to them, undoubtedly listening to their wisdom and counsel. At the time, Moses' body had been disintegrating where he died (on the mountain overlooking the promised land) for 1,200 years, and Elijah's was moldering in the ground for 800 years, so they weren't appearing in those piles of dry bones and dust. Jesus would not disobey God's command to commune with them, unless of course, there was no real rule about this being sinful, as we know the Old Testament was replaced by Jesus's coming.
Jesus promised that his disciples and we would be able to do all the things he did and greater things (John 1:50), meaning we are able to commune with those in the next plane of life just as he did, sometimes even when they appear in glorified bodies. St Theresa, Padre Pio and many other Saints said they would do many more things from the spirit world after their death, such as continuing to convert sinners. The children of Fatima witnessed and spoke with an apparition of the Blessed Mary, yet the church does not condemn this communing either.
There are other references to demons in the New Testament, but none have to do with contact of a deceased loved one.
They passages held the ancient belief that disease and psychological problems were caused by demons, an archaic belief no one accepts today. Acts 16:16-18 describes a girl "possessed by an evil spirit" that enabled her to be a fortune teller. Fortune telling has nothing to do with communicating with deceased loved ones, but it also doesn't indicate that a demon speaks through any human being; the fortune teller may just have been able to see future events, most probably a form of prophesy.
There are no statements in the Bible suggesting that demons disguise themselves as loved ones speaking from the afterlife.
Leviticus 19:31
Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
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.
Leviticus 20:27
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.
Now lets look at these passages; Firstly, the "word" medium was added in 1902 and didn't even exist in the bible before that, Secondly, Jesus came to tell us to no longer pick up that stone as in the passages with Mary Magdalene, "that you are who without sin may cast the first stone". Murder is not acceptable. So it is clear that these passages of the Old Testament are no longer valid. Thirdly, these passages are written when Polytheism was rampant and con men were defiling people. They included mediums in the categories where there were polytheism religions because there were some that were not following the one and only God. They represented OTHER religions. They choose to worship other deities. Again, this is why Moses came to establish a monotheistic culture. If one is serving the same one God and the Holy Spirit, they are not to be placed in the same category as these frauds. But we must remember that Jesus came to replace the Old Testament, and he did this through his blood as the ultimate sacrifice for all.
1 Samuel 28:9
But the woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?" (Whole Chapter: 1 Samuel 28 In context: 1 Samuel 28:8-10)
In this chapter, I find it ironic that the one here really doing evil works is Saul. He lied to this woman, deceived her, and conjured spirit. Yet, this woman still offers an act of kindness to give him a dinner at her table.
Taking into account the writer of the story from his perspective, this woman was most likely wrongly accused about her gifts. She seems to live in fear over them. It is completely possible that she may just have had gifts of the Holy spirit. Who is to say, who has the gifts? Only God can say that, only those that have been gifted with his spirit of discernment can say that. It's clear she was worried about her life and feared for it.
This just makes me think back to the 1800's when there where many innocent folks accused of being witches in Salem, Massachusetts, but they were truly innocent people.
Now some have said here in my own hometown (because of their religious beliefs), that I practice witchcraft because I am gifted, and honestly, this is the furthest thing from the truth. I am a very holy christian. I strive everyday to do God's work via his will. So, now lets step back and take another look at the fact that, if those same folks that have made those accusations against me, where to write a story from their perspective, I would be the most evil person in their eyes. But just because this is their opinion from their perspective, that does not make it true.
We must be very careful to take into account these same scenarios when the Bible was written, just because this woman was accused of being a medium with a familiar spirit does not make it true. She may just have had the gifts of the Holy spirit. We will never know how it all works until we die, but to make claims that you know it all based on biblical scripture is pure nonsense. You must read, study and interpret the bible, via both the knowledge, influence of the Holy Spirit and common sense. This is the wisdom that God gives us to interpret his word.
When you finally lay down your judgments and take a good real look at the whole concept by thinking outside of the box from traditional teachings, you will see so much more about how this all came to be; as well as, how and why it is used today.
We all, (and noone is exempt from this) have been programmed to accept traditions that we don't even sometimes understand or "why" we do things. Things often change, but the barbaric nature of things usually remain as the center of our dealings. A good example of this concept is portrayed in Shirley Jackson's literary writing, called "The Lottery". One must think logically, rationally and balance is the ultimate key.
There has been so much damage by frauds and con- artists, that the word psychic is now very frowned upon in society.
The term "Psychic: has also been severely taken out of context from people who claim they know the Bible so well.
People will often use the words in the Bible, literally, as a weapon, without even knowing the stories behind the passages that they quote.
Not to mention that passages have been changed over and over again. Leviticus 20:6 "If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people."
People justify and believe their attacks are holy and warranted, but I have to ask now, how verbal attacks and theatrical performances are truly holy and loving behaviors?
I have always been a believer that you get more with sugar and honey than salt and vinegar.
Are these folks really living the word of God if they are doing this?
It's so sad for me to see this, as I just wish for them to understand that their aggressive and unkind behaviors are so totally out of context with God's word. This is the one very thing that Jesus came to teach.
It's very unfortunate that some people can do much damage to society as a whole, by their hatred, animosity, criticism, lack of knowledge, judgmental ways, unkindly behaviors and quoting scripture improperly.
These are the reasons that the word "Psychic" has become such a stereotype.
Unfortunately, Yes, there are some psychics that like to continue to adhere to the stereotypical role, but not all of us are like that. There is a difference between those that do this just for money and commit fraudulent acts and those that are real and do not. It's not any different than a lawyer who twists the rules in the legal system to make things work for himself, while the rest are ethically sound.
All we can do is be forgiving and pray for their enlightenment.
Being able to likely tell you about, your past, present, future and many other things that the person could not possibly have known about you, is the spirit of Knowledge. These are all God given gifts as discussed in Corinthians 12-14. It comes from that divine spark that is in all of us and is located in our soul. Some people just choose to either ignore it or they have extinguished it because of their unloving or unkindly ways.
There are some people that will claim these gifts are from a demon or a familiar spirit. You can always tell those apart by the kind of life they live. Are they in line with God's will or their own will? Anyone doing the work of God is under the influence of the Holy Spirit. I can't see how Satan would benefit from doing what is God's will and bringing others closer to God. I am a firm believer that if it brings you closer to God, then it's good. If it takes you away from God, then it is bad. Enough said....
Revelation 21:8 — But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Exodus 7:11,22; 8:7 — Using their “enchantments,” Pharaoh’s magicians tried to duplicate the miracles done by Moses and Aaron. “Enchantments” refer to the ceremonies or rituals sorcerers and magicians use to accomplish their ends: incantations, spells, magic words (“hocus-pocus”), wearing of charms (amulets), etc.
Galatians 5:20,21 — Those who will not inherit the kingdom of God include those who practice “sorcery” (“witchcraft” — KJV). This includes the occult in general, but refers especially to the use of drugs and potions brewed by witches in their cauldrons, etc.
The Bible often warns us to avoid being deceived by lying wonders [2 Thess. 2:9; Matt. 24:24; Deut. 13:1-5].
Many Bible events involved confrontations between those who did true miracles from God and those who practiced forms of sorcery or magic.
Exodus 7-9; read 8:18,19 — Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers tried to duplicate the signs and plagues God caused through Moses and Aaron (7:11,22; 8:7,8,18; 9:11). For a while they seemed to succeed, but soon they failed and admitted Moses had the power of God. Such was very much the same in the Book of Daniel.
Daniel 1:20 — In all matters of wisdom and understanding the king found Daniel and his friends ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers.
Acts 8:9-13 — When Simon used sorcery to amaze the Samaritans, they believed he had great power from God. But when Philip preached Jesus and did true miracles by the power of God, both the people and Simon himself believed and were converted.
SO, let's get this straight....Noone here is performing spells, white or black magic.
So when doing the work of God, many of these passages are all NULL and VOID......Maybe, just maybe, the will of God is still at work in many and is not just limited to B.C or 100 A.D.
Ultimately, the Gifts are meant to show love to one another, heal, and love God unconditionally.
This is the soul's lesson.
Now, let me say that with myself being Catholic, this is personally for all those "Catholics" that I find myself having to counsel continuously on the truth regarding this subject.
For the Catholics that believe its evil or a sin to communicate with the dead; these particular articles below are for you.
1.) "Dialogue with the dead is feasible, Vatican spokesman says
By John Hooper
London Observer Service
ROME – One of the most authoritative spokesmen of the Roman Catholic Church has raised eyebrows among the faithful by declaring that the Church believes in the feasibility of communication... with the dead.
The Rev. Gino Concetti, chief theological commentator for the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, denied he was signaling any change in approach. But he agreed that his remarks might come as a jolt to many believers.
He said the Church remained opposed to the raising of spirits, but added: "Communication is possible between those who live on this earth and those who live in a state of eternal repose, in heaven or purgatory. It may even be that God lets our loved ones send us messages to guide us at certain moments in our life."
His comments were first made in support of an American theologian, the Rev. John Neuhaus.
Neuhaus had described how a friend had seen a ghost. He said there were various explanations, but "the important thing is not to deny such things a priority."
Concetti said the key to the Church’s attitude was the Roman Catholic belief in a "Communion of Saints," which included Christians on earth as well as those in the after-life. "Where there is communion, there is communication," he said.
Concetti suggested dead relatives could be responsible for prompting impulses and triggering inspiration - and even for "sensory manifestations," such as appearances in dreams.
Concetti said the new Catholic catechism specifically endorsed the view that the dead could intercede on earth and quotes the dying St. Dominic telling his brothers: "Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life."
This article was published by the London Observer Service and was written by John Hooper.
2.) It is no Longer a Sin to Contact the Deceased Through a Medium
by Michael Roll
One of the most competent theologians of the Vatican, Father Gino Concetti, writing in the "Observatore Romano", the daily paper of the Holy See, says that, "According to the modern catechism the Church has decided not to forbid anymore to dialogue with the deceased ... this is as a sequel of new discoveries within the domain of the paranormal." November 1995
Some people in the church ascertain that any contact with those on the next plane of life must be demonic.
They say that Mediums speak with demons and speaking to mediums is forbidden by Biblical mandates.
Those assertions simply aren't true and I will explain "WHY".
The traditional teachings of many different churches throughout the ages have become completely distorted, manipulated, twisted and the claims that they ascertain, did not come from Jesus. I will completely outline that with history and an understanding of scripture, especially passages in Leviticus.
So, we will go into some Bible study for all those that don't really know anything about mediums.
There are some people out there that will say that they have been a medium, they have been converted and they claim that this is evil. But we must ask? Converted from what or whom?
It goes without saying that if you have been living your life in a good manner, you will attract good things in your life. It also goes without saying, that if you have alot of emotional problems, hurt, pain, anger, malice and live with negative or addictive behaviors, you will only bring about evil or negative spirits in your life. Add to that the mix of adding spiritual things and/or messing with the occult and surely, you have a recipe for disaster.
But that holds true for everyone, no matter what it is that you do.
If you were an addict, alcoholic, thief, etc., what do you think you would bring about in your life? Most people can't see the spirit world with their naked eye and many times they don't really realize where addictions and these types of behaviors come from. Of course, there is always mental illness and depression which can be attributed to a true medical condition, such as a chemical imbalance or vitamin deficiency but I tell you that we should also not discount the spiritual aspects of the spiritual world either. We find many physicians are now adding this subject to their practices and have even sent people to us because they felt that they could be helped by a spiritual means rather than medical. So, now let me ask, what if you lived with those types of negative behaviors and then you were doing mediumship as well? You'll find that "Like attracts like".
So, what we find is that the work is not what is evil, it's about you not living your life properly and what you attract.
It's all about where you stand spiritually in your life. If you live a good life, good spirits will interact with you. The Holy spirit will guide you. If you live poorly; I think it goes without saying, that you'll bring about your own problems.
Furthermore, let me say that true Mediumship/being a Seer is not something that should be taken lightly. It is a calling, dedication, and service for those that were meant to serve God, his will and his people. You cannot do this type of work if you are not living your life right. It requires a very strong relationship with God with complete and utter trust in his will. I also believe that it requires being a very Charismatic person, one that I feel has been chosen to do this line of work. Otherwise, yes, you will have problems. This should not be taken lightly and it requires deep prayer and trust in God.
For any Catholics out there that may want a better understanding on this subject; (as I find many battle internally having gifts themselves and yet, what they were also taught religiously), stay with me until the end of this page, as there is important dialogue from the Vatican that just may change your opinion on what you have been taught.
Bible Study
Its so common to find that most folks don't really know the bible or it's contents historically, behind the passages that they quote.
Specifically, the most commonly quoted scripture in Deuteronomy 18:10-11. It says,
"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead."
Well, let's first start by saying the word "medium" was never even in the original bible. YUP, THATS RIGHT! The word medium was added in as a "interpreted" translation.
Bibles dated prior to the 1900's do not have any mention of mediums at all. In fact, they weren't actually mentioned until the movement of spiritualism in 1864. The word was an addition by man in 1902 after the interest of spiritualism and spiritualist churches evolved.
What that has done by adding it into the bible is; that it has altered the Bible's content and now modern day people believe it to hold true. Because no one really takes the time to find out about what they are reading, we have incorrect teachings. Everyone just always takes things at face value because they honestly believe preachers, ministers, priests, etc as someone that would never steer them wrong religiously and THIS is the reason it is so important to do your homework.
Now many who would read the Deuteronomy passage above and say "See, those Paranormal People and Mediums are practicing evil and doing the devils work".
Well, not really. Let's understand this passage first. Let's learn the "historical" aspect of scripture, so that people can get a better understand as to why passages were written. It is important to understand that.
Historically, Polytheism was rampant and obviously Moses was fighting against this and trying to establish a Monotheistic culture. People at that time adored and worshiped many deities and those deities were not good. Period! I'm sure you have seen movies where people were worshiping such things as cows that they thought were also deities.
Now, regarding the sons and daughters passing through fire.....this is important "historically" because that is a historical ritual that worshiped the deity Moloc. With some tribes, they allowed their children to just jump over the fire without actually sacrificing them, but there were tribes that actually sacrificed their children to Moloc by throwing them in the fire and this superstitious act was condemned by the Council of Trullo (65).
It continues by describing soothsayers and wizards and keep in mind that many who practiced polytheism at this historical time period claimed to have received special "powers" by the many strange deities and these wizards and soothsayers used these "powers" to threaten others and manipulate the culture at the time. Yeah, to sum it up, these folks were just bad people acting as cons-artists.
Finally, there are many translations of this particular passage. But it speaks of charmers, witches, etc. Charmers of serpents meaning those who made a pact with the devil. Those individuals who mean do to harm to others.
Fortune tellers, or "wise men" known in Hebrew promised people great knowledge from the secrets of caballa or magic and this was very misleading. It was lying. Period. It was wrong! They promised the world and delivered smoke and mirrors; if only you would give them your money, they would give you special powers. That would be like me telling you, you give me $500 and I will give you the power to fly and yet, I never give you that power. That is lying. That is cheating and then you try and get a refund and I tell you, you are crossing the line and if you threaten me, I will send my evil powers after you and the issue is dropped. That is wrong and that is what occurred.
However, there were also "Wise Men" that were not frauds, but had very good spiritual senses about them. This is the reason they knew to follow the Star of David to the birth of Jesus. The bible was also filled with prophets.
Necromancy was very common in those days. Now keep in mind that necromancy is a magic that summons the spirit by "magic" or raising them bodily by "magic" for the purpose of DIVINATION (imparting the means to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge for self gratifying purposes). - BLACK MAGIC! It's also considered conjuring.
However, we do not conjure anything, they are already here asking for our help for whatever it is that they need, whether that be prayer or resolution.
Now, let me talk about this ideology that Frankincense and Myrrh are okay just because they were symbolic of the Wise Men visiting Jesus right after his birth after following the Star of David. While, yes, I think that these articles are symbolic, we must remember that they were brought to Jesus by Wise Men or Maji. None of which Mary turned away and their gifts became symbolic to Christianity.
First, let's talk a little about how these "Wise Men's" gifts are made and distributed . People in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula have produced frankincense and myrrh for some 5,000 years. For much of this time, these aromatic resins were the region's most important commodity, with a trade network that reached across Africa, Asia and Europe. Frankincense and myrrh were desired for personal, religious and medicinal use. In a time before daily bathing, people would use the sweet smoke from the resins to make themselves smell better. Egyptian women utilized the ash of frankincense for personal use as well, mixing it into their eye shadow.
These substances were also widely used in religious ceremonies and burials. Frankincense and myrrh also had medicinal uses. Other ailments they were once reported to cure include hemlock poisoning, leprosy, worms, snakebites, diarrhea, plague, scurvy and even baldness.
So what does this all mean? Well, we can clearly see here, that frankincense and myrrh were widely available when the Magi visited the baby Jesus around 5 B.C., and would have been considered very "practical" gifts with many uses. The expensive resins were not only practical, but also symbolic. Frankincense, which was often burned, symbolized prayer rising to the heavens like smoke, while myrrh, which was often used for burials, symbolized death. Accordingly, a mixture of wine and myrrh would be offered to Jesus during his crucifixion. My point here is that the Maji could have offered any other type of resin to Jesus as gifts, but they chose these because they most likely were readily available, symbolic, useful, and they readily had them available on them when they visited him. Because of being more expensive than other types of resins that were presently traded in those days, they made the perfect gift at that time, combined with gold. So is this to say that all "Wise Men" are bad or that all other resins are bad as well. Absolutely not! That would be ludicrous to even think such a thing. If other resins also hold properties that can help organically, medicinally or calm one's nerves due to the wonderful aromatic fragrance, we should be grateful that God has given us all these gifts. Yet, when we think of the three Wise Men, we relate to them religiously in a positive manner. Yet, there were Wise Men who were also bad, blowing smoke and mirrors to customers. Stay with me as this will make more sense in just a minute.
Now, lets get a couple of things clear here. Paranormal Investigators and Mediums do not participate in Necromancy. They do not chant to raise dead bodies, participate in divination, and they are not charging clients on cases and therefore, there is no form of black magic, white magic or fraud that they are committing.
They clearly have people and homeowners who call them. The clients are frightened, they come to their home and they try to help. They try and debunk what is occurring in their home. They also try to help people who have loved ones missing.
We do not pray to the evil being Moloc and no-one is throwing our children in the fire. We are not summoning the dead through black magic and we are not using information for the purpose of power.
We are using proof of their existence to help families who are frightened or hurting because they are hearing things that go bump in the night and sometimes, even worse. As for mediums, we use the proof of their existence to bring serenity, peace, healing and closure to someone's life.
Therefore, this passage in scripture, is null in void when it comes to Investigators and Mediums doing the work of God! ;-)
You see, at that time in history, many "wise men" or fortune tellers told people that they had powers from these "other" Gods.
Because Polytheism was rampant, these fortune tellers told others that they had magical powers and that they would impart those magical powers on to others but IT COMES AT A PRICE. They were "lying." (Noone here is trying to give someone else powers, committing an act of fraud or lying. We provide peace, closure, uplifting, hope and love. )
So, citizen Jane would go to see these "wise men" who promised to impart the DEEP secrets of caballa and other magic and yet, impart nothing but smoke and mirrors. When citizen Jane got upset, they would not dare question these "wise men" out of fear of dark magic or evil placed on her. "This was evil" what these people were doing. So, those particular "wise men" were what we would consider nowadays as con men. That is completely different from people who are gifted with psychic talents. That is also completely different from "Wise Men" or prophets who were spiritually orientated, just like many Native Americans are.
Scripture is FILLED with Prophets. And YES, they even foretold future events often and yet, they were NOT labeled as evil sorcerers. Why? Because these folks were not the "wise men" that were conning people, taking advantage of them, committing fraud and participating in black magic. This is what some of those biblical scriptures are talking about; not modern day mediums that are devoted to helping others. Yes, there are some mediums that give do mediumship a bad name, just like there were good wise men and bad wise men. It is your job to do you research before believing them so not to be taken advantage of just like any other profession. Do you just go to the first doctor you pull up on the internet or do you research for a specialty and then read reviews?
I firmly believe that there are some VERY gifted and talented psychics in this world.
There have been MANY psychics who have helped police departments find missing children and if I was a parent of a missing child and if a psychic was able to help me find my child, I would DARE someone come up to me and say that that all psychics are evil.
The things "they" have to endure on a daily basis to try and help someone is not evil, but if you think so, then you certainly have not received the proper education about this and are not in touch with the realization of what this is all about.
God gives certain gifts to certain people that can handle these type of things in this lifetime.
Can you imagine what it is like for a missing children psychic investigator to have to deal with the visions of these missing folks and feelings, like if they were actually there while the tragedies took place. Having visions of someone waterlogged or face down in the river because of a drowning is something less to be desired. But God allows these gifts to certain people to help his children with peace and closure, and especially to glorify his name. It takes a special kind of person to accept this kind of service plan for their life and give God glory through it. Although the images may be disturbing and you might say, "God wouldn't allow you to see such grotesque things", I believe that you are wrong. God wants us to help one another and he does allow certain people the ability to see things that only they can handle in order to deliver peace. A criminal may not actually be caught without all the specific details that they need in order to get the evidence necessary that they need to convict him.
When one finally comes to the realization that these visions are not meant to torment, but rather for validation, helping and loving others by being of service to them, then you come to the realization that these God given gifts were meant to help humanity and his children. He did not and has not ever abandoned us.
So, we have to be careful to place psychics in the same boat as the sorcerers as it speaks in scripture. It was not the same thing; as we now understand from a historical perspective.
Connecting with the deceased is not necessarily for the deceased, but rather, I have found its for the living.
The grieving process is so challenging and quite bluntly, it hurts. So many of us want to be able to say that last goodbye or to know that our loved one is ok and ya know, that is understandable. But that last goodbye is not necessarily for the deceased, its for the living.
Sometimes, the deceased also have issues that they feel they need to be resolved. I also believe that even when we pass, that our God is so loving that he is willing to allow us continued opportunities to learn what unconditional love is really all about. Maybe when some people die, they just didn't get it? Do we just die and then pay the price for all our sins by just going to hell? Well, I suppose some people will, however, for the most part, "No". THAT is why Jesus came. If we just automatically go to hell, then why did Jesus come? He came in reparation for our sins. He released many souls from hell. I do believe in a loving God and if a spirit wants to move forward in their spiritual growth, I believe that our God wants that for him/her. He wants them to understand what caused them to be where they are and "why" they are where they are and why it was justified in his eyes. I believe that he wants all souls to continue to ascend towards being closer to him.
Now, I understand the need for us to be able to re-connect to our relatives and friends who have passed on in hopes that we can just have that last goodbye. So that we can know that they are ok. But, we don't need to go to a psychic for that. God will make sure that they are ok. We can rest assure of that. We need to be careful about reducing the role of God when we pass and I have noticed that some have done this and I am somewhat concerned about that belief system.
I believe that when we pass, Heaven is present to us. It is not forced upon us. And I believe that God's love is always around us. When we are ready, we move forward. People often pray for the deceased and the intercessions of their guardian angels to intercede on their behalf; if needed, so that strength is given and encouragement is bestowed.
I know and understand that the living may have the void in their lives because they lost a loved one. But their relationship continues. The relationship does not just stop with their loved one; it just transforms from the matter into the spiritual - it deepens. And through a Spiritual Journey, we come to understand that and with healing, we will begin to see our loved ones tell us that they are there.
1 Corinthians 12:11 " It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have." Jesus said to the Pharisees in the first text I cited "Why would Satan cast out Satan? A kingdom divided can not stand", so it makes no sense that myself and other gifted peoples here can heal, bless, exorcisize evil spirits, and undo someone's foolishness (example, sealing spirit portals, banishing bad spirits, undoing pacts or spells that went heywire, etc - yes, we can and do 'fix' these situations like a surgeon can help heal the body) and that all this great work that we do somehow benefits the Devil?. Ridiculous, you might as well be saying Jesus and the Apostles, Prophets, and just about anyone else in the Bible were in League with him too. Anyone who is pure in their faith and love for God is anointed by God to do Priestly or Godly work.
With all that said, all I can say is that Corinthians is very clear about people having gifts to help raise up God's church. Prophesy being the greatest. It also says clearly that only those that have truly been given the gift of wisdom will truly be able to interpret God's word. Corinthians also talks about striving for higher gifts, so I choose to focus on all the things that are positive in the Bible rather than the things that appear negative and/or don't bring any unity to God's kingdom. It says that the gifts are bestowed upon people to give glory to God and help God's church by raising people up with encouragement, hope, and love as well as providing peace.
AND, I'm going to continue to go on with even more facts.....At this point, I truly hope that I am not boring you, but rather opening your eyes.
With all that said, if you quote scripture in The Old Testament, you must also strive to take into account the 612 other Mitzvahs of Torah.
You can't just pick and choose biblical scripture to suit your own needs.
The "Mitzvahs" are the rules an Orthodox Jew must follow based on passages in the Old Testament.
We have to assume that those who choose to cite passages of the Mitzvah against mediums as their banner must strive to adhere to the other 613 as well. Which means that they don't eat pork, don't work from sundown on Friday until after nightfall on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), don't travel beyond the city limits on Sabbath, read the Sh'ma twice daily, wear Tephilin of the head and hand, cancel monetary claims in the Sabbatical year (every seven years), eat matzah on the first night of Pesach, fast on Yom Kippur, whip transgressors of certain commandments, behead transgressors of certain commandments, don't shave their beard, don't pronounce the name of G_d, don't have markings or tattoos on their body, don't curse a ruler, and on and on through the rest of the total of 613 Mitzvahs.
We know that after 2000 years have passed, that you don't really follow all of these rules.....Do you????
I apologize for being blunt, but don't just sit there and pick and choose scripture to validate what you "WANT" to be justifed in religiously.....because I'm telling you that if you do, you will face a judgement price for this, as it is consider deceitful.
The Leviticus admonitions also include these rules: If you curse your father or mother, commit adultery, or have a homosexual relationship, you must be put to death. If you have sex with your partner when the female is having her period you have to be banished from your family and community. If a man marries his brother’s wife, they are to have no children. You are to eat no pork, etc....Maybe the Amish community still banishes people, but I am not sure there are any other communities that are still doing this these days?
Of course most people today don't obey the Leviticus rules or the 613 Mitzvahs of Torah; they would agree that the Old Testament Mitzvahs are not relevant for Christians today. However, in spite of that, modern day preachers continue to cite the passages that support their unfounded contention that grieving people must not talk to their deceased loved ones. In so doing, they block people's growth in understanding the afterlife, in understanding what being gifted is truly all about and it keeps them from learning that their loved ones are alive and well, that they've just stepped into another room for a few years, and all will soon be joined in a wonderful reunion.
Just as in the New Testament, there is no mention here of the odd concept that a medium speaks to demons. The passages state clearly that mediums speak to real people who have left the body, but are very much alive in the afterlife.
Jesus communed with Moses and Elijah in materialized bodies before Peter, John, and James. Clearly Jesus didn't see anything wrong with doing so. He certainly wouldn't have disobeyed the Old Testament and allowed the disciples to witness it, unless, of course, he was saying the new laws replaced the old, as he several times did.
These passages in Leviticus, are comprised of the 613 Jewish Mitzvah practices that we no longer adhere to, as we now know that, historically, they were talking about Polytheistic cultures. The 613 rules of the Mitzvahs in Leviticus and Deuteronomy no longer apply to a Monotheistic culture of the one Christian Divine God; and especially since many people do not practice the Jewish culture or religion.
I don't think anyone today practices the whole 613 rules of the Mitzvah, (well with the exception of someone that may be Jewish), however, I still have trouble believing, that present day, even the Jewish adhere to EVERY single 613th rule.
People often forget that these rules in the Old Testament became obsolete when Jesus came to establish the Monotheistic culture of just one God.
Even though people like Moses tried to set the stage in the Old Testament, by telling people what they were doing wrong, by them worshiping other deities and sin, it wasn't until Jesus came that the rules actually changed because of his sacrifice. And I don't mean changed them, by "changing" Old Testament practices and that they weren't valid at the time, but rather the rules eventually became null and void by the elimination of the Polytheistic culture.
By his death and resurrection, he was able to establish Christianity as a Monotheistic culture at that point.
Since Jews don't believe Jesus is the Messiah, that is the reason the Jews think they should still honor the Old Testament. We of course, have different beliefs as Christians since many of us believe his was the son of God. Since we no longer hold Polytheistic belief systems, these rules for the old Polytheistic cultures no longer apply to Christians.
The Mitzvah rules were based on spiritual practices of the Polytheistic cultures, such as honoring other deity's, for instance, including but not limited to: the deity Moloc where children were actually thrown into fire for sacrifices, soothsayers who practiced "Black magic" and worshiped other non-christian Gods and yet, even other Gods, like the golden Cow, representative of the Egyptian bull storm gods Apis and Ptah in the earlier period, the chief god El, and of the Canaanite fertility god Baal in the latter, all in which they also performed sacrificial ceremonies to these Gods.
Most people take these passages at face value and don't look into what they actually mean or meant historically.
The history of many of the Leviticus passages also refer to the barbaric funeral practices that these people who believe in Polytheistic Gods would perform. They would actually cut the dead person's body to get a sample of their blood, and use it in either a sacrifice or worship procedure to attempt to call up their dead loved ones. They were trying to raise the dead against their will, (again, I say, AGAINST THEIR WILL). They would conjure them up to try to talk to them. Their primary goal being to try to get personal information from them, such as where gold and riches were stashed and what their futures held for them. Conjuring anything in that manner is witchcraft and conjuring for personal gain. Not to mention, some of these practices were very barbaric. That is NOT what modern day mediums do.
A huge problem with our society is that people "choose" to follow traditions and rules without ever looking into the reasons the rules were established.
Sometimes old traditions were very barbaric, such as when villages would ceremonially stone a person to death to represent re-birth. Of course, we no longer do such things like that today either. It would be considered barbaric.
Yet, we still have some folks that think they should still adhere to the Old Testament and Polytheistic cultural teachings?
The rules were established to get people to stop the worshiping of other gods and performing their ceremonial practices in honor of those other gods.
I wonder how many people today believe in these scriptures as traditional fact just because of their belief systems, and yet they break the rules of the 613 Mitzvah in Leviticus on a daily basis? It sounds just a bit hypocritical to me...Yet they pick and choose scripture to justify their belief system and continue to adhere to the concept of the Polytheistic traditional rules laid out in Leviticus? I'm just saying.....We must be reasonable and think before we act. God gave us minds to rationalize the truth, however, some people get so sucked up in traditional teachings that they lose the real truth and couldn't see it even if it were right before their eyes. Such as in the case when Jesus stated, " For they do not even know who I am." John 14:9 "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?" Sometimes people are blinded by truth until someone points it out to them.
The abominations and sins that the Polytheistic cultures were committing were symbolic of breaking the covenant relationship with God, so they needed these rules at the time to get them back in line. You must remember that the belief back then was that God was not to be reckoned with in the New Testament and that everyone back in those times were convicted to hell if they were not living their lives right. Much hasn't changed in the theory of how we live our lives, but we now believe in a more loving God that is merciful and gracious because he loves us.
However, going back to the Mitzvah rules, they have become Null and Void since Polytheism is no longer rampant in our times. If people really believed that Jesus was our savior, there wouldn't be such a need to focus on the Old Testament. Yes, it is good for reading and it still holds many lessons for us that we can learn things from, derived from inspirations of the Holy Spirit. But do you think the inspirations just stopped there? Absolutely not, he is still inspiring people all around the world for the last few thousand centuries. People surely wouldn't break the 613 rules of the Mitzvahs, of course, unless they are "actually" saying (by not adhering to the 613 Mitzvahs daily) that the rules no longer apply to a monotheistic Christian culture. Could this be due to the historical significance of why they were written back then and/or because they don't apply to our times now? So, which is it?
Also it seems to me that, when you focus on all that, you are not completely focused on God instead and the teachings in the New Testament. He came to put an end to all those abominations and sacrificial practices of the Polytheistic cultures; where we now only serve one God. In my religious beliefs, I believe he did this by Jesus dying for our sins and being that he was the ultimate sacrifice. The Mitzvah rules have historically become null and void since we no longer worship in a Polytheistic culture and Christianity has been established where we worship the one Divine God now.
However, what is most important is the clear context of what the writers were saying.
In Deuteronomy, people were "consulting the dead" instead of God. They wanted to know where the gold was stashed, what path they should take, who was their enemies, and so on....All things regarding personal and selfish gains.
For instance, Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord, not because he went to a medium; he "consulted a medium for guidance" instead of consulting God. Let's not underestimate the importance of the fact that he had been doing many things that angered God right up to the point of him actually going to the medium, (looking for knowledge from Samuel) which is "why" he went to the medium to begin with. God was not answering him anymore in the first place because he was angry with him. He most likely had been lying, deceiving and was going against God's word before he even ever met up with the medium. He "went" to the medium because he had not been hearing from God any longer because of his actions prior to meeting up with her. That's what angered God and the fact that he no longer turned to God for guidance overall. People can receive messages of love and upliftment from their loved ones in the spirit world, but the guidance still needs to come from God. God allows them to give this guidance if he feels it will help their spiritual path and growth. We must be careful not to try and take his place but rather prove through his gifts, that the after life does exist and that our loved ones are there ready to help us all while remaining to look to God for guidance.
Mediums do not provide guidance, they provide messages, encouragement, uplifting, love, peace and closure leading the person to God for guidance. John 14:27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid." I feel our jobs, as Mediums, should be to strive to send you towards God to receive only the kind of peace that only God alone can give. But, I also believe that sometimes that peace is also distributed as a gift through his people to let you know that he cares until you get the real concept of it. We just plant the seeds, we don't play the hand of God.
Saul saught guidance and fortune telling for his own purposes. This is what angered God. He did not go for consolation. We are actually instructed in Corinthians to console the people.
The Old Testament Yahweh wasn't a God to be trifled with; he certainly did his share of killing people who got on his bad side. We don't believe in that God any more; God doesn't kill people who aren't faithful. He strives to convert sinners and the unfaithful and focuses on getting them to turn to him. It's a good thing because that would mean many Americans and many other people would be wiped out.
At the times all of these passages refer to, religions existed that were based on spiritism or mediumistic activities. That is what the writers were railing against, not speaking to a loved one who had passed away. The writers were putting mediums and spiritists in the same list with idols and household gods, as the representatives of these other religions. You must remember that there was worship of many deities back then. It is NOT the same thing as we have today. Do all men and woman wear robes as clothing like they did back then? "No". - We have changed with the times. One must also remember to put the context of the Bible into perspective from the time frame that it was written in and all the laws, feasts, deities, messages, gifts, prophets, lessons, etc.....
Jesus taught through his apostle and gifted Paul that there are two worlds, and that every human has two bodies, one for each world. In the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul explains that we are born with two bodies.
"It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body."
"I tell you this, my brothers: an earthly body made of flesh and blood cannot get into God’s kingdom. These bodies are not the right kind to live forever." He was expressing that the spirit body is what lives forever and beholds the kingdom of Heaven. And do we really know what or where the kingdom of heaven is? Couldn't it be validly possible that there are many places in this vast universe, in which we can continue to obtain the enlightenment that our soul needs to learn unconditional love and be one with and closer to God? It's just continued SPIRITUAL growth for those that continue to need it. No one person here on earth now can say they are perfect. I believe we all have spiritual growth opportunities that we must harvest, even if that includes, when we die. If God loves us enough to have freewill on earth, why would we not have freewill in death?
Saint Paul taught when death comes to the physical or flesh body, the spiritual (etheric) body called the soul, is released to live in another dimension. Most people call this other dimension heaven. The important thing to remember is that the soul or spirit is living, breathing, and having its being in another dimension, called the Spirit World. This other dimension is not above or below the earth, but is congruent or intermeshed with our own physical world. However, the Spirit World exists on a higher frequency, than most people’s physical senses can detect. I believe we ascend, but the dimensions are actually entwined with our reality. We just can't see it for the most part, with the exceptions of mediums, seers, prophets or other types of very spiritual people.
In the air we breathe, there are billions of sounds and pictures transmitted from radio and television stations. They are transmitted on vibrational rates much too high for the human eyes and ears to detect. However, when the proper instrument is used, a radio or television that is attuned to this higher vibrational rate, the instrument receives this invisible information and modulates its vibration down to a rate that human beings can hear and see.
The World of Spirit vibrates on a much higher frequency than the radio or television waves. Therefore, the World of Spirit is also right here, just as radio and television vibrations, but most of us are unable to detect them. The people that can regularly communicate with the Spirit World are the people who are gifted mediums or highly spiritually advanced.
A medium/seer is one who has the ability to become the communication link between the spiritual and physical worlds. Nature has always provided certain people with the ability to alter their state of consciousness. This occurs when certain brain centers in a medium’s brain is activated. These centers are the receiver of Spiritual frequencies. These same centers are dormant in most people’s brains.
A Spirit can "broadcast" messages to a medium, whose brain centers receive the information. Then the medium can repeat these messages to other physical people, which brings about perfect communication from the Spirit and physical worlds. Therefore, a medium is "the person in the middle," between the Spirit and physical people. Many times, its just a blending of the two spiritual energies.
A medium has one of the Gifts of the Spirit, (the same gifts that Paul described in 1 Corinthians 12). Each gift is connected to a different brain center. Depending on which brain center is operational in the medium’s brain determines which of the Gifts of the Spirit that medium will demonstrate. Gifts of the Spirit have been known and demonstrated all the way down through the centuries of time, even farther back than Biblical times. God came to explain his kingdom and let people know how to use these gifts properly for his glory.
Mediums, who possess the Gifts of the Spirit, are sensitive to the vibrational rate of another world. Mediums are able at times, to raise their own vibrational rate (altering their consciousness) while the Spirit lowers its vibrational rate, thereby creating a linkage or bridge between the two entities. People who are endowed with these Gifts of the Spirit have been known by many different names.
Shaman, Seer, Prophet, Person With A Familiar Spirit, Man In White Clothing, Man Of God, Psychic, Medium, Instrument.
The terms psychic, and instrument are the most commonly used words to refer a medium.
As God first breathed into the nostrils of man he became a living soul, or to borrow an expression from the Greek, he became a living psyche. Psychic derives its meaning from the Greek word psyche meaning soul and mind. Therefore any study pertaining to the mind, and any study pertaining to the soul consciousness is a study of psychic science.
Everyone is psychic to some extent, however, not everyone is a medium. A psychic can often get a sense of future events, or a feeling that danger is ahead, however, they cannot identify the source of this information. A medium, hears or sees a Spirit, therefore, the medium can provide information that can identify the Spirit. The medium can also convey the Spirit’s message to other physical people.
The term INSTRUMENT is often used to describe a medium. A violin has the potential to create beautiful music, but it takes an outside force, the musician to cause the music to be produced. The musician also has the potential to produce beautiful music, but he can not create his music without the instrument, or violin. Music can only be created though the combined effort of the instrument and the musician.
A medium is the instrument for Spirit. Through the use of a medium, Spirit is able to transmit their messages from the Spirit World to a person on the earth plane. The medium cannot bring this message about without the help of Spirit, just as Spirit cannot bring the message about without the use of the instrument. The cooperation of both is needed.
A Gift of the Spirit is having the ability to demonstrate psychic phenomena. It is considered a gift from God, just as Michelangelo had a gift of art, and Beethoven had a gift of music.
Jesus taught us through the prophet Paul in Chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, that everyone should be educated in the Gifts of the Spirit.
"And now, brothers, I want to write about the special abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each of you, for I don't want any misunderstanding about them."
"Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all."
"There are different kinds of service to God but it is the same Lord we are serving."
"There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are His."
"The Holy Spirit displays God's power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church."
"To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; someone else may be especially good at studying and teaching, and this is his gift from the same Spirit."
"He gives special faith to another, and to someone else the power to heal the sick."
"He gives power for doing miracles to some, and to others power to prophesy and preach. He gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through those who claim to be giving God's messages -- or whether it is really the Spirit of God who is speaking." (And, yes, I have seen folks that make these claims, while I sat there watching the tendrils of an attached spirit coming out from the middle of their back. These are the folks with familial deceiving spirits. But God gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through that person, just as in the case where we can spiritually "see" this. It's also called discernment)
"Still another person is able to speak in languages he never learned; and others who do not know the language either, are given power to understand what he is saying."
"It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have."(LIV)
Jesus wanted the people to be educated in the Gifts of the Spirit so that they would realize that life continues after the change we know as death.
The World of Spirit is the world that we will enter into when our soul or spiritual body, leaves the physical body, at death. It is important that we here in the physical world, or earth plane, know and understand that the Spirit World is real, and exists now, not off into the future. Because whatever we do with our lives here on earth, whatever we build or make of ourselves, we will arrive in the Spirit World with the same talents, the same understandings, the same misconceptions. The sooner we understand and come to the realization in our own mind that the Spirit World exits, then we will be preparing ourselves for our life in the Spirit World.
All of the Gifts of the Spirit that Saint Paul mentioned can be found in the Bible. In fact, as you will see if you took all the Gifts of the Spirit or psychic phenomena out of the Bible there would no longer be much of a Holy Bible. Many pages would be empty.
Jesus spoke later in his account of going to be with the Father, God, and being available for the disciples to communicate with. He said they could ask him to do things and he would do them on the other side of life. In other words, Jesus had a very clear conception that his life would continue and that he would be available to communicate with the disciples, although ordinary people would probably not be able to see him. That is a perfect description of the next plane of life where people are able to walk among us and see us, but we can't see them.
In a remarkable description of being on the next plane of life, communicating with the disciples, and appearing to them at times, Jesus is reported to have said this:
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. Anyone who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. John 14:18-21
These remarkable words aren't concepts known among the first-century Jews. The writers who recorded Jesus' words undoubtedly had no idea what they were writing—they just wrote down what he was reported to have said. Jesus' description shows insights into the afterlife that could only have come from guidance from God and those on higher planes of being. They are testimony to his knowledge that he would be living on the next plane of life and if the disciples just had faith and were open to him from the other side, he would be able to guide them and even appear to them.
In other words, there is no evidence that Jesus believed that his followers would go into cold storage after passing away and enter a heaven at some far-distant time, and early Christians closest to Jesus' time believed people were guided in the afterlife upon death. On the other hand, there is direct, clear evidence that Jesus believed that those who passed away would immediately enter the next plane of life and have etheric bodies. He spoke with Moses and Elijah as they materialized, and he allowed Peter, John, and James to witness it. Finally, he assured his disciples that even though he was not going to be in a physical body, he would be with them, would give them guidance, and even might appear to them. So would it be wrong for the apostles to commune with him when he is dead? In his case, is he the "Exception" to the rule of not speaking to the dead? Is it "Exceptions" to the rules that children spoke with the Blessed Mary at Fatima and other locations? So what are the rules? Its clear that he taught us what the rules were; however, most people just live in such a real fear of the spirit world, because it is such an "Unknown" for the most part. We fear what we do not understand.
We do have evidence that Jesus knew there is an afterlife into which people go immediately after passing away.
While on the cross, one account has Jesus saying to the thief beside him, that the thief would be with him that day in paradise. There was to be no delay for the thief or Jesus; they would be together in paradise the moment they passed away.
Another account has a description of Jesus taking Peter, John, and James with him to a mountain to pray. There, two men appeared, "in glorious splendor," and talked with Jesus. The three disciples recognized the two men as Moses and Elijah. In other words, Moses and Elijah had etheric ("glorified") bodies and were very much alive in spirit and Jesus spoke to them, undoubtedly listening to their wisdom and counsel. At the time, Moses' body had been disintegrating where he died (on the mountain overlooking the promised land) for 1,200 years, and Elijah's was moldering in the ground for 800 years, so they weren't appearing in those piles of dry bones and dust. Jesus would not disobey God's command to commune with them, unless of course, there was no real rule about this being sinful, as we know the Old Testament was replaced by Jesus's coming.
Jesus promised that his disciples and we would be able to do all the things he did and greater things (John 1:50), meaning we are able to commune with those in the next plane of life just as he did, sometimes even when they appear in glorified bodies. St Theresa, Padre Pio and many other Saints said they would do many more things from the spirit world after their death, such as continuing to convert sinners. The children of Fatima witnessed and spoke with an apparition of the Blessed Mary, yet the church does not condemn this communing either.
There are other references to demons in the New Testament, but none have to do with contact of a deceased loved one.
They passages held the ancient belief that disease and psychological problems were caused by demons, an archaic belief no one accepts today. Acts 16:16-18 describes a girl "possessed by an evil spirit" that enabled her to be a fortune teller. Fortune telling has nothing to do with communicating with deceased loved ones, but it also doesn't indicate that a demon speaks through any human being; the fortune teller may just have been able to see future events, most probably a form of prophesy.
There are no statements in the Bible suggesting that demons disguise themselves as loved ones speaking from the afterlife.
Leviticus 19:31
Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
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.
Leviticus 20:27
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.
Now lets look at these passages; Firstly, the "word" medium was added in 1902 and didn't even exist in the bible before that, Secondly, Jesus came to tell us to no longer pick up that stone as in the passages with Mary Magdalene, "that you are who without sin may cast the first stone". Murder is not acceptable. So it is clear that these passages of the Old Testament are no longer valid. Thirdly, these passages are written when Polytheism was rampant and con men were defiling people. They included mediums in the categories where there were polytheism religions because there were some that were not following the one and only God. They represented OTHER religions. They choose to worship other deities. Again, this is why Moses came to establish a monotheistic culture. If one is serving the same one God and the Holy Spirit, they are not to be placed in the same category as these frauds. But we must remember that Jesus came to replace the Old Testament, and he did this through his blood as the ultimate sacrifice for all.
1 Samuel 28:9
But the woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?" (Whole Chapter: 1 Samuel 28 In context: 1 Samuel 28:8-10)
In this chapter, I find it ironic that the one here really doing evil works is Saul. He lied to this woman, deceived her, and conjured spirit. Yet, this woman still offers an act of kindness to give him a dinner at her table.
Taking into account the writer of the story from his perspective, this woman was most likely wrongly accused about her gifts. She seems to live in fear over them. It is completely possible that she may just have had gifts of the Holy spirit. Who is to say, who has the gifts? Only God can say that, only those that have been gifted with his spirit of discernment can say that. It's clear she was worried about her life and feared for it.
This just makes me think back to the 1800's when there where many innocent folks accused of being witches in Salem, Massachusetts, but they were truly innocent people.
Now some have said here in my own hometown (because of their religious beliefs), that I practice witchcraft because I am gifted, and honestly, this is the furthest thing from the truth. I am a very holy christian. I strive everyday to do God's work via his will. So, now lets step back and take another look at the fact that, if those same folks that have made those accusations against me, where to write a story from their perspective, I would be the most evil person in their eyes. But just because this is their opinion from their perspective, that does not make it true.
We must be very careful to take into account these same scenarios when the Bible was written, just because this woman was accused of being a medium with a familiar spirit does not make it true. She may just have had the gifts of the Holy spirit. We will never know how it all works until we die, but to make claims that you know it all based on biblical scripture is pure nonsense. You must read, study and interpret the bible, via both the knowledge, influence of the Holy Spirit and common sense. This is the wisdom that God gives us to interpret his word.
When you finally lay down your judgments and take a good real look at the whole concept by thinking outside of the box from traditional teachings, you will see so much more about how this all came to be; as well as, how and why it is used today.
We all, (and noone is exempt from this) have been programmed to accept traditions that we don't even sometimes understand or "why" we do things. Things often change, but the barbaric nature of things usually remain as the center of our dealings. A good example of this concept is portrayed in Shirley Jackson's literary writing, called "The Lottery". One must think logically, rationally and balance is the ultimate key.
There has been so much damage by frauds and con- artists, that the word psychic is now very frowned upon in society.
The term "Psychic: has also been severely taken out of context from people who claim they know the Bible so well.
People will often use the words in the Bible, literally, as a weapon, without even knowing the stories behind the passages that they quote.
Not to mention that passages have been changed over and over again. Leviticus 20:6 "If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people."
People justify and believe their attacks are holy and warranted, but I have to ask now, how verbal attacks and theatrical performances are truly holy and loving behaviors?
I have always been a believer that you get more with sugar and honey than salt and vinegar.
Are these folks really living the word of God if they are doing this?
It's so sad for me to see this, as I just wish for them to understand that their aggressive and unkind behaviors are so totally out of context with God's word. This is the one very thing that Jesus came to teach.
It's very unfortunate that some people can do much damage to society as a whole, by their hatred, animosity, criticism, lack of knowledge, judgmental ways, unkindly behaviors and quoting scripture improperly.
These are the reasons that the word "Psychic" has become such a stereotype.
Unfortunately, Yes, there are some psychics that like to continue to adhere to the stereotypical role, but not all of us are like that. There is a difference between those that do this just for money and commit fraudulent acts and those that are real and do not. It's not any different than a lawyer who twists the rules in the legal system to make things work for himself, while the rest are ethically sound.
All we can do is be forgiving and pray for their enlightenment.
Being able to likely tell you about, your past, present, future and many other things that the person could not possibly have known about you, is the spirit of Knowledge. These are all God given gifts as discussed in Corinthians 12-14. It comes from that divine spark that is in all of us and is located in our soul. Some people just choose to either ignore it or they have extinguished it because of their unloving or unkindly ways.
There are some people that will claim these gifts are from a demon or a familiar spirit. You can always tell those apart by the kind of life they live. Are they in line with God's will or their own will? Anyone doing the work of God is under the influence of the Holy Spirit. I can't see how Satan would benefit from doing what is God's will and bringing others closer to God. I am a firm believer that if it brings you closer to God, then it's good. If it takes you away from God, then it is bad. Enough said....
Revelation 21:8 — But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Exodus 7:11,22; 8:7 — Using their “enchantments,” Pharaoh’s magicians tried to duplicate the miracles done by Moses and Aaron. “Enchantments” refer to the ceremonies or rituals sorcerers and magicians use to accomplish their ends: incantations, spells, magic words (“hocus-pocus”), wearing of charms (amulets), etc.
Galatians 5:20,21 — Those who will not inherit the kingdom of God include those who practice “sorcery” (“witchcraft” — KJV). This includes the occult in general, but refers especially to the use of drugs and potions brewed by witches in their cauldrons, etc.
The Bible often warns us to avoid being deceived by lying wonders [2 Thess. 2:9; Matt. 24:24; Deut. 13:1-5].
Many Bible events involved confrontations between those who did true miracles from God and those who practiced forms of sorcery or magic.
Exodus 7-9; read 8:18,19 — Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers tried to duplicate the signs and plagues God caused through Moses and Aaron (7:11,22; 8:7,8,18; 9:11). For a while they seemed to succeed, but soon they failed and admitted Moses had the power of God. Such was very much the same in the Book of Daniel.
Daniel 1:20 — In all matters of wisdom and understanding the king found Daniel and his friends ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers.
Acts 8:9-13 — When Simon used sorcery to amaze the Samaritans, they believed he had great power from God. But when Philip preached Jesus and did true miracles by the power of God, both the people and Simon himself believed and were converted.
SO, let's get this straight....Noone here is performing spells, white or black magic.
So when doing the work of God, many of these passages are all NULL and VOID......Maybe, just maybe, the will of God is still at work in many and is not just limited to B.C or 100 A.D.
Ultimately, the Gifts are meant to show love to one another, heal, and love God unconditionally.
This is the soul's lesson.
Now, let me say that with myself being Catholic, this is personally for all those "Catholics" that I find myself having to counsel continuously on the truth regarding this subject.
For the Catholics that believe its evil or a sin to communicate with the dead; these particular articles below are for you.
1.) "Dialogue with the dead is feasible, Vatican spokesman says
By John Hooper
London Observer Service
ROME – One of the most authoritative spokesmen of the Roman Catholic Church has raised eyebrows among the faithful by declaring that the Church believes in the feasibility of communication... with the dead.
The Rev. Gino Concetti, chief theological commentator for the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, denied he was signaling any change in approach. But he agreed that his remarks might come as a jolt to many believers.
He said the Church remained opposed to the raising of spirits, but added: "Communication is possible between those who live on this earth and those who live in a state of eternal repose, in heaven or purgatory. It may even be that God lets our loved ones send us messages to guide us at certain moments in our life."
His comments were first made in support of an American theologian, the Rev. John Neuhaus.
Neuhaus had described how a friend had seen a ghost. He said there were various explanations, but "the important thing is not to deny such things a priority."
Concetti said the key to the Church’s attitude was the Roman Catholic belief in a "Communion of Saints," which included Christians on earth as well as those in the after-life. "Where there is communion, there is communication," he said.
Concetti suggested dead relatives could be responsible for prompting impulses and triggering inspiration - and even for "sensory manifestations," such as appearances in dreams.
Concetti said the new Catholic catechism specifically endorsed the view that the dead could intercede on earth and quotes the dying St. Dominic telling his brothers: "Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life."
This article was published by the London Observer Service and was written by John Hooper.
2.) It is no Longer a Sin to Contact the Deceased Through a Medium
by Michael Roll
One of the most competent theologians of the Vatican, Father Gino Concetti, writing in the "Observatore Romano", the daily paper of the Holy See, says that, "According to the modern catechism the Church has decided not to forbid anymore to dialogue with the deceased ... this is as a sequel of new discoveries within the domain of the paranormal." November 1995
