The longing to hear a voice from beyond the grave often grows loud when grief is fresh, or when answers seem hidden and life twists into questions we cannot solve. Scripture does not mock that ache. It admits a world where the unseen is real, where God speaks and acts, and where evil counterfeits His works to deceive. Yet the same Bible that unveils a spiritual realm also gives a firm answer to our question. God forbids His people to seek the dead, and He offers something far better: Himself, speaking by His Word and leading by His Spirit through the finished work of His Son (Deuteronomy 18:9–13; Isaiah 8:19–20; Hebrews 1:1–2).
To understand why this prohibition is both wise and loving, we have to see how the living God guided Israel in the past, how the Lord Jesus and His apostles exposed counterfeit voices, and how the church now walks in the light. The story ties together grief and hope, danger and safety, warning and welcome, until we find that the path away from mediums is the path toward the Shepherd who knows His own by name (John 10:27–28).
Words: 2618 / Time to read: 14 minutes
Historical and Cultural Background
Ancient Israel lived among nations that prized mediums, spiritists, sorcerers, and diviners, people who claimed to read omens or to summon the dead for counsel. The Lord drew a hard line at the border of the land He was giving His people. “Do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations,” He said. “Let no one be found among you … who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead” (Deuteronomy 18:9–11). The reason ran deeper than social difference. Seeking counsel from the dead traded trust in the living God for voices He did not send, and the Lord called that trade an abomination because it violated the first command to love and worship Him alone (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 18:12).
Israel’s life was shaped to keep that devotion clear. God placed His sanctuary at the center of the nation and appointed priests to serve in His presence. He promised to raise up a prophet like Moses, so that His word would be heard openly and tested faithfully, not whispered by shadows in the night (Deuteronomy 18:15–18; Deuteronomy 13:1–4). When weighty national guidance was needed, the high priest bore the breastpiece of judgment and inquired by the means God had given, a holy reminder that answers come from the Lord’s hand, not from forbidden arts (Exodus 28:29–30; Numbers 27:21). The whole arrangement taught Israel that they were a people set apart to trust the God who dwelt among them and to refuse every rival voice, however soothing or spectacular (Leviticus 26:11–12; Psalm 111:10).
The prophets pressed the point whenever the people drifted. In a time of fear and rumor, Isaiah spoke for God with a piercing question: “Should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” His answer sweeps the table clean: “Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn” (Isaiah 8:19–20). That was not narrowness. It was mercy. The Lord was protecting His people from voices that would lead them into bondage, and He was inviting them to come to Him for light.
Biblical Narrative
The Bible tells the truth about spiritual power. Sometimes that truth looks like a miracle that points to God’s glory, as when Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” and the man who had been dead four days walked from the tomb at His word (John 11:43–44). That was not a medium’s performance or a conversation with a spirit. It was the Son of God revealing Himself as “the resurrection and the life,” calling the dead to life by His authority and for the Father’s honor (John 11:25–26; John 11:40). At other moments the truth looks like a parable with a name that lingers. Jesus spoke of a rich man and a poor man called Lazarus to show that judgment and comfort are fixed after death and that the living have all they need in the Scriptures to be warned and to repent (Luke 16:19–31). The punch line silences our craving for messages from the grave: “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them” (Luke 16:29). If the living refuse God’s written Word, a voice from the dead will not heal their unbelief (Luke 16:31).
The narrative also records the only séance described in Israel’s history, and the outcome is chilling. In despair and rebellion, King Saul sought a medium at Endor to call up the prophet Samuel, having already been told that the Lord would no longer answer him “by dreams or Urim or prophets” (1 Samuel 28:6). The encounter did not rescue Saul. The message confirmed his rejection, announced his death, and pointed back to his earlier disobedience. The next day’s battle fulfilled the word he had refused to heed (1 Samuel 28:16–19; 1 Samuel 31:1–6). Saul’s story is a warning that when people will not submit to God’s revealed word, the silence that follows does not license them to break God’s law in search of guidance. It calls them to repent before the Lord who gives and withholds counsel as He wills (1 Samuel 15:22–23; Psalm 32:8–9).
The New Testament continues the same realism. When the apostles met a magician named Simon in Samaria, he amazed the people “with his sorcery,” but the gospel exposed his heart, and he was called to repent of a bondage that money could not buy his way out of (Acts 8:9–23). In Cyprus, a false prophet named Elymas tried to turn a leader away from the faith, and the Lord judged him with temporary blindness while the Word ran on with power (Acts 13:6–12). In Philippi, a slave girl with “a spirit” that predicted the future followed Paul for days until he commanded the spirit to leave in Jesus’ name, and it left her at once (Acts 16:16–18). The message is consistent. Counterfeit power is real, but it is not neutral, and the Lord Jesus breaks its grip. The church’s response was decisive in Ephesus, where many who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls and burned them publicly, counting the cost and finding Christ worth more than treasured arts that had owned their loyalty (Acts 19:18–20).
Running through these scenes is a deeper thread. God has spoken in many times and ways, but now He has spoken by His Son, and He pours out the Holy Spirit on all who believe so that guidance comes by a complete Word and an indwelling presence, not by forbidden means (Hebrews 1:1–2; John 14:26; John 16:13). When the early church sought direction, they turned to Scripture, to prayer, to Spirit-led counsel, and to decisions that could be tested in the light, a pattern that still guards and guides the people of God (Acts 13:2–3; Acts 15:28–31; 2 Timothy 3:16–17).
Theological Significance
At the heart of Scripture’s ban on mediums stands the character of God and the nature of worship. The first command does not merely ask for preference; it demands exclusive loyalty to the Lord who brought His people out of bondage and into covenant with Himself (Exodus 20:2–3). Consulting the dead or seeking hidden knowledge by occult means breaks that loyalty, because it treats God as insufficient and His Word as dim, and it opens doors to spirits that do not confess the truth about His Son (Deuteronomy 18:12; 1 John 4:1–3). The Bible names such practices as idolatry and calls them works of the flesh, grouping them with sins that destroy love and corrode fellowship, then warns that “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19–21).
The sovereignty of God also stands at stake. Proverbs says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord,” not to invite gambling with fate but to confess that outcomes belong to the One who rules heaven and earth (Proverbs 16:33). When people chase secret knowledge to control what only God governs, they deny His rule in practice even if they confess it with their lips (Isaiah 45:5–7; Psalm 115:3). By contrast, faith rests in the Father’s wisdom, asking for daily bread, seeking His kingdom, and trusting that He orders the steps of those who delight in His ways (Matthew 6:9–13; Psalm 37:23–24).
There is also a covenantal difference that helps us think clearly. Israel was a nation set apart with a land, a law, and an earthly sanctuary; the church is a multi-national body gathered under Christ the Head and indwelt by the Spirit (Exodus 19:5–6; Ephesians 2:19–22). God gave Israel public means of guidance suited to its national life, and He forbade the people to imitate their neighbors’ occult practices. In the present age, He continues that ban and adds a bounty: the completed Scriptures, a crucified and risen Mediator, and the Spirit who leads the children of God, so that every believer has access to God without an earthly go-between (1 Timothy 2:5; Romans 8:14–16; 2 Timothy 3:16–17). That difference explains why the church does not revive ancient priestly devices and never turns to mediums. Christ is sufficient, and His Word is enough.
Finally, Scripture unmasks the spiritual source behind counterfeit wonders. The enemy loves to ape the works of God and to promise power without repentance, light without truth, and comfort without the cross (2 Corinthians 11:14–15). Even in the end-times, lawlessness will come “with all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie,” but the Lord will preserve His own by the truth and bring the deceiver to nothing (2 Thessalonians 2:9–12; Revelation 20:10). The church’s safety is not in dabbling to see whether a power works. It is in clinging to the One who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
Spiritual Lessons and Application
The desire to hear from a departed loved one is often a desire to say what was left unsaid or to settle what still feels unsettled. Scripture meets that desire with both tenderness and clarity. The Lord calls Himself “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,” and He comforts us “in all our troubles,” not with empty sayings but with His own presence and promises (2 Corinthians 1:3–4). He does not send us to a medium’s table. He calls us to Himself, and He assures us that those who sleep in Jesus will rise when He returns, so that grief is real but not without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). That hope is stronger than the ache, and it carries us forward without the false solace of forbidden counsel.
In daily decisions, believers are not left to guesswork. The Lord gives His Word as a lamp for our feet, bright enough for the next step and sure enough for every good work (Psalm 119:105; 2 Timothy 3:16–17). He gives His Spirit to lead the children He loves, aligning our desires with His and teaching us to recognize His ways (Romans 8:14–16; Galatians 5:16–18). He grants peace that rules in our hearts as His Word dwells richly among us in a community shaped by prayer, worship, and mutual counsel (Colossians 3:15–16; Philippians 4:6–7). When choices are equally moral and wise, we may move forward in freedom, trusting a Father who directs our steps and closes doors when love requires a redirection (Psalm 37:4–5; Acts 16:6–10). That is guidance by relationship, not by riddles.
There are times when the choice to refuse occult invitations will cost us. Friends may celebrate horoscopes as harmless fun or share a psychic’s reassurance as if it were a gift. Scripture helps us speak with grace and firmness. Isaiah’s question is the one we can gently ask: should not a people inquire of their God (Isaiah 8:19–20)? The apostles’ courage gives us a pattern when pressure rises. They did not bargain with Elymas or flatter Simon. They bore witness to the Lord Jesus and called for repentance that leads to life, then trusted God with the results (Acts 13:8–12; Acts 8:18–23). In Ephesus, new believers did not sell their books to fund the mission; they burned them, because following Christ means letting go of loyalties that once ruled the heart (Acts 19:18–20). Our own obedience may be quieter but no less decisive: removing charms from our homes, declining readings, teaching our children to love the Bible’s voice, and choosing fellowship where truth and love walk together (Ephesians 4:15; 1 John 5:21).
When fear whispers that we need hidden help, the Lord arms us for the fight. We submit to God, resist the devil, and watch him flee, not by incantations but by faith that stands on Christ’s victory and on the armor God supplies—truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God (James 4:7; Ephesians 6:10–17). We learn to pray as Jesus taught, asking our Father for daily bread and deliverance from evil, and we discover that His answer is Himself: near, faithful, and sufficient (Matthew 6:9–13; Psalm 145:18). Guidance becomes less about decoding signs and more about knowing the Shepherd, hearing His voice in Scripture, and following Him in the company of His people (John 10:27–28; Hebrews 10:24–25). In that way, the question “Why not consult a medium?” fades before a better question: “Why would we leave the fountain of living water to drink from broken cisterns?” (Jeremiah 2:13).
Conclusion
Mediums promise access, answers, and a faster path through sorrow or uncertainty. Scripture acknowledges that spiritual forces exist and that counterfeit signs can amaze, but it unmasks the lie and points us to the Lord who speaks clearly and leads faithfully (Acts 8:9–11; 2 Thessalonians 2:9–10). From Israel’s borders to Isaiah’s warnings to the apostles’ ministry, the call is the same: seek the living God, reject the counsel of the dead, and trust the sufficiency of His Word and Spirit (Deuteronomy 18:9–13; Isaiah 8:19–20; Romans 8:14). The church does not consult mediums because we already have a Mediator, Jesus Christ our Lord, and in Him we have everything we need for life and godliness as we wait for the day when every tear is wiped away (1 Timothy 2:5; 2 Peter 1:3; Revelation 21:3–4).
So we turn from tables that whisper and from lights that twist the truth, and we open the Scriptures again. We pray. We seek counsel among the saints. We obey the light we have, and more light comes. The Shepherd leads, the Spirit guides, the Word steadies, and the Father keeps His children until the morning breaks and the shadows flee (Psalm 23:1–3; John 16:13; Psalm 119:130).
“When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning.” (Isaiah 8:19–20)
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