What were mediums and spiritists? (Isaiah 8:19)
19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
Isaiah 8:19
NLT - 19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
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Asked July 29 2019
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
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Mediums and spiritists were (and are) individuals who claim to possess the power to communicate with the spirits or souls of the dead, as well as other beings of the spirit world, often with reference to foretelling the future. (The word "medium" refers to the individual being the channel (or medium) through whom these spirit beings communicate.) Other terms for such individuals are psychics or channelers. From a Christian standpoint, any such ability that these individuals may possess is derived from satanic sources. In multiple Bible passages (such as Leviticus 19:31 and Deuteronomy 18:10), God warns repeatedly against consulting with or employing such people. It was because of engaging in such practices that God judged the pagan tribes that inhabited the land of Canaan (such as the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Hivites, and Girgashites) by instructing the Israelites (following Israel's exodus from Egypt) to defeat them and eliminate them from the land. Unfortunately, the Bible records instances after Israel's occupation of the Promised Land (Canaan) when even the rulers of Israel (both before and after its division into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah) engaged in such practices (such as Saul in 1 Samuel 28, and Ahab in 1 Kings 22).
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