DEATH AND BEYOND

Did the witch at Endor bring up the spirit of the prophet Samuel? Please explain!
This story is recorded in 1 Samuel 28:3-25. Saul the king was preparing for battle. Seeing the hosts of the enemy, ‘he was afraid and his heart greatly trembled’. Samuel who had brought him instructions from God in the past was now dead. Saul had asked God for help, but had received no answer. Now he had nowhere to turn for counsel. Earlier in his reign, he had expelled all the mediums from his country as God had instructed, but now he sought for one to see if he could obtain any guidance by that means. One of his servants told him about a woman at Endor that had a familiar spirit. She was a medium and could communicate with the spirits. Saul disguised himself and went with two servants under cover of darkness to find this woman. After reassuring her that she would not be punished for being in the country, after the king had expressly said there should be no mediums left in the country, he asked her to bring up Samuel for him. After a while, the woman said she saw gods ascending up out of the earth. Saul asked, ‘What does he look like?’ Saul could not see what she told him she was seeing. The witch responded that it was an old man with a mantle, which was the garment of a prophet. From this, Saul ‘perceived that it was Samuel’ and bowed to the ground.
He then had an extended conversation with this figure. It is unclear whether he could see the figure or only the woman. ‘Samuel’ asked why he had been disturbed, and brought up. Saul replied that God had forsaken him, he was ‘sore distressed’ and wanted to be told what to do. ‘Samuel’ told Saul that on the next day he and his sons would be ‘with him’, and Israel would be taken. Saul collapsed on the ground and he had to be persuaded to rise and eat something before leaving. He sat on the woman’s bed and eventually having eaten the meal that she had prepared, and went out into the night.
This account speaks of a spirit – perceived to be Samuel – being brought up from the earth. It can speak and tells Saul facts that are authentic about his life. Then the spirit also makes a prediction that the next day Saul and his sons will be in the same place from which this spirit has been called up. Does this Old Testament story prove, in the face of all the other Bible verses, that there is indeed a spirit that lives on elsewhere and is involved in the affairs of this life? This is a Bible story that is often seen as divine proof of the continued consciousness of those who have died.

First of all, the Bible agrees that there are spirits and that there are mediums who can contact them. But the Word of God makes a clear contrast between having the authority and guidance of God in our lives, and seeking counsel from spirits. ‘Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.’ Leviticus 19:31. These spirits are real - they are the evil angels, loose in our world, often acting through human agents. They can impersonate the dead and transform themselves into people that we recognise and they are able to tell us things about our lives that are true, because they see and know us. The mediums are the human agents

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