In 1 Samuel 28, King Saul goes and visits the witch of endor. She was a woman who was known to perform seances to "raise" the spirits of the dead. Samuel was dead at the time. Samuel was the primary method in which Saul had received advice from the Lord. So Saul goes to the witch (as she is referred) and asks her to bring up Samuel. Lo and Behold she does. The primary question raised about this is whether it was really the spirit of Samuel who was raised.
I believe that Samuel really was raised. God allowed it to happen and used it to give Saul the word that the next day he would die along with his sons. I believe that these sorts of thing can actually happen, and are an area that we as Christians have to make a strong effort to avoid. Dabbling in areas such as tarot cards, mediums, horoscopes, etc. can not be a part of the Christian life.
2 years ago
2 comments:
This was the chapter that we studied today in Life Group. I, too, believe that it was actually Samuel. Not everyone agrees, but actually the real focus should be on Saul's method for seeking God's counsel. He resorts to the use of a witch because his own relationship with God was so strained that he was unable to hear God's voice.
Good point.
It is important to consider the part about the witch, but we can definitely learn more by looking at how Saul got to this point.
Interestingly, even immediately after he lets people sway him rather than his beliefs when he agrees to eat the food from the witch.
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