Familiar Spirits & The Only Two Men to Ever Come Back from the Dead Without Being Resurrected
The late Prophet Samuel appearing King Saul, his men, and the Witch of En Dor.
The following is an excerpt from my newest book, The Days of Noah and Lot. Get your copy today if you haven't already!
Scripture tells us that it is appointed unto man to die ONCE, and then the judgment (Heb. 9:27). Therefore, no one who passes out of this life into the next may return to us--in any form. (We are not talking here of normal dreams about someone, although if you have a sexual dream about someone you may very well want to examine the root of it and deal with it as Jehovah leads.) I have said before that there is only one example in Scripture of a dead person returning, but I was wrong. There are two: The first, is when God allowed the witch of En Dor, a medium (necromancer), to call up the dead prophet Samuel who was resting in Abraham’s Bosom, where all the Saints went before Paradise (Heaven) was opened to us through Jesus’ power and resurrection.
When the prophet John Paul Jackson was alive, he explained the reasoning behind this as being that since Jesus had not yet come and not yet taken back the keys of Death, Hell, and the Grave, the dead were under Satan’s Lordship and he could do as he pleased. I personally do not agree with this explanation since that, to me, says Satan could easily have allowed other people, godly or otherwise, to be called up without restriction. Again, I disagree with this. I believe the key indicator of the purpose was in the medium’s reaction to Samuel. Any medium who was in earnest about his or her practice would have believed they were actually communicating with the dead. They would not have been surprised at all if a spirit they’d called up came to them, unless, perhaps, it was their first time. But mediums call up spirits left and right. Many times, they don’t even actually have to call to them, they’re just there; they just come of their own volition. But on this particular occasion in En Dor, the night before Saul’s final battle against the Philistines, the Witch of En Dor got the surprise of her life! Here is the story.
So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.”
Then the woman said to him, “Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?”
And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.”
Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”
And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”
When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”
And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?”
And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.”
So he said to her, “What is his form?”
And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.” And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down.
Now Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
And Saul answered, “I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do.”
Then Samuel said: “So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? And the Lord has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, and was dreadfully afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no food all day or all night. (I Samuel 28:8-20)
“Endora” recognized something very different about this occasion than all the others. This was not a spirit like all the others. I believe in this situation, she understood, perhaps, that this was the real Samuel and not a familiar spirit impersonating him. After all, that is the domain of familiar spirits. They familiarize themselves with people and may even take on the appearances of those they are assigned to for the sake of deceiving those who are yet alive. Yet I believe God allowed this as a final ministration from Samuel to Saul. And a wake-up call, hopefully, to the witch.
The other story of the dead returning is found in the New Testament, in the Gospels.
