1 Samuel 28.15; The seance - The Mother of All seances.
And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
Saul knew that consulting the woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor. 1 Sam. 28.7, was expressly forbidden by God, for he even cut off those that hath familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land, as the woman so reminded him! (1 Sam. 28.8). There shall not be found among you any one...that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD. Dt. 18.10-12. Regardless of the clear testimony of Scripture, consult her, he did. The woman brought Samuel up, and upon doing so, suddenly *realized that it was Saul who was consulting her! saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. The proceedings caused her **to cry out with a loud voice. 1 Sam 28.11-12.
What has baffled theologians over the years with this incident, is whether it was actually Samuel, or a demon masquerading as Samuel. But, really, why is this so? The Bible says in no uncertain terms that Samuel said, 1 Sam. 28.15, and Saul was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel, 1 Sam. 28.20 (my emphasis). If it were a demon speaking in this seance, then surely the narrative would have said, "the demon said" and "Saul was sore afraid, because of the words of the demon." Interestingly, Samuel's mother, Hannah prophesied of this event (which seems to have escaped the radar of Christian theologians) in her great prayer; The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. (My emphasis) 1 Sam. 2.6. I realize that this verse has a far wider application! nevertheless? We should also remember that demons did not exist in the OT dispensation as us moderns are wont to think. In the OT scriptures, the word "demon" is nothing more than a pejorative term referring to the idols of Baal worship. They were offering sacrifices to the "he-goats" in the same vein as apostate Israel did to the physical molten calf. Demons didn't come into existence until just prior to the First Advent of Christ (Rev. 12.4) unless, of course, we believe the ancient Jewish fable of the Nephilim (giants), of which Augustine firmly repudiated. This is the theory that the sons of God in Gen. 6.2 were fallen angels which impregnated human women. However, chapters 4 and 5 of Genesis describe the ungodly lineage of Cain, and the godly lineage of Seth, and what happened in Gen. 6.2 is the result of these two lineages coming together.
The apostates of old were literally worshipping idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. Rev. 9.20, Ps. 115.4-7, Dan. 5.23 etc. So how could a 'demon' of a literal physical constitution, thus described in God's written word be capable of masquerading as Samuel?
*But, how come this sudden revelation? Who but the Almighty God can reveal such things? One moment, the woman was absolutely clueless as to whom sought her services, the next not! Think on these things!
**This sudden exclamation is particularly noteworthy, and not inserted to make the 'story' more interesting, as some think. No! the Bible is concise, sharp, and to the point, there is no "fat on the bones" as it were (Reminds me of Heb. 4.12!). The woman was genuinely shocked, and no doubt, when seances became common place in the Victorian times, this type of 'performance' became the blueprint to all subsequent seances.
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