Articles
Seeking Signs Instead of God Himself
When a loved ones dies, there can be a temptation to seek out a sign that your loved one is okay by trying to communicate with the deceased. However, no human can truly understand what happens afterlife. Only the Almighty God, a being of higher understanding grasp something like the afterlife with full comprehension. Deuteronomy 29:29 reads, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
God has already revealed to us all that we need to know about the afterlife in order to carry out His will. Regarding Heaven, the Bible reveals that our spiritual bodies and existence will be different from those physically on Earth.[i] Actively seeking information privy to God using unrighteous methods like tarot cards, Ouija boards, and other clairvoyant practices is sinful. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says, “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.”
In 1st Samuel 28, God’s prophet had already died and King Saul was about to enter battle with the Philistines. By this time, Saul had also abandoned His relationship with God by disobeying His commands multiple times. As a result, when he inquired of God about the upcoming battle with the Philistines, the Lord declined to answer. (1st Sam. 28:6) Instead of repenting to God and accepting responsibility for his disobedience, Saul sought out a medium. 1st Samuel:9-10 then reads, “The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?” But Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.”
The medium then brought out Samuel and Saul explained his worry regarding the Philistines and how the Lord had refused to answer him. Samuel then replied to Saul, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy?” (1st Sam. 28:16) The prophet then explained to Saul that God was fulfilling the sentence that was given to him for his sins. Also, that Saul and his sons will lose their lives because Israel will be defeated.
By going to see a medium, Saul sinned in more ways than just one and we can too. Firstly, he was trying to seek higher knowledge by seeking a medium, Samuel, and sources other than God. Romans 1:25.” Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” Second, in his own eyes, Saul applied God’s will to his own purpose by swearing on the Lord before committing sin. As Christian’s, we too can justify our actions as God’s will even though we are acting contrary to it if we aren’t careful. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
Jesus says in Matthew 24:24, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” There are many sources today that will attempt to confuse us by playing off our emotions or by getting us to think opinions are the doctrine of Christ. There is nothing wrong with being comforted by Christ directly or noticing a comfort from Christ’s creation and seeing it as a warm hearted sign where the credit is given to God. However, there is an issue with intentionally seeking out signs because that is where we can easily be lead into testing God or putting something in front of God. 1 John 4:1 says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
[i] 1 Cor. 15:35-58 talks about how our bodies will be different in Heaven and in Matt. 22:23-33 Jesus describes how marriage will not exist in Heaven because our existence will be different from here on Earth.
