Necromancy

Necromancy is a very dangerous practice that many people commit and they do not even realize they do this.  According to Wikipedia, Necromancy is pronounced as well as defined for the following: /ˈnɛkrɵˌmænsi/ or nigromancy is a form of magic involving communication with the deceased – either by summoning their spirit as an apparition or raising them bodily – for the purpose of divination, imparting the means to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge, or to use the deceased as a weapon, as the term may sometimes be used in a more general sense to refer to black magic or witchcraft.

From our previous blogs we have hinted at how dangerous this act is.  My blog “Go into the Light”, we briefly discussed this aspect of communication in the paranormal community.  This blog will cover this aspect fully and explain why this is very dangerous to commit in searching for answers to the afterlife.  Now many of you reading this blog may disagree with what I am about to say, however if it aligns with the bible then it is the truth.  Calling forth the spirits of a dead person whomever they might be is detestable to GOD.  

From viewing any paranormal page found in our society on one social forum such as Facebook we find time and time again these paranormal teams doing the very act that GOD detests.  For doing these acts these paranormal teams subject not only themselves to the wrath of GOD, but the very people whom they are trying to help as well.

What do you mean GOD’s wrath?  Why would these very people receive the wrath of GOD?  I will explain this fully as we go further.  These paranormal teams will state “We are here to help these people get answers as to what is causing all this activity.”  While that might be the truthful intention of these investigators, the procedures used are detestable.

As we have blogged in the past, (Demons not Ghosts) these are the Fallen Angels who are posing as Ghosts to get a person to interact with them, thus by interacting with them (not Exorcism which is different) a person is subjecting themselves to Necromancy which GOD detests.

Multiple paranormal pages show these people stating to “come forward and speak to this device”, “tell me who is here”, “how many of you are here”, “are you a good or bad spirit” and so on and so forth.  All of these phrases and others not stated refer to this invitation for those to come forward are acts of Necromancy.  Let us go back and review this earlier Wikipedia statement which says this act is “a form of magic involving communication with the deceased – either by summoning their spirit as an apparition or raising them bodily.”  The key to this phrase is communication with the deceased.

Now many teams do not command a full body to appear, however they will command those spirits to come forward and communicate, thus necromancy is committed.  Some of these groups though do command full apparitions to appear or to harm them in a manner.  Thus necromancy has just occurred in both scenarios.  I am not here to outright bash these paranormal groups, but to state that what they are doing is very wrong and very dangerous.  GOD will not protect you no matter what you think!

According to the holy bible recorded in Leviticus 19:31 KJV “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.”  Now just because a person may not be an actual Wizard or Witch but we are commanded to not communicate with familiar spirits.  For we know now that according to Leviticus you hear a warning from GOD himself concerning such practices. These practices will defile you!  This is a form of spiritism under the necromancy headline.

Clear testimony of the Holy Scriptures and the Bible, that spiritism is the masquerading of demonic forces.  Those who pretend to be departed spirits with the intent of deceiving, is done through the power of Satan.  Sadly, those who are foolish enough to believe the testimony of demons in preference to the authority of the Word of GOD are in trouble.

Spiritism is altogether contrary to the Word of GOD and is detestable in the sight of GOD.  According to Leviticus 20:6 KJV “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.”  Because of GOD having great love and mercy, he forgives the sins of all those who truly repent of their sins and put their trust in Jesus for eternal life (refer to Acts 2:38; 16:31; Romans 6:23.)

Calling the spirit of a dead person is a process to call upon and by so doing this spirit is expected to respond as if they are still alive.  In the Bible we have a case where Saul the King hired a witch (from Endor) to call up Samuel by familiar spirit (refer to 1 Samuel 28:7-14 KJV).  This act certainly caused the body of Samuel to be returned to the dust to fulfill the curse on man when the first man sinned (refer to Genesis 3:19 KJV).

We need to realize what GOD wants us to be while on earth and then thereafter. The bible states in Hebrews 9:28 KJV "And it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.”  GOD has never given a room for man to die, then be buried, to thus decay and then to come back to life so to speak.

The only time that GOD has returned the dead to life was to fulfill prophecy and to show the works of his Son Jesus after the resurrection as this was a special case and cause.  In Matthew 27:50-53 KJV we find “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.”

Therefore, understand that calling any spirit of a dead person forward is not biblical and it has nothing good to offer to our faith.  Actually the fact is this is demonic. Those who practice such acts are considered unbelievers. The bible tells us of the portion of those who would not believe and continue to indulge in such acts will receive the lake of Fire (refer Revelation 21:8 KJV).

Likewise, as our world rapidly approaches the final times according to the bible, many catastrophic events await us.  Most people disregard the abundant warnings and advice GOD has given concerning the end.  Instead of believing GOD, they choose to believe the scientists and familiar spirits, who proclaim a more credible report. In this they make a fatal error.

Rev. Bradley Luoma, Exorcist Minister

The Necessity of Scripture

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

The ultimate written authority we are subject to is God's inerrant, personal Word to us in the bible. It is God's authoritative interpretation of His own creation (among many other things)...which includes the paranormal. Hence, it is appropriate that we spend some time looking at the nature of scripture. This series will include discussions of: the necessity of scripture, the clarity of scripture, the comprehensiveness of scripture, and the sufficiency of scripture. All of these speak of why scripture is important for us, and the ways it is to have preeminence in our lives. A driving force of the sixteenth century reformation was sola scriptura (scripture alone), and it remains the driving force of any church or Christian who seeks to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Let us first look at the necessity of scripture.

To speak of the bible's necessity is simply to say we need it. We have noted before that when Satan tempted Jesus to turn stone into bread that our Lord replied by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matt. 4:4). Notice that Jesus refers to every word, which implies that every single word is necessary for our spiritual diet...every word is inspired by God the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16). We certainly need food, but our need for God's word is of even greater importance. In practice, which is viewed by you with more importance--eating      breakfast or daily ingesting God's word?

Recently I was communicating with a friend who is a witch. In response to a blog I had posted on Facebook, they commented that it would make them sad if their magical world of spirits was reduced to only demons and angels--implying that the bible impoverished one's view of reality. As is so often the case with occultists (and folks who believe/speak in ghosts are occultists), my friend was of the opinion that she had an objective view of the spirit world, but that I was saddled with an antiquated bible which has antiquated views about the spirit world. Poor me! I replied that nobody is able to be 100% objective (defined as not influenced by anything but the "facts") and we all operate, consciously or unconsciously, with a worldview--a set of presuppositions about reality...an ultimate norm or standard that we appeal to. The ultimate norm may be the bible or it might be one's reason, imagination, intuition, experience and so on. But we must disabuse ourselves of any notion that we view the paranormal objectively...nobody does...nor is it possible or even desirable. As followers of Christ, He must have preeminence in all of our thought--regarding the full circumference of reality--seen and unseen.

However, if our ultimate norm for interpreting reality is anything but the bible, then it has become autonomous (literally, "self-law"). Autonomous reasoning is attempting to reason independent of God. I told my friend that we ALL lean on something to be our ultimate court of appeal...it is not just Christians with their bible. For example, since the paranormal is invisible (usually), it is particularly necessary that we be guided through this treacherous terrain by the compass of the bible--otherwise our autonomous reasoning will steer us wrong....and onto the rocks. We WILL misinterpret real experiences, and Satan WILL deceive us if we attempt to reason autonomously regarding anything--especially regarding the spirit world on earth since that is God's ordained, temporary home for Satan and his infernal army. I refer you to the first sentence in this paragraph--there is no "IF"S" about it...it seems to me that the primary human cause (as opposed to Satanic strategy) of this explosion of necromancy is the ancient disease known as autonomous reasoning....Satan tempted Adam and Eve to first think autonomously, and their sinful eating of forbidden fruit would follow. Instead of bowing before the comprehensive jurisdiction of God's holy and authoritative Word over every area of our lives (including the paranormal), we have used our God-given faculties independently of our Maker.The temptation to think autonomously has its roots in the Garden (Gen.3......and Satan's revolt before that) and we must come to terms with how thoroughly original sin has affected our minds--we instinctively suppress and deny the truth of God and exchange it for a lie (Rom.1). I say all this because it accents just how necessary God's Word is.

Have you ever been to a county fair where one of the games was a duck-shooting gallery? Pling...pling...pling...even I can nail them at such close range. "They are a sitting duck" is a common expression referring to people who are defenseless against a deadly enemy. The tens of millions of Americans who have an active interest in the paranormal are sitting ducks in the worst possible way. Their insistence on autonomy of thought has exposed them to demonic oppression. The friend I mentioned earlier said that the idea that all paranormal activity was demonic was stupid (her word). Not so...what is foolish is playing in Satan's sandbox....what is naive is the notion that we can outwit Satan's deceptions without the Word of God. The carnage is becoming a killing fields--and it is heartbreaking to see. If ever their were in the history of mankind a situation which showed the absolute necessity of the word of God is America in 2013.

Second, the written Word is necessary because it establishes God's covenant authority over us. People often speak of having a personal relationship with Christ, but they are uncertain about the role of scripture in that relationship. Jesus says that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15, 21, 23, 15:7, 10) To obey His commandments we need to know them--hence, the necessity of having His Word and reading it. His words are absolutely necessary for our lives (John 6:68). If we do not obey His Word, then we may not call Him Lord (Matt.7:21--27). Jesus' words are found only in scripture. By right of creation and re-creation, God (and God alone) has the rightful authority to demand implicit obedience from us...keeping His commandments. We will speak more of this in the weeks to come, but the Lord, and His Word, has jurisdiction over every area of our lives--including full control over our interpretation and behavior regarding the paranormal. The written Word of God is the constitution of God's redeemed community here on earth.

Third, His written, personal Word to us records the key events in Jesus ministry, as well as giving us God's own interpretation of those events The four gospels and epistles are equally important--generally speaking, the gospels record the key redemptive events, and the epistles interpret or explain the meaning and significance of those recorded events. I hasten to add that the gospels certainly contain theological interpretation and commentary, and the epistles have historical elements in them...but we can still say that the gospels are primarily narratives of redemptive historical events, and the epistles elaborate the significance of the: incarnation, life, substitutionary atonement, resurrection, ascension, and second coming of our Lord Jesus. Without the bible, Jesus' death would have no meaning to us. Without the bible we would have no clue as to the Person and Work of Jesus--the incarnate Word. Without the Old and New Testaments, there is no Christ...without Christ there is no gospel....without the gospel there is no salvation. The gospel cannot be grasped by general/natural revelation--it had to be verbally communicated by our Lord to us. Below is the very first statement of the Westminster Confession of Faith regarding this matter--personally subscribing to the substance of the WCF was a prerequisite of my ordination in 1985 in the AR Presbyterian denomination.

Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable; yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His Church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which makes the Holy Scripture to be MOST NECESSARY; those former ways of God's revealing His will unto His people being now ceased. (WCF 1:1...emphasis added)

Fourth, God's written word is necessary, because without it, reality in general would become meaningless and incoherent. Any attempts at autonomous reasoning (thinking independently of God's influence) ultimately becomes self-destructive. For example, Scripture says we are made in God's image (Gen.1).This image-of-Godness is not anan optional extra--it is the essence of our self identity. As His image bearers, we cannot even begin to have accurate knowledge of self if we reason independently (autonomous) from the God we mirror. As John Calvin said in the beginning of the Institutes, knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves, are inextricably bound together...and it is difficult to know which comes first. Having, cherishing, and reverently reading the Word of God is absolutely necessary for spiritual growth and equipping of the saints for spiritual warfare.

See Part 2 The Clarity of the Word of God