@Maldarker,
Like said simple passage
look at the lesson and the consequence of what happens in that sin.)
The matter is not settled unless you ignore a lot about God and how He works according to His Word. The Bible says Saul
perceived (do not ignore this word) it was Samuel. It wasn't Samuel. Saul was wrong in his perception and that's not surprising since God had abandoned Him.
Also lets think about this more deeply. The Bible tells us in
1 Samuel 28:6, "And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets." This is how God communicated with Saul. Yet you're suggesting that God changed His mind and communicated with Saul anyway through a medium by having her summon Samuel's spirit? Why would God communicate through a dead prophet? God cut off all communication and had no intention of communicating with Saul again. So Saul became desperate and sought a medium, he knew very well what he was doing was wrong. God had banned them all because mediums communicate with demons not God. That is why there are many warnings for God's people not to go seek them.
The Bible says in
1 Chronicles 10:13-14, "So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse." If Saul should not have consulted a medium, why would God communicate with a dead prophet through the medium? Did God forget everything He had said about not consulting mediums and the like? God would not communicate through a medium because that would mean Saul had to go to her and God had told Israelites never to consult mediums. You are suggesting God made Saul sin. God does not even tempt us let alone make us sin. Plus do you know of a time when God has communicated through dead prophets or people in general ever?
A demon or the devil himself was wearing a mantle but Saul could not see the fake Samuel. He asked the medium in
I Samuel 28:14, "What is his form?” So he did not see the mantle that was worn by the demon or the devil. As soon as he was told that the apparition was wearing a mantle, Saul perceived it was Samuel based on the description given to him by the medium (
1 Samuel 28:13-14). And I know I keep repeating myself but the dead cannot communicate with the living and their thoughts have perished. God does not and has never communicated through dead prophets and people in general. Because they are dead in their graves and know nothing. Nor does the devil and his evil angels or mediums have the power to summon or resurrect dead people. No created being and that includes evil and good angels can summon or resurrect the dead. Only God can give life. He is the only One who has power over life and death.
The Bible doesn't tell us why the medium reacted the way she did but the demon most definitely told her that it was Saul who came to her because she says,
"Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” Remember Saul was in disguise and she didn't know until she summoned the demon who he was.
The KJV says,
"And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth." The Bible has never described the God of heaven and creator of this earth like that. God is never written of in plural in the Bible. He is not gods nor would He ever ascend out of the earth.
I repeat, God does not resurrect only the spirit of a person when He resurrects people. They always are resurrected in body and spirit. If anyone appears only in spirit it is a demon. Saul could not see this spirit only the medium could. Study your Bible on this subject and you will see that this is the truth.
That is because a demon or Satan himself masqueraded as Samuel so he had to pretend as if he had ever had prior communication with Saul. He knew of the communication between Samuel and Saul. That was his purpose, to deceive Saul. The devil is an angel and knows a lot more than we do.
But Samuel was dead. Why would God communicate through a dead prophet, didn't He have other prophets who were alive at the time? And why would God let a medium who were banned in Israel and well known to use demonic or satanic powers?
Yes Samuel's purpose was well documented and he was a prophet of God and lived righteously. One of the ways God spoke to Saul was through Samuel. It was Samuel who anointed David as the next king of Israel before he died as written of in
1 Samuel 16. Why did God ask Samuel to anoint David? Because of Saul's disobedience to Him as Samuel told Saul.
The message of the evil spirit that impersonated Samuel was true for the most part, but the demon lied when it said,
“tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.” Samuel was dead and so its impossible he said that but even though he spoke to Saul (he didn't), Saul could not be with Samuel who was a holy prophet of God or share anything with him after he died. They were on two different sides, Samuel on God's side and Saul sadly on the devil's side.
The message given to Saul did not require visionary powers. David had already been anointed as king of Israel, and Satan knew what was going to happen Saul because God had cut off all communication with him. There was no hope, no help, no encouragement. Saul collapsed on the floor of the medium’s cave and when he revived a little he had only enough energy to eat at the urging of the medium and his two helpers. The sad result of Saul’s visit to the witch of Endor was not repentance, confession of sin, and life (the Holy Spirit that leads us to do those things had departed from him) but despair, discouragement, and death.
God does not and never has communicated through mediums, witches, and people with familiar spirits and I explained why in previous post. He doesn't communicate through dead prophets either. God communicated/communicates through His prophets (that are alive) and through His Word the Bible.
In Balaam's case that was a donkey not a medium. Donkeys are not mediums or spiritists and don't commune with evil spirits do they? Nor did God say people should be stoned if they talked with a talking donkey. Yes it was unusual but it wasn't wrong. God communicating through a medium would be very wrong and would imply God makes exceptions to certain sins. Thankfully He doesn't as the Bible clearly teaches.
Saul bowed to what he
perceived was Samuel. He bowed to a demon who was most likely Satan himself. Remember God had cut off all contact with Saul and he was desperate to communicate with anyone that he went to a medium because he was afraid after he saw the army of the Philistines and God wasn't telling him what to do.
First of all Saul had Rejected Samuel's counsel especially when it came to the last thing Saul did by disobeying God in punishing and completely destroying the Amalekites. The next time Samuel saw Saul, he told Him God had rejected him as king of Israel.
Secondly, the way the message was relayed to Saul was not how God relays messages as I explained in a previous response to you. It was a taunting message that the demon most likely Satan enjoyed giving to Saul. He would have been happy that Saul was lost.
Like I said above, the message did not require visionary powers. It was obvious what was going to happen to Saul. The purpose of the message was not to lead Saul to repentance, but to lead him on to ruin, this is not the work of God, but of Satan. It was a hopeless message. It is Satan that leads people to commit suicide.
The devil nor the witch had the power or authority to summon/resurrect the dead not even partially. Nor did God lend them His power to do so on that day or any other day. The Bible tells us,
"I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death" (
Revelation 1:18). Only God can resurrect the dead so the medium most definitely did not summon Samuel. It clearly was an evil spirit that appeared to her. Dead people cannot do anything on earth after they die and they cannot communicate with the living. I have shown you actual scripture that says so. Its not me saying this, its the Word of God. Remember God does not contradict Himself and His Word.
Samuel was dead. Saul would have been able to see him if God had resurrect him because when God resurrects people they are resurrected fully in body and spirit. Never partially. God would never do anything through mediums either.
While the devil has some powers and he uses them and will use them at the end of time to deceive people, he is not and never will be more powerful than God. Remember the devil is a created being and has limited powers compared to God. There are certain things only God can do and one of them is resurrecting the dead. The devil cannot and never will be able to resurrect the dead. He does not have that power or authority. Satan did not have a fluke and somehow managed this time to resurrect Samuel in spirit only. It is impossible for him to do that. All the devil and his demons can do is present a counterfeit. They are good at that. Counterfeiting things only God can do.
If we read from
verse 21-23 it says,
"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" Many "Christians" do many things in the name of God but their hearts are unconverted and they do not do God's will. They do what feels right to them but do not obey God's Word completely. Jesus will tell those people
"depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" It is lawlessness not to obey God completely as Jesus did when He was here on earth. He is our example.
That is why its impossible that the medium summoned Samuel because neither she nor the devil can resurrect the dead fully or partially. They do not have that power or authority and God most definitely did not lend it to them on that day or any other day. Now there are prophets and disciples of God all throughout the Bible who resurrected dead people through the power of God including Jesus, and the people were resurrected fully with their bodies and spirits.
Then you're saying the Bible is lying. The Bible clearly says the devil and demons can and will perform miracles. Here are a few verses:
2 Corinthians 11:14, "And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light."
Revelation 16:14, "For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty."
Actually they do prove that fake Samuel/demon was summoned by demonic power. First the medium was a not person of God and was actually banned in Israel because God had said they should be stoned to death. Why? Because everything they stood/stand for was against God and His Word (see
Deuteronomy 18:10-15, Isaiah 47:13-14).
Secondly, God would not communicate through a dead prophet. God always communicates through people who are very much alive.
And thirdly, if one goes to a medium, the only power they can use is demonic or satanic power. They can't use power from God because they are not people of God. So the only power the medium used was demonic power which she used to summon up a demon that impersonated Samuel. None of it had anything to do with God.
God never has and never will permit anything He does to go through mediums and spiritists who commune with demons/evil spirits. God does not entertain or compromise with anything to do with devil. Mediums cannot use any power from God either to summon or resurrect anyone. The Bible says,
"For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?" (
2 Corinthians 6:14-15). God is light and has no dealings with darkness at all.
I've also shown you how God resurrects people and how He will when Christ returns the second time for His people. He resurrects them in body and spirit and never partially. So its impossible that Samuel was resurrected partially to speak to Saul through a medium. That is not how God's way at all. God does not deal with evil at all. Light has no dealings with darkness. God does not make exception to sin and never has or will. God does not ever compromise with sin or lead people to sin. So it was not Samuel that gave Saul that message. By now you should know who did.
This story proves there is never a time God makes an exception of going to and seeking people who commune with evil spirits.
1 Chronicles 10:13 makes that very clear. Saul did not keep the Word of the Lord and consulted a medium. We are all supposed to keep the Word of the Lord always and never consult with mediums. The warnings all the way from the Old Testament to this day against mediums and people with familiar spirits and any who seek information from the dead are still true today. The dead are dead. The dead were dead then and the dead are dead now. Anyone who seeks information from them, whether by or through mediums, psychics, Ouija boards. horoscopes, or spiritists of any kind, is really talking with demons. Just as Saul was really talking with a demon. Our safety lies only in seeking wisdom from God.
When God stopped communicating with Saul the last time before he took his own life, it was for good sadly and He did not change His mind and communicate with Saul through the medium and a demon. Even if God changed His mind (He never does), He would never communicate through a medium and a dead prophet. There is never a time where God excuses sin and He certainly would never do something He Himself said was wrong and lead man to sin.
It doesn't matter what the people of Israel believed, if it was against God's Word it was wrong and God would certainly not accommodate them in their wrong beliefs. In fact God always warned the Israelites not to do what the heathen do and sacrifice to the dead and obviously He told them not to consult with mediums and the likes. As you know Israel did do those things and more and God punished them over and over. God never excused Israel's disobedience in anything.
If Samuel appeared in the same form in which he died, he would have a physical body too that Saul would be able to see. Saul could not even see the mantle that the fake Samuel wore could he? As I wrote above, God would not and never has compromised with sin nor lead anyone to sin. Neither would He sin Himself just to get a message to Saul. God has never sinned and never will. He would never go against His Word and do something that He said was wrong.
There maybe some unanswered questions in this story but on the question on who spoke to Saul through the medium? The answer is very clear unless you choose to ignore a lot of what the Bible teaches some of which I've posted here in this thread in response to you.
When asked by the fake Samuel why he was summoned, Saul responded,
"...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” (
1 Samuel 28:15). Notice what he said about the prophets. Saul said God did not answer him by prophets. The fake Samuel then replied in
verse 16,
"So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy?" If God would not answer Saul by prophets, what made him think he was talking to a prophet? Do you think a dead prophet didn't count? The fake Samuel/demon was actually saying,
"If God does not answer you by prophets, then what makes you think you are speaking to one now?" The fact that Saul understood that God would not communicate with him should make it clear beyond reasonable doubt that God would not do so through a medium and certainly not through a dead prophet either. And I repeat, according to the Bible the dead know nothing and cannot communicate with the dead and rest in the grave until the second coming of Christ.
Saul sought council from a witch. This witch of Endor summoned up a demon, but it was certainly not Samuel. A study of the whole Bible on the subject of death (that's how to study subject in the Bible because a subject is not written of in one place) will reveal that it could not have been anything else but a demon.
The word of God makes it clear that all spiritualism is the the work of demonic, satanic forces and there is never any exception even for Him.
I pray that God will reveal the truth to you on this subject. Maybe He has done that through me. God bless.