I have a friend that lost her father a year ago. A friend of hers, who supposedly sees spirits, puts her in contact with her father every day, and she speaks with him like she would speak to any other person. I’d like to know what you think about this.

Dear Friend,

In the past number of years there have been numerous popular movies and television shows that have fictionalized the spirit world. The scripts of these movies and shows have portrayed people who have come back from the dead to help their loved ones, as well as friendly ghosts who roam about helping strangers with their troubles. In horror movies the spirits are evil, while comedies and romances tend to portray good ghosts or spirits.

There have always been stories and fairy tales about both good witches and bad witches, such as the witches of the east and west in The Wizard of Oz. Currently a blockbuster book and movie series details the lives of both good and bad witches and the school where they learn their magic.

When we see Spiderman or Superman on the screen, we don’t believe that they are real. Nor do the antics of a talking mouse or the horror of a giant gorilla cause anyone to believe that they exist. Yet many people have come to believe that there are good spirits and that mediums can communicate with them. The presence of psychics who work out of their homes and have signs in front of their houses are a reminder that psychics really do exist; but are they really intermediaries or “mediums” to the spirit world and those who have died?

You asked what we think. But what matters about this situation is not what we think; it is what God thinks. Throughout the Scriptures there are references to spirits, but the spirits are always directed by Satan. That is why the message from God about these spirits is, “Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them.”1

How can mediums, spiritists, and psychics have some knowledge of people who have died? It is because Satan has revealed it to them, though the mediums may not even realize that Satan is the one who is putting the information in their heads. In some cases, however, it is obvious that the psychics are complete fakes who specialize in making other people’s money disappear! They know just enough about the loved one to be able to trick the naïve person into believing that he is actually speaking to a lost relative or friend.

Your friend is so devastated by the loss of her father that she has done precisely what God has commanded us not to do. We can only hope that she is not spending all her resources in this effort to communicate with her earthly father rather than with the Heavenly Father, who the apostle Paul describes as “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.”2 So we advise you to pray for her that God will protect her and that she will give Him the opportunity to fill this void in her life.

We will pray with you,

Linda and Charles
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1 Lev 19:31
2 2Co 1:3

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