“Will my witch-doctor father be able to call me back from the dead as a spirit?”
QUESTION: My father is a witch doctor. When I die and go to heaven, will he be able to call me back as a spirit, like the witch of Endor did to Samuel (1 Sam. 28:7-20)?
ANSWER: Let me first reassure you that when you as a Christian die, you will be “absent from the body and present with the Lord” (1 Cor. 5:8). Paul describes the joy of being with the Lord as “far better” than living here (Phil. 1:22-24). I don’t believe he’d speak of it this way if some witch were able to interrupt your enjoyment of the Lord by calling you back to earth. God, not Satan, is in control of all things. By His grace, he has provided a place for His redeemed where “the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest” (Job 3:17), and all the satanic powers of the universe can’t disturb that rest. How then do we understand 1 Samuel 28:7-20? Three keys help us understand this passage:
- The passage never says that the witch (or medium) brought up Samuel (vv. 9-11). In fact, when she saw Samuel, she cried out. She was both surprised and afraid and certainly not in control of the situation. The usual work of mediums is to communicate lying messages from an evil spirit. If this is what she had actually done in this instance, there would have been no cause for her to cry out in fear.
- Satanic agencies have no power except that which God allows them to have. For example, demons were totally subject to Christ and recognized Him as the Son of God during His ministry upon earth.
- The message of Samuel to Saul (vv. 15-19) conveys the truth of God, not the lies of demonic spirits. It is consistent with all Samuel had told Saul when he was still alive, and it gives an accurate prediction as to the future. God Himself, who earlier refused to answer Saul’s inquiries either by dreams, Urim or the prophets, chose to use this unusual means to speak to the desperate king. I do not know why God chose to act in this way, but I do know that He is “righteous in all His ways” (Ps. 145:17).
By Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.