Good night and God bless.
“In 1 Thess. 4:13, Paul refers to the dead in Christ as being 'asleep.' This indicates that, while both the dead and the living remain in the Body, there is no communication between them.”
So, the dead in Christ are not in Heaven? They are in some intermediate stage between life and Heaven, sort of like Purgatory?
According to mainstream protestant theology, in that letter “Paul tells the Church that if they believe as truth that Jesus died and rose, then they should also believe as truth what he is about to tell them: those who have died will return with Jesus at that time. Paul is differentiating here between the living and the dead who will return with Jesus; it is the spirits of "those who have fallen asleep" who will return with Him.” In other words, he’s not saying that they are in some state analogous to the slumber of the carnal state, but is using the word “asleep” to contrast with the concept of having ceased to be at the time of carnal death.
Besides, I have to think that if that argument were even superficially valid, Luther or Calvin would have used it. They didn’t.
“There is only one biblical character reported to have communicated with the dead: King Saul.”
If one disregards the seven Deuterocanonical books eliminated by Luther, that might be true. If one considers the whole Bible, it is not.
The most compelling proof that the Saints hear us when we ask them to pray for us, however, is the fact that they do in fact intercede for us, with tangible result.