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"And yet Scripture says: "And Saul answered…", not: "a demon posing as Samuel answered…"" -------------------------------------------------------------- You are suggesting that witches with their demons have the power to "disquiet" and bring up dead Saints against their will. You are saying that God, who has outlawed divination and all demonic works, would allow his Saints to be brought up by Demonic powers. And, finally, you are ignoring the character of Samuel himself, who always recommended an immediate righting of ways to, perchance, receive mercy of God. All of this gives to witchcraft and divination a power none of it actually possesses. This contradicts other scriptures and the spirit of God. Do you think that any Jew of that time would have thought, Oh, a witch who uses FAMILIAR SPIRITS, is actually channeling the REAL Samuel? Common sense man. Live it, love it, learn it. 1Sa_28:7 Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. Lev 19:31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. From Clarke's commentaries: "Leviticus 19:31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits - The Hebrew word אבות oboth probably signifies a kind of engastromuthoi or ventriloquists, or such as the Pythoness mentioned Act_16:16, Act_16:18; persons who, while under the influence of their demon, became greatly inflated, as the Hebrew word implies, and gave answers in a sort of frenzy. See a case of this kind in Virgil, Aeneid, l. vi., ver. 46, etc.: - “ - Deus ecce, Deus! cui talla fanti Ante fores, subito non vultus, non color unus, Non comptae mansere comae; sed pectus anhelum, Et rabie fera corda tument; majorque videri, Nec mortale sonans, afflata est numine quando Jam propiore Dei.” - Invoke the skies, I feel the god, the rushing god, she cries. While yet she spoke, enlarged her features grew, Her color changed, her locks dishevelled flew. The heavenly tumult reigns in every part, Pants in her breast, and swells her rising heart: Still swelling to the sight, the priestess glowed, And heaved impatient of the incumbent god. Pitt. Neither seek after wizards - ידענים yiddeonim, the wise or knowing ones, from ידע yada, to know or understand; called wizard in Scotland, wise or cunning man in England; and hence also the wise woman, the white witch. Not only all real dealers with familiar spirits, or necromantic or magical superstitions, are here forbidden, but also all pretenders to the knowledge of futurity, fortune-tellers, astrologers, etc., etc. To attempt to know what God has not thought proper to reveal, is a sin against his wisdom, providence, and goodness. In mercy, great mercy, God has hidden the knowledge of futurity from man, and given him hope - the expectation of future good, in its place." -------

“And yet Scripture says: “And Saul answered…”, not: “a demon posing as Samuel answered…”

(Formatting with first post looked too funky):

You are suggesting that witches with their demons have the power to “disquiet” and bring up dead Saints against their will. You are saying that God, who has outlawed divination and all demonic works, would allow his Saints to be brought up by Demonic powers. And, finally, you are ignoring the character of Samuel himself, who always recommended an immediate righting of ways to, perchance, receive mercy of God. All of this gives to witchcraft and divination a power none of it actually possesses. This contradicts other scriptures and the spirit of God. Do you think that any Jew of that time would have thought, Oh, a witch who uses FAMILIAR SPIRITS, is actually channeling the REAL Samuel?

Common sense man. Live it, love it, learn it.

1Sa_28:7 Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.

Lev 19:31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

From Clarke's commentaries: "Leviticus 19:31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits - The Hebrew word אבות oboth probably signifies a kind of engastromuthoi or ventriloquists, or such as the Pythoness mentioned Act_16:16, Act_16:18; persons who, while under the influence of their demon, became greatly inflated, as the Hebrew word implies, and gave answers in a sort of frenzy. See a case of this kind in Virgil, Aeneid, l. vi., ver. 46, etc.: - “ - Deus ecce, Deus! cui talla fanti Ante fores, subito non vultus, non color unus, Non comptae mansere comae; sed pectus anhelum, Et rabie fera corda tument; majorque videri, Nec mortale sonans, afflata est numine quando Jam propiore Dei.” - Invoke the skies, I feel the god, the rushing god, she cries. While yet she spoke, enlarged her features grew, Her color changed, her locks dishevelled flew. The heavenly tumult reigns in every part, Pants in her breast, and swells her rising heart: Still swelling to the sight, the priestess glowed, And heaved impatient of the incumbent god. Pitt.