Would asking someone who is about to die to “pass on a message” to someone who is already there — qualify as “communicating with the dead?
I ask, because I did ask someone to do that, one time ... :-) ...
And would that believer see himself and all other believers as saints equally in the eyes of God, or would he elevate some believers to the status as elite saints, and the rest as simple "laity", instructing the "laity" to pray to the saints for favors and protections?
I don't know but I am sure the thought crosses everyone's mind when a loved one is about to pass on. When I was with my dear Aunt who loved the Lord two days before she passed, I took a different Biblical approach. When we see the scene in Heaven as our Roman FRiends like to quote, I notice all attention and praise is on the Throne of God. So before departing her room, I told her to relax, practice singing praises to Jesus Christ because her main focus and desire will be to gaze upon Him and not this fallen world she just left behind.