I am a "BIBLICAL" Paranormal Investigator / researcher and In my stance, I have to say that what I read in the Bible tells me it is not a dead Person. For many reasons actually. First "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (2 Cor. 5:8). Also, “The dead know not anything” (Ecc. 9:5), "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it " (Ecc 12:7), "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward?" (Ecc. 3:21)
And while the subject of Saul's Seance, it shows that we cannot speak to the dead. (here is an excerpt of an article I wrote about the matter)
So what does the Holy bible say about those who claim to “speak to the dead”? Is this even possible?
We will begin in 1 Samuel 28:7-25
7Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "Behold, there is a medium at En-dor."
8So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you." 9The woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?" 10But Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." 11Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." 12When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul." 13The king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up out of the earth." 14 He said to her, "What is his appearance?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe." And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.
15Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" Saul answered, "I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do." 16And Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy? 17The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me, for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. 19Moreover, the LORD will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines."
20Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. 21And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, "Behold, your servant has obeyed you. I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to what you have said to me. 22Now therefore, you also obey your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way." 23He refused and said, "I will not eat." But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he listened to their words. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed. 24Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly killed it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it, 25and she put it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.
We can pick this apart and write a book just on these few passages but we will stick to the topic.
It is clear that there was a firm belief that contacting the dead could really be done. In fact, at the outset of this incident Saul is presented as having outlawed all kinds of necromancy in strict obedience to the Law (Deut. 18:10-14), yet Saul eventually reveals his identity to the witch (risking his reputation and dirtying his authority) to have contact with Samuel once again!
How was the deceased contacted? The Medium, or one who acts as the “middle” man between the spiritual realm and the physical real begins to ask permission to perform such an act. This is done in a leading manner. In order to fulfill her task, the witch had to know specifically who it was he wanted to contact. "Bring me up Samuel" replied the king. This was the permission and the authoritative
assurance that she would not die for what she was about to attempt. In the next verse (28:12), the Hebrew particle translated "when" is not in the text so that the phrase "And when she saw
Samuel she cried with a loud voice" should be "And she saw Samuel and cried with a loud voice."13 This fact supports the idea that the whole thing happened rather quickly. The witch clearly knew what she was doing. It is safe to assume on to pints that She had done this many times before. 1) This specific witch was referred to by Saul's servant and was obviously well known. We see this in verse 7 "Behold, there is a medium at En-dor." 2) As stated above, this was actually done rather quickly and without trouble.
Was this truly Samuel? Many things point to the answer to this question. 12When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. A scream from her indicates that she is as much
astonished and for the moment frightened as anyone can be. This is an interesting point as we have established previously the witch has obviously performed many of these rituals. Evidently she did not expect such an apparition. The effect was much too great for the cause. She sees that in this apparition a power is concerned much beyond what she can control. The Bible tells us clearly that Satan and his demons are very powerful angelic beings. They are stronger and more intelligent than any human and create a great deal of havoc in the lives of both Christians and unbelievers.
A second point can be noted in the text that only the witch “saw” Samuel. 13The king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up out of the earth." 14 He said to her, "What is his appearance?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe." And Saul knew that it was Samuel. In the literal Hebrew the word “knew” is actually translated as “perceived”. Saul perceived that is was Samuel. But he did not see Samuel himself. Just like the mediums of today, they are the only ones who can “see” the deceased. We just have to take their word for it. Samuel, being a profit of God, would have never taken the credit of being a god. After all, He was God's prophet, servant, slave, etc. He served God! This leads us further into our doubt.
In this same section of scripture we read, " And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.15Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" Samuel accepted Saul falling face down bowing to him in homage! This is unlike any other prophet or angel of God in their reaction. Every prophet and angel of God in the bible who has been bowed before has declined the homage. The position of every believer, spiritually speaking, is face down in the presence of Christ. He that will not bow to Christ is not a Christian. He that bows to anyone other than Christ is not a Christian. He that would permit men to bow to him is not a Christian. We even see this in Judaism.
When one dies, one does not haunt a home, walk around the earth visiting friends and family trying to bring some message to comfort them. This is simply unbiblical. Job 7:9-10 states:
9 As the cloud disappears and vanishes away,
So he who goes down to the grave does not come up.
10 He shall never return to his house,
Nor shall his place know him anymore.
Based on these two scriptures alone this would disqualify this apparition to be Samuel.
The spirit of man refers to the life force within him, which returns to God when he dies. Ecc. 12:7 states:
7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
This means that his spirit is not moving around as a “ghost”, nor is it free to possess another person or animal so that the man's personality is continued through them. We will each be judged for our own works. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 2 Cor. 5:10.
The spirit returns to God at death, and all consciousness ceases. Any attempt to contact the dead therefore shows a serious misunderstanding of the ample Bible teaching concerning this. Is. 8:19,20 states 19And when they say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter," should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. The Bible is quite blunt that people do not return to their previous houses or towns in any way after they are dead; there can be no such thing as a “spirit” or “ghost” haunting such a place after the person has died. Job 20:7,9 could not express this in better terms: 7he will perish forever like his own dung;those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?' 9The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him. A biblical perspective of this will lead us to discount all claims to have seen the 'ghosts' of dead people, haunting their old houses, mediums talking to out loved ones who have passed on, or talking to the ascended masters of the new age groups. Such experiences must be something other than the deceased.
“Can we talk to the deceased?”, Speaking in truth, BIBLICAL TRUTH, one must conclude that we CANNOT speak to those who have passed. Anyone who claims this is leading you down the path of darkness! Stand in the light! The light of Jesus!
I just wanted to add my tidbits here. I lived in east texas a few months back with a friend who, well we played weegee board together. To make matters more interesting or worse I had something in that house that really liked me. I made a post about it, it's one of the first posts I made. I do believe now it was a demonic in origin. I would like to say ghosts could be real because that would be more interesting but 9/10 what I would get on the board was a lie. Demons lie. It would get extremely cold, foreboding etc.
