Contacting the dead = Bible no-no?

This time around, a mother asks Billy Graham about her request to her children to contact her after her death...

Q: I’ve told my children that I want to communicate with them after I die, and that they should find a medium who can arrange this. But one of my daughters refuses to cooperate. This hurts me very much. What’s wrong with asking them to contact me after death? — Mrs. M.G.

Oh jeez...  To date, there is no indication that there is an afterlife, let alone that anyone would be able to communicate with it. Also, every single supposed psychic that has submitted to scientific testing has been found to be a fraud (knowingly or not).

A: Elsewhere in your letter, you mention that the daughter who’s refusing to follow your desires says she has recently committed her life to Jesus Christ. That’s undoubtedly why she doesn’t want to get involved with this, because she knows the Bible forbids it.

And considering that MG is writing Billy Graham, the odds are that she is a Christian as well. And if she is, her belief in talking to the dead wouldn't be surprising. I know plenty of Christians that believe in ghosts (not to mention their holy one), psychics, fortune tellers, astrology, and many other forms of supernatural nonsense.

I also love the double-standard at play here. The Bible forbids psychics and fortune tellers, but when it's one of God's supposed prophets these condemned activities are suddenly labeled instead as 'prophecy'. Seems awful convenient to me.

Any type of occult activity (including attempts to communicate with the dead through a spirit medium) can involve us with spiritual forces that are not from God, but are actually opposed to God. On the surface, they may appear very innocent or benign, but in reality they aren’t. The Bible is very clear: “Let no one be found among you... who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead” (Deuteronomy 18:10-11).

So I assume that Billy Graham also condemns Catholic confession then? After-all, they are communicating to a person that in essence works as a middle-man between you and God/Jesus (spirit plane). Sounds a bit like talking to granny through a medium to me.

But why stop there? What about praying to the saints (dead) or praying to a dead loved one? Plenty of Christians go to grave sites and pray to a mother, father, child, etc... If using a psychic can put you in touch with the 'wrong' spiritual forces, why not regular old prayed as well? Suppose Satan intercepts your prayer and answers it instead of God? What if its a whole other god? Baal could be the one telling you to quit your job and make that move you always wanted to. It's not like a Christian can ever really know that God is the one they think they hear back from. They do make the Devil out to be pretty damn powerful (trying to deceive, causing trouble/hurt/evil within God's plan, etc), so leaching off God's WiFi ought to be pretty damn easy.

My real concern, however, is for you. Those who follow occult beliefs would have us believe that the next world will be a place of peace and happiness, but this isn’t necessarily true. The Bible tells us that eternity is real, but if we’ve turned our backs on the living God and rejected His Son, we have no hope of heaven. Instead, our destiny will be that place of absolute loneliness and despair the Bible calls hell, separated from God forever.

 I love the instant assumption that MG isn't a Christian just because she believes in some things that a lot of other Christians actually believe in as well. And I also love the fact that Billy just showed that he has no freaking clue about the beliefs that he's decrying. Pagan beliefs on the afterlife are quite varied. Some believe in a Heaven and Hell type scenario. Some have the 'good place' as a party, and the 'bad place' as never ending boredom. More still believe in an afterlife that is neither good nor bad, and then there are those that don't believe in an afterlife at all. It would seem that Billy has a bit of
homework to do...

Don’t be deceived, and don’t miss the great gift God offers you -- the gift of eternal life. Instead, by faith repent of your sins and open your heart and life to Jesus Christ. He alone is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

Or is it? Maybe the Bible is Satan's greatest trick against Christianity yet. Billy thinks he is following God when he follows the Bible. But what if he isn't?


-Brain Hulk

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