When I was younger, I didn’t believe in things like ghosts, psychics, and witchcraft. I believed ghosts and monsters were in the same category: figments of imagination and folklore meant to whip listeners into shape. Psychics and witches were more like charlatans—good fact-gatherers with a knack for turning a dollar.
But that automatic assumption changed when I was in high school. My science teacher, a God-fearing man whom I respected very much, told us about his previous job as a supernatural scientist—a ghosthunter. He had some very compelling evidence that had me questioning a lot of things about my previous thoughts on the supernatural, including God Himself. I asked my teacher about all this, and his answer brought me a lot of clarity: he explained to me that he didn’t really know what was going on, but his faith in God and his training in science worked together and led him to want to learn and understand more, all while trusting that God had things under control.
My curiosity opened up. I began to have a more open mind about the supernatural and ask questions about these things beyond life that I didn’t understand. What does the Bible say about ghosts? About life after death? About people who claim they can communicate with those who have passed on? Take a minute to learn along with me.
What is a medium?
Mediumship is a form of pseudoscience that professes to communicate with dead or spiritual beings. A medium is one such person who claims they can mediate between the living and the dead. Medium as an adjective means to be in the middle of something, so the usage as a personal noun originates from the idea of being between the living and the dead, like an interpreter.
Those familiar with the work of mediums tend to fall in two camps: they either believe mediumship is a valid yet mysterious form of understanding life beyond what is visible, or they believe mediums and psychics in general are con artists who are adept with the tools of research, observation, and sleight of hand to convince people of what they want to know. According to the Independent, about a quarter of people around the world fall into the former camp, believing there to be some credibility to mediumship and spiritualism. Though that number is large, it also means 75% of people believe mediums and psychics are hacks.
For those of us who follow the Bible, it’s important to search the scriptures for questions such as these. Do we—should we—believe in the validity of mediums or not?
“For those of us who follow the Bible, it’s important to search the scriptures for questions such as these.”
Biblical Words for “Medium”
It’s sometimes helpful to remember that, for most of us, the Bible is a book in translation. So, when we use a particular word like “medium,” it might be helpful to know what the word is in the original text. In the case of “medium,” the Hebrew word used is “ob,” and it means “them that have familiar spirits.” It is sometimes translated as “necromancer/necromancy” (which is specifically someone who conjures someone from the dead, whereas a “medium” is a more general term for someone who communicates with the dead) or even just “ghost” or “spirit of a dead one.”
There is not a particular word used in the New Testament for “medium,” but there are magicians (mageuō, as in Acts 8:9), sorcerers (pharmakeia, as in Galatians 5:20, and pharmakeus, as in Revelation 21:8), and diviners (pythōn, as in Acts 16:16), though none of these necessarily carry the implication of communicating with spirits. There are spirits (pneuma, both evil and not, as in Matthew 1:18 and 8:16), but no mention of communicating with them as a medium might. There is also the word for mediators (mesitēs, as in Galatians 3:20), but it is never used in a sense of a medium (except for Jesus acting as a mediator between God and humans).
Biblical Commands About Mediums
When considering what the Bible says about any subject, there are at least a couple major categories to consider: commands and examples. From these, we can draw conclusions.
We find commands about mediums in Leviticus (19:31, 20:6, and 20:27) and Deuteronomy (18:9-12), where the Old Testament law is clear about God’s standing: following mediums meant idolatry because the people were seeking information from sources other than God. Anyone who consulted a medium was going to be cut off from their people, and a medium would be stoned to death. Later on, in Isaiah (8:19b-20, NIV), God spoke through the prophet to let the people know a similar message:
“Should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.”
In the New Testament, there is a similar command in John’s first letter (4:1) to stay wise and not believe every spirit “because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Revelation 21:8 (NIV) also mentions “those who practice magic arts” among those who will suffer “the second death.” Mediumship could be described as part of this group.
What does the Bible say about mediums? “In the New Testament, there is a similar command in John’s first letter to stay wise and not believe every spirit ‘because many false prophets have gone out into the world.'”
Old Testament Examples of Mediums
As for examples of mediums in Scripture, there are a few small examples given in the Old Testament, like King Manasseh in 2 Kings 21:6 and 2 Chronicles 33:6, who was described as a terrible man who “did much evil in the eyes of the Lord,” including consulting mediums. When Josiah cleared out all forms of idolatry and abomination, one of them was also mediumship, according to 2 Kings 23:24. Isaiah mentions in 19:3 that God was going to dismantle the Egyptians and “bring their plans to nothing,” so much so that they would consult their gods, spirits, and mediums/spiritists but would be unable to receive any help from them.
But probably the most well-known example of mediumship is in 1 Samuel 28, when King Saul speaks to a medium at Endor to summon the spirit of Samuel. At first, according to verse 2, Saul removed mediums from their midst, probably in response to some of the commands like those in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Saul became afraid of the Philistines’ impending invasion, and though he prayed to God (and sought for him in dreams, consulted prophets, and used the priestly urim), verse 6 says, “The LORD did not answer him.” So, in desperation, Saul sent for a medium.
What does the Bible say about mediums? “In desperation, Saul sent for a medium.”
Saul wore a disguise to meet her, and he went with a few other men at nighttime, presumably for fear of what people might say if they saw the king of the Israelites himself seeking help from the very people he’d just removed. At first, the medium was scared. After all, the king had just sent out all the mediums! Why would this man treat her any differently? But he assured her that no harm would come to her. He asked her to “bring up” Samuel, and when she did, she realized this mysterious man was Saul and grew even more afraid of him. Again, he said she would be safe, and he asked her what she saw. “I see a divine being coming up out of the earth.…An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe” (1 Samuel 28:13b, 14b, NASB). Saul knew this must be Samuel, and he bowed to the ground.
Samuel began by asking why Saul had disturbed him, and when Saul explained about the Philistines and how God was not answering him, Samuel’s response in verses 16-17 was,
“Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has departed from you and has become your adversary? The Lord has done accordingly as He spoke through me; for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David.” (1 Samuel 28:16-17, NASB)
Samuel explained that God commanded Saul to do several things, but he had not done them. Because of that, the Philistines were going to come and wipe them out.
What does the Bible say about mediums? “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe.”
When Saul heard this, he nearly fainted. He was weak from not eating, and this news was so concerning that his body was shutting down. The medium saw this and offered to care for him in verses 21 and 22 (NASB): “Behold, your maidservant has obeyed you, and I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. So now also, please listen to the voice of your maidservant, and let me set a piece of bread before you that you may eat and have strength when you go on your way.” Saul, after some more imploring, ate the food and left the medium.
Later in 1 Chronicles 10 (vs. 13-14), the Bible says that Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord, and according to this text, part of this unfaithfulness was from consulting the medium.
New Testament Examples of Mediums
There are several examples in the New Testament of people having spirits or demons inside them, as in Matthew 12:22, Mark 1:23-26, Acts 19:13-16, and more. In most of these instances, the spirits cause physical or mental harm, and we see Jesus, the apostles, or others able to drive out the spirits and relieve the possessed person of their problems.
In Acts 16, however, there is an interesting case: Luke explains that on one particular day, he, Paul, and others were going to the synagogue and saw “a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future” (16:16, NIV). The Greek words used to describe her are the words often translated as “diviner” (pythōn, from the city name Pytho, where Delphi was located, which was the seat of a famous oracle) and “soothsayer” (manteuomai). This was not necessarily someone who was pained by their spirit possession but instead was able to use her spiritual connections for fortune telling and, for her slave owners at least, fortune earning.
She followed after Paul and the others and announced that they were from God and sharing how to be saved. She spoke the truth! But after several days, Paul became annoyed by this kind of publicity and cast the spirit out of her. The slave owners were no longer able to make money from her, and it was this act that put Paul and Silas in prison.
“There are several examples in the New Testament of people having spirits or demons inside them.”
The Bottom Line
It is important to notice from these scriptures that there can be some realness and power to mediumship. The fortuneteller in Acts spoke truth. Several demons correctly identified Jesus and His followers. The medium at Endor was somehow able to conjure Samuel (although it’s possible from her reaction that she was just as surprised as anybody when he actually appeared). As these examples demonstrate, we should not automatically assume that a medium is incorrect in what they say, although it’s important to remember that our spiritual enemy is a serial liar (John 8:44).
As Christians, we do profess a belief in spiritual and supernatural occurrences. After all, faith in the Creator places belief in a spiritual being. Our Creator has supernatural powers, such as omnipotence and omnipresence. Jesus added a human nature to his divine nature, demonstrated supernatural abilities, and resurrected from the dead, defying natural laws of life and death. The scriptures teach that Jesus, God, and the Spirit are all God yet are three unique persons. This and so many other truths fall outside what we can know from ordinary human observation and come to us from a spiritual realm.
Further understanding of Scripture gives information about other spiritual beings, like Satan, angels, and demons and spiritual realms/places (such as what Paul describes as “the heavenly realms” in Ephesians 6:12). Christians believe in an immaterial soul that lives on after death and a spiritual reality/power that can connect people to each other, to Jesus, and to God Himself. Reading the Bible gives direct communication from God to humans, and prayer is the reciprocal: direct communication to God because of Jesus.
“Reading the Bible gives direct communication from God to humans, and prayer is the reciprocal: direct communication to God because of Jesus.”
There is a cultural fascination with spiritual things that tends toward the darker side like witchcraft and demonology, and this fascination is unhealthy and gives our enemy too much attention. At the same time, the Bible shows us that spiritual beings are all around us. Therefore, when someone claims to be in connection with the spiritual world, we shouldn’t assume, as if we were spiritual skeptics, that there must be nothing more going on than emotionalism or fraud. However, yes, it’s not hard to imagine frauds also being attracted to the psychic profession as a way to make money off of gullible and desperate people. As of 2019, psychic services as a United States industry passed the $2 billion mark and continue to grow.
The fundamental problem with mediums isn’t whether or not they can truly exist. The problem is with placing our faith in them, whether fraudulent or not. Look again at Isaiah 8: “Should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning.”
In an age of desperation to hear from the “other side,” let’s offer people the real thing. Instead of communicating with spirits of those who have died before us in order to seek wisdom or instruction (or perhaps demons posing as departed loved ones), we are invited to communicate with the One who died and still lives. Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6, NIV).
