Can We Communicate with the Dead?

Can we communicate with the dead? A lot of people try. They've even got TV programs where folks sit around, and someone who's supposed to be channeling with the dead, he's telling them all kinds of things about their loved ones that only they would know. Of course, the devil knows, doesn't he? The devil will reveal these little secrets about their departed loved ones. He'll say, ''Yeah, and they always had this favorite shirt with flowers on it that they always wore." ''How did you know?'' They're telling you a message right now, "You don't need to worry about this or that," and people get sold.

We miss our loved ones, don't we? Sometimes we wished that, "You know, I miss my family, I wish I could talk to my brother." But you know what? I can't talk to him, he's dead. If anyone appears to me with red hair, and freckles and claiming to be my brother, as much as I miss my brother, it's not my brother. Either my mind is playing tricks on me, or it's a devil. I might have dreams that my brother's talking to me, and the Lord might tell me something through those dreams. My brother doesn't know he's talking to me, he's asleep.

You understand what I'm saying?

People say, ''But I felt their presence. I know that they've been visiting me.'' Well, your mind might be playing tricks on you. When you live with someone-- My grandparents were married 70 years. Can you imagine being with somebody 70 years, you really become one flesh after that much time. When my grandmother died my grandfather he just felt her presence everywhere. Why? Because his whole life, his mind, his brain was filled with her memories. He just sensed her everywhere. That's normal. But grandma was asleep, and now grandpa's asleep. God willing, they'll both be reunited. Don't be deceived by this.

The Bible says in Job chapter 7:10 "When a person dies, he shall return no more to his house." If that's clear say ''Amen.'' Again, job 14 verse 12 speaking about this subject ''So man lieth down, and he rises not; till the heavens be no more.'' We already used this one, right? "They shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." You might go to see a channeler, or some medium, they cannot raise them. Again, it says in Job 14:21 "They don't know what's happening to their family. Their sons come to honor, and they knoweth it not; they are brought low, they perceive it not of them."

The Bible again says Ecclesiastes 9 ''There is no work, or device, or knowledge, or wisdom in the grave where you go. Ecclesiastes 9:10 "Nothing going on there, they're asleep, it's quiet, they're unconscious." Again, I told you there's no such thing as a Grateful Dead. Psalm 115:17 "The dead praise, not the Lord." First thing I do if I died and I was in the presence of the Lord, wouldn't you praise? If the dead don't praise the Lord, then how can they go right to heaven?

Again, Psalm 6:5. Hundreds of scriptures on this, and you're probably thinking how can the church be so confused on this subject. "In death, there is no remembrance of thee."

Again, Isaiah 38:18 "Death cannot celebrate thee." How has the devil been able to bamboozle the Christian Church? Why has he put so much energy into deceiving the church on this subject? Because he's going to use it. Another verse Psalm 146:4 "A person dies, his thoughts perish."

What about consulting the dead? Isaiah 8:19 "And when they say to you, "Seek unto those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper-- they peep and mutter," should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?"

Now, in Ecclesiastes, it tells us that it is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting. It's good to remember what our end is. You know why? It says, "For the living will take it to heart." Never in that passage does it say the dead know anything about it. It says the reason that we honor the dead is not for the dead. When people go to the cemetery on Monday, do the dead know anything about it?

One reason you might go is it may give you some encouragement, it might revive or refresh some memories for you, it may bring back some sweet memories. You might just need to grieve and weep a little for healing. It's for you, it's for the living. The living lay it to heart. It doesn't help the dead at all, they don't know anything about it. They may know in the resurrection, "Hey I understand you went to my grave 50 times, thank you very much." They don't know it then no, see what I'm saying?

First Timothy 4:1 "Some shall depart from the faith--" Speaking of in the last days and boy has this ever happened. "Giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." The idea that you can communicate with the dead is a doctrine of devils.

What happens when the righteous rise? How is it going to be when the Lord does come? It says in 1st Corinthians 15 "We'll all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead are raised incorruptible, and this mortal puts on immortality." That's when it happens, when Jesus comes.

Again, you know this verse, 1st Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first." When? When the Lord comes.

Now, there are several times that Jesus made it very clear that the resurrection is on the last day, and that's when they rise. John 5:28 and 29 Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves, will hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good, the resurrection of life, that's the first resurrection; they that have done evil, the resurrection of damnation, that's at the end of the 1,000 years.

Again, John 6:39 and 40 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that all that He has given Me I should lose nothing, but I should raise it up, say those bold words with me, the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me." That's twice that we've read that.

Let's look at a third time. Again, John 6:39 and 40 "That everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life--" And when do they get that? I will raise him up at the--" Say this "The last day." These are the words of Jesus. Again, John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.