Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 6/7/2004

Question
Since we could and do always ask our fellow earthly Christians to pray with us, why can't we pray through the saints and Virgin Mary who have gone ahead of us to heaven and seek their intercessions too? Isn't this the meaning of "communion of the saints" in the Apostles Creed?

Answer
Hi Derek,

Thanks for the question.  The practice of communicating with spirits after they have died is called Necromancy.  It is a kind of witchcraft that is strictly forbidden in scriptures.

Deuteronomy 18:11
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Now you may say..it is different with those righteous departed.  The Bible disagrees...   The prophet Samuel had died, and communicating with him was a great sin.

1 Samuel 28:11-14
11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. 12 And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. 13 And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. 14 And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.  

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

The fact is, many have replaced praying through Jesus with praying to these dead saints.  Notice that scriptures tells us that there is only one mediator, or go-between... for us.

1 Timothy 2:5
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I am sorry for the late response.  I hope that I have helped you.

In Christ,
Pastor Don