I have a friend who says that a guardian angel comes and speaks to him, and gives him knowledge of the future. I have also heard of people communicating with the spirits of people who are dead. What does the Bible teach about this, and how can I convince my friend that this "angel" is not really from God?Spiritism (the practice of communicating with spirit-beings in the spiritual realm) is discussed in the earliest recorded portions of the Old Testament, and is becoming increasingly prevalent in contemporary American society. There is a tension between the biblical worldview and the New Age worldview on this issue. (Note that it is not my interest in addressing the full range of practices which fall under the category of "New Age" in this short paper. It is also possible that many spiritists may not explicitly identify with the "New Age," but it is fairly safe to say that the common assumptions of New Age belief, including spiritism, reincarnation, actualization of one’s divine self, psychic/aural perceptions, and so forth, are very closely related in practice. Thus, when I refer to "New Age," I am referring to these sorts of practices, whether or not the practitioner self-identifies as "New Age.")
My goal in this response is to briefly cover the biblical perspective on spiritism, and show why it is in tension with the New Age worldview. My goal is to present God’s desire to be the one true Spirit that draws us into an intimate relationship with Himself.
10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in a the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.
There are a couple of critical points in this passage. First, this is not just a command for Israel; the reason God commands against contacting the spirit realm is because He detests it. This is because it puts another being (a spirit) in God’s place (see Lev 20:3, in the context of the ten commandments; God says that He is a jealous God!). So it is true for all people in all times. God wants us to come directly to Him in prayer. There are people who talk to angels in the Bible, but this is not the norm, and it’s never a prolonged conversation. I’ll come back to this later, but there’s a very easy way to show that a New Age spirit is not from God.
Note some of the specifics in this passage. Note that "divination" is listed along with witchcraft. Divination is an attempt to understand and interpret messages from the spirit realm, usually to get guidance in one’s life. This is why spiritism is popular; everybody wants knowledge of the future. Note that God never tells us about our futures, though. He tells us to trust Him, to believe the truth, but never tells us what lies ahead for us. This is why spiritism attracts religious (even Christian) people; it seems to offer something missing in more conventional religion (and really, this is Satan’s lie in Gen. 3:5; Satan has never changed tactics). I’ll come back to this in a bit also, because I think you need to agree with a spiritist that there really is some power in what they believe. Satan is very powerful (see John 16:11, where Jesus calls Satan the "Prince of this world").
I also highlighted the term "spiritism" in the passage. What do all the things have in common that God detests in this passage? They are all attempts to control our lives, circumstances, and destinies apart from Him. Spiritism is no different than witchcraft; they are both connections to power sources other than God. Many spiritists argue that are not into "witchcraft," or that there is some clear distinction between contacting the dead and contacting angelic beings, but biblically these are the same practices with different titles. This passage warns against all related sorts of practices.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. 16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Paul is writing about a cultic spiritism that has permeated the church in Colosse, and it has some similarities to contemporary spiritist practices. Note v. 15, where it says Christ "disarmed the powers and authorities." This refers to the demonic powers, including Satan (see Eph 6:12, where Paul identifies the powers more clearly; Ephesians and Colossians are parallel letters, and it is likely that Paul wrote them at about the same time). It’s one of the reasons why spiritism is so ridiculous; Christ has triumphed over the demonic spirit realm. Now look at v. 18, where some of their practices are described. They worship angels, and such people have minds which are "puffed up." The idea in the Greek is that they are on a sort of high about their "spiritual" experiences (Paul disputes their claims by saying that their minds are "unspiritual"). The term "worship" simply indicates that these people are giving angels the devotion they should be giving to Christ. (So it connects with the Deut. 18 passage by trusting in a spirit mediator rather than God.)
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle--I am telling the truth, I am not lying--and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.
This passage supports, again, the point I was making about why we should not contact the spirit world instead of going to God. There is no one who intercedes for us except Jesus Christ. This means that working through a spirit or guardian angel means replacing the work of Jesus with some lesser being. Paul makes it clear that no being can stand in that place for us except Jesus.
An obvious response to all this would be that God sent the spirit or angel, and the spirit is there to help us, not hurt us. They would argue that this is not spiritism, because it’s from God.
First, I think you have to point out that no angel is ever sent from God (especially in the New Testament, after the completed work of Christ) to communicate with God’s people in a way that causes them to rely on the angel and not God. Angels are invisible helpers, and do not replace our relationship with God directly. In contrast, the spirit seeks to draw devotion to itself, to get you to rely on it, and not on Jesus Christ. No such spirit is telling people to trust in Jesus Christ and serve Him. (This is where the test of a true spirit arises, which I’ll get to in a minute.)
Second, I would say, "So, what are these passages warning against, if it’s not what you are into? Doesn’t your experience fit the point made in these passages? If not, why don’t you think so?" If seeking wisdom and guidance in the spiritual realm is valid, then it’s hard to see what God’s point is in Deut. 18. Merely saying that "My personal spirit/guardian angel is not an evil spirit" is problematic. We should not be communicating with and seeking direction from spirit beings. That is what these passages are warning against, and that is what a spiritist is trying to do.
Here’s a couple of questions to ask a New Age spiritist:
1. Let’s say, for purely hypothetical purposes, that the spirit or angel that visits you is not from God, but is instead an evil spirit that wants to "help" you only so that you can be controlled. How could you tell whether this was a spirit from God or from Satan?
They could say, "Well, the angel helps me," or "It seems like a good spirit, a spirit of light." But if a spirit is trying to deceive you (that’s the hypothetical), then of course they will appear to be a good spirit, and may very well give you some kind of immediate help. If you were a demon (demons are fallen angels), wouldn’t you tell people that God sent you? Demons don’t tell the truth (John 8:44). Note the following passage:
14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. (2 Cor. 11:14-15)
In other words, you can’t tell a spirit from God or a spirit from Satan based on your subjective impressions. The reality is that the spiritist’s position has no objective point of reference, to test what they are experiencing and determine whether it is right. They will say, "Well, it works." But this is not the question, because a lot of self-destructive things seem to promise a lot, or give a lot of pleasure—in the short term. Even drugs work that way. But they are not right. Ask a spiritist, "If someone handed you a pill and said, ‘This pill will help you. It won’t hurt you. You will feel good when you eat it,’ what sort of criteria do you use to determine whether you should take it? Let’s say it DOES make you feel good. Is that a good enough reason to swallow it? Of course not! In those cases, you appeal to something objective to test whether the pill will ultimately harm you (even though it might seem to help for awhile). This is the fallacy of the New Age perspective: the ‘spirits’ which talk to you (whether they claim to be angels, or the souls of people who died long ago) all claim to be good for you, but you have no way of testing it. You have to just believe them, and in believing them you give them spiritual access to your life. If they are demons, this is what the Bible refers to as ‘demonization.’ Why would you risk your spiritual well-being when you wouldn’t risk your physical well-being by taking a little pill?"
2. I agree that there is some power in spiritism. There is also power in things like drugs. There is power in certain kinds of sexual relationships. But these things are not all inherently good for you. What rational basis can you give me for accepting a spirit into your life when you have no way to determine whether it is right?
I think there can be no real answer to this from a spiritist’s perspective. The only way to test a spirit to determine if it is from God is to compare what it says to God’s own words. In other words, God’s words are truth (John 17:17) to help us discern the lies that a demonic angel would use to deceive us. If we abandon God’s words, we have no other way to evaluate the spiritual realm. This same idea of testing spirits is found in 1 John:
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (1 John 4:2-3)
In other words, John is saying you test the spirits by challenging them with truth. (The spirits he is talking about were behind the false teaching he was dealing with, that claimed that Jesus didn’t really come to earth as a real man). Any spirit which does not acknowledge Jesus Christ is not from God. Any spirit which denies the truth which we have in the Bible is not from God. (An obvious objection could be raised by the spiritist that the Bible is not dependable; in other words, they are claiming that there is not objective authority by which to test their experiences. This is no different than what every atheist believes, if you think about it; everyone who rejects Christ to validate their own desires must also deny the validity of biblical truth. But you can argue this on different grounds. See my paper on the rationality of belief in the resurrection. The reality is that if we abandon the truth of scripture, all we are ever left with is what seems best to us, or what makes us feel good. In my experience, these have rarely led me to wise decisions!)
So if a spirit appeared to me and tried to tell me what I should do, I would ask it: "Do you serve Jesus Christ? Is He the Son of God, the heir of all creation? The King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Co-equal with the Father and Holy Spirit? Did He die on the cross and rise on the third day?" I do not believe an evil spirit could say these things (I have a couple of reasons for thinking this; I think the truth causes them actual pain, but this is another topic).
The lure of knowledge and power—it’s one of Satan’s biggest points of access into our lives. It’s all a lie. Satan has no knowledge of the future, only of the present and past. And his intention is not to use it to help us, but to destroy human beings. But it’s an incredible lure because it appeals to the desire we all have to be in control of our own lives. If I knew what was coming, I wouldn’t have to trust God.
The reality is that there is real power in Jesus Christ, real fulfillment. Not because we know the future, but because our lives are in the hands of the One who is the God of all things, who holds our tomorrows in His hands. You can challenge a spiritist this way—with the reality of how countless millions of people for the last 2000 years have experienced God’s power when they trusted Him directly. And it’s not a momentary satisfaction, but a lasting peace. I think most spiritists have gone through terrible times of spiritual harassment, and then they turn to a new "spirit," but it’s the same demonic power in a new guise, leading them further from true life in Christ. My prayer for all is the true freedom that comes from faith in the Lord Jesus.