One passage that appears that a dead man is talking to the living is in the story of Saul at En-Dor (1 Samuel 28:8-19). Is Samuel really talking to Saul, or is the witch using suggestive language and mimicking to make it appear Samuel is speaking? Probably the latter. Or worse, a deceptive demon is speaking. There are several examples in the gospels and Acts of demons speaking through the bodies they inhabit.
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:20-25, a dead yet speaking Abraham dismisses the idea of returning from the dead to witness to the rich man’s family.
I’ve been reading the Bible for 40 years from front to back, and there are no encouragements for us to “seek the dead on behalf of the living” (Isa. 8:9), but to seek their God. Jesus tells us to pray to the Father for all our needs, not the dead.
Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus because all the dead are alive to God. For a brief time, the three disciples had their eyes opened to see them too. That was obviously a rare event that wasn’t repeated. We are not given any encouragement to seek this kind of encounter.
If you feel you need to seek the dead for any reason, please go to your pastor or Christian leader and have a personal talk with him about this.
