Turning to the Demons

 Because of their disobedience, Isaiah's contemporaries are in a deplorable moral state, a veritable pit of spiritual darkness.  Even the southern kingdom of Judah, the location of God's temple, has no peace.  As a result of their unfaithfulness, the people of Judah are threatened with invasion by the Assyrians, and hard times lie ahead.  To whom do they turn for help?  Sadly, many turn to Satan, not to Jehovah.  No, they do not invoke Satan by name.  Rather, like King Saul of old, the engage in spiritism, looking for answers to their problems by trying to communicate with the dead. -1 Samuel 28:1-20.

Some are even promoting this practice.  Isaiah points to such apostasy when he says:  "In case they should say to you people: "Apply to the spiritistic mediums or to those having a spirit of prediction who are chirping and making utterances in low tones,' is not to its God that  any people should apply?  Should there be application to dead persons in behalf of living persons?  ( Isaiah 8:19) Spirit mediums can trick people, "chirping and making utterances  in low tones."  Such sound effects, attributed to the spirit of dead ones, can be worked through ventriloquism by  a living medium.  At times, though, the demons may get directly involved and impersonate the dead, as apparently happened when Saul inquired of the witch of Endor. -1 Samuel 28:8-19.

All of this is going on in Judah despite the fact  that Jehovah has forbidden the practice of spiritism.  Under the Mosaic Law, it is a capital offense.  (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deuteronomy 18:9-12) Whey do a people who are Jehovah's special possession commit such a grave transgression?  Because they have turned their backs on Jehovah's Law and counsel and have become "hardened by the deceptive power of sin."  (Hebrews 3:13)   "Their heart has become unfeeling just like fat,"  and they have become alienated from their god. -Psalm 119:70.

Likely they reason, 'Of what good is the Law of Jehovah when we are faced with an imminent attack by the Assyrians?'  They want a quick and easy solution to their predicament and are not about to wait for Jehovah to work out his will.  In our day too, many ignore Jehovah's law and search out spirit mediums, consult horoscopes, and resort to other forms for occultism to solve their problems.  However, for the living to seek  answers from the dead is just as ridiculous today as it was back then.  (Note: also, by doing this, you invite Satan and his demons to haunt you for the rest of your life)  The future  of any who unrepentantly practice such things will be with the "murderers and fornicators and . . .idolaters and all the liars."  They have no future prospects of life. -Revelation 21:8.

Next time: God's 'Law and Attestation'

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind