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The Witch Of Endor
Did she raise the ghost of Samuel?
No. That had to be a Familiar Spirit.


"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world," 1 John 4:1.

"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards,
to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:31.

By Ken Raggio

I have written this short article to answer a question that has been submitted to me on several occasions.

"Did the Witch of Endor raise the GHOST of the Prophet Samuel for King Saul?" (I Samuel 28)

First point: This was a witch. Does a witch have the power to bring back a saint of God from the grave? I think not. If witches have power to bring back the spirits of the dead, we have a real problem. What if I die? What if YOU die? Can a demon-possessed person disturb our rest, and bring us back to this present world? I cannot believe that is possible. What kind of heaven can be interrupted by a foul witch on earth?

Second point: A witch deals in lies and deception. Why should we believe anything in this conversation? The entire scenario is diabolical. It is the maximum evil. Almighty God killed people for consulting witches. One of the gravest offenses against God is to consult familiar spirits (or anyone who does so). This was a grave deception. Leviticus 19:31 says that people who consult wizards or familiar spirits are DEFILED by them. Saul was DEFILED by this consultation. He was not defiled by the ghost of the Prophet Samuel. He was defiled by the demon familiar spirit that was the imposter of Samuel.

Third point: The witch was terrified of the entire situation. She plainly did not expect to see Samuel. She did not realize the man was King Saul. She saw “elohim” coming from the ground. In this case, elohim is not a proper noun, but a common noun meaning “gods.” She not only saw the spirit posing as “Samuel,” but she also saw multiple spirits, "gods" (she said). Who were the other spirits? Certainly, they were not gods. There are NO OTHER GODS beside YHWH – Jehovah. SO the woman clearly did not know what she was seeing. She thought she saw Samuel. She thought she saw gods. She saw NEITHER. She saw FAMILIAR SPIRITS – DEVILS. If witches knew how very evil they really were, they wouldn’t be witches! Witches believe lies. Lies are the very commodity that witches deal in. If you go to a witch, you will be lied to.

Fourth point: Saul “perceived” it was Samuel. Our “perceptions” are often incorrect. We often think we see things that are not true. FAMILIAR SPIRITS know how to POSE as men. FAMILIAR SPIRITS are DEMONS that are FAMILIAR with humans and their behavior. A FAMILIAR SPIRIT posed as SAMUEL. The imposter was convincing. Saul “perceived” that it was Samuel. But it was not Samuel. It could not possibly have been Samuel. Samuel was in paradise with Abraham - not to be disturbed. If YOU die and go to heaven, do you want to be disturbed by a witch?

Fifth point: Saul declared that “God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams.” If we believe that the witch was able to force God to do something that He had previously refused to do (several times), then we have put the WITCH in control of GOD. That cannot be the case. God did not yield to this witch.

Sixth point: The familiar spirit posing as “Samuel” held a seemingly legitimate conversation with Saul. The familiar spirit had all the details correct: “The LORD is departed from thee…, the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand…,” (and several other ACCURATE statements).

But there is a fatal flaw. The spirit said, “and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.” SAMUEL was in the BOSOM OF ABRAHAM – in the resting place of the righteous souls. But SAUL would NOT be going to rest with the souls of the righteous dead. SAUL WOULD NOT BE WITH SAMUEL IN DEATH. Saul would be dying in sin. The message was a lie.

Of course, Saul DID die the next day, but he was not WITH SAMUEL the next day. Jesus taught that there is a great gulf between the righteous and the wicked.

A final argument here comes from the New Testament story given by Jesus Himself in Luke 16. Jesus told of the Rich Man and Lazarus who both died. The Rich Man found himself in hell, while poor Lazarus found himself in the bosom of Abraham - in paradise with the saintly fathers. The Rich Man begged someone from among the sainted dead to return to earth and WARN HIS FIVE BRETHREN of the dreadful torments of hell. But his request was denied.

God is not in the business of sending people back from the dead. Jesus is the ONLY one who has returned from the dead to preach to the living. There are no other cases on record. Why? "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead," Luke 16:31. God does NOT send dead saints back to preach to people on earth.

A final question to be resolved is, “Why did the Bible call him Samuel if he was not Samuel?” I believe that was simple literary license. Although he was called Samuel, the greater context of the story made it clear that it was not Samuel. He was called Samuel because that is who Saul thought he was.

God did not send Samuel back to preach to Saul. A demonic familiar spirit came to Saul by the Witch of Endor.

One more note before I close. Beware of dreams, visions or any other experience in which you think you are being visited by a departed loved one. Your grandmother will not be visiting you from beyond the grave. She is either in heaven or hell, and will not be making calls on earth. If you have had a dream or a vision in which you think you were visited by a departed loved one, I urge you to dismiss it. It cannot be real.

Case closed.

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