ENDOR REVISITED

By Ben Berto

¹⁹ When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness. Isaiah 8: 19-22, NIV

In the 28^th Chapter of 1 Samuel, we find the story of King Saul visiting a witch hiding at Endor, a tiny village in Mt. Tabor. Witches and wizards are directly involved in communication with the dead, aided by evil spirits, the angels that fell from heaven with Satan. God told the Israelites to have no dealings with them, in fact, to “terminate them with extreme prejudice,” a CIA term, or kill them. The Bible states that communication with the dead is sin. King Saul, when he was in good terms with God, zealously exterminated them.  When King Saul began to disobey God, God would no longer listen to him. When the Philistines declared war against him and he saw their large army, he began to shake with fear. Read the chapter for the whole story. The Seventh-day Adventists believe that the dead are unconscious, thus cannot communicate or can’t even hear, even if you fire the biggest cannon near their ears.

The Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief, #25 states thus. The wages of sin is death. But God, who alone is immortal, will grant eternal life to His redeemed. Until that day, death is an unconscious state for all people. When Christ, who is our life, appears, the resurrected righteous and the living righteous ( 1 Cor. 15: 51-55, 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18) will be glorified and caught up to meet their Lord. The second resurrection, the resurrection of the unrighteous, will take place a thousand years later.

In His midnight interview with Nicodemus, Jesus told the Pharisee these reassuring words, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16. This promise is precious because it promises life eternal, even if we die a natural death someday.

To contact us: Our website is www.abundantlifeadventist.ca. Worship with us every Saturday Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. Genesis 2: 2, 3, Exodus 20: 8-10, Isaiah 58: 13, 14; Isaiah 66: 22, 23; Matthew 5: 17-19; Revelation 22: 14

John 14: 1-3