Shalom everyone,
Last year, I received several questions about ghosts, and why a Yahwist is forbidden to summon or speak to the dead. From what I recall, the questions were prompted by seeing people on TV – mediums – who claimed to be able to speak to the spirits of the dead. Since I have not written any blog-posts recently, I thought I would put my thoughts on record. What you will read below is a conglomerate of several answers to various people, which I have since put together, so please forgive me if the topics skip around a little.
The ban on speaking to the dead in the Israelite religion
In the ancient Israelite religion, they believed that it was entirely possible to summon and speak to the dead, but that it was something that the followers of the God of Israel were never to do. The Talmidi position is therefore that, while it may actually be possible to speak to the dead – i.e. the phenomenon may be real, and certain mediums may really be able to speak to the dead – as Yahwists, we are absolutely forbidden to summon the dead, or to speak to their spirits.
Remember that King Saul got the medium of Eyn-Dor to summon the spirit of Samuel (1Sam 28:3-25), and as a result he lost his kingship over it – he died, along with his whole army. The issue is therefore not whether it is possible to speak to the dead; these mediums probably can. The real issue is that the practice is not something that a true Yahwist should ever engage in.
The probable reason for the ban
Now, I don’t know the full reason for the ban. My personal opinion is that, seeking advice or comfort from the spirits of the dead, means that a person is no longer seeking advice or comfort from Adonai. Turning to spirits is therefore like turning to other gods. There may be other reasons, but I think that is the main one.
I had a very dear friend, a Christian, who often went to a spiritualist church. He tried to convince me to go, but I refused as a matter of faith. He insisted that the mediums at the church were genuine, and that people really were speaking to their dead loved ones, and that they got a lot of comfort from the experiences. He thought my problem was that I didn’t believe that people could really do that. I tried to explain to him that yes, they probably can speak to the dead, but as an Israelite I am absolutely forbidden by God to summon or speak to the dead; I for one, do not want to face the disastrous consequences to my life that King Saul did, after having spoken to the dead.
Our God is a directly accessible God
The laws of Torah help us to genuinely experience Yahveh as a real, living Being. When we stay away from what is forbidden, and instead, seek to do what Yahveh exhorts us to do, God becomes a real, knowable Entity. When I was a Christian, as a young man I regularly consulted horoscopes and almanacks, but after my conversion experience – when I experienced Yahveh as a real, living Entity – I no longer felt the need to consult horoscopes, and I no longer feared the future. I had gained confidence in our Living Yahveh to guide and protect me, so I was no longer afraid of what might come in the future. All these laws and guidelines in Torah exist to draw us to Yahveh, and help us experience Yahveh as a real and living God.
What this means for Yahwists
Being a Yahwist means that you rely entirely on Adonai for your spiritual life. We must also realise that we do not control God – there are some Christians who believe they can summon God at will (which is actually identical to how ancient pagans summoned their gods), and that God answers them on their command.
That’s not how things work. Sometimes, you might ask something, and God doesn’t answer. Don’t despair – it might actually mean that you aren’t ready for the answer, or that there are things you need to learn in order to understand any subsequent answer. Real oracles and real prophecies don’t come on demand, because that would mean that we are treating God like our personal servant, who comes hither at our summoning; or that God is like the spirit of a dead person who manifests whenever a medium calls. It’s important to understand that God speaks when God wants, not whenever we want.
When God speaks to us . . . .
For most people, when God answers us, it is usually in the way of God putting us into a certain situation where we will realise the answer to our question, or a series of events which will lead us to discovering the answer; or even, we suddenly realise the answer – it just pops into our head. However, on very rare occasions, if we are fortunate, we might hear God’s actual voice in our heads, but we need to be careful and discerning, because the voice in our heads might actually just be the inner voice in our heads.
If it really is God – Adonai, the Holy One – who is speaking to us when we are awake, it is like an earthquake in the soul. You are fully aware that you are in the presence of a Being of immense magnitude, who is far greater than the entire Universe, and you cannot help but be in trembling awe at what you are hearing. When God speaks to us in a dream, the effect is even more dramatic on one’s life.
We will know when it is God speaking to us, and when it is merely our own thoughts speaking to us – or just an ESP experience. There is a difference between receiving a prophecy, and receiving an ESP message – they are not the same. ESP can be controlled, Adonai our God cannot be controlled. ESP is a skill that can be used at the command of a skilled user; Adonai our God cannot be used at our command.
Do supernatural beings exist?
There are probably some supernatural things that exist, but for which science has not yet found an explanation – in other words, I’m sure scientists will one day find an adequate explanation for it all. However, in Talmidaism the general advice is that supernatural entities should not be a guide for your life; to do otherwise would suggest that a person does not have complete faith in Adonai to guide their life. Talmidaism encourages Followers to direct their spiritual energies to Adonai, and Adonai alone.
With regard to the actual existence of supernatural beings: in Talmidaism, it is considered a matter of personal belief (‘folk religion’) that nevertheless, should not interfere with the conduct of one’s life on earth.
The existence of Angels
Concerning angels, the guidance is this: they exist, but that we should not pray to them, worship them or give them any adoration. They are heavenly beings that exist in heaven, and God has given them jobs to do in order to make their individual existences meaningful. Some people believe that each human being has a guardian angel, and the Hebrew Bible even suggests that ethnic groups and nations have their own guardian angels too; some angels might even have guardianship over virtues and spiritual actions. However, the advice is that we should not make any life-decisions based on the supposed existence or non-existence of angels.
Do unclean spirits exist?
Regarding ‘unclean spirits’: this type of belief was very much a ‘folk belief’ of its time. The prophet Zechariah criticised the ordinary people’s belief in ‘unclean spirits’ (Zech 13:2), but by the New Testament period, it seems to have permeated general everyday belief. At that time, they believed that ‘unclean spirits’ were the cause of all physical illnesses and mental illness, and that therefore sufferers needed to be exorcised in order to ‘cure‘ them. Of course, we know today that this is utter nonsense; I personally do not believe that Yeshua, as a prophet of God, would truly have gone along with such a thing. Instead, I think that he would have found a way both to heal people of their illness, and of people’s ungodly belief in demons and unclean spirits.
During the period covered by the Hebrew Bible, the Israelites were sometimes tempted to make offerings to ‘wilderness demons’, because they thought that these demons caused sickness – again, Israelites were warned against this practice (Lev 17:7). Yahwist belief is that it is Adonai our God who has power over all things; therefore, to believe that evil spirits or demons cause sickness is actually contrary to the Yahwist Israelite faith.
Anything in the New Testament that gives credence to the belief that evil spirits do cause sickness, is actually contrary to the stance of Yahwist Israelite belief. The N.T. belief that evil spirits exist, may have been strengthened by pagan beliefs among Gentiles who became Christians. Therefore, stories about ‘Jesus’ exorcising demons would have had enormous weight amongst Paul’s previously pagan Believers, but were likely fictitious, and never happened.
Amongst Jews of that time period, there was the unhealthy and undesirable belief among some people that, if you became ill, or had some misfortune, then it was your own fault, and that God was punishing you – you must have done something wrong to deserve your illness or misfortune. However, a compassionate and godly person would have immediately seen the injustice and heartlessness of this way of thinking. So, as a prophet of God, the real Yeshua would not only NOT have believed in evil spirits (because it was inherently a pagan belief), but also, he would have felt that it showed a lack of understanding of God’s active compassion in our daily lives. This is the reason for the midrash (explanatory text) contained in the Sefer Yeshua at 138:9-19.
Do ghosts and shades exist?
As for the existence of ghosts and ‘shades’, the Hebrew Bible accepts that they probably do exist (given how the medium of Eyn-Dor was able to summon Samuel’s spirit for Saul). However, as I mentioned before, as Yahwists we are forbidden to summon spirits of the dead or speak to them.
If one defines demons as ‘evil spirits’, whose sole existence is to deliberately cause misfortune, then they do not exist. It is contrary to Yahwist belief. The existence of demons would suggest that God does not have complete dominion over the afterlife.
Summary
So to summarise the general Talmidi attitude to the supernatural: there are some things that we don’t yet understand, and for which science has not yet found an explanation. However, the important point to remember is that the existence or non-existence of ANY of these things should not form the basis of decision-making in our lives. Some Talmidis believe in the supernatural, and some don’t – either is OK.
Angels: if we believe they do exist, then we should not pray to them or worship them; our prayers and worship should be directed to Adonai, and Adonai alone
Unclean spirits and demons: these do not exist, since their origin was from pagan religion, and are contrary to Yahwist beliefs about the supreme nature and sovereign abilities of God
Ghosts and shades: probably exist, but again, we should not make life-decisions based on their existence or non-existence