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WHO SURVIVED HEAVEN'S GATE? #7

WAS IT REALLY SAMUEL?

A writer named Hayden Hewes recently co-authored a book entitled Inside Heaven's Gate. Hewes is the director for the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City, so you can factor that in as I share this anecdote. But he and fellow writer Brad Steiger had studied the Heaven's Gate cult and, in fact, had interviewed both Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles back in 1974.

After the 90-minute visit Hewes had with "(quote) The Two," this strange cult leader, "Bo," gave him a mental thought-code sequence to use if he should ever wish to get back in touch with them. All he had to do was to think of these code numbers, and they'd respond.

Well, 15 months later, Mr. Hewes decided he did indeed want to discover more of their so-called truth. So he used this mental code, simply thinking the right numbers or words or whatever it was. The following morning, he received a phone call from a young man, a follower of Applewhite and Nettles. He'd been directed to contact Hewes, he said. How could he help?

That night Hewes mentally used the code again, and the following day the man called a second time. And it gave this journalist and UFO researcher a kind of chill to sense that here was a mental system that seemed to work just as well as the beepers and pagers we use here in 1999.

Well, friend, I tell you this story with more than one grain of salt, to be sure. There's much about this Heaven's Gate tragedy that is strange and disturbing, and gospel truth comes from the Word of God, not out of some of these hastily written books, especially those penned by ufologists. And yet, as we return to the Bible and continue studying this topic of death and soul communication, there's a sober warning to be found in this anecdote.

In the Old Testament book of First Samuel, we find a story that certainly seems to indicate that the spirits of dead people can communicate with us. We can page someone from the other side of the grave. Of course, this is always and perpetually a growth industry, with it being suggested that even our First Ladies in the White House are consulting the stars or, on a real bad day, Eleanor Roosevelt. But here in chapter 28 King Saul participates in what was probably the first recorded séance.

A battle with the Philistines was looming, and it looked like a military wipeout even before the first arrow was fired. The enemy army was huge, and Saul was demoralized, terrified. Always before, the king had turned to Samuel for an encouraging word from the Lord, but the faithful old prophet was dead now. And even though Saul tried to inquire of heaven, we read in verse six, he didn't get any response. No dreams, no visions, no prophetic counsel, not even a flicker of communication through the reliable Urim and Thummim, those two gemstones on the high priest's gown that would light up with a YES or a NO.

In his desperation, King Saul did a foolish and evil thing. Here's verse seven:

"Saul then said to his attendants, ‘Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.'" "A woman that hath a familiar spirit," it says in the King James. Another version says: "A woman who can talk to the spirits of the dead."

Now, here's the ironic thing. Saul himself, acting on instructions from God, had banned such mediums from the kingdom of Israel; in fact, this very chapter says in verse three:

"Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land."

And any good reference Bible will send you immediately back to the book of Leviticus, where God Himself told the children of Israel:

"Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God." One chapter later, God adds: "I will set My face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people." And if that's not enough, here's a bit more just 21 verses later: "A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads."

So this is a very serious issue to heaven, a dire warning. In fact, we read in Deuteronomy chapter 18 a P.S. to this regulation. Here it is in verses 10 and 11:

"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord."

Now friend, right away we'd have to ask why. Why are God's warnings in this area so laden with brimstone? He's not kidding around here at all, is He? To dabble in the occult, says the Word of God, is a fatal snare, and in Old Testament times it was punishable by death.

But back to our story in First Samuel 28, and as we read through the encounter, there certainly is a spirit medium living in the town of Endor. King Saul, disguised as a commoner, goes to her and asks her to call up the dead prophet Samuel. In verse 12, it appears as we read the Bible, that the old prophet Samuel, who had died earlier, seems to come right up out of the ground. The woman sees this spirit, and so does Saul. He has a conversation with Samuel and hears the awful truth that he is indeed going to suffer defeat the next day. In fact, the ghost of Samuel tells Saul that he and his sons will be killed in battle. "You'll be joining me by tomorrow," the spirit says in verse 19. And lo and behold, as we read on in chapter 20, it all comes true just as predicted.

Friend, what do you make of a story like this one? If it's literally true as reported here, then much of what we've scripturally built up this past week and a half is in grave jeopardy. We began with a clear Bible teaching found in Ecclesiastes where the Word of God tells us:

"For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing."

"Their thoughts perish," says the Bible. And we've read several Bible verses which teach that death is a sleep, an unconscious state. New Testament stories like that of Lazarus illuminate the truth that a person who has died, even a faithful follower of God like Samuel, is not conscious and communicating to us from the "(quote) Other Side." In fact, we've tried to make the point that this was actually the fatal deception of Heaven's Gate.

So what do we do with the fact that here in verse 14 of First Samuel 28, it says clearly:

"Then Saul knew it was Samuel"?

I'll tell you what we do with it, friend. We key in on that word "deception." Because First Samuel 28 is one of the most frightening deception stories in the Word of God, right up there with Genesis three where a friendly serpent in a tree said to Eve, "I'm your friend. Let me give you advice. Let me give you help. Let me give you an apple for lunch."

Listen. What King Saul saw in that tent that evening could not have been Samuel, because the reliable Word of God tells us very clearly that dead people don't know anything. Friend, a dead person cannot communicate with you. If you go to a séance or a fortuneteller or rent the video Ghost or tune into the messages from a Ouija board, I can tell you this with absolute clarity: the power you're communicating with is definitely not your departed loved one. It is not. Why? Because the Bible tells us so.

Question: would the God of heaven, who had refused to communicate with a rebellious King Saul through the normal, approved methods, now send him a military message through the very medium — no pun intended — that God Himself had forbidden in such strident terms in Leviticus and Deuteronomy? I mean, to be a medium was a capital offense! To visit a medium was a spiritual sin punishable by being cut off!

Well, then, who or what did King Saul see in the murky light of the fire that night? Let me share with you the scholarly opinions of three good resources. First of all, here are the NIV text notes where three scenarios are suggested. And number two says this:
"The woman had contact with an evil or devilish spirit in the form of Samuel by whom she was deceived and controlled."

Here is the explanation as provided by the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary:
"It is evident . . . that the spirit of Samuel did not here communicate with Saul." For the reasons we've already mentioned. "There remains one other source for the intelligence. The Scriptures reveal that Satan and his angels have the ability to impart information and also to change their form. The apparition that appeared to the woman of Endor was a satanic impersonation of Samuel, and the message imparted had its origin in the prince of darkness."

And here also is the teaching of the highly respected Matthew Henry Commentary:
"We have here the conference between Saul . . . and SATAN. Saul came in disguise, but Satan soon discovered him. Satan comes in disguise, in the disguise of Samuel's mantle, and Saul cannot discover him. Such is the disadvantage we labor under, in wrestling with the rulers of the darkness of this world, that they know us, while we are ignorant of their wiles and devices."

Friend, that was Saul's disadvantage. He believed his eyes and his ears instead of the plain words of the Bible. Here in 1999, with New Age communiques bombarding us from every TV set and every cemetery, what are we going to believe?