As I said in the forth message of our recent series, “The After Party,” The short and simple answer to this question is “NO!” God makes it plain that we should not try to contact the dead by any means. Any effort to do so is sin and very dangerous.

The following passages (and others) speak to the issue:

Deuteronomy 18:10-12
There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or bone who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD.

Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

We are to avoid any form of sorcery, divination, fortune telling, seeking mediums to contact the dead. Modern forms of these things such as Ouija Boards, Tarot Cards, Seances, Palm reading should also be avoided. God has given us the Bible as our most specific assurance for us to understand the afterlife. There is a separation between us and the deceased that should not be crossed and according to the clear commands of Scripture, any attempts at circumnavigating this gulf in order to contact the dead (or “spirits” or “ghosts”) is sinful.

Carpe Deum! (Seize God!),
Todd Phillips