Q98: What is going on when I see mediums giving messages to families and the like from passed relations?

A98: We have several quite specific Scriptures regarding mediums and witches. The first specific condemnation of such practices is in Deuteronomy 18:9-12, which is Moses passing along God's commandments to the Jews about to enter into Palestine.

"When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.  There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. "For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you."

The last sin committed by King Saul of Israel

And there is a passage on this topic, a witch speaking with someone who is dead. Israel's first king, Saul, had asked a witch at En Dor to call the prophet Samuel from the dead.

1 Samuel 28:3 says, "Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land." Obviously, Saul had obeyed the command in Deuteronomy about mediums.  But then the Philistines attacked Israel and God did not answer Saul's prayers for help. 1 Samuel 28:7-8 says "Then Saul said to his servants, 'Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.' And his servants said to him, 'In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor.'"

The witch at En Dor did as Saul asked and conducted a seance to bring up Samuel, but when the dead prophet spoke to Saul, he condemned the king for bringing him up.

Samuel speaks to Saul from beyond the grave

1 Samuel 28:16-19 says, Then Samuel said: 'So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? And the Lord has done for Himself as He spoke by me. "For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day.  Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

And that's precisely what happened to Saul. He went into battle and was killed by the Philistines, along with his sons, and David became the new king of Israel, as predicted.

I would say that's a rather high price to pay for dealing with a witch, but obviously that wasn't Saul's only sin. It was just his last, and he paid for it with his life.