Theological term
Necromancy
10 sermons · All terms
The Regulation of Priests and Prophets
Deuteronomy 18 governs the two offices through which God communicated with Old Covenant Israel: the Levitical priesthood and the prophetic ministry. The chapter moves from the material provision owed to priests and Levites, through a comprehensive prohibition of pagan divination, to the promise of a succession of prophets culminating in one greater than Moses — the Lord Jesus Christ, identified explicitly in Matthew 17 and Acts 3. The sermon draws out the typological and redemptive-historical unity of the chapter, showing that what Israel sought illegitimately through witchcraft and necromancy, God supplied legitimately through his Word-bearing offices, and that the old covenant's pattern of 'do this and live' finds its fulfillment in Christ who kept the covenant perfectly on behalf of his people.
The Authority of Christ Over the Demons
Matthew 8:28–34 records Christ's encounter with two demon-possessed men whose condition — violence, self-destruction, nakedness, and ceaseless torment among the tombs — exposes the wretchedness of Satan's kingdom and the glamorization of the occult as godless deception. The passage stands within Matthew's sustained demonstration in chapters 8–9 that the same authority with which Christ taught is confirmed in His works: one word, 'Go,' expels a legion. The city's request that Jesus depart reveals that the fear of God drives men either toward Him or away from Him, never to indifference. The sermon closes with the application of 1 Timothy 1:15 — that these two men are exhibit A that Christ Jesus came into the world to save even the chiefest of sinners — and an exhortation to parents to raise children who flee to the cross rather than to self-righteousness or the occult.
Bible Study - Saul and the witch at Endor
King Saul's consultation with the witch at Endor (1 Samuel 28) illustrates the catastrophic spiritual consequences of persistent disobedience to God's revealed word. Having been cut off from God through compounding acts of rebellion — beginning in 1 Samuel 13 and 15 — Saul finds himself without prophetic word, priestly access, or divine dream, and turns in desperation to a source God had expressly condemned. The narrative is set in deliberate contrast with David, who, though not sinless, maintained communion with God through repentance and reliance on the means of grace. The lesson closes with a call to seek God earnestly through Scripture and prayer rather than turning to any substitute, however desperate the circumstances.
Holiness in the Daily Lives of Old Covenant Israel
Leviticus 19:19–37 presents a series of miscellaneous laws governing mixed breeding, pagan practices, sacred prostitution, necromancy, care for the elderly and the stranger, and fair trade — all set within the covenant calling of Israel to be holy as God is holy. These laws are classified under the threefold Reformed distinction of moral, ceremonial, and judicial law, with the ceremonial portions fulfilled and abrogated in Christ while their embedded moral duties remain, traceable to the Ten Commandments. The passage is expounded to show that Israel's separation from surrounding nations was not arbitrary but theologically grounded in God's own act of separating Israel as his covenant people. The enduring application is that the law's pedagogical function — exposing sin and driving the people to the Lamb of God — is as operative for the New Covenant believer as it was for ancient Israel.
Laws Concerning Marriage and Capital Offences
Exodus 22:16–20 presents two distinct legal categories: the seduction of an unbetrothed virgin and three capital offenses — sorcery, bestiality, and idolatry. The sermon works through each law in its ancient Israelite context, drawing on Deuteronomy 18, 22, 27, and 13 to amplify and clarify the Exodus text, and defends the coherence of the bride-price legislation against the charge that it sanctions rape. All three capital offenses are shown to be covenant-destroying acts that strike at both the religious and civil foundations of Israel's polity, carrying the theological weight of treason against the Lord of the Covenant. The general equity of these laws presses the church today toward a high view of marriage, a total rejection of the occult, and recognition that first-table faithfulness to God is the indispensable ground of second-table obligations to one's neighbor.
Saul and the Medium at En Dor
When Saul consults a medium at En Dor on the eve of his final battle with the Philistines, the deepest terror of 1 Samuel 28 is not the Philistine army but the silence of God — the Lord refuses to answer Saul by dreams, Urim, or prophets. The passage exposes the bankruptcy of pragmatic religion: Saul does not want communion with God, only tactical advantage, and so he turns to what God has explicitly forbidden. The sermon examines the three main interpretive positions on the conjured spirit, argues that a demonic entity — not the real Samuel — appeared to the medium, and closes by distinguishing between the hardened reprobate who has been abandoned by God and the struggling believer who is called to renew repentance and press into the ordained means of grace.
An Enemy Worse than the Philistines
The silence of God toward King Saul in 1 Samuel 28 is a more terrifying reality than any Philistine army, and this sermon exposes why. Working through verses 3–25, the exposition traces Saul's apostasy from covenant member to enemy of Yahweh — a man who seeks a word from God through forbidden necromancy because God will no longer answer him through lawful means. The sermon draws a sharp contrast between Saul's utilitarian, self-serving religion and David's practice of strengthening himself in the Lord through the knowledge of God, the rehearsal of His promises, and the use of the means of grace. The congregation is exhorted to reckon honestly with remaining sin, to refuse the deceitfulness that masks spiritual defection, and to find in Christ's darkness on the cross the guarantee that no elect soul will ever be abandoned by God.
1 Samuel 29
God's providential deliverance of David from an impossible dilemma — being compelled to march against Israel with the Philistines — and the immediate plunge into the disaster at Ziklag raise a single pressing question: how does a believer endure when the last straw is not the last straw? Working through 1 Samuel 29–30:8, this study traces two movements: the Lord using the objections of the Philistine lords to extract David from his dilemma without David having to act, and the devastation at Ziklag that arrives the moment he returns home. The sermon draws out three means by which David strengthened himself in the Lord his God — the experiential knowledge of God, the promises of God rehearsed through fellowship, and the use of the means of grace — setting these against the contrasting figure of Saul, who in the same crisis had no priest, no ephod, and no word from the Lord.
1 Samuel 28
First Samuel 28 records one of the most devastating episodes in Saul's life: having been abandoned by God and cut off from every legitimate means of divine communication, the king of Israel disguises himself and consults a medium at Endor on the eve of his final battle with the Philistines. This Bible study traces Saul's trajectory from incremental disobedience in 1 Samuel 13 through to full-blown necromancy in chapter 28, demonstrating that his ruin was not sudden but the cumulative fruit of small acts of defection from the living God. The appearance of 'Samuel' is examined with appropriate tentativeness, with the case for a demonic impersonation receiving the most sustained treatment. The study closes with a contrast between Saul's desperation and David's persistent pleading in Psalm 13, calling hearers to cling to the means of grace rather than abandon them when God seems silent.
Deuteronomy 18
Deuteronomy 18 addresses two offices of spiritual leadership in Israel — the priests and the prophets — and sets them against the backdrop of the occultic practices of the Canaanites. The provision for Levites and priests (vv. 1–8) establishes that God, through the faithfulness of his covenant people, is the material sustainer of those devoted to sacred service. The prohibition against divination, sorcery, and necromancy (vv. 9–14) makes plain that Israel was to seek God's word through appointed means, not pagan dark arts. The chapter reaches its pinnacle in the promise of a prophet like Moses (vv. 15–22), which finds its ultimate antitype in the Lord Jesus Christ as prophet to the church.