Many Christians wrongly accept the admonishments of the Old Testament regarding mediums and ignore those teachings of the New Testament such as: “I will send them prophets and messengers” (Luke 11, 49). It surely seems logical that accepting inevitable translation errors, bias, and known inconsistencies etc. within the Holy Bible - whose books were known to be written from largely verbal accounts (most were written according to biblical scholars at least 30 years after the death of Christ!) - that God would have determined a way in which the Bible were updated (or supplemented) to both overcome these errors and be relevant to our troubled times in today’s world.
It is unfortunate that today we, and particularly all Christian churches; have become deaf to the reasonable expectation that it was always God’s will - that prophets would continue advising us all of God’s message, and in a manner more suited to our times. It surely therefore seems illogical to revere all prophets of the Old Testament without question yet ignore completely all those of today. Probably this deafness has resulted from too much notice since biblical times of the fearful exhortations of the Old Testament to mete out the most appalling treatment (including immediate death) to psychics and mediums i.e. those who call up “spirits” (Ref. (1) - references are given below). As if this could possibly be sanctioned by a God of love?
In complete contrast, the New Testament says nothing of that, and instead says, “I will send them prophets and messengers” (Luke 11, 49). Also, 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 declares, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.” There are many other such New Testament quotes, Ref. (2). Another pertinent and interesting relevant quote, (in this case from esoteric literature) is, “But because the children of tomorrow will be at a higher standard stage of evolution, the truth that is revealed to them must be more progressive than the truth that is revealed to you today.” (medium – Maurice Barbanell) “Teachings of Silver Birch”, Pg. 101).
Sadly, there is some evidence of recognition of the above by a conventional Christian church, namely a previous study of the validity or otherwise of mediumistic ability by the Anglican Church, which was squashed by their House of Bishops.
The Church of England and Spiritualism
A Committee of Anglicans was appointed in 1937 by Anglican Archbishops to investigate Spiritualism They carefully studied the subject for two years and handed in its consensus agreed report. It was expected by the Committee and by the general public that the report would be made immediately available on completion to the rank and file of the Church of England. However, this was not to be the case, as it was later learned that the House of Bishops chose instead to pigeon-hole the Reports.
Within the report itself were some surprising admissions which perhaps led to it being withheld, as follows:
1 “The [Biblical] miracles of Healing are acclaimed as closely parallel to the healings performed through mediums. it is strongly urged that if we do not accept the evidence for modern psychic happenings, we should not, apart from long tradition accept the Gospel records either.
2 “Certain outstanding psychic experiences of individuals, including certain experiences with mediums, make a strong prima facie case for survival and for the possibility of spirit communications.”
3 “It is certainly true, that there are quite clear parallels between the miraculous events recorded in the Gospel and modern phenomena attested by Spiritualists. Examples given include, “… clairvoyance (in the story of Nathaniel) and of materialisation (in the feeding of the five thousand, and above all the narrative of the Resurrection appearances).”
4 “When every possible explanation of these [paranormal] communications has been given, and all doubtful evidence set aside, it is generally agreed that there remains some element as yet unexplained. We think that it is probable that the hypothesis that they proceed in some cases from discarnate spirits is the true one.” Ref: (3)
References
Refs: (1) Lev. 19:31, 20:27, Rev. 18:10-13, 1 Chron 10:13-14 2 Chron 33:6 Ref: (2) Ephesians 4.11 John 14:26, 15:26-27, 16:13-14, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Ref: (3) Internet