“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” (1 Peter 4:17)
By Chris Lawson of Spiritual Research Network:
The video presented below is by no means meant to bring unnecessary division in the church. (See video, What SRN is NOT.) We are called to “warn and teach,” (Colossians 1:27-29) and to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God,” (1 John 4:1). Furthermore, we are admonished to “mark [keep a close watch on] them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” (Romans 16:18). See also, June 2023 video, About SRN.
(photo on right: from the cover of Warren B. Smith’s booklet Dead Men Talking (addressing necromancy in the church).
“Self-proclaimed prophet Steve Berger claims to receive messages from his deceased son, and he wrote a book about this practice. Talking to the dead is the condemned sin of mediumship, even when it involves talking with deceased loved ones. In this video, Pastor Chris Lawson of the Spiritual Research Network, discusses how he tried to warn Berger and the pastors who endorsed his book such as Greg Laurie and James Robison about the dangers and sin of mediumship, but they wouldn’t listen. Berger even claimed that “God had made an exception for him and his family” to allow them to send and receive messages from his deceased son. Former psychic medium Doreen Virtue describes how she was demonically deceived when she thought she was receiving messages from her deceased grandmother, and how her pre-salvation mediumship sessions failed the Apostle John’s test of the spirits.” (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzy1Q1TZImM)
Also by Chris Lawson:
How to Know if You Are Being Spiritually Abused or Deceived—A Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire
Taizé Worship – Growing in Popularity, But Roots Are in Mystical Monasticism
(image of graveyard from Dead Men Talking is from alamy.com; used with permission)
What really struck me about the Bergers was their refusal to give up their earthly relationship with their son after he died. That’s a huge entitlement mentality ; Love of self! And to actually say that God made an exception for their family, that they alone did not have to obey the Bible in this regard!!! Wow! Talk about being hugely deceived by demons. He will be known for normalizing mediumship/necromancy in the church. And he still has a following…true Christians should be avoiding him!
I recently became aware of a teaching that we can “interact” with the ‘Cloud of Witnesses’ mentioned in Heb 12:1. This would include those mentioned in Heb 11, the apostles, or dead Christian loved ones. He said it was not necromancy,because they had “eternal life” so they weren’t really dead. They are to help us. This is no different from Catholics belief praying to Mary and saints. This past year has made me aware of just how prevalent this NAR movement has become. People want to hear all these stories and visions.
Thoughts I’ve been having for a couple of days… I don’t think they’re off-base. We know satan is a murder… out to kill us. We’ve had the thoughts when it seems hopeless… why go on—I think it’s described as… the wearing out of the Saints. Today, we’re kept in fear of bowing to the oligarch, or our life will be snuffed.
Hold on… you can’t kill me! You can’t do what I’ve already made a choice to do. In other words, I beat satan to the punch… I didn’t let it be forced on me, leaving me with no choice to “give up my life”.
I’ve already decided to kill myself. I killed my life—I’ve died to Christ… I take up my cross daily… I’ve killed (killing daily) the flesh to the rudiments of the world… I’m dead, hid in Christ… I killed my old man… I lost my life so I can find it.
All to say… why seek the dead, when I’m already dead to survival (keeping my flesh flourishing) in this world, so to speak—I need no “revelation of wisdom” from the dead (which are the demonic trying to convince me to not kill myself to the world… instead, live in fear to it trying to preserve my life being my own god).
I’ve already made my choice (daily making… working out my salvation with fear and trembling) seeking the wisdom from God only through the Holy Spirit. What’s dead is dead… unless “we” try to resurrect the old man again… in which, we’ll find the second death if we keep it up. Only God, through the Holy Spirit, can resurrect… not a man, alive or dead.