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DEFENDING THE BRIDE
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Defending the Glory of God
7. Deuteronomy
18:10-11 Says don’t seek oracles of the dead.
Do supposed
apparitions of Mary go against God’s Word ?
Are the Saints dead
in Christ ??? Soul sleep ?
Deuteronomy
18:10-11
“Let there not be found among you anyone who immolates
his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortune-teller, soothsayer,
charmer, diviner, or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts
and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead.”
Catholics do not seek out oracles from Mary or the other Saints in Heaven. And the Catholic Church does forbid the things above, however this does not preclude the possibility of Mary appearing to God’s people and instructing them to follow her Son.
[The Catholic Church teaches that public Divine revelation ended with the death of the last apostle. If a supposed Marian apparition goes contrary to that public Divine revelation –which includes everything that the Bible teaches – it is declared to be false by the Church.]
Acts chapter 7 shows how heavenly creatures can be used by God to give us heavenly and life giving messages.
Acts 7:37-38
“It was this Moses who said to
the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you, from among your own
kinsfolk, a prophet like me.’ It was he who, in the assembly in
the desert, was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and
with our ancestors, and he received living utterances to hand on to
us.”
Some people claim that we cannot ask the Saints whose earthly life has ended to pray with us because, they claim, those Saints are dead. However, a closer look at what the Bible teaches shows that the Saints are not dead. Christians are blessed with the gift of Eternal Life.
Because of Original Sin all of mankind was separated from God. Because of sin we have incurred the punishment of death and we fell under the dominion of Satan. However, Jesus Christ has conquered Satan and death and He has rescued the spirits from the prison of Hades.
The Saints in Heaven are Alive
The Saints are more Alive in Heaven than we are on earth because they are more closely united with the Author of Life, God. [Cf. Romans 5:12-19, Romans 6:23, Hebrews 2:14-15, and 1 Peter 3:19]
John 6:47-51
“Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread
of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are
dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man
may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down
from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever:
and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for
the life of the world.” KJV
John 5:25-29
“Truly, truly, I say to
you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the
voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the
Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have
life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment,
because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour
is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and
come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. RSV
Matthew 27:51-53
“And behold, the veil
of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth
quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many
saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from
their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and
appeared to many.”
At the account of the raising of Lazarus, Martha seemed to have believed in “soul sleep” where the holy ones of God do not know anything until they are raised on the last day.
John 11:23-24
“Jesus said to her,
‘Your brother will rise.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know he
will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.’ ”
However, Jesus corrects this misunderstanding of Martha.
John 11:25-27
“Jesus told her, ‘I am
the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he
dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will
never die. Do you believe this?’ ” She said to him,
‘Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son
of God, ...’ ”
While a person’s body may not be raised until the last day the Saint’s soul goes to Heaven when he dies. See Revelation 6:9-11 in the next section of this series of articles.
Matthew 22:32
“ ‘I am the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God
of the dead but of the living.”
Luke 20:38
“and he is not God of
the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
When a Saint dies his soul goes to Heaven while he awaits the resurrection of his body on the last day. God is the author of life. John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” And since their souls are closer to God, since they are united with Him in Heaven, they are more alive than we are. They are not only forgiven for their sins they have been purified and washed free from them.
Revelation 21:27
“ … but nothing
unclean will enter it, nor any (one) who does abominable things or
tells lies. Only those will enter whose names are written in the
Lamb’s book of life.”
John 8:51
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
Therefore, since the Saints are alive in Christ the passage about the dead in Deuteronomy 18 is not a reference to them.
For the answers to more objections
concerning praying to Mary or the other Saints see
See Articles at