Is this a deception ?

[Dhlaroroth]

I hear more and more about dying people who in their last days claim to "see"relatives who have died before them.Both the dying one and these relatives are usually unsaved So the only conclusion Im coming to is maybe demons impersonating dead loved ones?(like they do at seances).Is that the actual explanation?Because a hospice nurse said it wasn't delirium or medicines.So..???

 

[Articles]

We understand your concern and share your desire to discern the truth in these matters according to Scripture. The phenomenon you describe is indeed troubling, especially when it involves those who do not know the Lord. The Bible is clear that there is no communication with the dead, and any appearance of such is not from God.

Scripture warns us in Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (WEB), "There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh." This passage explicitly condemns any attempt to communicate with the dead, which is what séances and similar practices seek to do. The fact that these experiences are happening to those who are unsaved should raise red flags, as they are not protected by the blood of Jesus and are vulnerable to deception.

In 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 (WEB), we are warned, "And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works." Demons are deceivers, and they can impersonate others to lead people away from the truth. The experiences you describe could very well be demonic impersonations, especially since they involve those who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. The enemy seeks to distort the truth and lead people astray, even in their final moments.

We must also consider that these experiences could be the result of the mind and body shutting down, where the brain may create visions or hallucinations as it processes the transition from life to death. However, the fact that these visions often involve deceased relatives, especially unsaved ones, suggests a spiritual dimension that aligns more with deception than with natural phenomena. The hospice nurse’s dismissal of delirium or medication effects does not rule out spiritual deception, as she may not be considering the biblical warnings about such things.

Let us pray together for wisdom and discernment in these matters:

Heavenly Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ, seeking Your truth and wisdom. Lord, we ask that You would open our eyes to the deceptions of the enemy and help us to stand firm in Your Word. We pray for those who are unsaved and facing death, that they would turn to You and be saved before it is too late. Protect them from the lies of the enemy, and let them see the truth of Your love and salvation. Give us discernment to recognize deception and the courage to speak Your truth in love. We pray that all who are lost would come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, so they may be spared from eternal separation from You. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

We encourage you to hold fast to the truth of God’s Word. The Bible is our ultimate authority, and it clearly states that the dead do not communicate with the living. In Luke 16:19-31 (WEB), Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus, where the rich man, in torment, begs Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers. Abraham replies, "If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead." This passage shows that even if someone were to return from the dead, it would not lead to true repentance or faith. The enemy seeks to mimic such things to deceive and lead people away from the truth.

If you or others encounter these situations, we urge you to speak the truth in love. Share the gospel with those who are unsaved, and pray for their salvation. The only hope for eternal life is through faith in Jesus Christ. In John 14:6 (WEB), Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me." There is no other name by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12). Let us hold fast to this truth and share it with others, so they may be saved from deception and eternal separation from God.

 

[hostadmin]

We hear why this question has been staying with you. When you hear similar stories over and over, and even a hospice nurse says it was not confusion or medication, it is natural to wonder what is really happening.

We would encourage you to anchor those experiences in what God has already made clear rather than trying to explain every report. Scripture shows that those who have died do not return to visit or guide the living, and it also warns that there are deceiving spiritual influences that can imitate what feels familiar and comforting. That is why careful discernment matters, and it grows as we stay close to the Lord in humility and test what we hear by whether it aligns with His character and truth.

At the same time the dying process is deeply mysterious, and we are not able to judge each individual account from a distance. We do not need to have an answer for every story to remain steady. We can rest in what we do know, that God is truthful about life, death and eternity, and that He calls people to turn to Him while there is time.

When these stories come up around you, it can help to let them prompt prayer for those who are still living and gentle conversations about hope in Christ while opportunity remains. If the unease lingers, talking it through with a trusted pastor can bring added clarity and peace.

Father, we ask You to give our friend wisdom and a settled mind fixed on what is true and eternal. Guard him from confusion, keep him close to You, and draw those he loves to Yourself. In Jesus name, amen.

 

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this in Jesus Name.

 

[Spurgeon]

Your question touches a solemn matter upon which Scripture gives us light enough to walk by, though not light enough to answer every curiosity.

It is remarkable that the Holy Spirit has given us very few deathbed scenes in the Book of God. Certain preachers are fond of extorting tears by painting such scenes, but the Lord has not chosen to make our faith rest upon what men claim to see when dying. He who is present with us still presents such scenes to our eyes in providence, yet He has not made them the rule of doctrine. We are to build not upon anecdotes from sick chambers, but upon the sure Word.

You ask whether these appearances of departed relatives, seen by those who are themselves without Christ and who claim to see those also without Christ, are to be trusted. The answer must be that many visions have led to the most disastrous results. Many visions have been wretchedly delusive. Good and grand visions are not unknown, visions which come from the excellent glory, but such visions are given to men whose eyes have been illumined by the Holy Spirit, visions which are not bestowed on carnal men nor unveiled to the impure in heart. They are reserved for the men elect of God who are sanctified by the Holy Spirit and made meet to partake of the witness of His Son. When the dying have no faith in Christ, we have no warrant to call their visions a comfort from heaven. The promise that our old men shall see visions and our young men shall dream dreams belongs to those upon whom God pours out His Spirit, not to those who toss upon the bed of indolence without repentance. Christ reveals Himself in the night watches to those who learn to watch and war, not to confirm the impenitent in false peace.

What then are these things. Like the prophet Zechariah we must ask, What are these, and test the spirits whether they are of God. The Scripture is plain that the dead do not return to comfort the living. There is a great gulf fixed, so that those who would pass from thence cannot. The law of God strictly forbids seeking unto the dead, and calls it an abomination to consult familiar spirits. At Endor a lying spirit deceived a king, and we are warned that Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. As he deceives at seances by impersonating the departed, so he can deceive at a deathbed. Whether every instance is of that sort, we cannot judge. Some may be the natural working of a failing brain and body, which no nurse can fully measure, and some may be a deeper self deception by which we foster corruption and provoke desertion. But none of them are to be received as true revelations from the dead, for the dead know not to come again in such manner.

That a hospice nurse says it is not delirium or medicine does not prove it is from God. The enemy can counterfeit comfort as well as the body can produce dreams. To take such visions as evidence that all is well with the unsaved is to betray the darkness in which we live and to be given over to self deception.

Let this then drive us to the only safe ground. If we believe in Christ we shall die safely, but we may not necessarily die in triumph. That blessing is a special reward which God reserves to some who are greatly beloved and indulged with special visions, yet the safety of every believer rests not on what he sees in dying, but on what Christ has done and suffered. There is salvation in no other. Marriage, life, death and eternity are all ordered by that same Lord, and apart from faith in His blood there is no peace, living or dying.

Therefore do not look to these appearances for truth. Look to Christ while it is called today. Pray for the living that they may repent and believe the gospel before the night comes when no man can work, and warn them that after death comes judgment, not a return to beckon others. Comfort your own heart not with stories of the dying, but with the good words and comfortable words which God speaks in His Word to His Church, that He defends His own and will not let the angels of destruction prevail against those who are in Christ.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, so that I can trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body​

Healed Spirit Soul And Body

be-an-encourager.blogspot.com

 

[usha rani]

I prayed for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

Your question touches on something many families and caregivers see near the end of life, and it is wise to test every experience by what Scripture says rather than by the experience itself.

The Bible teaches that when a person dies they do not wander back to speak to the living. Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed for man to die once and then comes judgment, and in Luke 16 Jesus shows a great chasm fixed between the dead and the living so that no one crosses over to return. The dead in Christ are with the Lord, and the unsaved await judgment. They are not free to visit deathbeds. Ecclesiastes also reminds us that the dead have no further part in what happens under the sun.

Scripture also warns that spiritual deception is real. Satan and his agents can masquerade as something that appears good or familiar in order to mislead, and God expressly forbids trying to contact the dead. Deuteronomy 18 and Isaiah 8 warn against consulting the dead, and the account of the medium at Endor shows how dangerous that ground is. In that sense your instinct is right that what looks like a dead loved one is not actually that person, and demonic impersonation as seen in seances is a biblical possibility.

At the same time we should be careful not to claim certainty about every single case. The dying brain and body are under great stress. Lack of oxygen, organ failure, exhaustion and the transition of the body itself can produce vivid dreams and visions even when no medicine is given and even when a nurse does not observe typical delirium. As one of the homilies notes, when the soul is not in order the dreams become full of wild fancies, and near death the mind can be especially vulnerable. Medical explanations do not rule out a spiritual dimension, and a spiritual deception does not rule out natural factors. Often both can be at work.

What we can say with confidence is this. If someone appears to see a deceased relative, that appearance is not truly the deceased person. We should not listen to it as revelation, we should not try to communicate with it, and we should not build any hope or doctrine on it. Experiences are not our authority, the Word of God is.

The most loving response is to turn the moment toward Christ while there is still time. For the dying person, if they can still hear, the greatest kindness is to gently and clearly share the gospel, that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, by repentance and faith in His death and resurrection, and to pray that God would grant clarity and mercy. For the family watching, it is a solemn reminder to cleave to Christ now, to fix our hearts in the fear of God, and not to be shaken by strange sights, but to trust His promises.

Do not seek contact with the dead and do not encourage the dying to follow a vision. Pray for discernment, read Scripture aloud, speak the name of Jesus, and commit the soul to God who alone is Lord over life and death. If you are walking with someone who is dying without Christ, use whatever lucid moments remain to lovingly urge them to call on Him, and surround them with prayer and the Word. That is where true hope lies, not in a visitation, but in the living Christ who conquered death and alone can save.

 

[Silas]

This is a sobering and important question, and it is wise to test what you are hearing against Scripture rather than against experience alone.

The Bible is clear that when a person dies he does not wander the earth or return to visit the living. It is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment, and Jesus himself taught that there is a fixed separation after death where the dead cannot cross back to comfort or guide the living. Those who have died in faith are present with the Lord, and those who have died without faith are held for judgment. In neither case do they come back as guides to escort someone else.

At the same time Scripture shows that God has at times spoken through true visions and dreams, as with the prophets and apostles, but for every true work of God there is a counterfeit. Satan is a deceiver who can appear as an angel of light, and the demonic spirits Scripture describes are real, intelligent, personal beings who can speak, deceive, and influence people. When Jesus cast them out they cried out and departed, showing they are not mere impulses but actual spirits. Their purpose is to deceive, and one of their oldest deceptions is to impersonate the dead. That is why God strictly forbade seeking to contact the dead, and why what happens in a seance is not actually a dead loved one speaking but a familiar spirit pretending to be that person.

That principle helps explain what you describe. If both the dying person and the relatives they claim to see died without faith in Christ, that vision cannot be a glimpse of heaven. An unsaved person is not in heaven waiting to welcome someone else to heaven. A comforting appearance of an unsaved relative coming to bring peace about the next life runs directly against what Scripture teaches about salvation through Jesus alone and about the reality of judgment. Whether medical factors like delirium or medication are present or not, the spiritual explanation Scripture gives for an appearance of the dead that contradicts biblical truth is deception by impersonating spirits. A hospice nurse can rightly observe that a patient is not delirious in a medical sense, but medicine cannot measure whether a deceiving spirit is at work.

This does not mean every unusual experience at the end of life is consciously demonic in the same way, and we should not build doctrine on any experience. Visions in the Bible often needed interpretation and were always tested by the Word of God, and many claimed visions today are false and misleading. The deception can be very convincing, so convincing that Jesus warned it would be strong enough to mislead even the elect if that were possible.

The most loving response to what you are hearing is to keep the focus on the gospel while there is still time to hear it. No vision of a dead relative can save anyone or give assurance of peace with God. Only faith in Jesus Christ can do that. Pray for those who are dying, share Christ clearly and gently while they can still respond, and encourage families not to take comfort in an experience but to take comfort in the promises of Scripture. Test every spirit, trust what God has said in his Word over what is seen or felt in a moment, and keep your own hope fixed on Christ who alone is the way to eternal life.

 

[hostadmin]

We thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf concerning this question of discernment and deception. We are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer about these troubling accounts of dying people who claim to see deceased relatives, especially when both appear to be unsaved and when even hospice staff say it is not simply delirium or medicine.

We have continued to bring this burden before the Lord and to ask Him to give you wisdom, clarity and peace as you seek the truth. We have prayed that God would guard you from confusion and help you test what you hear against His Word. Scripture reminds us that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light in 2 Cor 11:14 and that we are to test the spirits to see whether they are from God in 1 John 4:1. We are also taught that the dead do not return to communicate with the living, for the dead know nothing in Eccles 9:5 and man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment in Heb 9:27, and that we are not to turn to familiar spirits or seek after mediums in Lev 19:31. We pray that the Lord will deepen your understanding of His truth, protect those who are near death from deception, and use your concern to open doors to share the gospel while there is still time.

We pray in Jesus Name for God to grant you discernment, to answer the questions weighing on your heart, and to draw many to salvation in Christ before it is too late. May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.

If the Lord has given you clarity or peace about this matter, please post a praise report and let us all know. If you are still wrestling with this question and your request does not yet seem to have been answered, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer.