“And in case they should say to you people: ‘Apply to the spiritistic mediums or to those having a spirit of prediction who are chirping and making utterances in low tones,’ is it not to its God that any people should apply? Should there be application to dead persons in behalf of living persons?”​—Isa. 8:19.

Why should not the living seek to talk to the dead? One reason is that the dead are dead, nonexistent! As we read in the Bible book of Ecclesiastes (9:4, 5): “For as respects whoever is joined to all the living there exists confidence, because a live dog is better off than a dead lion. For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they any more have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.” And as the same inspired writer goes on to say: “Throw yourself into any pursuit that may appeal to you, for there is no pursuit, no plan, no knowledge or intelligence, within the grave where you are going.”​—Eccl. 9:10, James Moffatt’s Version.

There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate otherwise. That is why they often refer to death as sleep. A sleeping person is unconscious until he is awakened. Another reason, it might be added, is that Jesus Christ promised that all those sleeping in the memorial tombs will be awakened by means of a resurrection from the dead. So to try to talk with the dead is futile.​—John 5:28, 29; 11:1-44; compare 1 Thessalonians 4:13.

But there is a still more powerful reason why we should not seek to talk with the dead. This reason helps to account for all the psychic phenomena that has caused certain leading scientists in Great Britain and elsewhere, as well as Anglican bishops and Rosemary Brown, to believe that life does exist after death. And what is that? Seeking to talk with the dead may get one involved with wicked demons.

So it is not merely a matter of its being futile, this seeking to talk with the dead. Since these impersonators of the dead are God’s worst enemies, certainly no lover of God and of righteousness would want to have anything to do with them. More than that, there is evidence that time and again those who have dabbled in spiritism have become nervous wrecks, or mentally unsound, or have come near to committing murder or suicide. Surely all such facts are still more powerful reasons why one should not seek to talk with the dead.

So, in view of the fact that the dead are actually dead and those seeming to be in communication with the dead are actually in touch with wicked spirits who could seriously harm one, should humans seek to talk with the dead? Absolutely not!