“Gone, But Not Forgotten”

Saturday, November 01, 2014

     After a Christian dies, can they contact their loved ones who are still living?  I need Scripture to look into.  I have a friend that thinks that she hears her husband say her name.  He has been gone four years, and I do not believe he is contacting her.

Sincerely,
Stop The Voices

Dear Stop The Voices,

God does not allow people to go back and contact others once they have passed away.  Jesus told the story of a wicked, rich man and a faithful, poor man named Lazarus in Lk 16:19-31.  When these two men died, the rich man immediately woke up in torment, and Lazarus was escorted to Paradise (Lk 16:22-23).  This is what happens when the righteous and the wicked die.  There is no wandering or ghostly haunting.  In fact, the rich man was specifically told that the dead aren’t sent back to the earth to preach or affect the course of events here (Lk 16:27-31).  We die, and then we wait to face the judgment (Heb 9:27).

Having said all of that, it is very common for those who have lost a spouse to imagine hearing them, seeing them in a crowd, and a thousand other things that make no logical sense but are consistent experiences with all that have lost loved ones.  Your friend’s dead husband isn’t speaking to her, but she is experiencing a very normal part of the mourning process.

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