Do we pray to saints?

  BY Argie Simonis  

I'm going to touch on some sensitive chords now, but I hope you read with an open mind. It is not bad to ask for prayers from brethren in Christ, which Paul in most of his letters begins with the greeting "I greet the saints of the church ..." . In fact we follow the example of Paul, where he asks for the prayers of the faithful (= saints) so that:

"And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel," Εph. 6:19

"Brothers, pray for us." 1Thes. 5:25

"Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:" 2Thes. 3:1

These are just a few examples. There are many more. What we need to understand is the spirit in which we pray or ask for prayers from others. We do not do it because we feel guilty about something we did and believe that God will not hear our prayer, or that the sin we committed creates a barrier in heaven and our prayers are not heard.

"He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?" Psalm 94:9

Let us not forget that our prayers do not need to go even through  the roof of our house to reach the Lord, since His Spirit lives in us! (John 14:16; 1 Cor. 6:19)

And this is also important:

Paul and no other apostle or disciple of the Lord ever asked prayers from saints that have slept, but only from the living. Those saints who gave their lives for the Lord and slept are now in the presence of the Lord, and have no knowledge of what is happening on earth. (Luke 16:19-31 Heb. 12: 1 Rev. 6:10)

In the example of King Saul (1 Samuel 28) who tried to summon the spirit of the prophet Samuel, we see him using a witch to do necromancy, something strictly forbidden by the Lord. We need to be very careful in this, because many times in our despair we ask for help and "mediation" from saints that have slept without knowing the real dangers laying behind that.

In fact, what happens in such invocations is to communicate with demonic spirits whose mission was to cling to these people while they were alive, and to know every detail of their lives. That is why these demonic spirits can surprise you with the knowledge they have and even imitate the person you think is in front of you.

It is important to honor the memory of our saints that have slept and to set an example by their pious lives, but we must not cross the fine line between honouring and worshiping. They are worthy of honor, but our worship belongs exclusively to the only true God and our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen?