Grieving individuals are increasingly turning to spiritualism to get them through their grief, a Baptist Union group has said.
The Baptist Deliverance Study Group has issued a warning after increasing concerns that people are relying on spiritualism following the death of their loved ones during the pandemic.
At the height of the pandemic, thousands of people died of Covid-19 in hospital without their loved ones with them because of the pandemic restrictions.
Jayne Irlam (see photo) from the Deliverance Study Group said that a great many people have been left struggling with grief.
Speaking of those whose loved ones died alone, she commented: ‘Those left behind carry a unique pain, and bereavement experts agree that many will be struggling with their bereavement as a result.
‘It may not come as a surprise, then, that some of those people are turning to spiritualism in the belief that they can make contact with their departed and so find the closure they so desperately need.’
She said they have had people asking for deliverance ‘from some horrific consequences of becoming involved in spiritualism’.
‘Communication with the dead in this way is specifically forbidden in the Bible by a loving God who wishes to keep people safe from bondage to preternatural or demonic powers’, Irlam warned.
She called for the bereaved to ‘turn to their local Christian church and not the Spiritualist church if they want true, loving and compassionate healing. If people saw the bondage to spiritualism we have seen, they would have nothing to do with it’.
The Baptist Deliverance Study Group comprises Baptist ministers and medical professionals and was set up in 2018 after seeing a sharp rise in the numbers of people asked for help in deliverance or ‘exorcism’. Its service is available to all denominations.
