1 Corinthians 10:20
But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
What the Gentiles offer in sacrifice goes to demons and evil spirits and not to God, and to share in that worship is to have fellowship with devils. That worship includes the honoring of the dead and all claimed communion with them, for the spirits that appear are not the dead but evil angels, the messengers of Satan. To consult a medium or to seek from spiritualism what God has hidden about the future is that same fellowship with devils, turning from God as counselor to place oneself under Satan's guidance. The warning stands against all idolatry for all time, with special force now, and means not only bowing to images but selfishness, love of ease, and gratification of appetite and passion. A profession of faith does not free from this fellowship when religion only gratifies eye and ear and taste, when church festivals copy the pleasures of the world, or when influence is lent to causes opposed to God's law.
Sacrifice and Its Setting
The things the Gentiles sacrifice are sacrificed to devils, to demons, to evil spirits, and not to God, and to share in that worship is to have fellowship with devils. Believers must have no fellowship and no communion with evil spirits, and must not share in fellowship with demons. The spirits behind claims of communication with the dead are evil spirits and not departed human beings, with familiar spirits identified as evil spirits linked to the same demonic worship. Holding communion with evil spirits produces the abominations seen in the Canaanites, who were without natural affection, idolatrous, adulterous, murderous, and corrupt in every thought and revolting practice. The warning was needed even by people privileged to behold the glory and power of God, because men do not know their own deceitful and desperately wicked hearts, and unless warned they will fall into the same errors and die under similar judgments as Sodom, which was consumed for the same crime that existed in Canaan.
Satan watches for opportunity to lead God's people into conditions favorable to rebellion and transgression, opening channels for unrestrained evil in unconquered nature, to make them as abhorrent to God as the Canaanites and to ruin and condemn them before God. Because sacrifices offered by Gentiles to idols were offerings to devils and not to God, buying food that had been offered to idols could appear to sanction idolatrous worship. The Corinthians broke this rule by patterning the Lord's supper after idolatrous feasts, turning the celebration of Christ's sufferings and death into feasting and selfish enjoyment. Led by false teachers who assured them it was not wrong to attend idolatrous feasts, they imitated the public religious feasts of the Greeks by bringing their own food to the meeting and eating without waiting for others. For the wealthy the holy institution thus became a gluttonous feast while the poor were shamed by the contrast, making the house of God a place of feasting and revelry like a company of idolaters.
Behind Gentile sacrifice Satan was reverenced as a god, with temples erected to him and human sacrifices offered on his altars, reigning without a rival. That reign was broken by Christ's death, for by becoming the Sin-bearer and paying in His own body the penalty of transgression on which Satan's power over the human race was founded, Christ destroyed that dominion. He took possession of the keys of hell and of death, and opened the way for the heathen to be freed from midnight superstition.
Sorcery and Spiritualism Exposed
Familiar spirits and the spirits behind claims of communication with the dead are not the spirits of dead people but evil spirits, evil angels, the messengers of Satan. Ancient idolatry, including both worship of the dead and pretended communion with them, was demon-worship, so in supposed worship of dead men people were in reality worshiping demons, and sharing in such worship is fellowship with devils and not with God. Consulting a sorceress or spirit medium is having that fellowship with devils and not with God. Satan used the prediction of Saul's doom through the woman of Endor to give Israel confidence in the sorceress, so that they would consult her, turn from God as their counselor, and place themselves under Satan's guidance.
Spiritualism is a disguised revival of those forbidden dealings with evil spirits. It lures multitudes by its pretended power to draw aside the veil from the future and reveal what God has hidden, destroying confidence in God, making people dissatisfied, and leading them to seek what God has wisely veiled and to despise what He has revealed. Holding communion with evil spirits produces the abominations seen in the Canaanites, who were without natural affection, idolatrous, adulterous, murderous, and corrupt in every thought and revolting practice. It brings judgment like that which fell on Sodom, which was consumed for the same crime that existed in Canaan.
The warning was needed even by people privileged to behold the glory and power of God, because men do not know their own deceitful and desperately wicked hearts, and unless warned they will fall into the same errors and die under similar judgments. Satan watches for opportunity to lead God's people into conditions favorable to rebellion and transgression, opening channels for unrestrained evil in unconquered nature, to make them as abhorrent to God as the Canaanites and to ruin and condemn them before God. When people communicate with spirits they believe are their dead friends and follow their teachings while supposing they hear God, such worship and instruction come from demons, not God.
Refusing Fellowship Today
The warning against fellowship with devils is a warning against all idolatry for all time, with special force for the present day. Idolatry here means not only the worship of idols but also selfishness, love of ease, and the gratification of appetite and passion. A mere profession of faith in Christ and a boastful knowledge of the truth does not make a person a Christian and does not free from this fellowship with devils.
A religion which seeks only to gratify the eye, the ear, and the taste, or which permits any hurtful self-indulgence, is not the religion of Christ, but is in harmony with the spirit of the world and is opposed to the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. Festivals and scenes of amusement in which professed members of the Christian church imitate the customs and enjoy the pleasures of the world are idolatry and constitute a virtual union with the enemies of God. Communion with an evil spirit is not limited to believing in witchcraft, for people whose proud, worldly, avaricious, unkind, and censorious traits oppose Christ are holding communion with an evil spirit.
Joining in practices opposed to God means fellowship with demons. This applies to political and financial causes that promote principles contrary to God's law, to which Christians must not lend their influence, but must uphold the truth and remain under God's guidance.