The system of divination prevalent among the pagan people of Canaan was a menace to the pure monotheism of the Israelites in their occupation of the land. Rigid restrictions were imposed by royal edict to rid the country of "those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards" (I Sam. 28:3) in the endeavor to prevent disobedience to the First Commandment of the Mosaic Decalogue.
The attempt to ascertain through necromancy the course of a country's destiny, as well as the punishment for so doing, is told in Bible records concerning the warlike Saul. There it is recorded of Saul that in fear of the Philistines he disguised himself and sought guidance from a woman of Endor that had "a familiar spirit" (I Sam. 28:7). The penalty Saul paid for his wrongdoing was that he lost the battle with the Philistines and he and his sons perished. The Scriptures read (I Chron. 10:13), "Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it."
In this instance Saul signally failed to perceive that the will of God is always good. God is ever the beneficent Parent, and this spiritual fact requires no human confirmation. The loving Father is ever mindful of His creation, the spiritual universe and man. In contrast to Saul's dereliction from Principle when he attempted to foresee and foretell the future by mortal modes, the Christian Scientist uses the scientific method made plain and practical through the revelation of Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy writes in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 84), ''Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired,—yea, to reach the range of fetterless Mind."
