Title: Spiritualists and Mediums Question/Comments: These people are fake. Believe me, they cannot speak to the dead, they don't see them, they don't hear them. I know they seem like they know the impossible but they have all been shown to be fake. I have studied these characters, especially the famous ones and probably the one you saw on Larry King but the fact is that this is their way of making a living. People are so anxious for information about their deceased loved ones that they spew information with their body gestures, things they say, things they wear, etc... Why do these "Mediums" not just point at a person and say "hey, you, your father John Smith is the ghost that I see standing in the corner. He's telling me about your most private secrets (not necessarily embarrassing ones). He also tells me..." Instead these people make general statements like "...someone has a sister who died in a car accident..." Mind you there are usually 30+ people in the audience and if it's a phone call then the Medium just asks a couple of questions or even suggests. I swear I've seen a Medium almost force someone to believe that a distant relative was trying reach to a phone caller. The phone caller didn't know who he was talking about but after plenty of suggestion the phone caller gave in and said that there is a possiblity that it could be true. What's funny is that the phone caller had a man in mind and the Medium kept alluding to a woman ghost. Larry King questioned him as to why he was having difficulty, he just answered "I don't channel the spirits they channel me, I have no control as who comes through..." James Van Praagh, John Edward, Sylvia Browne and George Anderson. These people are deceivers and play on the minds and hearts of men and women, and for what: money! Try and get them to do it for free! Larry King is not free, that's an incredible commercial/advertisement. I only say this because it's a waste of time and it can get you into things that can be unhealthy mentally and spiritually. I'll admit they can be very entertaining and even more the sad part. Please don't waste your faith on the non-sense. Here are some quotes of how this Medium stuff works: "In spiritualism, a medium is one to whom spirits communicate directly. In an earlier, simpler but more dramatic age, a good medium would produce voices, apports, ring bells, float or move things across a darkened room, produce automatic writing, and, in short, provide good entertainment value for the money."... "But the mediums most likely to be on Larry King Live or Oprah are those who claim the dead can communicate with them. Under a thin guise of doing "spiritual healing" and "grief counseling," these charlatans use traditional techniques of cold reading and surreptitious gathering of information about their subjects in their performances. Their technique is to speak words or phrases and ask many questions of their subjects in rapid succession until someone responds. Using information they have gathered during the cold reading or in conversations with the subjects before the readings or during breaks from studio sessions, they claim to hear messages from the dead loved ones of those responding. These mediums then pass on messages from the dead such as "he forgives you," "your nickname was Miss Piggy," or "your dog wishes you hadn't given away his favorite dish." "Today, it is unnecessary to be so crude as to directly ask for money or prey upon the elderly with lots of cash and little time. People are literally waiting for years to give money to those who give hope that a dead loved one will communicate with them via the medium. There is also a lucrative book business for those who have messages for us from the dead. Some even get their own television programs, such is the popularity of this phenomenon." Allah knows best May Allah guide us all to the Truth. Your brother in Islam, Ronnie Answer: Thank you for your comments. Regards, Moiz Amjad April 7, 2002