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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 4, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 5.

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Spiritualism

By L. D. SANTEE

L. D. SANTEE
“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?” Isa. 8:19.
Spiritualism may be called the great delusion. The great religious bodies of the world have no safeguard against it. Receiving as one of the fundamental doctrines of the church the idea that the dead are conscious, what is more natural than to think that they should in some way cross the abyss of silence, and seek to make their presence known? Last week a friend said to me, “One of my best friends died seven years ago, and on her death-bed she said, ‘Carrie, if the dead are conscious, I will find some way to let you know it.’” She continued, “I have not heard from her yet, but I am expecting to.” There are thousands waiting with that same desire. This longing makes the deception easier.
Church-members and infidels are alike gathered into the ranks of Spiritualism. A relative of mine, active in church work and in the Sunday-school, one evening attended a séance. She had buried her mother three weeks before. That mother had a peculiar voice. Soon a strange voice sounded in the room, and bursting into tears, the lady cried, “That’s mother’s voice, it is her voice!” A conversation followed, and she returned to her home a confirmed Spiritualist.
The mayor of a town in Missouri was an infidel, a hard man. It seemed that the only tender spot in his nature was his love for his wife. When she died, he was nearly insane. Soon after her death, a medium came to the town, and arranged for a sitting. He visited the mayor, and gave him an invitation to attend. The man responded, angrily, “They couldn’t fool me with the Bible, and you can’t deceive me with any of your nonsense.” “Well,” said the other, “do as you like; but if you do come, take two slates, make the inside clean, and then put a small pencil between them, screw them together at the corners, and bring them with you.” He went away, and at first the mayor had no thought of going, but the longing to hear from his wife was irresistible, and he went. The slate was laid on the table, and a circle was formed. In a short time the scratching of the pencil was plainly heard. No hand was near, and the room was in semi-darkness. The medium called out, “There is a communication on that slate.” Catching up the slate, the mayor hurried home, going to his own room. A screw-driver soon separated the slates, and one of them was found to be filled with writing. At the first glance, he said, “That’s her writing,” and he read the message eagerly. It assured him that there is a future life, and that she was with him almost continually, and added: “You remember that you couldn’t find the clock key, and had to buy another.The last day that I was on my feet, I wound the clock, and carried the key to my room. I was not able to go back down-stairs, but put the key in the lower bureau drawer, in the front left-hand corner.” He walked to the bureau, opened the lower drawer, and putting his hand in the corner indicated, brought forth the missing key. Spiritualism had gained one more adherent.
Far be it from me to add to the burden of the anguished heart, breaking beside the open grave; but I would say to such, “I show unto you a more excellent way,” and that way is God’s way. “Should not a people seek unto their God?” Thousands, by neglecting to do this, have been led astray. We will now go to him whose “word is truth” to learn the condition of the dead. “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.” Eccl. 9:5. “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” Verse 6. “His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.” Job 14:21. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ps. 146:4. “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Ps. 6:5. “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” Ps. 115:17. We could multiply texts in harmony with this plain declaration of God, “The dead know not anything.”
The existence of Spiritualism depends on all these scriptures being false. If the Bible is true, the claims of the Spiritualists are false; and those impersonating our dead friends are impostors. They are well named, “the spirits of devils, working miracles.” Rev. 16:14. No wonder they can repeat private conversations, and tell secrets, when it suits their purpose to do so. They are invisible; when we think ourselves alone, there are unseen auditors and witnesses to our words and acts.
The Jews were God’s favored people. “To whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.” Rom. 9:4. The pillar of cloud and of fire protected them. The manna fed them. In all things God worked for their welfare. Here are some laws that he gave them concerning familiar spirits: “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.” Lev. 19:31. “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and I will cut him off from among his people.” Lev. 20:6. “There shall not be found among you . . . a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.” Deut. 18:10-12. The connection clearly shows that the nations before them, whose sins reached to heaven, practised all these abominations. God knew that those dealing with familiar spirits were antagonistic to him, and to his service, and for this reason he placed the ban of his curse upon them, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Ex. 22:18. Now why did God place these prohibitions and these heavy penalties on Spiritualism? The answer is evident. He was trying to keep this people from a fearful evil. He knew that no man could serve two masters; and if they were deceived into seeking to the dead, they would become his enemies, and be destroyed. Hence the warning.
I will repeat (as showing the helplessness of the churches, in the presence of Spiritualism) a conversation that occurred in Peoria a few years ago. I asked a leading lecturer in Illinois the number of Spiritualists in Peoria. “Well,” she answered, “there are two hundred that claim to be, but if you will attend the funerals, and listen to the sermons, you will see that the ministers are nearly all Spiritualists.” I tested her words, and found that the larger part of the funeral sermons teach that the disembodied spirits of the dead are present and looking down on the bereaved living.
Spiritualism is the enemy of God from its very beginning. It is based upon the assumption that God is untrue, and his statements are false. Inspiration has declared, “The dead know not anything. . . . Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished.” God had an enemy in Eden, the one who said to man, “Ye shall not surely die,” and of whom Jesus declared, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44. Satan is still true to his own nature, and charges the Creator of the earth with falsehood. What wonder that God desired to stamp out this element of evil from among his people!
God gave as a standard of character, his own perfect law. Spiritualism has no standard of right and wrong, and acknowledges no authority. What has it ever done but curse the man who was led away with it? Consider the case of Saul, as related in 1 Samuel 28. The armies of Israel and of the Philistines were confronting each other, and on the next day a battle was to be fought. God had not decreed that Saul should be slain, or Israel defeated: the result was uncertain. But Saul was afraid of the outcome. When he “saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.” Timorous and fearful, he sought out one who had a familiar spirit, and asked for Samuel; yet he knew that if Samuel had been there, he would have obtained no response. 1 Sam. 15:35. Again, God had ordered that all mediums should be destroyed, and Samuel was loyal to his God. How unreasonable to believe that the dead did know; how insulting to think that he could be forced to communicate through this hated channel. But Saul had called for Samuel, and the same one who impersonates our dead friends was ready for the occasion. No visible form appeared to the monarch, but the appearance of the one who impersonated Samuel was given by the woman. The king asked, “What sawest thou? . . . What form is he of?” From her description, the king supposed that the unseen was the prophet.
Satan now had all that he could desire. He had made Saul believe that the unseen was really the prophet, and as such his words would be implicitly believed. Satan well knew what Saul was dreading and expecting to hear, and these are the words that he used: “The Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines: and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
Before, Saul was apprehensive; now, he was defeated. Verse 20 tells his condition at the close of that fatal interview: “Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel.” Satan delighted in breaking Saul’s heart, and taking away his courage. He always rejoices in adding to the sufferings of humanity.
With the king in this condition, there could be but one ending to the morrow’s conflict; and one more quotation ends the sad narrative of Israel’s first king: “So 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 inquire of it; and inquired not of the Lord: therefore he slew him.” 1 Chron. 10:13, 14.
Chicago, Ill.