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TRY THE SPIRITS WHETHER THEY BE OF GOD

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 28, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 35, No. 35.

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TRY THE SPIRITS WHETHER THEY BE OF GOD.

By Thos. K. Beecher, D. D.

Thos. K. Beecher, D. D.
ALL of us believe that there is in everyone of us a spirit that controls and directs our body. We who are Christians believe that another spirit, the Spirit of God, can come into our bodies, and dwell there, as in a temple, while our own spirit is still in our body, and that that Holy Spirit can control and direct our spirit.
The Bible tells us that in olden time there were evil spirits that entered into men and took possession of them, sometimes singly, sometimes by sevens, and sometimes a whole legion of them. These evil spirits held men captive, drove men, tore men, denied men their liberty and personality. The question naturally comes up, “Is there anything of this sort in modern times?” I am afraid there is, and I want to be on the watch against the dread possibility.
Suppose I lived on Broadway, where the crowd is surging past in both directions all the time. Would I leave my doors and windows open, saying to the crowd of strangers, “Enter my door, pass through my hall, come into my parlor, make yourselves at home in my dining-room, go up into my bedchambers”? Would that be my way with my home and with the outside world?—No, no! I’d have my windows and doors barred and locked against intruders, to be opened only to me and mine, and those whom I would have as companions. That would be my way, and that would be yours.
Yet here we see poor, foolish men and women opening their ears, and eyes, and noses, and mouths, and stretching out their arms, and saying to the spirits of the vasty deep: “Come in, and take possession of me. Write with my hands, think with my brain, speak with my lips, walk with my feet, use me as a medium for whatever you will.”
Let us remember that God respects the sanctity of the dwelling-place of man’s spirit. So does he honor that, that even the Son of God himself says to each soul: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
O Holy Spirit, enter my being as thy temple, and there fill every room so that there shall be no space for any other to come in. Let me be full of thee, and controlled wholly by thee.