The Great Apostasy by Wm. Covert

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 20, 1907

The Great Apostasy

By Wm. Covert

WM. COVERT

The Lord told our parents in Eden that their life depended on faithful obedience to wholesome laws. Seeking an early opportunity, the adversary disputed God’s word in this matter, and said, “Ye shall not surely die: . . . ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Gen. 3: 4, 5. So man braved the consequences, disobeyed God, and died. Then after men had actually died, the deceiver stoutly affirmed that they were yet living. His words in substance ran thus, “Their bodies have returned to dust, but these were only fleshly houses in which they lived for a little while. The Creator has provided all persons with invisible, immortal souls that can never die, therefore do not be alarmed about death. Since their bodies have decayed, the persons dwell in another sphere. That which seems so much like death is not in reality, it is only transition.”

Well had it been for man if from the beginning he had utterly refused to entertain these wily propositions. For Satan was only setting a snare for man when he opened conversation with Eve. His plan was to draw out a statement from her that he might contradict it, and by sophistry instil unbelief into her mind. His wicked scheme succeeded, and the Bible tells the sad result.

Every later proposition declaring the consciousness of man in death can be traced to the original one made to Eve. That first denial of God’s word had wrapped in it the seed thought which led to man’s transgression. Every evil system under the sun has come from a belief in the same false proposition relative to man’s nature.

Before the death of righteous Noah, many of his posterity had departed from the way of truth. Among them was Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, and founder of Babylon. This monarchy of Babylon was created in rebellion against God. The first king of this first human kingdom was a leader in the mysteries of iniquity. After his death, his wife and his political followers are reputed to have deified him as a god. They claimed that through spirit communication he could still render efficient service to the cause he had espoused and promoted during his life upon earth. Here was, in reality, the formal beginning of idolatry. It sprang from the belief that there is in every man a conscious spirit, or soul, which lives somewhere after the body is dead. The pagan priests of those ancient times claimed that this mysterious entity knew what was taking place among men, and was able to help or hurt the inhabitants of earth according to the way its mind was inclined.

Believing thus, deluded men were led to worship the sun, the moon, and the stars, because they were taught that their heroes after death dwelt in these celestial orbs, and their favor should be secured in this life in order to receive the blessings of the gods, and escape the calamities which those deities might be disposed to send. Following those superstitious notions, the Babylonian priests, in their false teaching, peopled most of the stellar regions with heroes and deified men so as to have any kind of god at command that best suited their vile traffic.

Later, in the celebration of the mysteries, the supposed gods of the elements were adopted; also, images and temples were made and dedicated to the worship of the supposed spirits of the honorable and mighty dead. Thus as time went on, paganism and idolatry in all their forms spread over the earth. And the teaching that man, instead of dying, becomes a god, was believed more and more as the mysteries were celebrated more, and man departed further from the knowledge of God.

A Satanic Deception

Believing in the conscious state of the dead, man would of course think it possible and proper to go to the dead for counsel; and thus was opened up to Satan and fallen angels an avenue of communication with man. Every communication which men have supposed they were receiving from the spirits of the dead has come through the deceptions of Satan.

The Lord, therefore, forbids his people to seek unto the dead for light, and says that those who do so are an abomination to him. “There shall not be found with thee any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination, one that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto Jehovah: and because of these abominations Jehovah thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God. For these nations, that thou shalt dispossess, hearken unto them that practise augury, and unto diviners; but as for thee, Jehovah thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.” Deut. 18: 10-14, A. R. V. “When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead?” Isa. 8: 19.

When seeking word from the dead, it is true that one may receive a communication, but it comes from an evil spirit which personates the dead, and never from the dead; for God says, “The dead know not anything.” Eccl. 9: 5. Therefore they can not communicate. A person who pretends to act as a medium between the living and the dead is in the Scriptures called a wizard, a witch, or a necromancer. Anciently such persons were not to be suffered to live among the people of God.

The homage offered by the Gentiles to heathen divinities, and that in which the children of Israel sometimes united, was the embodiment of devil, or demon, worship. “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.” 1 Cor. 10: 20.

A Tap-Root of Error

The indescribable abominations and sins of heathenism and savagery, all embody in some form the unscriptural teaching that man’s immortality comes through his possession of a deathless spirit. This doctrine is responsible for all the senseless traditions and terrible suffering which now reign in lands of darkness. In these lands their irrational and wicked theories regarding woman’s inferiority to man have been purposely invented by Satan in the immediate interest of his cause. When wives and mothers, daughters and sisters, are denied an equality in love and respect with husbands and fathers, sons and brothers, the safety and the sanctity of the home are broken down, and depravity and misery are sure to follow. And all these evils the great deceiver has brought upon countless tribes of earth by leading them to believe that man has a conscious spirit which survives the death of his body.

Worship of India

Reporting missionary work in India, Miss Anstice says of the condition of the widows (of whom there are twenty-seven millions in that country): “She was some one or something in a former birth that committed a great sin, and is now a widow suffering the penalty for it. According to Hinduism, every woman may be one of an endless round of reincarnations of a widow who did not burn herself on her husband’s pyre, or she may have been, in some former state, a wife who gave an ugly answer to her husband.”

The Hindu religion is based mainly upon belief in the immortality of the soul. It teaches that the soul must pass through 8,400,000 incarnations in order to be absorbed into the existence of the divine One. There is an interval between death and each reincarnation in which the soul may be deified and worshiped as a god. Thus one soul may, in a vast period extending over billions of years, be worshiped as a god in 8,400,000 forms.

The Hindu deities number hundreds of millions, for any individual may worship any object or as many objects as he chooses. The character of the worshipers corresponds with the character attributed to the gods and goddesses which they worship. Many of these are reputed to be frightfully impure, and therefore the worshipers must be vile in order to serve their impure gods acceptably. These follow the example of Israel when “they joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.” See Num. 25: 1-10 and Ps. 106: 28.

Even plants of the vegetable kingdom are worshiped by some because they believe that souls may transmigrate into them, and thus the field and garden plants can in this manner become conscious of pleasure or pain.

Water, because of its health-giving properties, is esteemed to be sacred by some, and is therefore worshiped. They even believe it can remove sins, and because of such wonderful service it should be greatly venerated. Tools, nets, boats, baskets, books, cooking utensils, also roads and all frequented places, may be adored because of the excellent service they render to those who use them. Some animals are worshiped because they are depraved and vicious; others because they are good and useful; but all mainly with reference to belief in a soul kinship. So intensified is this doctrine of transmigration that with some even an insect, such as a flea, may be held to enclose the soul of a philosopher or a statesman.

Religion in India

Ancestor worship in India is almost universal. It constitutes a large part of the Hindu religion. They have a kind of purgatory through which they fancy the divinities of their ancestors must pass. To make the journey through this terrible place requires, according to their weird tradition, a period of about three generations. During this time, custom demands that they be nourished by surviving relatives. It is well known that much of the poverty of India is due to the cost of the senseless ceremonies and extravagant fees growing out of ancestor worship in its various forms. If the cost in money is great, how much greater is the cost in morals and in manhood!

The physical, the mental, and the moral influence of this mystical teaching has been such as to make it difficult for the people who have been affected by it to comprehend the higher ideals of Christianity. In describing the awful depravity of the heathen and pagan world, the apostle says they are without excuse. Rom. 1: 20-25.

Religion in China

Ancestor worship is the leading factor in the religion of China. In India, ancestors receive care for three generations after they are dead, while in China, ancestors have a trinity of souls which must be nourished during a period of one generation after their decease. One of these souls is believed to reside in the tomb with the dust of the dead; another one in Hades as they understand the place to be; and the other with the ancestral tablets. These souls have needs to supply after the body is dead, much the same as during life. Generally the oldest son of the deceased, if there be such a surviving relative, furnishes necessary clothing, food, money, and household articles to make these souls comfortable.

The money is of paper, and is transmitted to the spiritual world through fire. It thus becomes invisible, to suit the facilities of invisible spirits. No doubt the priests have a way of sending other supplies at small cost for transportation.

It is claimed that the government of Hades, traditionally regarded, is a counterpart of the government in China. That is to say, the officials of the nether world are as ready to receive bribes as are the officials and priests of China; and this disposition on their part, being encouraged by the priestcraft, calls for much money and a large number of priests to officiate in behalf of the surviving relatives. Thus the revenue derived by the priests from their services to the dead, certainly makes the priests strong defenders of ancestor worship.

These disembodied souls are supposed by the devotees of this Chinese religion to have greater power for good or evil than men in the flesh, and if their wants are neglected, the claim is made that great calamities may come upon the living relatives. This consideration tends to encourage piety toward deceased ancestors, but brings great hardship on the living.

Religion in Africa

A careful analysis of the religions of Africa shows that about one hundred million of its people at this time are living in the most debased heathenism. These are largely ruled by sorcerers, and tormented with superstitious fears, coming from a belief in the spirits of the departed being possessed of superhuman powers. With them, as with the people of India and China, the hoary tradition that man’s soul becomes a god after his body dies, is believed.

In Zululand, certain kinds of serpents are regarded as the incarnation of deceased ancestors.

In some localities of “the dark continent,” when kings die, their wives and their slaves are slain and buried with them, because of the supposed service they can render their husbands and rulers in the disembodied state.

Religion in Korea

In Korea the worship of the dead is maintained as strictly as in China—probably more so—during the first three years following the ancestor’s departure. Food and tobacco are offered night and morning in the room where the dead once lived, and numerous offerings are made at the grave where the body lies. The person who would neglect this service for the dead would be looked upon by his neighbors as an outlaw. Thus custom and public opinion continue to maintain this hoary-headed practise among a deluded people.

But space will not allow more details. To sum up, it can be truly said that ancestor worship in any form is a terrible curse to every pagan and heathen land under the sun. It also has a large following in the enlightened lands. The invocation of saints, prayers for the dead, intercessions for those passing through purgatory, and prayers to and through Mary, the mother of Jesus, are only other features of the same great apostasy. All these things serve to keep the worshiper from going directly to God through Christ—the only name under heaven given to men through which they can be saved. And all these burdensome rites are founded upon the belief in the false doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul and the conscious state of the dead.

That manifestations purporting to come from the dead are sometimes seen, indicating design and a kind of power apart from man, is not to be denied. But that the life or agency doing these things is either human or divine, is denied. The Scriptures abundantly teach that the adversary, the devil, works against God and righteousness, and that he works in a deceptive way to oppose the truth. The mysterious spirits that work in this way are, as the Bible plainly states, the spirits of devils, and they did not originate with, nor do they belong to, the human family. The life they have is perverted, and all its manifestations are wicked, and must have an end. Pantheism, demonism, spiritism, Maryolatry, saint worship, sorcery, witchcraft, incarnations, purgatory, and fetishism are associate mysteries of the one great apostasy.

In Modern Setting

In the more enlightened lands the spirit of this mystery has taken the form of modern Spiritualism; but this is only a more cultured member of the great apostate family of Babylon. The real nature of the last phase of this mysterious working is described in Rev. 16: 13, 14, 16. “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. . . . And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.” The revelator has named this power, “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.” Rev. 17: 5. Of this phase of the great deception, the Word says, “With thy sorcery were all the nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.” Rev. 18: 23, 24.

As already indicated, this great city of Babylon is divided into three parts. Rev. 16: 19. The spirits of devils, or fallen angels, work mainly through three principal sources,—the “dragon” (paganism and heathendom), the “beast” (Romanism), and the “false prophet” (apostate Protestantism). It will gather through this fallen trinity all the antichristian forces of earth to the great battle of Armageddon.

But all this combination of power will not avail to maintain the cause of Babylon. The destruction of the city must come. Therefore it is written: “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye

saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her. And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived.” Rev. 18: 20-23.