THEY DENY JESUS CHRIST by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 4, 1874

THEY DENY JESUS CHRIST

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Modern Spiritualism.—No. 3.

THEY DENY JESUS CHRIST.

Says the Scripture, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.” Spiritualists deny Christ both in his person and offices.

When Jesus instructed his disciples concerning the deception in the last days, he said, “There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” But he who has firm faith in the truths of Scripture concerning the true Christ will not be deceived by false ones. Thus, the Bible teaches that Christ is the exalted Son of God, seated at his Father’s right hand; that he will come in the clouds of heaven with great glory, at which time the trump of God will be heard; the righteous dead will be raised, the living changed, and all caught up together to meet the Lord in the air; that in that day the nations of the earth will be overthrown and all the wicked destroyed. When all these things take place then we shall know that the Lord has come. And they who believe in all these things cannot listen to the cry, “Lo, he is here, or there;” they know he is not in the desert, nor in the secret chamber. But they who have no faith in the literality of these facts and of the coming of the Lord, are in a position to be deceived. To show how the prophecy is now being fulfilled, we give a few quotations from the writings of the spiritualists. The Spiritual Telegraph contained the following:—

“What is the meaning of the word Christ? ’Tis not as is generally supposed the Son of the Creator of all things. Any just and perfect being is Christ. The crucifixion of Christ is nothing more than the crucifixion of the spirit, which all have to contend with before becoming perfect and righteous. The miraculous conception of Christ is merely a fabulous tale.”

Dr. Weisse, before the investigating class of spiritualists in New York City, said:—

“Friend Orton seems to make rather light of the communication from spirits, concerning Christ. It seems, nevertheless, that all the testimony received from advanced spirits only shows that Christ was a medium and reformer in Judea; that he now is an advanced spirit in the sixth sphere; but that he never claimed to be God, and does not at present. I have had two communications to that effect. I have also read some that Dr. Hare had. If I am wrong in my views of the Bible, I should like to know it, for the spirits and mediums do not contradict me.”

According to this testimony of spirits, Christ is now in the sixth sphere. When “Rev. C. Hammond, Medium,” wrote the pilgrimage of Thomas Paine, that noted libertine and blasphemer was in the seventh sphere: “One scripture is undeniably fulfilled: ‘The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.’” Ps. 12: 8.

Dr. Hare made the following remarks in the same class:—

“He said that he had been thus protected from deception by the spirits of Washington and Franklin, and that they had brought Jesus Christ to him, with whom he had also communicated. He had first repelled him as an impostor; but became convinced afterward that it was really him. He related that he had learned from that high and holy spirit that he was not the character that Christendom had represented him to be, and not responsible for the errors connected with his name, but that he was, while on earth, a medium of high and extraordinary powers, and that it was solely through his mediumistic capabilities that he attained so great knowledge and was enabled to practice such apparent wonders.”

So Christ is reduced to the level of mediums, of whom there are now many showing signs, &c.

In the Banner of Light, of Dec. 30, 1865, through Mrs. Conant, it is said:—

“Greater works than he did are performed every day now. Distance lends enchantment to the scene. The works that Jesus did are every way inferior to the works that are being done in your midst to-day.”

They who believe that Christ is not the designation of a particular individual, but of a class, and that Jesus was only a medium, must acknowledge other individuals who profess to be of that class, and who are mediums to work wonders. In them the deception is complete, and the Lord’s words are fulfilled. Of course they will deny his office of Saviour and Redeemer. Thus “Rev. R. P. Wilson,” in lectures on Spiritual Science, says:—

“Although as a believer in true spiritual philosophy, we cannot receive the orthodox views of salvation, yet we recognize the birth of a Saviour and Redeemer into the universal hearts of humanity, wherein truly the deity is incarnate, dwelling in the interior of man’s spirit. We believe that each soul of man is born with his or her saviour within them.”

The “Healing of the Nations,” published by N. P. Tallmadge, says:—

“Man is his own saviour—his own redeemer. He is his own judge—in his own scales weighed.” Page 74.

And they not only make the atonement of Christ unnecessary, but consider a belief in it a detriment to progress. Says Dr. Hare:—

“Since my spirit sister’s translation to the spheres, she has risen from the fifth to the sixth sphere. It has been alleged by her that her ascent was retarded by her belief in the atonement.”—Spir. Sci. Dem., p. 229.

Again he says on page 215:—

“Nothing can be more inconsistent with the religion inculcated by my spirit friends than the idea of atonement for sin by faith in any religion, true or false.”

In order to destroy faith in Christ, they must, of course, deny his resurrection, which is a denial of the doctrine of the resurrection entirely. In view of the importance of this doctrine, and of the prevailing indifference toward it, or unbelief of it, we may be pardoned for giving it a special notice. To show that it is neglected, and that it is not now held in the light in which it is presented in the New Testament, we quote the following from Dr. Clarke’s comment on 1 Cor. 15:—

“One remark I cannot help making; the doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been thought of much more consequence among the primitive Christians than it is now! How is this? The apostles were continually insisting on it, and exciting the followers of God to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it. And their successors in the present day seldom mention it! So the apostles preached, and so primitive Christians believed; so we preach, and so our hearers believe. There is not a doctrine in the gospel on which more stress is laid; and there is not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which is treated with more neglect!”

Woodman, in his Reply to Dwight, says:—

“At death, the external body of man again mingles with the common mass of the earth, never more to be reclaimed or needed by the man who gives it up.”—Reply to Dwight, p. 82.

Dr. Hare says the Old Testament does not teach immortality or a future life. We admit that it does not teach immortality on the ground or in the manner taught by spiritualists, and by many others who do not profess to be spiritualists. But it does abundantly teach a resurrection of the dead. Woodman professed faith in the Bible, but in the quotation just given he directly contradicted the numerous texts in both Testaments on this subject.

The faith of Abraham embraced the resurrection. Paul says that he looked for the fulfillment of God’s promise to him through Isaac, even though he was slain, “accounting that God was able to raise him from the dead.” Heb. 11: 17–19. This refers to the resurrection of the body, or of the whole man, as the multiplication of his seed through Isaac was a prominent part of the promise.

Isa. 26: 19: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead.”

This is plain enough, and is to us an assurance of future life stronger than any of the phenomena of spiritualism.

Prov. 14: 32: “The righteous hath hope in his death.” This refers to the resurrection, for inherent immortality is not a subject of hope; nor does the text teach that he hopes to escape death, as spiritualism teaches.

Isa. 25: 8: “He will swallow up death in victory.” Paul refers to this promise in his argument on the resurrection of the body. He says, “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” Every expression in this has to be inverted to make this accord with the views of spiritualists.

Jer. 31: 15, 16: “Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.”

By Matt. 2: 17, 18, we learn that this was prophetic of the lamentation for the children slain by Herod. According to this, the action of Herod placed them under the dominion of an enemy; the Scriptures call death an enemy; from the dominion of the enemy they shall “come again,” or “return to their own border.” Directly opposed to this, spiritualism teaches that death is not an enemy, and that the infants slain passed immediately to the seventh sphere, the highest state of happiness.

Eze. 37: 12, 13: “Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves.”

Dan. 12: 2: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Hosea 13: 14: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death; O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.”

What language could prove a future life beyond the grave if this does not?

Again, Woodman, commenting on the resurrection of Christ, says:—

“At death, the real man, that is to say, his soul and spirit, rise from or out of his dead body; that in the New Testament this is denominated Anastasis or the resurrection.”

Such an idea of the resurrection as the above cannot possibly be drawn from the New Testament. Let us see what it teaches concerning the resurrection of Christ.

1. His resurrection was not the rising of his spirit out of his body when he died, for he did not rise till the third day after his death. And they will hardly contend that his spirit did not leave his body until the third day after his death.

2. That which arose was placed under a guard of Roman soldiers. But no one can believe that some hours after the death of Jesus the soldiers were put on guard to prevent the escape of his spirit! Yet that was really the case if the spiritualistic view of the resurrection is correct.

3. His enemies denied his resurrection, and reported that his disciples had stolen him. But we cannot even suppose that they reported, or that anybody believed, that his disciples stole his spirit out of his body the third day after he died!

4. When his followers went to the sepulcher, after his resurrection, they “found not the body of the Lord Jesus.” Luke 24: 3.

5. Peter, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, proves the resurrection of Christ by the promise of God to David, that “of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;” Acts 2: 30, 31; which is direct and positive proof of a bodily resurrection.

This is sufficient to show what the resurrection of Christ was, according to the Scriptures; and we may safely affirm that, 1. The idea of the resurrection as taught by spiritualism is not advanced in the Bible, either directly or indirectly; and 2. Those who heard the apostles preach did not get such an idea from their teachings, notwithstanding their prepossessions would incline them to it. We will take the case of Paul at Athens, which as clearly shows this fact as could be desired. Nearly five hundred years before the time referred to, Socrates taught the present spiritualistic view, and told his friends before his death they would not bury Socrates; they would bury the body, but Socrates would go to dwell with the gods. Less than four hundred years before the time of Paul, and soon after the death of Socrates, Plato advanced his subtle sophistries on the same subject. It is generally claimed that Plato’s reasonings were received by the philosophers of those days. These philosophers Paul met at Athens, the seat of this style of philosophy, and they heard him until he preached the resurrection of the dead, when they mocked him, and would hear him no further. Had he taught the rising of an immortal soul out of the dying body, as many now assert the resurrection is, instead of mocking Paul, they might have placed Jesus, whom Paul preached, in the temple of their gods!

Again, the New Testament says that, at the resurrection of Jesus, many bodies of the saints left the graves, and were seen of many in the city.

Christ said he was the resurrection and the life, and immediately demonstrated it by calling Lazarus from the grave.

In Rom. 8: 23, Paul says that we who have the first-fruits of the Spirit are waiting and groaning for the redemption of the body.

In Phil. 3: 21, he says Christ “shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.”

In 1 Thess. 4: 13–18, the apostle says he does not wish them to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, nor to sorrow as those that have no hope; he then instructs them on the hope of the Christian, showing that, 1. The Lord himself shall descend. 2. The dead in Christ shall rise. 3. The living shall be caught up with them to meet the Lord. The result: So shall we ever be with the Lord. Then follows the application: Comfort one another with these words.

And these words are proof of the importance of the resurrection. Jesus said to his hearers, “Ye shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14: 14.

But the resurrection of the just takes place at the coming of Christ. Therefore he says: “Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22: 12.

Thus at the coming of Christ is the consummation of the hope of the Christian. “And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Heb. 9: 28.

And so Paul speaks of his own hope. “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Tim. 4: 8.

This view led the apostle to pray, concerning Jesus’ promise to quickly come again: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

But now we find the immortality of the soul substituted for the resurrection, and death substituted for the coming of Christ. Even Christians have so far departed from the truth of the gospel as to call death a friend, while the Bible says it is an enemy, to be destroyed by Christ, the life-giver. They sing of it as “the gate to endless joy,” but the Bible says it is “the wages of sin,” and, “Sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” They who “love death,” and exalt it in their songs of praise, are really paying homage to sin, by which death came into the world.

J. H. WAGGONER.