SPIRITUALISM by Walter E. Gillis

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 19, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 41.

SPIRITUALISM

By Walter E. Gillis

Its Origin and Its Place in History—Bible Defines It, and Specifies the Christian’s Attitude to It

By WALTER E. GILLIS

This is the first of several articles by Mr. Gillis on the subject of spiritualism. He has resided for a number of years in China, and next week his article will deal with the heathen world as the seat of the greatest power of spiritualism, and will tell of the fruits of the doctrine as seen in its ancient citadels. EDITOR.

SINCE the morning of time, when the divine command was given to man to multiply and subdue the earth, truth and error have been in mortal conflict. Two principles have been contending, the one to build up, the other to destroy; the one to unmask, the other to conceal and deceive.

AN ATMOSPHERE OF MYSTERY

An atmosphere of mystery has permeated the conflict, for the battlefield has been the hearts of men. History has only recorded the overt acts, the culminations of thoughts inspired and nurtured by one or the other of the contending spiritual forces.

These forces commonly alluded to as good and evil, first met in conflict on the spiritual plane; and good, conquering there, now contends for complete victory on the material plane, so that the universe of God may be forever freed from the possibility of the transgression of its laws, none of which are arbitrary, all of which are necessary factors of the whole.

The tenets of truth are positive and clear-cut. They are tersely contained in the ten words of God, His law, the epitome of perfect character, and must be wrought into the life of all who shall triumph with the truth. The careful student will see that a community of interest pervades all these commandments; that to observe them implicitly, requires the elimination of self-interest and the enthronement of love. This is the positive, the affirmative side.

SELF-EXALTATION

Opposing are the multitude of conflicting theories and extravagant glorifications that have littered the shores of time with human wreckage. The principle that pervades all these false theories is that of self-exaltation. The devotee is made to believe that he is his own savior; that in him lies dormant the power for emancipation from the evils that he is conscious are engulfing him. Fatal delusion! But it flatters—therein is its fascinating power.

But how came the condition here outlined to exist? The Bible is the only positive source of information. The story is a simple one.

BUT ONE CONDITION IMPOSED

The parents of the race were created with perfect mental and moral power, and placed under ideal conditions for the development of character. The only condition imposed was that of strict adherence to the principles of love. As a test of the genuineness of the character developing, a tree in the midst of their garden home was reserved as evidence of the sovereignty of the Creator. As freewill agents, they could partake of its fruit if they so desired, but they were plainly told that to eat of it would result in death—annihilation.

All went well until Lucifer, who, because of his rebellious envy, had been removed from his office in the heavenly courts (Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14), succeeded in causing the beautiful flying serpent to repose on one of the branches of the forbidden tree and eat of

the fruit at a time when Eve could see him. Eve was greatly surprised, and drew near to see what would result.

THE FIRST SPIRITISTIC SEANCE

She experienced much greater surprise, however, when she heard the serpent begin to speak; and no doubt she thought that the eating of the fruit had caused the miracle. She did not realize that the serpent was but the medium of the hidden foe. This was the first spiritistic séance, and it resulted in Eve’s being convinced that to eat of the fruit would not cause death. In other words, she was deceived into believing that man is naturally immortal; that when their Creator told them they were subject to death in case of transgression, He spoke an untruth.

Eve, however, had failed to reason. She had not understood that death was inherently the portion of those who collided with law; that perpetual life could only exist where perfect harmony prevailed. She had put the result in place of the spring from which it emanated. The eating of the fruit was but the signing of the covenant with death, the confirmation of the decision of the heart to disbelieve God’s word and transgress His law. Death is the result of the transgression of God’s law. Rom. 6: 23 compared with 1 John 3: 4. The overt acts witness to the transgression.

IT BORE FRUIT IN MURDER

The harvest of sin was speedily manifested. The first-born son, through envy, slew his brother. Here was a sublime catastrophe, unknown before in the annals of eternity. The perfection of physical beauty, animate with the vitality of youth at its fountain, to be laid dumb and motionless, no more to greet with responsive love the endearments of the family hearth! How speedily had the transgressed word matured its fruit! But the maturing of the curse confirmed the faith of the bereaved ones in the stability of the promise, “The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.”

TURNED DEATH TO HIS ADVANTAGE

The archdeceiver speedily turned the pall of death to his advantage. He had said, “Ye shall not surely die.” This awful calamity must be interpreted.

The intricate ramifications of spirit worship permeating the whole fabric of human record, and found deep-rooted in all the forms of worship now current on the earth, proclaim what that interpretation was. We have it succinctly stated as a tenet of the great Church of Rome, by Cardinal Gibbons, in “Faith of Our Fathers”: “For what is death?—A mere separation of body and soul. The body indeed dies, but the soul lives and moves and has its being.” It continues after death as before, to think, to remember, to love.”

The same doctrine obtains in all those churches springing from her fold, although at times couched in more modest terms.

The interpretation having been made away back in the beginning, a ritual quickly followed. The initiated will readily recognize the salient features in the séance granted to King Saul of Israel by the witch of Endor.

THE KING CONSULTED THE MEDIUM

The king had, by his self-will, caused the Lord to forsake him. In the days of his humble obedience, the prophet of the Lord had granted him counsel and advice. But Samuel the prophet was now dead, and the armies of the aliens were invading the kingdom. Saul had so long persisted in his stubbornness, that the Lord would no longer grant him succor. The distressed king now turned his attention to the source of knowledge which the prophet had declared to be on a par with the conduct that caused the Lord’s anger to burn against him. 1 Sam. 15: 23. He resorts to the witch of Endor.

He disguises himself successfully, and a séance is granted him by one of the proscribed class—one who had escaped his zeal of better days. 1 Sam. 28: 3, 9.

Now note: Saul asks that the dead prophet Samuel, a servant of God, one who had refused to see or counsel him after his repeated disobedience, be called forth. And the supposed Samuel, when he comes into the presence of the witch, warns her of her danger, and who her inquirer is—warns her, one whom in lifetime he abhorred.

The startled medium cries out in alarm, but is reassured by the king, who asks what she has seen. She describes a form like that of the dead prophet, and then the recorded conversation takes place.

It is worthy of note that the pseudo Samuel is not so accurate as the living prophet, although the dead are credited with a larger vision than the living. He said, “To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.” At least twice that time elapsed before the doomed man fell on the field of battle.

It is the old story, oft repeated in every clime and age. Forevermore, from the day when Eve listened to the wiles of the enemy of God in the garden, until the present day, when long practice has added cunning to cunning, the sons of men have yielded to the enchantments of the prince of the power of the air.

But throughout the years, the transgressors have been confronted by the forbiddings of the Scriptures. The absurdities involved have been proclaimed in the sublime language of the prophets:

“Shall I give my first-born for my transgression , the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul! He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Micah 6: 7, 8.

“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? [How absurd] for the living to [seek knowledge of] the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8: 19, 20.

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Rev. 21: 7, 8.

What must we conclude, then, that spiritualism is?—It is the manifestation, on this earth, of the enmity that found expression in heaven when Lucifer rebelled against God’s law. It must, in final analysis, be found wherever God’s law is not revered. In its native form, it is found in the audience chambers of the clairvoyant and medium; diluted, it insinuates itself into the churches, lodges, and mystic cults of all the earth. It weaves garlands for the brow of death, the greatest enemy of mankind; and through the yawning portals of the tomb marches interminably the army of its deceived devotees—marching to perdition.