DANGERS OF MEDIUMSHIP by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 8, 1874

DANGERS OF MEDIUMSHIP

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Modern Spiritualism.—No. 6.

DANGERS OF MEDIUMSHIP.

(Concluded.)

This is sufficient to show the fact as claimed by spiritualists; our main object is to show what use is made of this discovery. Remember, it is shown that the spirits are represented as being as low and vile as any on earth, and that they act on the mediums with a power irresistible. The result can be calculated by any one capable of reckoning in simple addition. Let us hear their own testimony. Dr. Randolph says:—

“I saw that one great cause of the moral looseness of thousands of sensitive-nerved people on earth resulted from the infernal possessions and obsessions of their persons by delegations from those realms of darkness and—to all but themselves—unmitigated horror. A sensitive man or woman—no matter how virtuously inclined—may, unless by constant prayer and watchfulness they prevent it, and keep the will active and the sphere entire, be led into the most abominable practices and habits.”—Dealings with the Dead, p. 150.

There are several reasons why mediums are very much subject to these “abominable practices.” They are instructed not to “keep the will active,” but to be perfectly passive to the influence of the spirits in order to be well-developed mediums. And they do not watch and pray; on the contrary, the spirits teach that “whatever is, is right;” that “God does not condemn;” that there is no judgment but “the judgment of self;” and that men and women are not responsible for their actions. And of those who profess to pray, some of them pray to the devil; others, to no particular object. The “controlling spirit,” through Mrs. Conant of Boston, said:—

“It is good to pray. It matters not whether you address a principle or a personality; indeed, it is not necessary that you address any one.”

And Warren Chase says:—

“But let no person mistake me and suppose I claim that each medium is a spiritualist. By no means; many of our best test mediums know little or nothing of spiritualism, and some are members of churches, and read or say prayers in their places.”—Gist of Spiritualism, p. 71.

As much as to say, and rightly, too, that they who are yet in churches and say prayers, cannot be full-grown spiritualists. Again, recounting his trials and sufferings, he says:—

“Reader, do you think he had reason to thank God for life, and ask his blessing on every meal, and to believe him a God of love, with especial care of his children? Or, was he one of the adversary’s children? If so, he should pray to the devil, for he certainly ought to serve and obey his parent, if any being, until his powers were equal to the parent; then he should be free. But not free to serve his devil-father’s worst enemy.”—Life-line of the Lone One, p. 83.

Surely, there is not much to either guard or restrain from evil, in such teachings.

In Dr. Randolph’s work, the danger and deception of mediumship are stated in the following terms:—

“Those ill-meaning ones who live just beyond the threshold often obtain their ends by subtly infusing a semi-sense of volitional power into the minds of their intended victims; so that at last they come to believe themselves to be self-acting, when in fact they are the merest shuttlecocks, bandied about between the battle-doors of knavish devils on one side, and devilish knaves upon the other; and between the two the poor wretches are nearly heart-reft and destroyed.”—Dealings with the Dead, pp. 108, 109.

If the mediums do not feel flattered by the description of their position, they must bear in mind that we are only giving the testimony of the very highest spiritualistic authorities.

The following is from a work by Hudson Tuttle, a very popular author:—

“Reader, have you ever entered the respectable saloon? Have you ever watched the stupid stare of the inebriate when the eye grew less and less lustrous, slowly closing, the muscles relaxing, and the victim of appetite sinking over on the floor in beastly drunkenness? Oh, how dense the fumes of mingled tobacco and alcohol! Oh, what misery confined in those walls! If you have witnessed such scenes, then we need describe no further. If you have not, then you had not better hear the tale of woe. Imagine to yourselves a bar room with all its sots, and their number multiplied indefinitely, while conscience-seared and bloated fiends stand behind the bar, from whence they deal out death and damnation; and the picture is complete! One has just arrived from earth. He is yet uninitiated in the mysteries and miseries of those which, like hungry lions, await him. He died while intoxicated—was frozen while lying in the gutter, and consequently is attracted toward this society. He possessed a good intellect, but it was shattered beyond repair by his debauches.

“‘Ye ar’ a new one, ain’t ye?’ coarsely queried a sot, just then particularly communicative.

“‘Why, yes, I have just died, as they call it, and ’tain’t so bad a change after all; only I suppose there’ll be dry times here for want of something stimulant.’

“‘Not so dry; lots of that all the time, and jolly times too.’

“‘Drink! can you drink, then?’

“‘Yes, we just can, and feel as nice as we please. But all can’t—not unless they find one on earth just like ’em. You go to earth, and mix with your chums, and when you find one whose thoughts you can read, he’s your man. Form a connection with him, and when he gets to feeling good, you’ll feel so too. There, do you understand me? I always tell all fresh ones the glorious news, for how they would suffer if it wasn’t for this blessed thing.’

“‘I’ll try it, no mistake.’

“‘Here’s a covey,’ spoke an ulcerous-looking being; ‘he’s of our stripe. Tim, did you hear what an infernal scrape I got into last night? no, you didn’t. Well, I went to our friend Fred’s; he didn’t want to drink when I found him, his dimes looked so extremely large. Well, I destroyed that feeling, and made him think he was dry. He drank, and drank, more than I wanted him to, until I was so drunk that I could not break my connection with him, or control his mind. He undertook to go home; fell into the snow, and came near freezing to death. I suffered awfully, ten times as much as when I died.’ . . . Reader, we draw the curtain over scenes like these, such as are daily occurring in this society.”—Life in the Spheres, pp. 35–37.

Thus daily are poor, deluded mediums made to believe they want to drink, &c., and their aversion (if they have any) to crime and lewdness is destroyed by the fiends whose presence and influence are courted by thousands. This is spiritualism! But we have further testimony. Dr. Randolph says again:—

“The bodies and souls of mediums may be and are attacked, the remnant of will destroyed or lulled, the moral sense stupefied and the entire being subjugated by spectral harpies and human ghouls, who wander on either bank of existence.”—Dealings with the Dead, pp. 107–109.

Dr. Gridley received from his special spirit friend, Bryant, the following revelation. Joshua is represented as the spirit of a strong, but brutish man, whom he had known in life:—

“On one occasion, while Joshua was possessing the medium, it appeared evident that the love of rum in the former was by no means impaired by his transfer to the world of spirits. To test this, I asked him if he would have a glass of brandy. The inviting, even bewitching, manner with which he reached forth and waved his hand invitingly toward me, with the sweet, loving motion of his lips surprised me beyond measure; and I replied, perhaps rudely, that if he came here for brandy, he would get nothing but water. His countenance instantly exhibited the most fierce and terrible anger. He grated his teeth furiously, doubled his fist and made a most desperate blow at the pit of my stomach, and exclaimed, ‘Damn you!’ I now inquired, ‘Friend Bryant, is it possible that a man who loves rum in this world carries that love with him into the next?’ ‘Yes, it is certainly true.’ ‘But there can be nothing there by which to gratify it,’ I said, inquiringly. ‘No, not in ours; but you must not forget that our world, especially with low, wicked spirits, is not far from yours.’ ‘But you do not mean to say that such an appetite in a disembodied spirit can be gratified?’ ‘Spirits who have left the rudimental body can gratify a drunken appetite ten times as easy as those in that body.’ ‘But how can that be?’ I asked in wonder. ‘Joshua can enter the body of any drunken brute in human form, and partake of the exhilarating influence of his cups with the greatest ease imaginable.’ He stated too that spirits were guilty of licentious acts, and that quarrelling and licentiousness were as inseparable in their world as in ours.”—Astounding Facts, pp. 26, 27.

We have given testimonies to prove the licentious tendencies of spiritualism and the licentious practices of spiritualists; and is there not herein a sufficient reason given, as well as a sufficient justification of the charge? One says that ‘the moral looseness of thousands’ is owing to spirit control. Most of the evidences speak of tobacco-chewing and dram-drinking, but will apply just as well to adultery. Read the following from Dr. Randolph:—

“Generals who attack a fort do so at the most pregnable points. So with a certain class of spirits. They enjoy forbidden things through mortal proxies, as by sympathy. A spirit was on earth a drunkard; if he can get control of a medium, and can induce him to imbibe, he can partake sympathetically of the exhilaration. As it is with stimulants, so it is with amativeness, only that ten persons can be made to err in the last direction where not over two could be in the former.”—The Unveiling, p. 47.

Is it not astonishing that, with such facts before their eyes, any should wish to be developed as mediums? We knew a man of intelligence and of standing in community, who was well disposed toward spiritualism. He took considerable pains to attend their meetings; but after examining the subject of mediumship declared he would rather see every member of his family laid in the grave than have one of them developed as a medium. And who would not?

We have known the most abominable and shameful crimes to be excused by the perpetrators, by saying that spirits of such propensities took possession of them! And is anything else to be expected? The whole system is the greatest abomination that ever was promulgated.

A tragedy in Battle Creek, Mich., where a mother, under the direction of the spirits, poisoned her children, is worthy of note, together with the false reasonings of spiritualists concerning it. The Religio-Philosophical Journal of Chicago, commenting on it, says it is no more to be laid to the charge of spiritualism than a similar crime committed by a professed Christian is to be laid to the charge of Christianity. The editor of that paper has the reputation of being a man of ability, and if he is indeed such he knows there is no parallel. Suppose two communities; the first pledged to maintain the marriage tie sacredly, the other pledged to destroy it and disregard its obligations. Now if a member of each community should be found guilty of adultery, would the two systems be equally chargeable with the crimes? Surely not. The first would be violating the principles of his community, while the second would only be carrying out the avowed intention of all his comrades. The first community would stand free from the crime of one of their members, committed against their rules, while the second would all be chargeable, as accessories, with a crime which they sanctioned and had banded together to commit. Crime is the natural outgrowth of that system of lawlessness called spiritualism! And every spiritualist in the land justly stands charged with the crimes which are the legitimate fruits of their teachings.

Apply the teachings of Christianity and of spiritualism to the case of this murder in Battle Creek. Believers in the Bible teach that “no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” or her; that God condemns the evil doer; that he abhors iniquity; that he will bring every work into judgment; that he will punish the guilty; and they show their regard for righteousness by withholding their fellowship from the vile, and recommending only the pure. But spiritualists teach that “God does not condemn” even the murderer; that he does not abhor evil, but regards it as undeveloped good; that no one has a right to judge of her conduct; that she has only to satisfy her own mind—“answer to herself.” To impute blame to her is, according to Davis, “a sort of atheism.” And to carry out these principles the National Convention of Spiritualists say they will not hear charges against their members; with them good moral character is no recommendation, and licentiousness and all crime are no faults!

“O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor be not thou united.”—BIBLE.

J. H. WAGGONER.