SOME NEW AND STRANGE IDEAS.
By S. Osborn
Mr. E. K. Hasford, of Indiana, a noted trance medium, was, until two years ago, an active worker in the Methodist church, of which he was a member for twenty-three years. He was highly respected, being the only lay member of that church ever sent as a delegate to the General Conference of that body. In a conversation with him, in reply to the question, How do the body and soul separate? he said that while in a clairvoyant state, he had a number of times seen persons die; that he could see the soul come out of the stomach in the form of a little white, cloudy mist; and that as it arose toward the ceiling it was arranged, part at a time, in the form of a body. As soon as it took the perfect form of the body consciousness was restored to it. Then it looked around, scared and surprised at the strange appearances around it, and asked what all this meant. The other souls about it said it had died, as they call it. This the soul would not believe until shown its dead body. Query: How did the soul get into the stomach? We read that the spirit of God is in the nostrils, Job 27:3, but we have no account of its being in the stomach. He stated further that they have schools and colleges in the spirit world the same as here, and that they play ball and other games. But those who die of bad habits, such as drunkenness, licentiousness, etc., have to take very low places there, and it takes them a long time to progress beyond them. He said he was opposed to capital punishment, as it so distorts the countenance, and those who thus die are shunned by all the other spirits. He also said that he uses his best endeavors to get people to do right here, that they may “get a better start over the river,” as he expressed it. When asked by what rule he determines right, since he had discarded the teachings of the Bible as the infallible rule, he replied that he determined right by his judgment. This view, of course, undermines all family and State government, as well as the government of God, and opens the way for the fulfillment on a grand scale of Paul’s testimony in 2 Tim. 3:1–8. He said he was his own judge, his own Saviour, his own redeemer, and that he makes his own atonement. Truly this is a false christ. He admitted that if the Bible was true, and there was a personal devil, 2 Thess. 2:9–12, was a hit at them. About two years ago spiritualism made its appearance in his town. He and two others of note met from time to time at private houses, to investigate it. They would read a chapter in the Bible, and pray for God to guide them in their investigation; and he said if God did not guide them right, it was his fault and not theirs. He talked very seriously and calmly, and is fully prepared to deceive the unsuspecting. We are truly living in the time of the fulfillment of Matt. 24:24. The Bible view of the state of the dead is the only thing that will shield us from this delusion of the last days. The word of God is the rule by which to try these spirits. 1 John 1:3.