SPIRITUALISM AND THE BIBLE.
By J. B. Snow
It is claimed by Spiritualists that the Bible does not condemn Spiritualism, but rather upholds it, and that if the doctrine of Spiritualism was expunged from the Bible, there would be but little of the sacred word left. A Spiritualist is one who believes in the "frequent communication of intelligence from the world of spirits."—Webster. Then the question is, Does the Bible teach that such communication is possible? Does it approve of it? "If the Bible teaches that such communications are possible, if it teaches that it is right to hold such communications, and if the Bible is what it claims to be—the word of God—it will not, cannot, teach anything contrary to that; for if it does, it ceases to be a truthful book. If it is not a book of truth, Spiritualists should not quote it to support their doctrines, if their doctrines are true. But to the question, Does the Bible teach that the frequent communication of intelligences from the world of spirits is possible? The "spirits" referred to must be understood to mean the "immortal" (?), "undying" (?) part of man which survives the body, and still retains its consciousness and intelligence. It is absolutely necessary that both consciousness and intelligence should be retained after death, else "intelligence" could not be "communicated." Now let us read a text in answer to our question:— "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." Eccl. 9:5. This text certainly does not prove conscious intelligence being possessed by man after death. If the Bible teaches that a man "knows not anything" after death, pray tell how it can at the same time teach that "frequent communications of intelligence" can be received from the dead,—that is, from the world of spirits? But it may be objected that the above text has reference only to the body, that it teaches simply that the body knows nothing, and has no bearing whatever on the consciousness or intelligence of the spirit. To effectually remove this objection, we will read Ps. 146:3, 4: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." When his very thoughts have perished, surely he could not "communicate intelligence" to anyone. In death what is true of one man is also true of all men. If one man remains in the grave until the resurrection of the body, then all men remain there until they rise from the dead. Christ was laid in Joseph's new tomb. He was seen by the women after he was laid there. Luke 23:55. But after a time he lay there no longer. Then it was said, "He is not here, but is risen." Luke 24:6. Mark, the statement is not "his soul or spirit is not here," but "He is not here." He was there, for the record is that he was put there and seen there. He was there until he rose from the dead. While in the grave, during the time intervening between death and the resurrection, what was he doing?—what does anyone do? "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Eccl. 9:10. We find, then, that the Bible teaches that in death there is no consciousness, no intelligence, no work done, and that all the attributes of the mind, such as love, hatred, and envy, are all gone. Eccl. 9:6. Therefore we conclude that the Bible teaches that "communications of intelligence" from the dead are impossible. Many people have believed in these communications for ages. And in truth there have been communications held, but, as we have seen, not with the spirits of dead men, for that is impossible. Angels have talked with men (Genesis 18 and 19), but angels existed before anyone had died (see Gen. 3:24 and Job 38:4-7). These were "communications of intelligence," but those who gave these communications were not dead, and never had been. Of them it has never been said they "knew not anything." They were not men but angels. A man is not an angel, and never will be, for he was created lower than the angels. Communications from this source are not the kind believed in by Spiritualists, for it is not Spiritualism. Spirit mediums are the ones through whom "communications of intelligence" from the world of spirits are received. They professedly "call up" the spirits, and receive the communications. We have an instance of one such medium calling up a "spirit" in the Bible. See 1 Sam. 28:11-15. Now our next question is pertinent: Does the Bible approve of Spiritualism, that is, of these so-called "communications"? This woman of Endor was a medium, for she professed to call up Samuel, who was dead. She was said to have a "familiar spirit." 1 Sam. 28:7. But God had commanded all such to be put away from among the people. Deut. 18:11. They were to be put to death. Lev. 20:27. God did not approve his people's seeking the dead for information of any kind. We are admonished to seek to him instead. Isa. 8:19. While it is impossible to get "communications of intelligence" from our dead friends, because of their having no knowledge or wisdom, and not knowing anything, even about their own sons (Job 14:10-21), while it is contrary to the command of God, still people will persist in seeking for wisdom from this forbidden source. They get "communications of intelligence," too. But the Bible teaches that there are wicked as well as good angels. 2 Peter 2:4. Now let us reason together. God forbade his people having anything to do with those who were mediums. He declared they were an abomination to him. Samuel is represented as being a good man, a prophet. Then he would not have communicated with Saul through this medium even had it been possible, for God had forbidden it. A good angel would not have done it, for the same reason, and God had positively refused to answer Saul in any way. 1 Sam. 28:6. By this we are forced to conclude that it must have been an evil angel who personated Samuel. Again, the Bible teaches that these evil angels will even go to the kings of the earth to deceive them, and they are called spirits of demons. Rev. 16:13, 14. To sum up we have found:— - It is impossible for the dead to communicate intelligence, for they know not anything.
- That the Bible, while it recognizes the existence of mediums, and a belief in communications with the dead, does not approve but condemns it, for the mediums were to be put to death.
- That a good man would not give communications in this way even were it possible, for God forbade it.
- That a good angel would not, for the same reason.
- Therefore all such communications must be from the devil through his evil angels.
And this is just what the Bible teaches in regard to Spiritualism.