The Deception

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 12, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 36.

Soon after her death you receive in exact order and manner the fulfilment of the tests agreed upon, till the last and greatest is the only one that remains. Then one day when you are alone and sad, you see grow before you from a nebulous form into a firm and distinct outline, the likeness of your mother. She approaches you, and as in wonder you dare not move or speak, she addresses you in the familiar manner of your mother, and places about you the caressing hand of your mother, and even gives you the mother's kiss. The tones of her voice are the tones of your mother, the hand has that peculiar little birthmark upon its back, that single freckle upon the left cheek is there, and in fact all other peculiarities your mother possessed in life are possessed by your visitor. She then speaks of the stipulated subjects in the agreed order, and in fact there is not a slip, nor a detail lacking. She then presents before you in beautiful language the noble picture of the high ideal she wants you to attain. The highest morality, noblest virtue, and divinest wisdom fall from her lips. And then with a promise to come again, she vanishes, dissolves from view.

This is so far from being a fanciful representation, that it is an adaptation of an experience of a relative of mine, and may be similar to an experience you have had or may in the future have. The pressing question is: Would you be convinced by such an experience that it was your mother, your dearest earthly friend, come back to protect and guide you with her love? Yet bear in mind that the moment you consider it a possibility, you also in the nature of the case open the way for the grossest deception; for if your mother can return, your worst enemy can also, and by gaining your confidence lead you on to ruin under the name and influence of your beloved mother. Having no standard by which to judge, you are at the mercy of the bad men and women who have died. In other words, the appearance of one in the form, speaking the words, and fulfilling the compact of your mother, is proof of one thing, and only one thing, and that is this: That an intelligence from the other world is operating in your presence. Granting that the dead return, you are as much at sea as ever, for that intelligence may or may not be your mother. The fulfilment of the compact and the personal likeness are absolutely no evidence, not to any proof, that it is, according to reason and the rules of Spiritualism itself.

If you are without a standard, an authority by which to judge, you will be always in doubt. The point to be settled first of all is the important one: Are the dead alive? This may sound like a paradox, but it is one of the most serious questions that confront the world to-day. Having shown that admitting the teachings of Spiritualism we are left in a haze of uncertainty and liable to gross deceptions, it will be the purpose of the next article to consider from the standpoint of the great standard, the Bible, the root question, DO THE DEAD LIVE AGAIN?