p. 7 | SPIRITUALISM by W. N. G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 5, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 14.

SPIRITUALISM.

By W. N. G.

It is quite common for earnest, well-meaning men to suppose that they are dealing death blows to Spiritualism by exposing fraudulent manifestations, while at the same time they sustain the groundwork of the ism by maintaining that man is naturally endowed with an immortal soul that retains consciousness after death. Men who preach the immortal-soul doctrine are mainly responsible for the deceptive idea that such souls, after the death of the body, may hold communication with those who are yet in this life. If the soul, after death, has a conscious, untrammeled existence, why may it not return and hold converse with the living? Those who hold to the doctrine of natural immortality always represent the soul as being set free at the death of the individual; then why may it not come and go at will? As the great majority of people die in sin, many of them gross offenders against God and man, if they should return at all, they would naturally seek those of like disposition. As they could do more mischief by passing as the souls of good or great men, which many of such characters attempt to do even in this life, they could easily impose upon a medium, who is presumably under the complete control of the spirit.

Now all these “manifestations” are not only possible but probable through the medium of departed spirits of human beings—if man has in him a conscious entity that goes free and retains consciousness after his death. And the proclamation of such a doctrine simply prepares all who accept it for a belief in the logical phenomenon of spirit communication, with all the consequent results. If professed ministers of the Gospel would preach the Gospel—which declares that “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”—there would be no possibility of Christianity’s having to bear the odium of sustaining Spiritualism in any degree or under any name. If professed Christians would hold to the Bible doctrine of immortality only through Christ, and that given at the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:12-23, 51-57; 1 Thess. 4:13-18), Spiritualism would find no hold in the Christian church. If Christians would remember that “the dead know not anything,” that “their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun” (Eccl. 9:5, 6), they would not be found giving encouragement to deceptive “manifestations” by upholding the platform upon which such manifestations stand.

To cry down the seances, the communications, and the miracles of the Spiritualists, while teaching the doctrine upon which they are logically based, is simply an effort to lop off the twigs of the evil tree while watering and fertilizing the root. But there is a real side to Spiritualism which is not generally understood by those who undertake to combat its influence. The communications are not always the mere make-believe phenomena that they are represented to be. This representation is even part of the deception, calculated to mislead some who will not be deceived any other way. In the days of Job Satan went “to and fro in the earth,” and walked “up and down in it.” Job 1:7. The Bible also tells us that eventually “Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, . . . was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Rev. 12:9. To this we may add the testimony of Christ when the disciples reported how the devils were subject to them through His name. His reply was, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Luke 10:18. The Scriptures tell us of many instances of men being possessed by devils, and of the devils’ speaking through them. Now the time for the destruction of these evil spirits has not yet come, for they will not be destroyed until after the resurrection (see Revelation 20). Therefore there are just as many of them on and around the earth as there were in the days of Christ, and Satan is still the “prince of the power of the air,” as he was then. Moreover, men are just as susceptible to his deceptions and to his leading as ever they were. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” 1 Tim. 4:1, 2.

Thus we see there are many evil spirits, fallen angels, to communicate with and deceive men, without resorting to the unscriptural doctrine that these spirits are the spirits of dead men. Nor is it reasonable to expect that the influence of Spiritualism can be counteracted by simply denouncing the mediums as frauds, and asserting that all their communications are mythical. It is a principal object of the adversary’s deception to make people believe that it is possible to hold converse with their departed friends; for by this means their minds may be diverted from the fact that the scheme is of the devil. He can thus, without revealing his true character, make them believe that there is much for them to learn about the “spirit land” that it is not possible to learn from the Word of God. That was the argument which Satan used to deceive Eve, saying, “God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Gen. 3:5.

It is a fact that Spiritualism is making greater progress in the ranks of the professed church of Christ than in any other realm. This is due to the fact that the doctrine of a conscious existence after death is so commonly taught in the church, and to the inordinate desire to know that which God has not revealed in His Word. Taking it for granted that the “departed spirits” know all about “the beyond” and “the hereafter,” it is but logical to seek knowledge from them. This opens the way for further deception, and any kind of a mysterious answer confirms the former belief, and gives confidence in the communication, whatever it may be. The deceiver has convinced the victim, as the medium had been convinced before, that the dead do know what is going on in other worlds as well as here. Therefore when the communication contradicts the Word of God, it is believed in preference to that Word, and the enemy has won the victory—just as he did in Eden.

It is true that there are fraudulent manifestations, materializations, etc.; that tricksters take all manner of advantage of a credulous people. Spiritualists admit this, in fact, it is one of their arguments in support of their claim to real communications from supernatural sources. Yet, notwithstanding the many exposures of fraud, those who have endeavored to investigate, to explain, or to account for the doctrine of Spiritualism from any other standpoint than the Word of God, have almost invariably become its converts and ardent advocates. God’s Word plainly stamps the doctrine as Satanic, and it plainly shows that Satan’s words to mother Eve, “Thou shalt not surely die,” are the origin of the immortal-soul theory, which, more than every other influence combined, gives encouragement and sustenance to the errors of Spiritualism. W. N. G.