SOME time ago, a young woman in New York City committed suicide because the man she loved had turned away from her.
Beside the body of the suicide was found a letter which read: "My only hope is that if you ever take another girl in your arms, there will appear before your eyes the word 'murderer,' and if there is any hope of coming back to earth, I will be there to single you out."
The girl's suicide, together with her threat to her fickle lover, was widely advertised. The advertising led to the discovery of the man, and it was found that he was wanted by the arm of justice for the numerous crimes he had committed. Then the question was raised as to whether or not the girl would be able to come back in the form of a spirit to torment the man she had formerly loved. Whereupon a leading newspaper said: "In the hope of solving this difficult problem, and arriving at the latest conclusions of science upon this question, the case was placed before Mr. ——, one of the leading scientific writers on astral and psychical phenomena in America, and his opinion asked concerning the reality or otherwise of these facts."
THE CLAIMS OF SCIENCE
This "scientist" replied: "Whether or not the spirits can come back, is part of the general problem before us; namely, whether spirits ever come back at all, or whether such things as spirits really exist or not. It is very certain that many of the cases on record are due to hallucination induced by fright, but in other cases there seems to be strong evidence that those who have promised to come back to this earth have actually done so."
Then the "scientist" proceeds to give some authenticated cases which he thinks show conclusively that there is such a thing as the spirit of a dead individual, which could come back and talk with those who are living. He endeavors to show that the cases he presents are of such a character that the factors of mental hallucination, or other deceptions of that character, were excluded, and that the spirit, in the very nature of things, must have been an actuality. His conclusion is, therefore, that the spirits of the dead do return.
THE REPLY OF SCRIPTURE
Lovers of truth will, in the very nature of things, respect the facts that are the findings of genuine science. We ought to be able to distinguish, however, between speculations that pass under the guise of science, on the one hand, and that which is the "genuine article" of science, on the other hand.
And when it comes to these speculations over the question of the spirits of the dead, he who believes the Bible, will have no difficulty whatever in arriving at a sound conclusion; for in that sacred volume he reads: "To him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 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. Also 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: 4-6.
Conclusive and clear is this language, "The dead know not anything," and not only so, but "neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." If they do not have "any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun," they cannot come back either to torment or to comfort the souls they have left behind alive on earth. Not only their love, but also their hatred and their envy, are buried with them in the tomb, to remain there until that great resurrection day so clearly taught in the Bible. At that time, they will come forth again; but until then, they will quietly sleep. Therefore this young woman positively cannot come back to torment her former lover.
But the question is still asked: "What are these spirits that visit the living? Are they not realities?" Let another scripture answer this important question: "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Rev. 16: 13, 14.
The spirits of devils, according to this text, work miracles to deceive. They go to "the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty;" and the only proper conclusion to arrive at is that these spirits which come to us pretending to be our departed friends, are the spirits of demons, working to deceive. Every true scientific conclusion will conform to this solid Bible fact and truth. The good angels of God do not come to us in the guise of spirits of the dead.
