Spiritualism by G. W. A.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Sep 8, 1863

Spiritualism.

By G. W. A.

HOW RECOGNISED IN THE BIBLE.

Gen. iii, 4. "And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die." Here is the first spirit communication ever received. The medium was a serpent.

1 John iv, 1. "Try the spirits whether they are of God." An appropriate command in the early days of Christianity, but much more so now.

1 Chron. x, 13. Cause of king Saul's untimely end, "So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it.

Matt. iv, 24. One of Christ's first works was to cure those possessed of evil spirits. "And his fame went through all Syria; and they brought unto him all sick people, that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and he healed them all."

2 Tim. iii, 7. A prominent characteristic of Spiritualism. "Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Here is the doctrine of "progression" fairly and scripturally set forth.

Ex. xxii, 18. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Witches are no better under the gospel than they were under the law.

2 Pet. ii, 1. "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them." If here is not a most pointed prediction of the "private circles," what could be?

Rev. xvi, 13, 14. "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 then to the battle of the great day of God Almighty." A momentous prophecy of the astonishing conquests which Spiritualism is yet to make.

Rev. xviii, 23. All nations deceived by Babylon's sorceries. "By thy sorceries were all nations deceived." "Sorcery," says Dr. Webster, "is divination by the assistance of evil spirits." This scripture explains how the church and world will be brought into captivity by these powers of darkness.

Isa. viii, 19, 20. "And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their God: for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." A prophecy now receiving its fulfillment, and one which determines the duty of Christians respecting the "peepings" and "mutterings" of the latter-day philosophy.

Lev. xix, 31. "Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards to be defiled by them." It was a disregard of this precept which ruined king Saul, and which is now defiling and destroying the mass of the human family.

Mark v, 13. Devils enter into the swine, and two thousand perish in Lake Genesareth. "And the unclean spirit went out, and entered into the swine; and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea (they were about two thousand), and were choked in the sea." If these spirits will lead brutes to kill themselves, what will they do to human beings?

Rev. xviii, 2. Mystic Babylon becomes the "hold of foul spirits, and a cage of unclean and hateful birds." Now fulfilling in those religious bodies who are embracing the corrupting and soul-destroying doctrines of the spirits.

1 Tim. iv, 1. "In the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." So spake the Holy Spirit by the apostle Paul eighteen hundred years ago, and just so is it now being done.

Eph. vi, 12. "Wrestling with wicked spirits in high places." There has been a good deal of this "wrestling" with the followers of Jannes and Jambres in late years, but we are by no means through yet.

Lev. xx, 27. Wizards and spirit mediums to be "stoned." This is another scripture showing how Spiritualism was viewed in the days of Moses.

Rev. xiii, 13, 14. "Making fire come down from heaven in the sight of men." One of the astonishing "tests" of the spirits just before Christ shall come.

Col. ii, 8. "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit." Spiritualism is the most specious and dangerous philosophy which the Christian now has to encounter.

2 Thess. ii, 8-12. Satan working "with all power, and signs, and lying wonders." It is thus that he works in that error which will yet ruin the major part of Adam's posterity viz., Modern Spiritualism.

2 Cor. xi, 14. Lucifer "transformed into an angel of light." More than thirty millions of living souls might now bear witness of this transforming power in spirit manifestations, and still it spreads like fire on a vast prairie.

1 Kings xxii, 22. A "lying spirit" goes out and deceives king Ahab. For the same object, too, has many a lying spirit gone forth since his day.

Acts xix, 16. A spirit medium leaps on Sceva's sons, and they flee the house "naked and wounded." This was simply one of the physical manifestations in the days of Paul. We have them now-a-days quite as literal and striking. Any one at all familiar with Spiritualism knows this.

Deut. xviii, 9-12. Directions to the Israelites concerning necromancers, wizards, mediums, &c. The severe measures anciently employed against these characters prove how abhorrent they were in the sight of God.

Acts xvi, 16-18. Paul commands the spirit of divination out of a young female medium. Here was fulfilled the very word of Christ: "In my name shall they cast out devils."

Rev. xii, 12. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the Devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." The Devil has indeed come down to the inhabitants of the earth in Modern Spiritualism, and he is now traversing sea and land with that abomination.

Matt. xii, 43-45. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none . . . . then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first." This text simply shows how hard a thing it is to reform a medium.

Matt. xvii, 15. A Devil-possessed child, whom the spirits pushed "into the fire and water," is healed. This was some of the phenomenon of Spiritualism in the days of Christ; it has its counterpart to-day.

Rev. iii, 10. "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." A most precious promise in reference to the overspreading scourge which will soon overtake us.

Isa. xix, 3. Old Egypt, forsaken of God, appeals to charmers, familiar spirits, and wizards, for help. Neither nations nor inhabitants go to the spirits while God is with them. When Saul departed from the Lord he immediately went to the spirits. The same is true now.

Isa. xxiv, 4. Spirit mediums have frog-like proclivities. What was familiar to Isaiah, is not remarkable to us. The theory has not changed with dispensations.

Matt. ix, 32 tells of those whom the Devil made dumb. And chap. xii, 22 speaks of mediums dumb and blind. Spirits at the present time have been known to make their subjects blind, speechless, and senseless, and that for days together. Truly it waxeth worse and worse.

Acts viii, 9. Here we learn how one Simon "bewitched" the Samaritans with sorcery. There is much of this witchery among modern Simons; but all sorcerers are to go into the lake of fire. Rev. xxi, 8. The Most High also declares that He will be "a swift witness against them." Mal. iii, 5.

Reader, entrench yourself in the panoply of truth, for thus only will you be safe from this world-destroying error. G. W. A.