Spirit Appearing as a Dead Relative in a Living RoomBible World
8:20Isaiah 8:20
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
The law is God's eternal, still-binding moral standard, including the ten holy requirements with the Sabbath as the test, and the testimony is the prophets and the written inspired Scriptures given for doctrine and instruction to make the man of God perfect. It is the unerring standard by which every opinion, doctrine, teaching, counsel, plan and speech must be tested, and whatever does not agree with God's word has no light in it. The test proves all claimed visions, dreams, miracles, appearances of Christ, professions of holiness and claims to guidance by the Spirit, for the Spirit inspired the Scriptures and always leads to them and never excuses setting aside the law or any part of the Word. It forbids seeking knowledge from those with familiar spirits, wizards, or the dead who know nothing, exposing Spiritualism's teaching of consciousness after death and communication with the dead as without scriptural foundation and as the working of Satan with lying wonders. It vindicates the seventh day as the day God set apart and made holy against calling the first day the Sabbath of the Lord, which is error and darkness with no light in it, and it makes Scripture the infallible, all-sufficient rule above pope, council, tradition, reason, feeling and majority views, requiring each person to search it individually and obey.
Meaning and Original Setting
The law is God's eternal, unchangeable, still-binding moral standard, the great principles of the ten holy requirements made plain so all who desire to discern truth from error can understand, with the Sabbath as a test question, and the testimony is the prophets and the written, inspired Scriptures, the commandments of God as the standard of character and righteousness by which every doctrine and faith must be tried, since faith is not always true or saving faith. Everything in the religious world is to be tried by those Scriptures as the detector of pure truth, and any claimed enlightenment of the Spirit within is to be tested by the Word. The prophets call people to turn from evil and keep His commandments and statutes.
This word is the Bible as the study book, holding the most precious truth and the beginning and end of knowledge, the alpha and omega of knowledge, given by inspiration of God for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness to make the man of God perfect and thoroughly furnished for all good works. It is the watchword and safeguard for God's people, requiring every teaching and speech to be measured by the law and the testimony, with absence of light showing disagreement with that word. Its instruction can be understood by all.
In its setting God's people must not walk in the way of this people, must not say a confederacy or call confederacy what the people call confederacy, and must not enter alliance with unbelievers who know not the truth or the character of God's work for this time. They must neither fear their fear nor be afraid, but must sanctify the Lord of hosts himself and let Him be their fear and their dread. The world is not to be the criterion; they must let the Lord work and let the Lord's voice be heard and obeyed, obeying the orders that come from above rather than accepting suggestions, counsel and plans from those who know not the truth, gathering a chosen number who think as they do to carry things by supposed wisdom or after the manner and customs of the world, which weakens the power of God's instrumentalities and sets the counsel of Christ at naught for the counsel of the gods of Ekron. For those preparing publications this means keeping sacred teaching faithful to Scripture and not mixing it with common, inferior material.
A people must seek unto their God and not unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and mutter, nor seek the dead on behalf of the living, but must bind up the testimony, keep the law, and wait for the Lord. God is the light of His people, and those who receive light from Him have no need to turn to Satan's messengers. Every spirit communication and every teaching about the dead must be tested by the law and the testimony, upholding the plain scriptural truth concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead, by which test the claims and manifestations of Spiritualism stand exposed as the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders in Satan's school of falsehood, by which he seeks to unite fallen men and fallen angels in a great confederacy of evil and to make of none effect the lessons of Christ which obeyed would give eternal life. Scripture positively forbids intercourse with evil angels under that deception, and the warning applies to the present age when many depart from the faith and turn from truth to false teaching.
Isaiah 8:9-10 with Isaiah 8:11-20 is to be read when leaders stand in the way of the work and workers lack harmony, calling each one to stand in his own lot and place with confidence that opposing counsels come to nought and opposing words do not stand because God is with His people. The events described were to be worked out before God's people, with some already visible, calling them to trust and wait for Him, remain faithful to the light and hold fast to the sacred landmarks He has given.
Universal Standard for Truth
The law and the testimony are the unerring standard by which every opinion, doctrine, theory, teaching, speech, and spiritual experience must be tested, and whatever does not agree with God's word has no light in it. Preserving the ancient landmarks means holding to this standard as the only safety. The Bible is the safeguard against false teaching and the reliable guide for doctrine, correction, and righteous living. The Holy Spirit does not teach contrary to Scripture or replace it.
The test covers every claimed vision, dream, message of reproof, miracle, claimed appearance of Christ, spiritual claim, religious experience, and action. Impressions that lead to neglect of Scripture are not the Spirit's guidance, and an experience that disagrees with what the Lord plainly said is not correct. Scripture is the safeguard against false teachers and deceptive spirits, exposing Satan's deceptions and distinguishing truth from a counterfeit that closely resembles the genuine. Children taught to regard the Word as supreme can use this standard to resist deception and remain faithful to God. People must seek God rather than turn to the dead or to mediums for guidance, and this warning applies to the present time when many depart from the faith and are deceived, with the Scriptures providing the standard for testing teaching and guiding to salvation through faith in Christ, as a safeguard against seeking guidance from mediums or the dead and against devices that draw people from the truth.
All counsel, plans, and practices must be brought to the test, and counsel opposed to God's word is wrong even when presented as right, must not be followed, and can deceive and ensnare those who accept it. Receiving such counsel against fellow believers is the fruit of an evil source and separates people from God. Religious advice and theories must be judged by the Word of God rather than accepted on human authority, as applied to claims that serious religious thought and prayer harm health and that dancing and amusement are beneficial.
Teaching that meets the test should be accepted without prejudice even when it conflicts with existing ideas, for if speakers speak according to this word there is light in them and prejudice against them must be laid aside. Searching the Scriptures must be done as those who want light and want to receive truth of heavenly origin, with the Spirit and meekness of Christ, walking humbly with God, acknowledging a point when it is proven instead of shutting out light with endless questions. Those in responsible positions are under obligation to know what is being taught so they can apply this test. All differing views and positions must be sat down with as Christians and investigated in the light of God's word, which reveals truth and unmasks error, with candid hearing and without prejudice, condemnation, or ridicule. Truth is eternal and conflict with error only makes its strength manifest, so the pillars of faith must stand the test of investigation, and if they will not stand it is time to know it, for it is foolish to become set in ideas and think no one should interfere with opinions. Every teaching must be proved by a plain Thus saith the Lord, and doctrines of tradition and the commandments of men that cannot be proved from the Bible are condemned by that test. Those who love the truth cling to their Bibles as the ground of faith, willing to renounce any view shown from Scripture to be error, and they refuse to exchange the word of God for tradition even under trial and persecution, while those in error refuse to have their views tried by God's word and seek to wrench the Scriptures from the hands of defenders of the faith.
It is a detector that separates the true from the false, for agreement with the law and the testimony proves light is present and failure to speak according to that word proves there is no light in them. Those who love the law of God cannot unite in worship or in spirit with determined breakers of that law who show bitterness and malice when plainly revealed Bible truth is taught. What people say and do must agree with God's Word, by which words and conduct reveal whether Christ's attributes or Satan's are prevailing, and this standard will govern the decision in the great day of judgment. Turning people to the law and to the testimony is how souls are converted to the truth, which gives the test of all teaching that if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them.
Testing Prophets and Spirits
Prophesyings must be proved in order to separate true prophets from counterfeit ones. The very giving of the test proves that genuine spiritual manifestation and prophesying will exist at the same time as the false, for there would be no need to give a test if there were to be no true prophesyings. The standard is agreement with the law and the testimony, which is God's written word, and prophetic claims must be evaluated by it with only what is good held fast. Teachings that lead to spirit mediums and wizards, including Spiritualism, are to be rejected, since a people should seek God and not seek those with familiar spirits and wizards that peep and mutter, nor seek the dead on behalf of the living.
A prophet must both speak in agreement with God's word and live by it, and one who speaks and lives thus must not be condemned. False prophets are known by their fruits, meaning their moral character measured by the law, with the Word acting as a mirror to expose defects in moral character and to measure pretenders whose lives are not elevated and whose conversation is not pure. It has always been their characteristic to see visions of peace and to say peace and safety when sudden destruction comes, while the true boldly reprove sin and warn of coming wrath. Prophesyings that contradict the plain declarations of the word, such as the visible coming of the same Jesus from heaven in like manner as He ascended, are to be rejected. Teaching that fails this test shows that there is no light in the speaker, and a teaching or spiritual influence must also be tested by whether its fruits agree with God's word.
The Holy Spirit and the Word agree because the Spirit inspired the Scriptures and always leads to them, so every true operation of the Spirit leads the soul to cleave to the Word. The written Scriptures — the law and the testimony, the commandments of God, the inspired Word as the standard of character and the detector of pure truth — are the test of every religious claim, including claims of guidance by the Holy Spirit, and the written Word decides all questions. Claims of light, guidance by the Spirit, or an indwelling Spirit preferable to Scripture do not excuse setting aside the law or any part of the Word, and those who claim great light but are not sanctified by truth are dangerous. Those who claim to be believers yet slight and turn from the Word, neglect the Bible, and claim they have the Spirit to teach them so searching the Scriptures is unnecessary, are heeding sophistry, and neglecting the Bible for a supposed indwelling preferable to Scripture leaves exposed to snares and fatal delusions. Even the work of the Spirit upon the heart is to be tested by the Word, for the Spirit who inspired the Scriptures always leads to the Scriptures, and any teaching that does not agree with that word has no light in it.
Every claim to sanctification, holiness, inspiration and profession of light must be witnessed to by the law and the prophets and conform to Bible requirements. True inspiration never rejects true inspiration but is in harmony with the Bible, because the Bible was written by men moved by the Holy Ghost, while anything that leads away from the Word proves its inspiration comes from beneath. High claims of piety or sanctification do not prove a person is right, and those who claim to be sanctified while breaking God's commandments speak without spiritual light and their claims should not be accepted. The law exposes the thoughts and intentions of the heart and condemns sin, so sinners want to remove it, while those who obey find it perfect, enlightening, and a source of wisdom and joy.
A message sent from God remains true even if the messenger afterward sins and dishonors God. The fall of the messenger does not prove the message false and does not excuse those who rejected the message of truth. The message must be judged by whether it agrees with God's word, and those who speak against that word have no spiritual light.
Those who interpret prophecy without submitting their lives to God's word have no light in themselves. The Jewish priests, scribes and leaders read the prophecies through pride, corrupt motives and self-interest to support expectation of a Messiah who would rule a temporal kingdom and restore political power by force. Their understanding was darkened and they were led toward ruin, without sincere search for God's glory or willingness to live by prophetic teaching.
Exposure of Modern Spiritualism
The living are to seek the living God for knowledge and not go to the dead, for the dead know nothing and cannot give knowledge, and to converse with them is to depart from the living God to speak with those who know not anything. Every claim is to be brought to the law and the testimony, and whatever does not speak according to that word has no light in it. God is the light of His people, and those who receive light from Him have no need to turn to Satan's messengers. Seeking supposed spirits of the dead that contradict Scripture leads away from God into deception.
Scripture's plain truth concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead exposes Spiritualism, whose teachings about consciousness after death and communication between the dead and the living have no scriptural foundation and fail the test of the word. A people are to seek unto their God and not seek the living among the dead through familiar spirits and wizards that peep and mutter. Spiritualist communications are false when they conflict with biblical truth, including the truth about the dead.
Its claims and manifestations stand exposed as the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders, done directly and through his agents including the mysterious rapping, which is not God's power though many in churches and the world enveloped in gross darkness call it the power of God. Satan's power will increase to work miracles and even bring down fire from heaven in the sight of men. By rapping and mesmerism modern magicians will account for all the miracles of Christ and imitate God's powerful final work for His people, just as the magicians of Egypt imitated most of the signs and wonders wrought through Moses before Pharaoh. This power will spread more and more until it is considered blasphemy to speak against it.
Those who will not receive the truth and the love of the truth close their eyes to light, hold to carnal liberty and cherished sin, fall into snares, and are given over to strong delusion to believe a lie. Intercourse with evil angels under that deception is positively forbidden, for it belongs to Satan's school of falsehood by which he seeks to unite fallen men and fallen angels in a great confederacy of evil and to make of none effect the lessons of Christ which, if practiced, would result in eternal life for those who obey. Such sources may disclose hidden things from the past and appear able to predict the future, but their apparent knowledge deceives and brings people under Satan's power. The claims of beings presenting themselves as departed loved ones must not be given greater authority than the word of God.
The warning forbids seeking hidden knowledge apart from God about what He has not revealed, as Saul did, bringing only knowledge of evil, while trust in God and prayer bring comfort. Safety is found only in keeping close to the word of God and preserving the ancient landmarks erected to guard against Satan's power. That requires not departing in the least from instruction and not breaking down even a single barrier of duty to venture upon Satan's ground, to form needless intimacies with those who have no respect for God, or to seek help, counsel, healing, or temporal gain from sorcery and agents of the power of darkness, since any apparent benefit from such sources ends in irrecoverable loss.
Spiritualist teachings are to be compared with Scripture, whose warnings about them are clear enough that believers need not be deceived or sympathize with them. Miracles do not prove that someone follows Christ, since obedience to God's commandments and agreement with Scripture are the test. This standard prepares youth to resist error and stand firm in eternal truth.
Vindication of God's Law
The Word makes sin plain by defining it as transgression of the law, exposing the thoughts and intents of the heart and condemning sin so that sinners desire to put it away. When the commandment brought sin home to Paul's conscience he saw it in its true character and died to sin that he might live unto Christ. Those who obey the law find it perfect and enlightening, a source of wisdom and joy, while feelings, sincerity, and mere assertions cannot establish righteousness or truth.
The law in the test is God's law as still binding, with the Sabbath as a test question, and all teaching must agree with that word. The seventh day is the day God set apart, sanctified, and made holy, while the first day remains a common working day. No age, majority acceptance, reverence or homage of the greater part of the world, zealous preaching, support of gospel ministers, or human authority can make that day holy or turn falsehood into truth.
Calling the first day the Sabbath of the Lord fails the test, disregards God's claim, and remains error, delusion, and darkness. It is a spurious, man-made institution and a lie received as truth, with no light in it. The same is true of Sunday observance pressed by petition to Congress to make it law, which has no It is written for its authority; honest souls who receive the light of truth see this and will not sign supposing they do God service.
Those who preach Sunday speak Satan's words, repeating his lie to Adam and Eve that transgression of God's law brings no death but makes transgressors as gods knowing good and evil. Those loyal to God and holding truth in distinction from error must vindicate His law by magnifying, honoring, and keeping the seventh day holy. They must expose Sunday sacredness as darkness.
A teacher who treats God's moral law lightly, breaks even a least commandment, or teaches others to do so has claims without foundation. Christ enforced the test in the Sermon on the Mount by stripping away the covering of rubbish, the Thou shalt and Thou shalt not of priests and rulers, and letting the great moral standard of righteousness appear in its true light. He directed the Pharisees to that standard to show that healing and relieving suffering on the Sabbath agrees with the commandment, with their accusation arising from ignorance of its true meaning. The light of those lessons, if practiced, gives wisdom to shun false paths and gain heaven.
Liberty in prayer and in meetings, feelings of fellowship, and the faith and practice of the world are not the criterion of Christian character and fellowship with God. The criterion is the law and the testimony and keeping His commandments, and if they speak not according to this word there is no light in them. It is dangerous to profess to follow Jesus while in works denying Him by indifference to even one of His requirements. Teachings that reject the law of God, including the seventh-day Sabbath, oppose Scripture and lead away from its light into skepticism and spiritual darkness.
Scripture Above Human Authority
Scripture stands as the infallible, all-sufficient and unerring rule of faith, practice, duty and life, the detector that exposes pure truth and error. Every doctrine and religious claim must be brought to its test, and whatever does not agree with it has no light in it. No pope, council, church father, church leader or ruler may replace it or rule the conscience in matters of religion, for conscience is bound by the Scriptures rather than by human authority. Any council judging matters of faith must decide according to Scripture, and this protects conscience and brings reform. Temporizing for worldly favor instead of holding to it is untrue to God and brings destruction.
Luther defended the truth by holding popes and prelates to this infallible test for every custom, tradition and doctrine. They refused this test because it would expose their claimed power. Later, arguments for the Bible Sabbath were likewise answered with church authority and ancient tradition rather than Scripture.
Feelings, emotions, impressions, dreams, sincerity, assertions and religious experiences are changeable and uncertain and cannot establish what is true or replace the Word. Human reason, church authority and private impressions cannot replace Scripture, and claims that set it aside fail the test. Exalting such guides or rejecting the Word opens the way to deception and leaves open to snares. The law exposes sin and prevents people from treating their own imperfect standards as holiness.
Human ideas, opinions, theories, claims, inferences, customs, traditions, commandments of men, scientific deductions, creeds, decisions and majority views must not be used to judge the Word but must be taken to the Word to be tested. They must be proved by a plain Thus saith the Lord, and without plain scriptural support they are not evidence for or against doctrine. God gives sufficient evidence for people to decide questions of duty and destiny, but He does not compel faith or remove every possibility of doubt. Those living in the very closing days of earth's history especially need this light, to know what Scripture says and to come to the living oracles with living faith. Christ's teaching on the law brings its truth to light and directs people away from human interpretations to God's word.
Ministers, churches and friends must be tested by the written word, and believers must examine the law and testimony for themselves rather than rely blindly on ministers or accept human interpretations and assertions. Prayerful, diligent searching with prayer leads seekers to light and to certain knowledge of truth apart from fables. Every point of faith held must be brought to personal investigation until known to be without flaw, and teachers or those in responsibility must not rest satisfied with the product of other minds or the opinions of associates. Decisions must be made in light of that standard and of eternal interests, even when following Christ brings trial and persecution.
The world is not the criterion and human methods are not guidance; counsel and claims that conflict with God's instruction must be refused and alliances that conflict with it rejected. No human authority or claim of wisdom can excuse disobedience to God's law or make any biblical requirement nonessential. A mind trained only in worldly science cannot understand the things of God, but the same mind when converted and sanctified sees divine power in the word, and only the mind and heart cleansed by the sanctification of the Spirit can discern heavenly things.
A person whose interpretations shift and are later repudiated cannot be trusted as a reliable guide to Scripture, raising whether that person's light will go out in darkness. God's written Word and His messages of warning give light to the church, and Christians are to learn from Christ and reflect Him in conduct, words and tone. His message must be understood faithfully without changing the Spirit's meaning, and human ideas must not be allowed to undermine, add to or take away from what God has given, nor His Word altered by worldly customs or traditions. Opposition to doctrines of truth that relies on abuse, false statements, ridicule, scorn and contempt rather than a scriptural answer cannot be supported by the law and testimony and has no light.
Faithful Study and Obedience
Each person must search the Scriptures for himself and plant his feet on the sure Word as solid rock, letting it dwell richly within in obedience to its plain requirement. No one needs to turn from the Word to human agencies, accept a lower standard, rest satisfied with other minds or associates' opinions or commentators, or accept a weak human repetition of inspired words. Every teaching and every claim to come from God must be brought to the law and to the testimony by personal investigation, for the law as the great principles of the ten holy requirements is made plain so all who desire in heart to discern truth from error can understand, and the law and testimony together are sufficient, full and complete. Truths believed must be examined until they are known to be without flaw, lest life and acquirements become superficial and truth as it is remain unseen and unappreciated. Such going to the source of all light brings the Spirit's enlightenment to every humble seeker, so that Spirit and Word agree and give certain knowledge of what is truth with assurance to speak with power and proclaim what is learned apart from cunningly devised fables, with wisdom, caution and discernment against Satan working with desperate energy in the day of waiting, against falsehoods everywhere, and against many voices saying Here is Christ, here is truth, while looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.
Standing upon the principles of God's Word requires the Spirit of God to enlighten the mind. That enlightening lets the Saviour into the heart with the best affections while the work of sanctifying and purifying the heart goes on. Every question must be settled by Scripture as the standard distinguishing truth from error, obedience to it is required, and the Holy Spirit enables discernment of truth, error, sin and righteousness. Children taught to regard the Word as supreme can use this standard to test every teaching and experience, resist deception, and remain faithful to God, for words or experiences not agreeing with God's Word show no spiritual light. Opening Scripture to those who do not understand it brings light to them, and speech that does not agree with that Word shows it has no light.
Ministers' relationships and the doctrines they teach must be tested by the law and the testimony rather than by individual judgment alone. Neither personal opinion nor church teaching is exempt from this scriptural test, and individual judgment must not disregard fellow believers. Respecting one another's judgment and remaining teachable with hearts willing to be taught brings unity in doctrine and spirit rather than division. Departing from the landmarks and established teachings of the faith leads toward disorder and division. Those preparing publications must by this same standard keep sacred teaching faithful to Scripture and not mix it with common, inferior material, for God's people are not to follow the fears of those around them but to honor the Lord and hold firmly to His instruction.
The verse is the watchword and safeguard against false teachers, deceptive spirits, counterfeits closely resembling the truth, and future false theories even when appearing as light or as enlightened. Every claim and miracle must be tested by the Bible, because what contradicts its teaching has no light in it, and the Scriptures expose Satan's deceptions and distinguish the genuine from the closely imitating counterfeit in the final deception. Those grounded in the truths of the Word and testing everything by what the Lord has said are safe from deceptive teaching. Preserving the ancient landmarks means holding to this standard of law and testimony as the only safety, without departing in the least from instruction.
A minister's message must be brought to the test of the Bible, to the law and to the testimony, and if it speaks not according to this word there is no light in it. The man himself is to be regarded and honored only as God's ambassador, and to praise the man is not pleasing to God. The word of the Lord itself is not to be judged by a human standard. A preacher's words may displease the natural heart, but dissatisfaction or dislike is not the test and is by itself no ground for criticism or faultfinding; the standard is whether the words accord with Scripture. Those with earthly minds and little Christian experience and knowledge of God show least respect for God's servants and least reverence for the searching preaching He bids them bear when they sit in judgment on it instead of testing it by Scripture.
Every point of doctrine must be tested by the law and the testimony, meaning the Scriptures, and if a doctrine cannot stand that test it has no light in it. God's Word is the test of whether a message is light from heaven, and any testimony not agreeing with the Word of God should be rejected. This applies to the Testimonies, which must not be weakened or dismissed according to human ideas but judged by agreement with Scripture. Teachings claiming new light or revelation must be tested by God's Word, and doctrines failing this test have no true light and can unsettle faith and deceive. The third angel's message is a great testing message by the law and testimonies, distinguishing a substantial enduring work bearing the truth from efforts producing only temporary results, for teachings or work not agreeing with this standard lack light.
People must look to God's Word rather than rely on human leaders, even those God has used to reveal truth. Honoring the human instrument while overlooking God, the source and guide of the work, is warned against, and the work and authority of human religious leaders must remain subordinate to God. Few follow God's Word as their standard, and taking unbelief close destroys interest in truth, for breathing doubt, questioning and infidelity imperceptibly undermines and finally destroys faith. Those professing to follow the Bible while carrying the influence of the world and selfishness become like a chilling cloud to others, and the baleful influence of sin poisons the life of the soul. Since all are responsible for their influence, the only safety is separation from those who walk in its darkness.
Foolish, condemning words of diverse character fail the test and cannot even be compared with the law and the testimony that define truth and test every claim to speak from God. To credit the High and Holy One with such things insults the Spirit of God, makes God like men, fills the mind with foolishness, and removes all that is sacred from His work and dealings. No person except one whose mind is darkened about religious things can accept such sayings as communications from Heaven. Truth bears the stamp of God's approval and its divine Source is known by its sanctifying power, because truth is ever elevating, ennobling and purifying the character of the receiver. What is not from God poisons the heart, degrades the understanding, brings reproach on all that is pure and elevating, and makes common all that is sacred and divine.
The law is God's eternal, still-binding moral standard, including the ten holy requirements with the Sabbath as the test, and the testimony is the prophets and the written inspired Scriptures given for doctrine and instruction to make the man of God perfect. It is the unerring standard by which every opinion, doctrine, teaching, counsel, plan and speech must be tested, and whatever does not agree with God's word has no light in it. The test proves all claimed visions, dreams, miracles, appearances of Christ, professions of holiness and claims to guidance by the Spirit, for the Spirit inspired the Scriptures and always leads to them and never excuses setting aside the law or any part of the Word. It forbids seeking knowledge from those with familiar spirits, wizards, or the dead who know nothing, exposing Spiritualism's teaching of consciousness after death and communication with the dead as without scriptural foundation and as the working of Satan with lying wonders. It vindicates the seventh day as the day God set apart and made holy against calling the first day the Sabbath of the Lord, which is error and darkness with no light in it, and it makes Scripture the infallible, all-sufficient rule above pope, council, tradition, reason, feeling and majority views, requiring each person to search it individually and obey.
Meaning and Original Setting
The law is God's eternal, unchangeable, still-binding moral standard, the great principles of the ten holy requirements made plain so all who desire to discern truth from error can understand, with the Sabbath as a test question, and the testimony is the prophets and the written, inspired Scriptures, the commandments of God as the standard of character and righteousness by which every doctrine and faith must be tried, since faith is not always true or saving faith. Everything in the religious world is to be tried by those Scriptures as the detector of pure truth, and any claimed enlightenment of the Spirit within is to be tested by the Word. The prophets call people to turn from evil and keep His commandments and statutes.
This word is the Bible as the study book, holding the most precious truth and the beginning and end of knowledge, the alpha and omega of knowledge, given by inspiration of God for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness to make the man of God perfect and thoroughly furnished for all good works. It is the watchword and safeguard for God's people, requiring every teaching and speech to be measured by the law and the testimony, with absence of light showing disagreement with that word. Its instruction can be understood by all.
In its setting God's people must not walk in the way of this people, must not say a confederacy or call confederacy what the people call confederacy, and must not enter alliance with unbelievers who know not the truth or the character of God's work for this time. They must neither fear their fear nor be afraid, but must sanctify the Lord of hosts himself and let Him be their fear and their dread. The world is not to be the criterion; they must let the Lord work and let the Lord's voice be heard and obeyed, obeying the orders that come from above rather than accepting suggestions, counsel and plans from those who know not the truth, gathering a chosen number who think as they do to carry things by supposed wisdom or after the manner and customs of the world, which weakens the power of God's instrumentalities and sets the counsel of Christ at naught for the counsel of the gods of Ekron. For those preparing publications this means keeping sacred teaching faithful to Scripture and not mixing it with common, inferior material.
A people must seek unto their God and not unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and mutter, nor seek the dead on behalf of the living, but must bind up the testimony, keep the law, and wait for the Lord. God is the light of His people, and those who receive light from Him have no need to turn to Satan's messengers. Every spirit communication and every teaching about the dead must be tested by the law and the testimony, upholding the plain scriptural truth concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead, by which test the claims and manifestations of Spiritualism stand exposed as the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders in Satan's school of falsehood, by which he seeks to unite fallen men and fallen angels in a great confederacy of evil and to make of none effect the lessons of Christ which obeyed would give eternal life. Scripture positively forbids intercourse with evil angels under that deception, and the warning applies to the present age when many depart from the faith and turn from truth to false teaching.
Isaiah 8:9-10 with Isaiah 8:11-20 is to be read when leaders stand in the way of the work and workers lack harmony, calling each one to stand in his own lot and place with confidence that opposing counsels come to nought and opposing words do not stand because God is with His people. The events described were to be worked out before God's people, with some already visible, calling them to trust and wait for Him, remain faithful to the light and hold fast to the sacred landmarks He has given.
Universal Standard for Truth
The law and the testimony are the unerring standard by which every opinion, doctrine, theory, teaching, speech, and spiritual experience must be tested, and whatever does not agree with God's word has no light in it. Preserving the ancient landmarks means holding to this standard as the only safety. The Bible is the safeguard against false teaching and the reliable guide for doctrine, correction, and righteous living. The Holy Spirit does not teach contrary to Scripture or replace it.
The test covers every claimed vision, dream, message of reproof, miracle, claimed appearance of Christ, spiritual claim, religious experience, and action. Impressions that lead to neglect of Scripture are not the Spirit's guidance, and an experience that disagrees with what the Lord plainly said is not correct. Scripture is the safeguard against false teachers and deceptive spirits, exposing Satan's deceptions and distinguishing truth from a counterfeit that closely resembles the genuine. Children taught to regard the Word as supreme can use this standard to resist deception and remain faithful to God. People must seek God rather than turn to the dead or to mediums for guidance, and this warning applies to the present time when many depart from the faith and are deceived, with the Scriptures providing the standard for testing teaching and guiding to salvation through faith in Christ, as a safeguard against seeking guidance from mediums or the dead and against devices that draw people from the truth.
All counsel, plans, and practices must be brought to the test, and counsel opposed to God's word is wrong even when presented as right, must not be followed, and can deceive and ensnare those who accept it. Receiving such counsel against fellow believers is the fruit of an evil source and separates people from God. Religious advice and theories must be judged by the Word of God rather than accepted on human authority, as applied to claims that serious religious thought and prayer harm health and that dancing and amusement are beneficial.
Teaching that meets the test should be accepted without prejudice even when it conflicts with existing ideas, for if speakers speak according to this word there is light in them and prejudice against them must be laid aside. Searching the Scriptures must be done as those who want light and want to receive truth of heavenly origin, with the Spirit and meekness of Christ, walking humbly with God, acknowledging a point when it is proven instead of shutting out light with endless questions. Those in responsible positions are under obligation to know what is being taught so they can apply this test. All differing views and positions must be sat down with as Christians and investigated in the light of God's word, which reveals truth and unmasks error, with candid hearing and without prejudice, condemnation, or ridicule. Truth is eternal and conflict with error only makes its strength manifest, so the pillars of faith must stand the test of investigation, and if they will not stand it is time to know it, for it is foolish to become set in ideas and think no one should interfere with opinions. Every teaching must be proved by a plain Thus saith the Lord, and doctrines of tradition and the commandments of men that cannot be proved from the Bible are condemned by that test. Those who love the truth cling to their Bibles as the ground of faith, willing to renounce any view shown from Scripture to be error, and they refuse to exchange the word of God for tradition even under trial and persecution, while those in error refuse to have their views tried by God's word and seek to wrench the Scriptures from the hands of defenders of the faith.
It is a detector that separates the true from the false, for agreement with the law and the testimony proves light is present and failure to speak according to that word proves there is no light in them. Those who love the law of God cannot unite in worship or in spirit with determined breakers of that law who show bitterness and malice when plainly revealed Bible truth is taught. What people say and do must agree with God's Word, by which words and conduct reveal whether Christ's attributes or Satan's are prevailing, and this standard will govern the decision in the great day of judgment. Turning people to the law and to the testimony is how souls are converted to the truth, which gives the test of all teaching that if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them.
Testing Prophets and Spirits
Prophesyings must be proved in order to separate true prophets from counterfeit ones. The very giving of the test proves that genuine spiritual manifestation and prophesying will exist at the same time as the false, for there would be no need to give a test if there were to be no true prophesyings. The standard is agreement with the law and the testimony, which is God's written word, and prophetic claims must be evaluated by it with only what is good held fast. Teachings that lead to spirit mediums and wizards, including Spiritualism, are to be rejected, since a people should seek God and not seek those with familiar spirits and wizards that peep and mutter, nor seek the dead on behalf of the living.
A prophet must both speak in agreement with God's word and live by it, and one who speaks and lives thus must not be condemned. False prophets are known by their fruits, meaning their moral character measured by the law, with the Word acting as a mirror to expose defects in moral character and to measure pretenders whose lives are not elevated and whose conversation is not pure. It has always been their characteristic to see visions of peace and to say peace and safety when sudden destruction comes, while the true boldly reprove sin and warn of coming wrath. Prophesyings that contradict the plain declarations of the word, such as the visible coming of the same Jesus from heaven in like manner as He ascended, are to be rejected. Teaching that fails this test shows that there is no light in the speaker, and a teaching or spiritual influence must also be tested by whether its fruits agree with God's word.
The Holy Spirit and the Word agree because the Spirit inspired the Scriptures and always leads to them, so every true operation of the Spirit leads the soul to cleave to the Word. The written Scriptures — the law and the testimony, the commandments of God, the inspired Word as the standard of character and the detector of pure truth — are the test of every religious claim, including claims of guidance by the Holy Spirit, and the written Word decides all questions. Claims of light, guidance by the Spirit, or an indwelling Spirit preferable to Scripture do not excuse setting aside the law or any part of the Word, and those who claim great light but are not sanctified by truth are dangerous. Those who claim to be believers yet slight and turn from the Word, neglect the Bible, and claim they have the Spirit to teach them so searching the Scriptures is unnecessary, are heeding sophistry, and neglecting the Bible for a supposed indwelling preferable to Scripture leaves exposed to snares and fatal delusions. Even the work of the Spirit upon the heart is to be tested by the Word, for the Spirit who inspired the Scriptures always leads to the Scriptures, and any teaching that does not agree with that word has no light in it.
Every claim to sanctification, holiness, inspiration and profession of light must be witnessed to by the law and the prophets and conform to Bible requirements. True inspiration never rejects true inspiration but is in harmony with the Bible, because the Bible was written by men moved by the Holy Ghost, while anything that leads away from the Word proves its inspiration comes from beneath. High claims of piety or sanctification do not prove a person is right, and those who claim to be sanctified while breaking God's commandments speak without spiritual light and their claims should not be accepted. The law exposes the thoughts and intentions of the heart and condemns sin, so sinners want to remove it, while those who obey find it perfect, enlightening, and a source of wisdom and joy.
A message sent from God remains true even if the messenger afterward sins and dishonors God. The fall of the messenger does not prove the message false and does not excuse those who rejected the message of truth. The message must be judged by whether it agrees with God's word, and those who speak against that word have no spiritual light.
Those who interpret prophecy without submitting their lives to God's word have no light in themselves. The Jewish priests, scribes and leaders read the prophecies through pride, corrupt motives and self-interest to support expectation of a Messiah who would rule a temporal kingdom and restore political power by force. Their understanding was darkened and they were led toward ruin, without sincere search for God's glory or willingness to live by prophetic teaching.
Exposure of Modern Spiritualism
The living are to seek the living God for knowledge and not go to the dead, for the dead know nothing and cannot give knowledge, and to converse with them is to depart from the living God to speak with those who know not anything. Every claim is to be brought to the law and the testimony, and whatever does not speak according to that word has no light in it. God is the light of His people, and those who receive light from Him have no need to turn to Satan's messengers. Seeking supposed spirits of the dead that contradict Scripture leads away from God into deception.
Scripture's plain truth concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead exposes Spiritualism, whose teachings about consciousness after death and communication between the dead and the living have no scriptural foundation and fail the test of the word. A people are to seek unto their God and not seek the living among the dead through familiar spirits and wizards that peep and mutter. Spiritualist communications are false when they conflict with biblical truth, including the truth about the dead.
Its claims and manifestations stand exposed as the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders, done directly and through his agents including the mysterious rapping, which is not God's power though many in churches and the world enveloped in gross darkness call it the power of God. Satan's power will increase to work miracles and even bring down fire from heaven in the sight of men. By rapping and mesmerism modern magicians will account for all the miracles of Christ and imitate God's powerful final work for His people, just as the magicians of Egypt imitated most of the signs and wonders wrought through Moses before Pharaoh. This power will spread more and more until it is considered blasphemy to speak against it.
Those who will not receive the truth and the love of the truth close their eyes to light, hold to carnal liberty and cherished sin, fall into snares, and are given over to strong delusion to believe a lie. Intercourse with evil angels under that deception is positively forbidden, for it belongs to Satan's school of falsehood by which he seeks to unite fallen men and fallen angels in a great confederacy of evil and to make of none effect the lessons of Christ which, if practiced, would result in eternal life for those who obey. Such sources may disclose hidden things from the past and appear able to predict the future, but their apparent knowledge deceives and brings people under Satan's power. The claims of beings presenting themselves as departed loved ones must not be given greater authority than the word of God.
The warning forbids seeking hidden knowledge apart from God about what He has not revealed, as Saul did, bringing only knowledge of evil, while trust in God and prayer bring comfort. Safety is found only in keeping close to the word of God and preserving the ancient landmarks erected to guard against Satan's power. That requires not departing in the least from instruction and not breaking down even a single barrier of duty to venture upon Satan's ground, to form needless intimacies with those who have no respect for God, or to seek help, counsel, healing, or temporal gain from sorcery and agents of the power of darkness, since any apparent benefit from such sources ends in irrecoverable loss.
Spiritualist teachings are to be compared with Scripture, whose warnings about them are clear enough that believers need not be deceived or sympathize with them. Miracles do not prove that someone follows Christ, since obedience to God's commandments and agreement with Scripture are the test. This standard prepares youth to resist error and stand firm in eternal truth.
Vindication of God's Law
The Word makes sin plain by defining it as transgression of the law, exposing the thoughts and intents of the heart and condemning sin so that sinners desire to put it away. When the commandment brought sin home to Paul's conscience he saw it in its true character and died to sin that he might live unto Christ. Those who obey the law find it perfect and enlightening, a source of wisdom and joy, while feelings, sincerity, and mere assertions cannot establish righteousness or truth.
The law in the test is God's law as still binding, with the Sabbath as a test question, and all teaching must agree with that word. The seventh day is the day God set apart, sanctified, and made holy, while the first day remains a common working day. No age, majority acceptance, reverence or homage of the greater part of the world, zealous preaching, support of gospel ministers, or human authority can make that day holy or turn falsehood into truth.
Calling the first day the Sabbath of the Lord fails the test, disregards God's claim, and remains error, delusion, and darkness. It is a spurious, man-made institution and a lie received as truth, with no light in it. The same is true of Sunday observance pressed by petition to Congress to make it law, which has no It is written for its authority; honest souls who receive the light of truth see this and will not sign supposing they do God service.
Those who preach Sunday speak Satan's words, repeating his lie to Adam and Eve that transgression of God's law brings no death but makes transgressors as gods knowing good and evil. Those loyal to God and holding truth in distinction from error must vindicate His law by magnifying, honoring, and keeping the seventh day holy. They must expose Sunday sacredness as darkness.
A teacher who treats God's moral law lightly, breaks even a least commandment, or teaches others to do so has claims without foundation. Christ enforced the test in the Sermon on the Mount by stripping away the covering of rubbish, the Thou shalt and Thou shalt not of priests and rulers, and letting the great moral standard of righteousness appear in its true light. He directed the Pharisees to that standard to show that healing and relieving suffering on the Sabbath agrees with the commandment, with their accusation arising from ignorance of its true meaning. The light of those lessons, if practiced, gives wisdom to shun false paths and gain heaven.
Liberty in prayer and in meetings, feelings of fellowship, and the faith and practice of the world are not the criterion of Christian character and fellowship with God. The criterion is the law and the testimony and keeping His commandments, and if they speak not according to this word there is no light in them. It is dangerous to profess to follow Jesus while in works denying Him by indifference to even one of His requirements. Teachings that reject the law of God, including the seventh-day Sabbath, oppose Scripture and lead away from its light into skepticism and spiritual darkness.
Scripture Above Human Authority
Scripture stands as the infallible, all-sufficient and unerring rule of faith, practice, duty and life, the detector that exposes pure truth and error. Every doctrine and religious claim must be brought to its test, and whatever does not agree with it has no light in it. No pope, council, church father, church leader or ruler may replace it or rule the conscience in matters of religion, for conscience is bound by the Scriptures rather than by human authority. Any council judging matters of faith must decide according to Scripture, and this protects conscience and brings reform. Temporizing for worldly favor instead of holding to it is untrue to God and brings destruction.
Luther defended the truth by holding popes and prelates to this infallible test for every custom, tradition and doctrine. They refused this test because it would expose their claimed power. Later, arguments for the Bible Sabbath were likewise answered with church authority and ancient tradition rather than Scripture.
Feelings, emotions, impressions, dreams, sincerity, assertions and religious experiences are changeable and uncertain and cannot establish what is true or replace the Word. Human reason, church authority and private impressions cannot replace Scripture, and claims that set it aside fail the test. Exalting such guides or rejecting the Word opens the way to deception and leaves open to snares. The law exposes sin and prevents people from treating their own imperfect standards as holiness.
Human ideas, opinions, theories, claims, inferences, customs, traditions, commandments of men, scientific deductions, creeds, decisions and majority views must not be used to judge the Word but must be taken to the Word to be tested. They must be proved by a plain Thus saith the Lord, and without plain scriptural support they are not evidence for or against doctrine. God gives sufficient evidence for people to decide questions of duty and destiny, but He does not compel faith or remove every possibility of doubt. Those living in the very closing days of earth's history especially need this light, to know what Scripture says and to come to the living oracles with living faith. Christ's teaching on the law brings its truth to light and directs people away from human interpretations to God's word.
Ministers, churches and friends must be tested by the written word, and believers must examine the law and testimony for themselves rather than rely blindly on ministers or accept human interpretations and assertions. Prayerful, diligent searching with prayer leads seekers to light and to certain knowledge of truth apart from fables. Every point of faith held must be brought to personal investigation until known to be without flaw, and teachers or those in responsibility must not rest satisfied with the product of other minds or the opinions of associates. Decisions must be made in light of that standard and of eternal interests, even when following Christ brings trial and persecution.
The world is not the criterion and human methods are not guidance; counsel and claims that conflict with God's instruction must be refused and alliances that conflict with it rejected. No human authority or claim of wisdom can excuse disobedience to God's law or make any biblical requirement nonessential. A mind trained only in worldly science cannot understand the things of God, but the same mind when converted and sanctified sees divine power in the word, and only the mind and heart cleansed by the sanctification of the Spirit can discern heavenly things.
A person whose interpretations shift and are later repudiated cannot be trusted as a reliable guide to Scripture, raising whether that person's light will go out in darkness. God's written Word and His messages of warning give light to the church, and Christians are to learn from Christ and reflect Him in conduct, words and tone. His message must be understood faithfully without changing the Spirit's meaning, and human ideas must not be allowed to undermine, add to or take away from what God has given, nor His Word altered by worldly customs or traditions. Opposition to doctrines of truth that relies on abuse, false statements, ridicule, scorn and contempt rather than a scriptural answer cannot be supported by the law and testimony and has no light.
Faithful Study and Obedience
Each person must search the Scriptures for himself and plant his feet on the sure Word as solid rock, letting it dwell richly within in obedience to its plain requirement. No one needs to turn from the Word to human agencies, accept a lower standard, rest satisfied with other minds or associates' opinions or commentators, or accept a weak human repetition of inspired words. Every teaching and every claim to come from God must be brought to the law and to the testimony by personal investigation, for the law as the great principles of the ten holy requirements is made plain so all who desire in heart to discern truth from error can understand, and the law and testimony together are sufficient, full and complete. Truths believed must be examined until they are known to be without flaw, lest life and acquirements become superficial and truth as it is remain unseen and unappreciated. Such going to the source of all light brings the Spirit's enlightenment to every humble seeker, so that Spirit and Word agree and give certain knowledge of what is truth with assurance to speak with power and proclaim what is learned apart from cunningly devised fables, with wisdom, caution and discernment against Satan working with desperate energy in the day of waiting, against falsehoods everywhere, and against many voices saying Here is Christ, here is truth, while looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.
Standing upon the principles of God's Word requires the Spirit of God to enlighten the mind. That enlightening lets the Saviour into the heart with the best affections while the work of sanctifying and purifying the heart goes on. Every question must be settled by Scripture as the standard distinguishing truth from error, obedience to it is required, and the Holy Spirit enables discernment of truth, error, sin and righteousness. Children taught to regard the Word as supreme can use this standard to test every teaching and experience, resist deception, and remain faithful to God, for words or experiences not agreeing with God's Word show no spiritual light. Opening Scripture to those who do not understand it brings light to them, and speech that does not agree with that Word shows it has no light.
Ministers' relationships and the doctrines they teach must be tested by the law and the testimony rather than by individual judgment alone. Neither personal opinion nor church teaching is exempt from this scriptural test, and individual judgment must not disregard fellow believers. Respecting one another's judgment and remaining teachable with hearts willing to be taught brings unity in doctrine and spirit rather than division. Departing from the landmarks and established teachings of the faith leads toward disorder and division. Those preparing publications must by this same standard keep sacred teaching faithful to Scripture and not mix it with common, inferior material, for God's people are not to follow the fears of those around them but to honor the Lord and hold firmly to His instruction.
The verse is the watchword and safeguard against false teachers, deceptive spirits, counterfeits closely resembling the truth, and future false theories even when appearing as light or as enlightened. Every claim and miracle must be tested by the Bible, because what contradicts its teaching has no light in it, and the Scriptures expose Satan's deceptions and distinguish the genuine from the closely imitating counterfeit in the final deception. Those grounded in the truths of the Word and testing everything by what the Lord has said are safe from deceptive teaching. Preserving the ancient landmarks means holding to this standard of law and testimony as the only safety, without departing in the least from instruction.
A minister's message must be brought to the test of the Bible, to the law and to the testimony, and if it speaks not according to this word there is no light in it. The man himself is to be regarded and honored only as God's ambassador, and to praise the man is not pleasing to God. The word of the Lord itself is not to be judged by a human standard. A preacher's words may displease the natural heart, but dissatisfaction or dislike is not the test and is by itself no ground for criticism or faultfinding; the standard is whether the words accord with Scripture. Those with earthly minds and little Christian experience and knowledge of God show least respect for God's servants and least reverence for the searching preaching He bids them bear when they sit in judgment on it instead of testing it by Scripture.
Every point of doctrine must be tested by the law and the testimony, meaning the Scriptures, and if a doctrine cannot stand that test it has no light in it. God's Word is the test of whether a message is light from heaven, and any testimony not agreeing with the Word of God should be rejected. This applies to the Testimonies, which must not be weakened or dismissed according to human ideas but judged by agreement with Scripture. Teachings claiming new light or revelation must be tested by God's Word, and doctrines failing this test have no true light and can unsettle faith and deceive. The third angel's message is a great testing message by the law and testimonies, distinguishing a substantial enduring work bearing the truth from efforts producing only temporary results, for teachings or work not agreeing with this standard lack light.
People must look to God's Word rather than rely on human leaders, even those God has used to reveal truth. Honoring the human instrument while overlooking God, the source and guide of the work, is warned against, and the work and authority of human religious leaders must remain subordinate to God. Few follow God's Word as their standard, and taking unbelief close destroys interest in truth, for breathing doubt, questioning and infidelity imperceptibly undermines and finally destroys faith. Those professing to follow the Bible while carrying the influence of the world and selfishness become like a chilling cloud to others, and the baleful influence of sin poisons the life of the soul. Since all are responsible for their influence, the only safety is separation from those who walk in its darkness.
Foolish, condemning words of diverse character fail the test and cannot even be compared with the law and the testimony that define truth and test every claim to speak from God. To credit the High and Holy One with such things insults the Spirit of God, makes God like men, fills the mind with foolishness, and removes all that is sacred from His work and dealings. No person except one whose mind is darkened about religious things can accept such sayings as communications from Heaven. Truth bears the stamp of God's approval and its divine Source is known by its sanctifying power, because truth is ever elevating, ennobling and purifying the character of the receiver. What is not from God poisons the heart, degrades the understanding, brings reproach on all that is pure and elevating, and makes common all that is sacred and divine.