accordingly find the Bible speaking of such a personage; the whole company
being described as “the Devil and his angels.” Our Lord pointed out this
leader in evil, and his work, in John 8:44: “Ye are of your Father the
Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the
father of it.” This reveals the great facts in his case. He abode not in
the truth. Then he was once in the truth; and as he is a liar, and the
father of it, he was the first one to depart from truth and introduce
falsehood and evil into the universe of God.
In Isaiah (14:12-14) this being is addressed as Lucifer, or the day-star;
and the prophet exclaims, “How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son
of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken
the nations!” The following verses indicate that the nature of his
transgression was self-exaltation and pride of heart: “For thou hast said
in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in
the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I
will be like the Most High.” Paul, in 1 Tim. 3:6, intimates that it was
this pride that caused the ruin of this once holy being. Of an elder he
says that he must not be a novice, “lest being lifted up with pride he
fall into the condemnation of the Devil,” or that sin for which the Devil
was condemned.
In Ezekiel 28, Satan is again spoken of under the pseudonym of “the prince
of Tyrus.” Verse 2 shows his pride: “Because thine heart is lifted up, and
thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God,” etc. Verses 12-15
describe his beauty, wisdom, and apparel, and his exalted office as a high
cherub, before his sin and fall. Verse 15 reads: “Thou wast perfect in thy
ways from the day thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”
These passages give us a sufficient idea of the origin of Satan and how
such an incarnation of evil has come to exist. The Tartarus into which he
and his angels were cast, according to Peter, is defined by leading
lexicographers, as meaning the dark, void, interplanetary spaces,
surrounding the world. Using the serpent as a medium, this apostate angel,
thus cast out, plied our first parents with his temptation by preaching to
them the immortality of the soul, “Thou shalt not surely die,” and alas!
seduced them also into rebellion. The dominion which was given to Adam
(Gen. 1:28), Adam thus alienated to Satan, by becoming his servant; for
Paul says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?” Rom. 6:16. Now, consequently,
such titles as “prince of this world,” “prince of the power of the air,”
“god of this world,” etc., are applied to him, because he has by fraud
usurped that place. John 14:30; Eph. 2:2; 2 Cor. 4:4. He, of course,
employs “his angels” to co-operate with him in his nefarious work.
Thus clearly do we have set before us just the agencies,—the Devil and his
angels,—which are adapted, both by nature and inclination, to carry on
just such a work as is seen in Spiritualism. But how do we know, some one
may ask, but that Spiritualism is the work of the good angels?—We know
that it is not, because good angels do not lie. They never would come to
men, professing to be the spirits of their dead friends, and imitate and
personate them to deceive, knowing that the mediums did not know, and
could not ascertain that they were altogether another and different order
of beings. But the evil angels, led by the father of lies, and cradled,
and drilled, and skilled, and polished, in the school of lying, would be
delighted to deceive men in this very way, by pretending to be their dead
friends, and then by working upon their affections and love for the ones
they could skilfully personate, bring them under their influence and lead
them captive at their will.
These evil angels are experts in deception. They have had six thousand
years’ experience. They are well acquainted with the human family. They
can read character. They study temperament. They acquaint themselves
minutely with personal history. They know a thousand things which only
they and the individual they are trying to ensnare, are aware of. They
know many things beyond the knowledge of men. They can easily carry the
news of the decease of a friend, and the description of a death-bed scene,
to other friends thousands of miles away, and months before the truth
through ordinary channels can reach them, so that when it is verified,
their influence over them may be increased. (See page 23.)
There is nothing that has yet taken place, of however inexplicable a
nature, and nothing which even the imagination may anticipate, which is
not, and will not be, easily attributable to these unseen angels. They are
lying spirits; for the fundamental principle on which they are acting is a
lie; but they tell enough truth to sway and captivate the minds of men. It
matters not how sacred the field in which they tread, nor how hallowed the
associations which they invade, they press into every spot where it is
possible, by spinning another thread, to strengthen their web of
deception.
And in what dulcet and siren tones they woo their victims to lay aside all
resistance to their influence, to become receptive and passive, and yield
themselves to their control; and when they have them thus helpless in
their arms, they deliberately and cruelly instil into their minds the
virus of ungovernable lust, the leprosy of unconquerable rebellion against
the government of Heaven. That this language does not misrepresent nor
slander them, will be shown from their own testimony, before the close of
this book.
The thought is not overlooked that many even of those who do not profess
to be Spiritualists, deny the existence of any such being as a personal
Devil, or of personal evil angels, his agents. He is no doubt well pleased
with this, as such people can the more easily be made the victims of his
wiles. But these same persons would no doubt acknowledge the existence, as
real beings, of God, Christ, and the good angels. This fact being
established, by parity of reasoning the Devil and his angels become real
beings also. The same arguments which show that God and Christ exist as
personal beings may be used to show that the Devil and his angels are
personal beings also. He who denies that there is a personal Devil, must
be prepared also to deny that there is a personal Christ. So far as the
argument for personal existence is concerned, Christ and good angels stand
on one side of the equation, and the Devil and his angels on the other;
and whoever would rub out the one, must rub out the other also.
Christ said that he “beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Luke
10:18. John in the Revelation (12:7) beheld a war in heaven. “Michael
[Christ] and his angels fought against the dragon [Satan]; and the dragon
fought, and his angels.” On the ground that there is no Devil, this would
be a wonderful battle—Christ and his angels, who are real beings, fighting
furiously against myths and nonentities which have not even the substance
of a phantom.
To endorse the doctrine of a personal Devil, is not to endorse the grossly
absurd caricatures conjured up by morbid imaginations, and popular
theology,—a being with bat’s wings, horns, hoofs, and a dart-pointed tail.
Yet upon such pictorial fables he doubtless looks with complacency; as
they are calculated still further to destroy faith in his existence, and
enable him the better to cover his tracks and carry on his work among men.
Nevertheless the only rational hypothesis on which to account for the
present condition of this world (which every one must admit is full of
devilishness), the existence of evil, and the presence of sickness,
suffering, and death, is the account the Bible gives us of fallen angels
and fallen men. Unfallen angels are beings of mighty power. One of them
slew in one night 185,000 Assyrians (2 Kings 19:35); and the one who
appeared at the time of Christ’s resurrection had a countenance like the
lightning, and raiment white as snow, and before him the keepers of the
tomb fell like dead men. Matt. 28:3, 4. A fall from their high estate,
though it would impair their strength and power, cannot be supposed to
have wholly deprived them of these qualities; therefore the fallen angels
still have capabilities far superior to those of men. The only defense
mankind has against them is found in Christ, who circumscribes their power
(for they are kept in chains, 2 Peter 2:4), and makes provision by which
we may resist them. Eph. 6:11; James 4:6-8; 1 John 5:18. The question why
they are permitted to continue finds solution in the thought that God is
consistently giving to sin time and opportunity to develop itself, fully
show its nature, and manifest its works, to all created intelligences, so
that when it shall finally be wiped out of existence, with all its
originators, aiders, and abetters, as in God’s purpose it is to be (Rev.
20:14, 15; 2 Peter 3:7, 13; Rev. 5:13), there will ever after remain an
object-lesson sufficient to safe-guard the universe against a repetition
of the evil. Only some 6000 years are allotted to this work of evil; and
6000 years are as nothing compared with eternity.
Warnings Against Evil Spirits.
The Scriptures plainly point out the working of these agents of
wickedness, and warn us against them. In 1 Tim. 4:1, we read: “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.” This
shows that these spirits make it an object to seduce, or deceive, to draw
men away from the true faith, and cause them to receive, instead, the
doctrines they teach, which are called “doctrines of devils;” and this
scripture is written to put men on their guard against them.
Again Paul says: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness [margin, ‘wicked spirits’] in high
places.” Eph. 6:12. And he adjures his readers to put on the whole armor
of God to be able to resist them.
The apostle Peter exhorts to the same purpose: “Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.” 1 Peter
5:8, 9. If our ears do not deceive us, a good deal of this roaring is
heard in the ranks of Spiritualists, where, by invisible rapping, agitated
furniture, clairvoyance, clairaudience, writing, speaking, marvels, and
wonders, he seeks to set the world on tiptoe of curiosity and expectation,
and bewilder men into a departure from the faith and the acceptance of the
doctrines of devils. He is cunning enough not to “roar” in a way to
frighten and repel, but only to attract attention, and lead multitudes,
through an overweening curiosity and wonder at the marvels, to come
thoughtlessly within the sphere of his influence.
The prophet Isaiah also has something to say directly upon this subject:
“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?” Isa. 8:19. That is, is
it consistent for living people to go to dead ones for their knowledge?
The following verse shows where we should go for light and truth: “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 time has certainly come when many
are saying just what the text points out, and seeking to the dead, to
familiar spirits, and wizards, for knowledge. Those practices which in the
Bible are enumerated as “charming,” “enchantment,” “sorcery,”
“witchcraft,” “necromancy,” “divination,” “consulting with familiar
spirits,” etc., are more or less related, and are all really from one
source. So in modern times different names indicate substantially the same
thing. Thus Mr. Hudson, in “Psychic Phenomena,” p. v, says:—
“It has, however, long been felt by the ablest thinkers of our
time that all psychic manifestations of the human intellect,
normal or abnormal, whether designated by the name of mesmerism,
hypnotism, somnambulism, trance, spiritism, demonology, miracle,
mental therapeutics, genius, or insanity, are in some way
related.”
Seven, at least, of the foregoing names are no doubt in the warp and woof
of Spiritualism; and he might have added mind-reading and Christian
Science. And Spiritualists admit that their work is the same as that
described by the Bible terms above quoted. Thus, Allen Putnam, a
Spiritualistic writer, says:—
“The doctrine that the oracles, soothsaying, and witchcraft of
past ages were kindred to these manifestations of our day, I, for
one, most fully believe.”
In a pamphlet by the same author, entitled, “Mesmerism, Spiritualism,
Witchcraft, and Miracle,” p. 6, he says:—
“As seen by me now, Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Witchcraft, Miracles,
all belong to one family, all have a common root, and are
developed by the same laws.”
To all these, therefore, the text under notice (Isa. 8:19, 20) applies. We
are to bring them to the standard of “the law and the testimony,” and “if
they speak not according to this word ... there is no light in them.” The
living should not seek to the dead.
In Rev. 16:13, 14, the same spirits are again brought to view, and called
“unclean spirits,” and “spirits of devils.” Their last work of deception
is to go forth to the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to
gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Thus all that
is revealed of them from beginning to end (and scriptures might be
multiplied on the point) furnishes the most cogent reason why all should
be keenly awake to their existence and their work, and be ever watchful
against their influence and approach.
Chapter Five.
WHAT THE SPIRITS TEACH.
It has been shown in the preceding chapters that the unseen “controls”
(the beings who control the mediums) in Spiritualism, are not the spirits
of the dead, but are fallen angels or spirits of devils. This fact will be
confirmed by a brief glance at some of their teachings; for we are to
remember that if they speak not according to the law and the testimony
there is no light in them. It matters not that what they teach may be
supported by signs and wonders beyond the comprehension of the human mind.
That is no guarantee of truth; for such phenomena are to be wrought, as
will soon be shown, to prove a lie. The Lord anciently put his people on
their guard in this respect. Deut. 13:1-3, 5: “If there arise among you a
prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and
the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying,
Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve
them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that
dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” “And
that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he
hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, ... out of the way
which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in.”
Thus the fact that one who professed to be a prophet could perform a sign
or wonder, showing his connection with some unseen power, was not enough
to shield him from condemnation and punishment, if what he undertook to
prove by that sign or wonder was contrary to the truth, and tended to lead
away from God. The teaching of any system is an important part of the
fruit it bears; and by that, according to our Lord’s own rule, we are to
judge it, and not by any power or mighty works connected with it, however
wonderful they may be.
“’Tis not the broad phylactery
Nor stubborn fasts, nor stated prayers
That make us saints. We judge the tree
By what it bears.”
—_Alice Carey._
It is therefore pertinent to look sufficiently at the teachings of the
spirits to ascertain their character. Here we shall find some most
damaging testimony; for—
1. _They Deny God._—It is no pleasure to transcribe the utterances of
practical atheism; yet enough should be given to show what they teach on
the great fundamental principles of Christianity. At a séance, reported in
the _Banner of Light_, July 11, 1868, the following questions were
addressed to the spirits, and the accompanying answers received:—
“_Ques._—It is said in the Bible that man is made in the image of
God. Please tell us what that image is.
“_Ans._—He is made in the image of everything that ever was, that
is, or that ever shall be. He holds within his caliber everything
that exists, that ever has existed, or that ever will exist. Now,
God is included in this. If he exists at all, he exists everywhere
(and we have taken in everything), every place, every name, every
condition. I believe that the human stands above all things else,
and holds within its embrace all the past, present, and future. In
this sense he is created and exists in the image of God.
“_Q._—What is God essentially?
“_A._—Everything. Essentially you are God, and I am God—the
flowers, the grass, the pebbles, the stars, the moon, the sun,
everything is God.”
The Devil, through the serpent in the garden, taught Adam and Eve that the
soul is immortal, and has transfused the same idea very successfully
through paganism, Romanism, and Protestantism; but he also said, “Ye shall
be as gods;” and now, it seems, he is trying to make the world swallow
this other leg of his falsehood; but by putting it forth under the form of
the old pagan pantheism, that everything is God, and God is everything, he
betrays the lie he uttered in Eden; for in that case, Adam and Eve were no
more gods after they ate than they were before.
Another séance, reported in the _Banner_ about twenty years later than the
one quoted above, April 28, 1888; an inquirer addressed to the “spirits” a
question about God, and received answer, a portion of which is presented
below:—
“_Ques._—Some Spiritualists, I learn, believe in a God; otherwise
they would not pray to him—taking for granted that there is such a
being. Please enlighten us.
“_Ans._—We have yet to come in contact with a thorough
Spiritualist, one who understands something of spiritual life and
the revelations made by returning spirits, who directly believes
in a personal God. True, many Spiritualists and many returning
spirits offer their invocations to the ‘Great Supreme Spirit of
all life and intelligence,’ not because they expect to change the
order of law, or to come into direct communication with, or
nearness to, a Great Supreme Being, clothed in the image of man,
but because they desire to enter an atmosphere of harmony, to
uplift their own souls to a plane of thought which will bring
spiritual inspiration to their minds. We make a distinction
between that Great Supreme Overruling Force which we may call the
Superior Spirit of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Love, and the
personal Deity, clothed in the image of man, gigantic in stature,
jealous and revengeful by nature, which has been set up and
worshiped as the Christian Jehovah. We know of no Spiritualist—let
us repeat it—who believes in such a personal God; but we can
believe and accept the idea, though it may pass beyond almost our
finite comprehension, that there is a grand universal Spirit
permeating all forms of existence; that this great source of
light, of activity and vitality vibrates with intelligence, and
that it is superior to all organic forms, however grand they may
prove to be.”
The same views have been taught all along by the “spirits” of
Spiritualism, as could be shown by extracts dating as far back as 1858,
only ten years after the “Rochester Knockings.” And though Spiritualism is
now assuming more of the sedate speech of organized Christianity, the
spirits do not modify their teaching in respect to God. In “Automatic, or
Spirit, Writing,” p. 148 (1896), are given many messages from the spirits
through the mediumship of Mrs. S. A. Underwood, wife of the editor of the
_Philosophical Journal_, Chicago. The “spirits” set forth their teaching
in answer to questions by the medium, some of which have reference to God,
though his name is not used. Thus on page 148, this conversation is
given:—
“_Ques._—You often in these communications speak of the binding
laws of spiritual life—that because of them you cannot give us
such and such information, etc. Now who makes those laws, and
whence came they, and how are they taught?
“_Ans._—Thou say’st ‘who’—therefore we cannot answer. Go back to
the first question and ask one at a time.
“_Q._—Well, who makes the laws?
“_A._—Spirits are not bondaged by _persons_.
“_Q._—Then how do you come to know those laws?
“_A._—Pharos will now answer. Spiritual laws are spiritually
perceived, as soon as the physical perceptions are got rid of.
“_Q._—Could you explain to us those laws?
“_A._—Courses of teaching from our side are as necessary for you
to understand even the rudimentary laws of Being, as courses in
your colleges; and guessed-at spirit knowledge from your bounded
view must always fail in accurate wording.”
It will be perceived that the answers to these questions are, from the
beginning, evasive; but the real idea entertained clearly shines through
the thin veil drawn over to conceal it. The questions pertain to the
source, or authorship, of the “laws of spiritual life;” and this would
generally be understood to be God. But on a technicality the spirits
refuse to answer. The question is made plainer, and the answer is that
“spirits are not bondaged by _persons_;” that is to say that spirits have
nothing to do with personalities, and that no personal being has anything
to do with those laws. There is therefore no God who formulates and
promulgates them. No wonder the question followed, how they came to know
these laws; and it was a very convenient answer that we will know when we
get there and have lost all physical perceptions. A desire for some
explanation of those laws is met with the not very satisfactory
information that they (the spirits) would have to give those in our sphere
a course of teaching, like a college course, before we could understand
even the rudimentary laws of Being. The only thing clear in all this is
that there is no God; at least no personal God such as the Bible reveals.
To the “grand whole,” whatever that may be, they give the name of the “All
of Being.” In answer to a question concerning “personalities,” they are
called “atoms emanating from the same source—parts of the great All of
Being, partaking of the general characteristics of the grand whole.”—_Page
149._
Reader, how does all this compare in your own mind with the God of the
Bible, the Creator of all things, the loving Father of us all, who has for
his creatures more tender regard and pity than a father can feel for his
own children, whose very name and nature is Love, and who has purposed
infinite good for all men, and will carry it out unless they, as free
moral agents, by their own sin, prevent his doing for them what he desires
to do? The Bible is not responsible for the aspersions cast upon God by a
false theology, which misrepresent his character and give occasion for the
charges of vindictiveness and vengeance and awful tyranny, so freely made
by fallen angels and wicked men. They do not belong to him who is the
source of all goodness and mercy; and we would labor to bring those who
have perverted views of God back to a right conception of the great Friend
of sinners, as he has revealed himself in his holy word.
2. _They Deny Jesus Christ._—Christ is revealed as the divine Son of the
Father; and to deny that he was or is any more than any other man is
surely to deny him; and the scripture says that “whosoever denieth the
Son, the same hath not the Father.” 1 John 2:23. The following is what the
“spirits” began to teach in the earliest stages of Spiritualism concerning
Christ:—
“What is the meaning of the word Christ?—’Tis not, as generally
supposed, the Son of the Creator of all things. Any just and
perfect being is Christ. The crucifixion of Christ is nothing more
than the crucifixion of the spirit, which all have to contend with
before becoming perfect and righteous. The miraculous conception
of Christ is merely a fabulous tale.”—_Spiritual Telegraph, No.
37._