In 1 John 4:1-3 we find the following inspired warning and declaration: —
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
Again to 2 John 7 we find a similar statement: “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.”
“Antichrist” means, “opposed to Christ.” The great antichrist, therefore, is Satan himself, for he is the instigator and abettor of everything that has ever come up in opposition to God and Christ. In Rev. 12:7-9 we find the following description of the first opposition to the Son of God, and its result: —
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Rev. 12:7-9).
Michael is the archangel (Jude 9), that is, the chief or prince of the angels; and the archangel is Christ, for it is the voice of the archangel that will be heard at the last great day, when the dead shall be raised (1 Thess. 4:16); and Christ declared (John 5:26-29) that his own voice would be the one that should penetrate the graves, and call forth the dead. Therefore this war in heaven was between Christ and his angels on one side, and Satan and his angels on the other side. It was the beginning of the great controversy, which has been going on till the present time. When Christ was on earth he again met the devil in person, and again vanquished him; but still the warfare is kept up; Satan still opposes Christ by seeking to blind the minds of men so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ may not shine unto them (2 Cor. 4:3, 4); and the contest will cease only with the utter destruction of Satan and all his works.
The apostle, however, in the text first quoted, does not speak of antichrist himself, but of the “spirit of antichrist;” that is, not of Satan in person, but of the doctrines, which he disseminates in order to blind the minds of them, that believe not. This spirit of antichrist is declared to be a denial that Jesus is come in the flesh. It is commonly supposed that this refers to Roman Catholicism. This is probably because in 2 Thess. 2:3, the Papacy is spoken of as the one, “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worship.” There is no question but that Roman Catholicism is antichrist; but we propose to demonstrate that what is known as modern Spiritualism is essentially the spirit of antichrist, being the direct mouth-piece of Satan himself, and that Roman Catholicism and other forms of error, whether of greater or lesser degree, are only outgrowths of the principle which is the very heart of Spiritualism.
Our first business is to inquire what it is to deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Of course the most direct method of denying that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is to deny the entire narrative contained in the gospels, to say that the whole thing is a fabrication, and that there never was such a person as Jesus Christ. But there are comparatively few in enlightened lands that deny that such a person as Jesus Christ ever lived on this earth. Many who will admit that such a person lived, and that he was a very good man, possibly the best man that ever lived, will still deny his divinity; they will not admit that he was the Son of God. Such persons do most emphatically deny that Jesus Christ is come the flesh, and are therefore deceived by the spirit of antichrist. But there is still another way in which the spirit of antichrist may be manifested, and that is by denying some essential part of the work of Christ, while still professing, to believe on him. Representatives of this class are brought to view in Matthew 7:21-23. This working of the spirit of antichrist is the most insidious of all, and is that which will wreck the greater part of those who will be lost. Let us examine it.
In the first chapter of John we have undoubted reference to Christ, under the title of “the Word.” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In the fourteenth verses we read of him: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” Grace means favor. Therefore the statement is that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of favor. That is the same as saying that Christ came in the flesh as an exhibition of the favor of God to man. And in harmony with this are the words of Paul, “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:13); he was “full of grace;” and so the apostle declares that the grace of God brings salvation. (Titus 2:11). Now go back again to the statement that when Christ was made flesh and dwelt among us, he was full of favor. This favor was the favor of God, for his fullness was the fullness of God (Col. 1:19; 2:9), and God was manifest in him, reconciling the world to himself. Now we read in Psalms 30:5 that “in his favor is life.” Therefore we conclude that Jesus Christ was made flesh and dwelt among us full of favor, in order to give life to men doomed to death; and this conclusion is strengthened by the statement, “In him was life; and the life was the light of man” (John 1:4).
The following texts show plainly that Christ’s sole object in coming to this earth was to give life to those who otherwise would not have had it: John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The obvious conclusion is that if he had not come, all men would have perished, and that although he has come, and none will have life except those who believe in him. And this conclusion is stated in so many words, in John 3:36: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
1 John 5:10-12: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
John 10:9, 10: “I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
These texts abundantly prove that to give life was the sole object of the manifestation of Christ in the flesh. Therefore we say that to deny that he alone gives life, —to claim that without Christ man may have life—even under the most distressing conditions—is virtually to deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, and is consequently the spirit of antichrist. For to deny the essential part of Christ’s work, —to deny the very thing and the only thing for which he was manifested in the flesh, full of grace and truth, —is the same as denying that he ever was manifest in the flesh at all. If men may have life without Christ, then his words, “Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life,” they might have responded, “We don’t need to, for we can have life, without coming to you.” And this they did say in effect.
The spirit of antichrist which is in the world is, therefore, when traced to its very simplest form, merely a denial that man is dependent upon Christ for life; it is the claim that all men will have life, whether they believe in Christ or not. This spirit is pre-eminently exemplified in modern Spiritualism. The fundamental principle of Spiritualism, and, indeed, the whole sum and substance of it, is the doctrine of the natural immortality of man. We will let Spiritualists define it in their own words. N. F. Ravlin, formerly a Baptist minister, and now one of the leading Spiritualist lecturers in California says: —
“The very central truth of Spiritualism is the power and possibility of spirit return, under certain conditions, to communicate with those in the material form.”
Mrs. E. L. Watson, a noted “inspirational” lecturer, in an address in San Francisco, in the Golden Gate of February 6, 1886, said:
“Spiritualism per se is a science; it is the demonstration of certain facts relative to the nature of man; it explains the psychical phenomena which have transpired in the past, and the mysteries which have surrounded us as spiritual beings. It demonstrates the fact of man’s continued existence after death, and enlightens us in regard to the manner of that existence.”
The standing motto of the Spiritual Magazine, for many years the leading Spiritualist publication in England, was this: —
“Spiritualism is based on the cardinal fact of spirit communion and influx; it is the effort to discover all truth relating to man’s spiritual nature, capacities, relations, duties, welfare, and destiny, and its application to a regenerative life. It recognizes a continuous divine inspiration in man. It aims, through a careful, reverent study of facts, at a knowledge of the laws and principles which govern the occult forces of the universe; of the relations of spirit to matter, and of man to God and the spiritual world. It is thus catholic and progressive, leading to true religion as at one with the highest philosophy.”
In an article entitled, “Spiritualism and Religion,” in the Golden Gate of July 9, 1887, John Weatherlee said: —
“The central idea of modern Spiritualism is the key-stone of the religious arch. That is, a continued existence.”
But the central idea of Spiritualism is diametrically opposed to the Bible, for that declares that there is no such thing as continued existence for man unless he is one of the righteous ones who shall be alive when the Lord comes, and who will be translated.
The patriarch Job said: “But man dies, and wastes away: yea, man gives up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decays and dries up; so man lies down, and rises not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep” (Job 14:10-12). And he adds: “His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; and they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them” (Job 14:21).
The psalmist says: “For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” (Ps. 6:5). Again: “The dead praise not the Lord, neither in the that go down into silence” (Ps. 115:17).. Again, still more positively: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goes forth, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” (Ps. 146:3, 4).
Solomon wrote: “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”
No matter how poor or how ignorant a man may be, he is infinitely richer and knows infinitely more than a dead man. The man who has barely conscience enough to know that he is going to die, and who knows not another thing, knows far more than a dead man; for the dead know not anything, —their thoughts have perished.
The dead are represented as dwelling in the dust, asleep. Thus Isaiah 26:19: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” And Daniel 12:2: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
All the Scripture declarations, and many more of like import—for the Bible teaches nothing different on this point—are contradicted by Spiritualism, which declares that man has a continued existence, and that there is no death. But this contradiction of the plain declaration of the Bible shows Spiritualism to be inspired by the spirit of antichrist; for the prophets spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21), and the Spirit of Christ was in them dictating all that they wrote. (1 Peter 1:10, 11).