We come now to our own time and to so-called Christian countries. In 2 Tim. 3 the apostle describes the condition of the mass of the professors of religion, in the days immediately preceding the coming of Christ. He says: —
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:1-7).
Compare this list of sins with the list given in Rom. 1:20-32, which were characteristic of the ancient heathen, and with the list of “the works of the flesh,” in Gal. 5:19-21, and it will be seen that all are the same, —the product of the same spirit. We shall have to recur to this text again, when we come to show the danger that threatens the churches at the present time; but first we must show the cause of this state of things to be Spiritualism, the same in modern as in ancient times. Now read further concerning these wicked ones in the last days, who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof: —
“Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Tim. 3:8).
The only ones besides Pharaoh, of whom we have any account that they resisted Moses, were the magicians whom Pharaoh called to his aid. Hence Jannes and Jambres are the names of the magicians who used their enchantments to confirm Pharaoh in his rebellion against God. It is sufficient to refer to the account in Exodus 7 and 8. When Moses performed miracles to prove his divine commission, the magicians and sorcerers did the same, up to a certain point. Their rods became serpents (Ex. 7:10, 12); they turned water into blood (Ex. 7:19-22); they brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt (Ex. 8:5-7); but when the third plague came, —the plague of lice, —they could not do the same with their enchantments, but were forced to say, “This is the finger of God” (Ex. 8:17-19). By the aid of the devils whom they worshiped, they performed miracles which served to harden Pharaoh’s heart against the truth; but they were not allowed to proceed very far before their folly was made manifest. Notice also, in this connection, that while the magicians could, with their enchantments, bring calamities, they could not cause those calamities to depart. This is in keeping with the character of the master whom the magicians served. Satan is the destroyer; to build up and do good is no part of his work.
The work, which the Egyptian magicians did, is the very work that modern Spiritualism is doing. Everybody who has given the subject any candid investigation must admit that modern Spiritualism is accompanied by wonders. It is true that there is a great deal of fraud connected with it. Many persons, who are unable to conjure up the evil spirits at will, seek the notoriety of genuine mediums by counterfeiting genuine manifestations. Nevertheless there are Spiritualistic manifestations that are not the work of sleight-of-hand performers. Many things have been accomplished which show the presence of a power not human. Of the many phenomena of Spiritualism, it will be sufficient to refer to slate-writing, as that is probably as good evidence of spirit power as has yet been afforded, and, under certain conditions, affords the least opportunity for collusion.
The phenomenon of slate writing has been manifested under conditions that absolutely precluded the possibility of any human intervention in the matter. The report of the Seybert Commission to investigate Spiritualism, says that when this writing is done the slates must always be concealed, and must be in contact with the medium, thus affording opportunity for the clean slates to be replaced by slates upon which messages have previously been written. But this is not so. The writing is often produced when the slates are at a considerable distance from any person, and under gaslight or in open daylight. It is a very common thing for people to bring their own slates, which they know are perfectly clean, lay them upon the floor in plain view, and several feet away from the medium, and have the writing produced while they watch. On one occasion, in the city of San Francisco, two slates that were perfectly clean were fastened together, with a pencil point between them, and were hung upon a lighted gas jet, in the presence of a large congregation. Without any person being within reach, the scratch of the pencil was distinctly heard, and in a few minutes the slates were covered with legible writing.
At another time two slates were fastened together as above described, and when they were opened, the surface of one was found to contain messages in twelve different languages, namely, English, Germany, French, Spanish, Italian, Egyptian, and old Asiatic or Assyrian cuneiform writing. We have in our possession a facsimile of the writing upon the slate. The slates were clean when the séance began, which was held in open daylight, and they were kept in sight all the time. More than this, the medium through whose influence the writing was obtained, had no knowledge of any language, except the English; and no person present had any knowledge of any language besides English, further than a smattering of Spanish and French. Therefore it is absolutely certain that no human being could have produced the writing upon the slate. The question is, who did the writing?
Spiritualists tell us that this writing was done by the spirits of men who once lived on this earth, and that such phenomena are proof that death does not put an end to conscious existence. But reason and revelation are both opposed to such an explanation. We have learned from the Bible that “the dead know not anything,” and that as soon as their breath goes forth their thoughts perish. We know that there is neither work nor device nor knowledge nor power, in the grave, whither all men go. But we know that there are spiritual beings whose nature is entirely different from that of man, who were created before man was, and that some of these beings, having sinned, and been cast down from their high estate in Heaven (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6), have ever since, together with their leader, Satan, been warring against the truth. These are the beings to whom we attribute this phenomena of Spiritualism, whether slate-writing, materialization, or anything else.
But then Spiritualists will ask, “How do you know that these spirits are evil spirits? And if these are evil spirits, then how do you know but that the beings that appeared to ancient prophets and the apostles were also evil spirits?” The answer to this is simple; we tell what kind of spirits they are by trying them. The apostle John says: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). And in trying these spirits we follow the directions given in Isa. 8:19, 20: “And when they say to you, Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter, should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Tried by this rule, the spirits that produce the phenomena of modern Spiritualism, like those that produced the wonders of ancient heathenism, are proved to be the spirits of devils. We shall allow the spirits and Spiritualists to speak for themselves.
We have already shown the similarity between modern Spiritualism and ancient heathenism, and we quote the following to show that Spiritualists themselves acknowledge that heathenism and Spiritualism are the same thing: —
“The oracles of Delphi were nothing more nor less than the utterance of spirits through the lips of sensitive’s.”—Gold Gate, January 22, 1887.
Again in the same journal, September 17, 1887, we find the following concerning Confucius: —
“In common with the majority of his countrymen, he believed in spirit communion, and we shall find that all Orientals are Spiritualists rather than idolaters when we understand them; their images are only symbols like the statutes in Catholic churches.”
We have already shown that all heathenism is devil-worship; therefore there need be no question as to the origin of Spiritualism, since it is identical with heathenism.