By Algernon J. Pollock, Weston-Super-Mare, England.
I. ORIGIN AND GROWTH
Modern Spiritualism claims as its birthday March 31, 1848, and the place of its birth Hydesville, Wayne County, New York, U.S.A.; but it is in reality almost as old as the world’s history, and will go on to its close.
That the number of adherents of Modern Spiritualism is amazingly large is borne out by Dr. F. Maack, of Hamburg, writing so recently as 1910. As an antagonist of Spiritualism, he is not likely to overstate the numbers. In Berlin alone, he says, there are probably 10,000 Spiritualists, among them exalted and court personages; 400 mediums, and from fifteen to twenty societies. In North America there are said to be 16,000,000 adherents; while in the whole world it was computed that in 1894 there were 60,000,000 Modern Spiritualists, with 200 journals exclusively devoted to the propaganda of this awful system. The number has grown considerably since. Add to these the demonized races of the heathen world; the millions of China, Japan and India; the countless tribes of Africa; the savage hordes of the Sudan; the cannibal inhabitants of the South Sea Islands; and you complete roughly the picture of Spiritualism covering the earth with darkness - Ancient Spiritualism in the East, and Modern Spiritualism in the West, bringing in its train wickedness of every hideous kind.
II. ATTRACTIONS OF SPIRITUALISM
Spiritualism, like all systems of error, works to a large extent underground. It does not present itself in its true colors to the uninitiated. Once a dupe is caught in its toils he is drawn farther and farther away from God.
Some are attracted to it through sheer curiosity. The love of the unknown allures them. Some, believing it to be mere trickery, think they can detect the fraud, and so get entangled in the real thing. That there is trickery in it is certain; but with full allowance for all this, there are effects produced which can be attributed only to the influence of personating demons. Others again are drawn into it by the deep desire to fill the aching void made by the death of a loved one. When David, after agonizing prayer for the life of Bathsheba’s child, heard of his death, he asked, “Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, BUT HE SHALL NOT RETURN TO ME” (2 Sam. 12: 23). David evidently knew nothing of intercourse with the spirits of the departed.
III. REFUSES TEST OF SCRIPTURE
A well-known spiritualistic author, writing under the nom de plume, “Oxford, M.A.,” says: “So long as you reply to our arguments with a text, we cannot teach you. Anyone who can so reply is beyond reach of reasonable teaching” (“Spirit Teachings,” p. 198).
The author of “Outlines of Spiritualism for the Young,” says: “To assert that it [the Bible] is a holy and Divine book, that God inspired the writers to make known His Divine will, is a gross outrage on, and misleading to, the public. … The truth is, the Old Testament is neither more nor less than Jewish history. … The New Testament is made up of traditions and theological speculations by unknown persons. A book so full of errors … requires to be read with care” (“Outlines,” pp. 13, 14).
Refusal of the Bible could not be more explicit.
IV. MODERN SPIRITUALISM FORETOLD
The rise and progress of Modern Spiritualism is clearly indicated in Holy Scripture: “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; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats” (1 Tim. 4:1-3). The gravity of the warning is emphasized by the way it is introduced, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly."
"SEDUCING SPIRITS”
So crafty is the enemy that the spirits often advise the uninitiated to pray and to read the Bible. While the immediate purpose of such advice is to gain the victim’s confidence, the ultimate object is to undermine faith in the Scriptures. The spirits giving such advice are well described as “seducing spirits.”
A lady, a Christian worker, was persuaded to attend a Spiritualistic meeting. She was advised to read the Bible and pray. This led her to believe that the spirit of a Christian was speaking to her. When the “seducing spirits” had thus gained her confidence, they led her to question certain parts of the Bible. The result was that she became a complete infidel, going absolutely to the bad, not only spiritually but morally. “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
In the temptation in the wilderness we see how Satan quoted Scripture, leaving out an essential part for his evil purpose; and we see how a text of Scripture sufficed for his defeat. Scripture clearly indicates deceitfulness as his chief characteristic. (2 Cor. 2:11; 2 Cor. 11:14, 15.)