XVI. He claimed to have been 'inspired' by the Archangel

Michael. Curiously enough, another 'prophet/ claiming to be inspired by another Archangel — Gabriel, to wit — namely, Mile. Cuedon, who made a stir in Paris, and whom a certain Abbe declared to be 'possessed' rather than 'inspired,' prophesied these same apparitions at Tilly a fortnight before they began."
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Satan's motto seems to be, Anything to deceive and bewilder humanity and to hinder the truth now due to them from reach- ing them. From an English Spiritist journal Light, we quote a statement of a seance, as follows:
"At a sitting which was being held one evening at the invita- tion of a mother who had just lost a dearly loved son, amongst other phenomena a remarkable light was seen. It was in the form of a beautiful radiant globe, the center of which was a bright blue of great brilliancy. It was apparently an immeas- urable distance away, the wall of the room offering no obstruc- tion to those who watched it, and it remained for about half an hour, when it gradually faded from their sight.
"All present were filled with a sense of deep reverence and veneration. The control [i. e., the spirit controlling the medium] explained that this was indeed the Light of Christ, who, in veri- fication of the belief which is now very generally held by Chris- tians of every denomination, is gradually approaching this earth; and in fulfilment of His words, spoken nearly two thou- sand years ago, is coming to establish His Kingdom, the reign of universal love and brotherhood, amongst us.
"The control further said : 'Write thus to the editor of Light. Tell him that light is coming to all men. It grows brighter day by day. This light is the Light that should lighten all men that come into the world. Love is embodied in it. Truth is bringing it. Wisdom teaches it. Faith reveals it. Hope nourishes it. Justice craves for it. Glory attends it. Peace claims it. Power waits for it. This remarkable light is attended by hosts of angels; by dwellers in the spheres of the Blest; by mighty con- querors; by those whose sins, being scarlet, now shine radiant in this Light; — Perfected good, perfected man, perfected light.
"Beautiful angels surrounded the medium. The Light ap- peared behind her ; but she was pleased to know that the great- est glory shone when she spoke of Christ's power. Although not herself viewing the greatest glory of the Light she saw it, far, far away, having a star-like radiance."
Just as at His first advent the evil spirits acknowledged Jesus, saying, "We know Thee, who Thou art" ; "What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God?" and as they testified of the Apostles: "These be the servants of the Most High God which show unto us the way of eternal life"; so today, as we have seen, some of them will testify occasionally to the Truth, commend Studies in the Scriptures, etc.; but it is safe to assume that it is all for a purpose, as a "bait" for those who are interested or seeking light along these lines, to eventually lead them off into some gross darkness. Let us constantly remember that these deceptions will become so bold, and be apparently so
10
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backed by advanced truth that they will, "if it were possible, deceive the very elect." — Matt. 24 : 24-26.
Under such circumstances there is but one safe course. It is not to stand still with closed eyes, panic-stricken : that will be impossible, very soon. It is to fully accept Christ Jesus the Redeemer, the Ransomer of the race, as your Savior and your Teacher, and to be controlled only by His Spirit of Truth ex- pressed to man through His Word — the Bible. So doing you will be kept by the power of God from all the snares of the wicked one; for the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that [obediently] believeth."
To what great dangers the people of Christendom are exposed we may judge when we remember that nearly all are laboring under the delusion of Satan, first enunciated to Mother Eve irt Eden — to her deception and fall. He then said, "Ye shall not surely die." He has kept up his side of the controversy since then, and the majority of God's people believe Satan's statement and disbelieve the Lord's Word; — holding that no one really dies, but that when death apparently takes place the person is thereby made "more alive than ever." Believing that none are really dead, we cannot wonder that Christendom totally rejects the Bible doctrine that the only hope for a future life rests in God's promise of a "resurrection of the dead," and makes non- sense of it by claiming that it is merely a resurrection of the body that died — which the Apostle declares will never be resur- rected— but a new body be substituted when the soul, the being is resurrected. — 1 Cor. 15: 12-18 and 36-38.
In evidence of the dangers along this line we note the fact that The Ram's Horn, a radical orthodox journal of Chicago, published on its outside cover a colored engraving representing a Christian mother with clasped hands, praying beside a little grave decorated with flowers, while just before her is shown the shadowy outline of her child approaching her. The editor of The Ram's Horn and his readers are like all other nominal Christians who neglect the teachings of God's Word on this subject — just ready for Satan's delusions to ensnare them.
Note also the following, clipped from The Philosophical Jour- nal (Spiritualist). Under the caption "Progressive Thought," the editor quotes from Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage as follows :
"Even Talmage progressed from the old faith, and believed in the return of the spirit to this world of ours after death. He preached a sermon at Washington on the 'Celestial World,' showing the employment of 'the departed' in that state of exist- ence. In answer to the question : 'What are the departed doing now ?' he said : 'That question is more easily answered than you might suppose,' and added :
" 'Their hand has forgotten its cunning, but the spirit has
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faculties as far superior to four fingers and a thumb as the su- pernatural is superior to the human. The reason that God took away their eye and their hand and their brain, was that He might give them something more limber, more wieldy, more skillful, more multipliant/
"Dr. Talmage said that the spirits, freed from the material body, are 'more limber, more skillful/ and 'are at their old business yet,' but with vastly improved faculties. He argued it thus: —
" 'Have you any idea that that affluence of faculty at death collapsed and perished? Why so, when there is more for them to look at, and they have keener appreciation of the beautiful, and they stand amid the very looms where the sunsets and the rainbows and the spring mornings are woven.
M 'Are you so obtuse as to suppose that because the painter drops his easel and the sculptor his chisel, and the engraver his knife, that therefore that taste, which he was enlarging or in- tensifying for forty or fifty years, is entirely obliterated?
' 'These artists, or friends of art, on earth worked in coarse material and with imperfect brain and with frail hand. Now they have carried their art into larger liberties and into wider circumferences.
' 'They are at their old business yet, but without the fatigues, without the limitations, without the hindrances of the terrestrial studio.'
"In answer to the question as to what the physicians are do- ing, since they passed to 'the beyond/ he said they are busy at their old business, and added :
" 'No sickness in heaven, but plenty of sickness on earth, plenty of wounds in the different parts of God's dominion to be healed and to be medicated. Those glorious souls are coming down, not in. lazy doctor's gig, but with lightning locomotion.
" 'You cannot understand why that patient got well after all the skillful doctors had said he must die. Perhaps Abercrombie touched him. I should not wonder if he had been back again to see some of his old patients. Those who had their joy in healing the sickness and the woes of earth, gone up to heaven are come forth again for benignant medicament/
"Then he propounded another question, as to what all the departed are doing now — who in earth-life were 'busy, and found their chief joy in doing good.' He replied: 'They are going right on with the work — John Howard visiting dungeons; the dead women of Northern and Southern battlefields still abroad looking for the wounded ; George Peabody still watching the poor; Thomas Clarkson still looking after the enslaved — all of those who did good ou earth, busier since death than before. The tombstone is not the terminus, but the starting-post/
146 Life — Death — Hereafter.
"He then concluded with this very emphatic language: — ' 'To show you that your departed friends are more alive than they ever were ; to make you homesick for heaven ; to give you an enlarged view of the glories to be revealed, I have preached this sermon.'
"Without the slightest doubt, then, Dr. DeWitt Talmage was a Spiritualist. He did not claim that cognomen, but he taught the grand tenets of our philosophy and admitted the consequent phenomena of the return of the spirit to visit mortals — spirit physicians to touch those given up to die by mortal physicians, and to heal them — to visit those in dungeons in order to relieve their distress — to watch the poor — to look after the enslaved — . and in this work to be 'busier since death than before !'
"If 'the departed are more alive than they ever were' — as Dr. Talmage affrmed in his closing remarks — then it is evident that he was correct in saying that 'the tombstone is not the terminus, but the starting-post' — the 'door' to the higher life, the entrance to the state of endless labor, grand possibilities, and eternal pro- gression.
"If Dr. Talmage thought more of these grand truths than of his clerical standing, he would have frankly avowed himself a Spiritualist.
"All the churches are rapidly becoming permeated with Spir- itual philosophy, and soon must either add to their structural confession these grand and inspiring verities, or sink into ob- livion in the twentieth century, when the cycle of evolution shall be completely rounded out."
Who can deny the logic of the Spiritualist editor in claiming Dr. Talmage as a Spiritualist, who refrained from fully ac- knowledging his identity? Who can doubt that the hundreds of thousands who read that discourse in the many journals which published Dr. Talmage's discourses regularly, accepted every item of its poisonous, unscriptural suggestion as gospel; because in full accord with what they had been taught from other pulpits, and especially at funeral services ? Alas ! the millions of Christendom are ready, ripe, for the evil work of these seducing spirits, and are accepting it.
Note the following hand-bill announcement of Spiritist per- formances and tests, given at Muskegon, Michigan. It is in display type and illustrated etchings showing shadowy forms, etc. — and was sent to us through the Lord's providence just in time for a notice here. It reads thus: —
"Opera House, under the auspices of the Religio-Philosophical Society of Boston, Mass.
"Spirit materializations, marvelous superhuman visions, Spir- itualistic rappings, slate writing, floating tables and'chairs, re- markable tests of the human mind, a human being isolated from
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surrounding objects floating in mid air. Behold the marvels of today ! Reflect on the one great question of the hour : Is there a spirit land? and what is the destiny of man? Do you want to be convinced that there is a hereafter? Do you believe in im- mortality? Do you believe in a soul world? or do you believe that death ends all ?
"Dr. Loyd Cooke, preeminently peer of spirit mediums, as- sisted by a number of mediums of note, on the open stage, will produce some of the most wonderful materializations ever wit- nessed in this country.
"The following are some of the tests that usually take place in the presence of these mediums : A table rises 4 to 5 feet and floats in mid-air. Spirit hands and faces are plainly seen and recognized by their friends. A guitar is played and passed around the room by the invisible power. Flowers are brought and passed to the audience by hands plainly seen. Bells are rung, harps are played, and other tests of a startling nature take place in the presence of these wonderful mediums, if the condi- tions are strictly complied with.
"A night of wonderful manifestations ! The veil drawn so that all may have an insight into the spirit world and behold many things that are strange and startling.
"The clergy, the press, learned synods and councils, sage philosophers and scientists; in fact, the whole world, has pro- claimed these philosophical idealisms to be an astounding fact. You are brought face to face with the spirits. A large piano is played upon without a living soul touching it. And many spirit forms upon the stage — sometimes eight or ten at a time — are proof positive of the genuineness of these mediums. They have been three years developing for the special purpose of demon- strating the facts of spirit power in full gas light !
"The invisible powers are constantly producing new and startling manifestations to convert the skeptical and strengthen the believer. Come and see for yourself. Take no one's word. Investigate and believe your own eyes. Be guided by your own reason. Believe nothing you hear ! Every man and woman has a right to see and think.
"Many ask: Ts there any truth in Spiritualism?' If you should attend this seance with these new mediums, you would never doubt again that the spirits do re-visit the earth, and can be seen and recognized by their friends. They will stand beside you and shake hands with any one who will ask them. Remem- ber, this seance is not like others you have attended. The forms seen here are not afraid of you, but will come so close to you that you cannot doubt their identity, and will satisfy you that they are not flesh of this earth. No one who has ever attended these seances can doubt the genuineness of these mediums. Re-
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member, these are newly developed mediums, just arrived at this place, and are recognized by all that have seen them to have the most powerful circle that has ever been brought to this country. Not in darkness, but in open light. You feel their touch. You see their disembodied forms. In plain, open light ! Every pos- sible means will be used to enlighten the auditors as to whether these so called wonders are enacted through the aid of spirits or are the result of natural agencies.
"Committees will be selected by the audience to assist, and to report their views as to the why and wherefore of the many very strange things that will be shown during the evening. This is done so that every person attending may learn the truth re- garding the tests, whether they are genuine or caused by ex- pert trickery. Doors open at 7.15. Commences at 8. A small admission will be charged."
Finding that Churchianity is popular, and a certain amount of formalism demanded by the people they seek to ensnare, Spiritists are organizing "churches" for the "worship" and "praise" of the "All Good" — the name they use instead of God. But since advanced Spiritists do not believe in a personal God this name merely represents to them — all good spirits, among whom they reckon Thomas Paine, Shakespeare, Judas and Nero, as well as Christ, Confucius and Buddha. In these "churches" — "Spiritualist," "Theosophical," and "Christian Scientist," all of the same cult, and all guided (unknown to many of their vo- taries) by the same master spirit — Satan — the preachers and evangelists are generally women: in marked contrast (what- ever the explanation) with the course pursued by the true Head of the one and only true Church, our Lord Jesus, who appointed twelve Apostles and seventy evangelists, all of them men.
The newspapers gave an account of a Spiritist baptism serv- ice, at the "First Church of Spiritualists," Pittsburgh, by Mrs. Ida Whitlock, of Boston, as follows : —
"When the babies' parents and godmothers had been assem- bled, deacons of the church brought out a long flower-decked rope, which they tied about the participants in the ceremony. Mrs. Whitlock gave each baby a "small bunch of carnations, handing them from a silver bowl. Having completed this cere- mony, Mrs. Whitlock took another silver bowl, and, advancing to each baby, she dipped into the bowl a rose and sprinkled the faces of those to be baptized, saying as she did so, T, Ida Whit- lock, by a power commissioned to me, do baptize thee, Anna Marie Klotz, in the name of the All Good.' "
The power commissioned to Mrs. Whitlock was certainly not from the Father, nor from the Son, nor by the Holy Spirit; and we feel confident it was from the one who backs all the tests and
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tricks and lies and obsessions — "Your Adversary the Devil." — 1 Pet. 5 : 8.
A Mr. Thori of St. Paul, Minn., once sent us the card of a Dr. Snyder of that city, who styled himself a Christian Spirit- ualist and claimed that he and others there held regular seances in which the Lord as a spirit being showed Himself to their mor- tal eyes. He said that about forty persons there had seen these manifestations. Three of them received "the communion" direct from the Lord's hand. The card received bore sixteen texts from the Bible, among which were the following: —
"God is a spirit."
"I am the light of the world."
"He that keepeth My commandments, he 'it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." — John 14: 21.
In large type at the head of the card, were these words : — "have you seen the lord? if not, why not?"
This Mr. Thori remarked that the Doctor appeared to be very pious, and professed faith in the Ransom and in restitution. The incident at once reminded Mr. Thori of the statement of Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II, page 158, which reads as follows : —
• "Among other such things some of them even teach that Christ is present, and we doubt not ere long they will give seances at which they will claim to show Him 'in the secret chamber.'" (Matt. 24:26.) Then Mr. T. called the Doctor's attention to this Scripture and this application of it ; but he was so enamored by the seducing spirits that he could make no appli- cation of it to his own experiences. He declared that it re- ferred to such preposterous frauds as Schweinfurth.
Here we see more of Satan's policy: he works one fraud against another. A few weak-minded people are deluded into thinking and claiming that they are "some great one" — Christs, etc. — and by hypnotic powers deluding a few into their "heav- ens," thus disgust more sensible people, who, believing that these frauds fulfil the scope of our Lord's warning, are off guard against the much more subtle deceptions of Spiritism which draw nearer and nearer daily.
Then again, true to his character as a deceiver, Satan begins all such performances with the outwardly devout. He puts a bait on his hook when he fishes for men. It will he found that self-willed Christians, no matter what their morals or faith, will be subject to snares of the great enemy. The full submission of the will to the will of God as expressed in His Word is abso- lutely necessary to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.
We will no doubt surprise some when we state that to our understanding "Christian Science," "Theosophy," "Mesmerism,"
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"Clairvoyance" and "Hypnotism," as well as "Swedenborgian- ism," are all related to Spiritism, and designed by the "seducing spirits" to enthral and "pass along" the various classes of man- kind who are now awakening out of mental lethargy; and to blind their eyes to the truth respecting the Lord and His Word. — 2 Cor. 4:4.
"Christian Science," by its attractive but deceptive name, no less than by its lying proposition that there is no pain, no sick- ness, no death, no sin, no devil, no Savior — nor need of any — by the very absurdity of its claims attracts the curious; and by its seeming harmlessness and "good works" ensnares the unguarded and uninstructed, who do not know "the depths of Satan." (Rev. 2:24.) Their processes for treatment of "imagined" diseases seem harmless, but are their cures therefore less of the demons and more of God than those of Spiritualists? While a pure faith in the first principles of the doctrines of Christ is not to be accepted as instead of good morals, the latter are never- theless to be considered as concomitants to every manifestation of Divine favor and power. All, therefore, who deny our Lord Jesus as the Redeemer of mankind "who gave His life a Ransom-price for many," are not of God, and their "wonderful works," whether good or bad, are not to be credited to Divine power.
It may be questioned by some whether Satan and his asso- ciates can be charged on the one hand with causing sickness and death (Heb. 2: 14), and on the other hand with healing the sick and casting out devils. Would not this seem to be an oppo- sition to his own kingdom not supposable of any intelligent being? "If Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?" — Matt. 12:25, 26; Mark 3 : 24-26.
Very true ; and this shows to what straits "the prince of this world" is reduced by the great increase of intelligence shining in upon the world during the .past century. The demons must sham to be "angels of light," teachers of advanced truths and good physicians, both of souls and bodies, in order to reensnare those who are feeling after God, if haply they might find Him. (Acts 17: 27.) The words of inspiration give us to understand that Satan's struggles to retain control of mankind will be spe- cially desperate at its close — before he is "bound" for the thou- sand years that he may deceive the nations no more. — Rev. 20:1.
Here will be one of the "strong delusions" mentioned by the Apostle Paul, to cope with which God's people will have need of "the whole armor of God" that they "may be able to stand in this evil day." (2 Thess. 2: 9-12; Eph. 6: n-13.) We are now in the period of which he cautions us to be specially on guard against "seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." ( 1 Tim, 4 ; 1.)
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Here the Apostle Peter tells us to '"beware lest ye also being led away [seduced] by the error of the wicked [one] fall from your own steadfastness." (2 Pet. 3: 17.) Hence the Lord tells us to watch and pray to escape the delusions which will be so strong as to "deceive if it were possible the very elect." (Matt. 24: 24.) Shall we, in view of these warnings, expect no "strong delusions," deceptions from the wicked spirits? Nay; we ex- pect far more during the next few years than even Spiritists have dreamed of hitherto.
But if Satan and his, faithful have a knowledge of curative agencies and skill in their application let us not forget that he has great malific power also. This has already been demon- strated. Take the case of Jannes and Jambres, the celebrated mediums and magicians of Egypt, who in the presence of Pharaoh duplicated many of the miracles performed by Divine power through Moses and Aaron. They could transform their rods into serpents; they also turned water into blood; they also produced frogs, although they could not duplicate the plagues of lice, etc. — Exod. 7: 11, 22; 8:7.
We have every reason to believe that the fallen spirits have learned considerable during the past four thousand years and that they have a much wider range of power today. We are in- clined to believe that the grasshopper plagues and the multitudi- nous farmer-pests and the spores and microbes of disease that are afflicting human and animal life in recent times, may be manifestations of the same power for evil. Similarly Satan is "the prince of the power of the air," and is malevolent enough to exercise his powers to the extent of Divine permission. This might account in part for the great floods, cyclones and torna- does of recent years.
But surely such forces of nature are not left in the charge of demons ? some one inquires.
Not entirely — most assuredly not; otherwise we may doubt if the world would be at all habitable. Take the case of Job: as soon as Divine restraints upon Satan were released, he moved the Sabeans to steal Job's cattle and to kill his servants; he caused fire to come down from heaven, which not only killed but burned up Job's flocks of sheep ; he sent the Chaldeans who stole Job's camels, and finally produced a cyclone which smote the house in which Job's children were feasting together, and destroyed the house and killed its occupants; and he attacked Job's person with disease as soon as granted permission. — Job 1:9-2:7.
There* is no question that Satan and his legions are as able and as willing as ever to do all the mischief that Divine Wisdom may see fit to permit them to do. It only remains, therefore, to notice that God has not only foretold that He will permit them
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to have great power in the end of this Age, but also why He does so. He tells us that He is about to "pour out His indigna- tion, even all His fierce anger," upon the world of mankind, as a chastisement for sin and for a correction toward righteousness ; to humble mankind and to prepare them for the blessings of the Millennial Kingdom. All are familiar with the plagues foretold in the book of Revelation to be poured upon the world in the end and judgment of this Age. Of these the plagues upon Egypt were illustrations — even though these "last" plagues be described in symbols. But let us always remember God's care over His people to preserve them from every calamity which would not under Divine supervision work out for them some valuable lesson or experience; and let us remember that He is able and willing to overrule the wrath of men and of devils and to restrain the remainder that would hinder His grand purposes.
The following words of Rev. A. B. Simpson some years ago are quite to the point: —
"The healing of diseases is also said to follow the practices of Spiritualism, and Animal Magnetism, Clairvoyance, etc. We will not deny that while some of the manifestations of Spiritual- ism are undoubted frauds, there are many that are unquestion- ably supernatural, and are produced by forces for which Phys- ical Science has no explanation. It is no use to try to meet this terrific monster of Spiritualism, in which, as Joseph Cook says, is, perhaps, the great if of our immediate future in England and America, with the hasty and shallow denial of the facts, or their explanation as tricks of legerdemain. They are often un- doubtedly real and superhuman. They are 'the spirits of devils working miracles,' gathering men for Armageddon. They are the revived forces of the Egyptian magicians, the Grecian oracles, the Roman haruspices, the Indian medicine-men. They are not divine, they are less than omnipotent, but they are more than human. Our Lord has expressly warned us of them, and told us to test them, not by their power, but by their fruits, their holiness, humility and homage to the name of Jesus and the Word of God; and their very existence renders it the more im- perative that we should be able to present against them — like the rod of Moses which swallowed the magicians', and at last silenced their limited power — the living forces of a holy Chris- tianity."
In conclusion let Spiritual Israel hear the Word of the Lord to fleshly Israel : —
"When thou art come into the land which the Lord Jhy God giveth thee, thou shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that . . . useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
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spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord; and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee." — Deut. 18:9-12.
"When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter : Should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead ? To the law and the testimony : if they speak not according" to this word, it is because there is no light in them." — Isa. 8 : 19, 20.
The Scriptures expressly show that the fallen spirits would be held under restraint for a long time, and that those restraints would gradually be relaxed in the closing of this Gospel Age, in the lapping of the Millennial Age. The record is that they were ''restrained [in Tartarus, our atmosphere] in lasting chains of darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day." (Jude 6; 2 Pet. 2:4.) As now the "Great Day" is here, it is not surprising to watchers to note that the chains are being gradually loosened, and that these "wicked spirits" have greater liberties than ever before.
There is still danger to those who "don't believe in spirits," and who regard as superstitious the Bible narratives of how our Lord and the Apostles cast out demons, and how all wizards, witches, necromancers and others who proposed to hold inter- course with the dead were strictly prohibited in Israel. There is more danger to the self-confident, who "dare investigate any- thing," and who boast "a mind of their own," than to the hum- bler ones who say, "Let us fear to tamper with what God has forbidden." To many of the boldly self-confident curiosity is the demons* trap. Before they are aware of it they are snared. The beginning of the trap is a bait to curiosity — a visit to a "medium," "a seance" with friends, or a "planchette" or an "ouija board" at a neighbor's home.
The Scriptures forewarn us that we are no match intellec- tually for the wicked spirits, and need to give heed to the pro- tections afforded us in the counsels of the Lord's Word. In the end of the Jewish Age many were afflicted with evil spirits, and a considerable part of our Lord's work and of His representa- tives was referred to by the Seventy when reporting to our Lord — "Even the demons are subject unto us in Thy name." (Luke 10: 17.) So prominent is this matter in the four Gospels that they contain forty-two references to these demons — mis- translated "devils" in our Common Version.
The Apostle points out that in the end of this Age the Lord will "send," or permit to come, upon Christendom, "strong delu- sions," that they may believe a lie — that they all may be con- demned. (2 Thess. 2; ilf 12.) Thank God, we see clearly that
154 Life — Death — Hereafter.
they will not be condemned to everlasting torture. Oh, no! That blasphemous misrepresentation of God's Word is one of the devices of these "wicked spirits," by which they would drive men away from God, by which they would blind them to His real character. But we are now in the close of the "Harvest," and the wheat must be separated from the tares, and these "strong delusions" will be permitted to demonstrate who have loved and obeyed the Lord's counsel and who, not doing this, are to be adjudged unworthy of the high rewards soon to be given to the "overcomers."
The context shows this, declaring in so many words that the "delusions" will ensnare them because "they received not the truth in the love of it !" The "truth" is that the dead are dead, and cannot re-live except by Divine power exercised for their awakening from this death-sleep. This plain truth, so abun- dantly set forth in the Scriptures, is not relished by any except the truth-hungry. Others tell us that they do not like to believe thus ; that they prefer to think of the dead as not being dead, but more alive than ever. Rejecting the plain truth as God pre- sented it, and preferring Satan's lie, "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4), these are easy marks for the demons who are con- stantly striving to perpetuate the lie which deceived Mother Eve in Eden. They will now be permitted to personate the dead so successfully as to be a "strong delusion," which "if it were pos- sible [if the Lord did not protect them by the 'armor of God'] would deceive the very elect." — Matt. 24 : 24.
Spiritism cunningly feigns, for a time, that its manifestations are the exercise of human powers. Thus it gains access to the hearts of men and women who dread demonism instinctively. Gradually, however, it comes to be conceded that the spirits are at the bottom of these powers, which are at least partially "occult." For years we have been almost alone in opposing hypnotism, telepathy, etc., as Spiritism in a new form ; but now no less a celebrity than Professor J. H. Hyslop, formerly "Teacher of Logic and Ethics" in Columbia University, and a leading light in The American Society for Psychical Research, conceded that spirits have to do with such matters — not demons, but in his supposition "spirits of dead humans."
Professor Hyslop was quoted in the New York American thus : —
"Telepathy is not a matter of thought waves. The solution is so simple as to be astounding. Messages are carried from mind to mind by the spirits. Mediumistic qualities are necessary, but, possessed of these and able to get in touch with the spirit world, telepathy should become as easy of accomplishment as the tele- graphing of a message with wires.
"None but scientists should tamper with the weird phenomena
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of nature represented by telepathy," said Dr. Hyslop. "Every investigation should be made sanely and every experiment approached with a mind clear, impartial and prepared to weigh and balance every fact as carefully as though it were a pre- cious gem.
"Our experiments in telepathy I regard as convincing if not wholly satisfactory in number or in the ability to repeat them at will.
"In these experiments we used Mrs. Piper, who was sent to England in care of the British Society. She was allowed to come into contact with no one not in league with the persons making the experiments. We began our experiments in long distance telepathy in the hope of eventually getting a message across the Atlantic, but failed time after time.
"Finally we scored a success. It was as remarkable as it was unexpected. The message was sent across the ocean in a way to demonstrate perfectly the possibilities of long distance telepa- thy. The experiment was conducted in a manner to eliminate any trace of fraud or deception. It was sent in English and delivered in Latin."
In an article over his own signature in the New York World, Professor Hyslop said :
"That there would be great difficulties in communicating, if spirits actually exist, would naturally be taken for granted by intelligent people. The silence of so many discarnate spirits through the ages, if they exist, would be sufficient proof of that fact, as well as what we know of the difficulty of communica- tions between living people, when they have no common lan- guage as a means of it. But there happen to be additional rea- sons for this difficulty, and they should be mentioned in order that the layman (we ought not to mention it to the scientist) . may see and appreciate the reasons why the communications take the form which they show. The first of these is the abnor- mal mental and physical condition of the medium, specifically to illustrate, as in the case of Mrs. Piper. But this is not the chief reason that the communications are trivial and confused, or lacking in the kind of information wanted. The reason for these characteristics is deeper still. It is that the communicator is himself in an abnormal mental condition while communicating. It may be compared to a delirious dream, or to certain types of secondary personality in the living, or even to the trance of Mrs. Piper, in some of its aspects."
Rev. I. K. Funk, D.D., of New York City, the widely known Lutheran minister, had some thrilling experiences with spirits and published them to the world, asserting, however, what even Spiritualists will admit, that some of the so-called manifesta- tions are frauds; that others are by deceiving or "lying spirits."
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His investigations, like those of Professor Hyslop, show the trend of our times, and give a hint of what we may expect when shortly the whole world will turn to the investigation of Spir- itism as "the only proof that the dead are not dead."
"Discussing psychical science in an address tonight before the American Institute for Scientific Research in the home of C. Griswold Bourne, the Rev. R. Heber Newton made the assertion that the spirits of the dead communicate with the living; that telepathy is a power possessed by many men and women, and that clairvoyance is an established scientific fact. Said he in part : 'Clairvoyance was nothing but a will o' the wisp, but it is now a confessed power of certain organizations. Mollie Fancher, over in Brooklyn, has proved stronger than the incre- dulity of our savants. The belief in the existence of unseen spirits and of their power of communication with us in the flesh is one of the oldest, most widespread and most insistent beliefs of man, and it has revived strangely in our day.
" 'For the first time in the history of man these powers have been scientifically investigated in our day. Already the result is that a considerable number of eminent men of science have had the courage to avow that, after allowing for illusion, fraud and every possible hypothesis of interpretation, they have been driven up to the ultimate solution of the problem — the belief in the actual communication of the spirits of those whom we call dead with the living.
" 'Anyone who walks with his eyes open, ready to hear what men have to tell, will find stories pouring in upon him from men whom he cannot mistrust as liars, and whom he knows to be sane and sensible, which will stagger him. These experiences are not at all confined to the seance and the medium. Their most im- pressive forms occur in the privacy of the home without a pro- fessional medium present.' " — Pittsburgh Gazette.
It does not surprise us that Spiritism, like Christian Science, is aiming for the influential. Whatever else the fallen angels may be they are "wily," cunning. The Lord's people, on the contrary, number "not many wise, not many great, not' many learned, not many rich, not many noble, but chiefly the poor of this world, rich in faith." — Jas. 2 : 5.
A lady who had been a Spiritist, tells of how she developed the "clairaudient ear," or the power of hearing the spirits when others heard nothing. (And, by the way, all should avoid every- thing of this kind as they would avoid a plague; they should, if approached thus, at once turn their hearts to the Lord in prayer for aid to resist the intrusion.) This woman's relatives have been interested for some years in Present Truth, and pointed out to her that her communings were not with dead friends, but with the fallen angels, •"demons," and finally got her to the point
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of reading "Studies in the Scriptures." This displeased the "spirits," who for a time almost prevented her study by an in- cessant opposition, such as "Don't read that," "That's not true," etc., etc. Gradually she asserted her will, calling on the Lord for help, and we understand that now she is quite free from their intrusions.
Another case which came to our attention was that of a boy of 19 years, in Eastern Pennsylvania, who was terribly op- pressed by demons. One of the Lord's people, hearing of the case, called to see him, taking a copy of the Spiritism pamphlet. Its presence so aggravated the boy that it had to be removed before the brother could talk to the possessed one. The spirits having him under their control nearly set him wild until the book was removed. "The darkness hateth the light." We do not doubt that these evil spirits would do injury to the servants of the Truth if permitted. Evidently they are under some restraint as respects the Lord's people. Later on they may be permitted to operate through others, as Satan entered into Judas before the betrayal.
The following from an exchange, The Prophetic News, may serve to further emphasize the foregoing :
"I was induced to yield my hand to be controlled by a spirit, in consequence of reading what Mr. Stead wrote in the Review of Review's about Spirit-Writing. Thus was the first step taken on this forbidden yet fascinating course. I look back on that first step and remember that I never uttered, in the perplexity that filled my mind, a prayer to God. I should have at once sought the guidance of God. Before I thought of so doing, I was seized with the desire to seek this newly-found source of help. I fear much I am not alone in being foolishly misguided by the perusal of spiritualistic literature which is now being cir- culated far and wide in England.
"The spirit that came and offered me his aid forbade my pray- ing to God, assigning as a reason that I was now under special heavenly guidance, superseding the need of prayer, and that my heavenly inheritance was sure. That was strange counsel, and it was still stranger that I should have for one moment harbored it ; but harbor it I did.
"But, in addition, this messenger of Satan forbade my study of the Scriptures, for I had lately commenced a methodical read- ing thereof. The reason given for this on the part of my evil counsellor was that the work I was now under so strong an obli- gation to execute, was so urgent that no time could be spared for other mental occupation.
"Under the pretense of aiding me I was now 'interviewed' by other spirits, who declared themselves to be the spirits of de- parted mortals. One assumed the character of what I might
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call ultra piety, and warned me from coming into association with and under the influence of a certain minister of the Gospel residing in the neighborhood — one who would certainly have counselled me in my perplexed state of mind with wisdom — but against him my 'interviewer' uttered base slanders. This spirit hindered me greatly by making long discourses.
"Another spirit declared himself to have been the former English ambassador to the nation of these persecuted Christians concerning whose distressing condition my heart was bleeding; and in language befitting a statesman he related his remarkable experience in the executing of his ambassadorial office. Then he desired my work to take a form which I subsequently found to be the worst under the circumstances, and that I should com- municate it to an important public functionary. This was so opposed to my judgment that I could not yield assent to it.
"After this the first spirit that came to me under the garb of a guardian angel declared that the spirit of my beloved mother had been permitted to visit me for a few minutes, and that she entreated me to transmit a message to a relative residing abroad, and that, though I was ignorant of the purport of this message, she would herself guide my pen in writing it down. I took the pen into my hand, holding it loosely for her to guide it. A strong wish came upon me to see my mother's form. Then, to my great astonishment, her portrait was instantaneously and with con- summate skill drawn on the paper before me. I now watched with breathless interest the writing of the message. It was traced in her well-known (to me) handwriting. Only two words were written, but they were written three times. The words written, with tremulous haste and urgency, were save souls, and with a quick movement the pen was made to drop.
"Such a message from such a source smote my heart with its deep solemnity. But I could not bring myself to send the mes- sage. I felt it would be wrong to send it. The relative for whom it was intended was already engaged in Christian mission work, and somehow I shrank from bringing on his mind the in- fluence of a message from whence I hardly knew. I felt a total disinclination for any further communications from spirits, and I determined to receive no more from so dubious a source. But T was not to be so easily disentangled from this net into which in an evil moment I had deliberately placed my feet.
"In disgust, and as if to take a plunge out of the vortex into which I had been stealthily drawn, I threw into the fire the por- trait of my mother and all the spirit-writing. I would not be- lieve that the spirit of that dear Christian — my mother — was wandering on this earth in company with others who gave me such disastrous counsels, and failed in their promise to strengthen and aid me. I even came to the conclusion that these spirits had
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attempted an impersonation of that departed saint, and had written that solemn message in order to induce me to believe in their celestial character and the sanctity of their intentions, that I might be induced to follow their perilous injunctions.
"To justify their proceedings they were apt in misquoting Scripture. There was a terrible mystery in this, and it filled me with dire forebodings. I then said to myself, half aloud, 'Can it be possible that there are evil spirits who have power to com- municate with mortals and deceive them?'
"A spirit answered, 'Yes,' and added that they themselves would now act evilly towards me and that I was in their power to be punished, since I had sought to obtain knowledge forbidden to mortals.
"With this startling declaration they changed their character and conduct to me.
"I now believed that I had committed a sin in consulting them ; but it was done in ignorance (it was a culpable ignorance, nevertheless) and with innocent intent. Surely I could trust in Divine mercy to pardon me.
"But the spirit answered my thought by declaring that the Divine mercy should not reach me, but that he would accuse me before the Recording* Angel of this deadly sin — intercourse with spirits — and would call for immediate judgment !
"Let it be remembered that these very spirits by their lying deception had induced me to cease from. prayer and the study of Scripture, and had declared that my heavenly inheritance was sure. They left me to execute their threat.
"Soon after this a remarkable vision appeared by the per- mitted instrumentality of these tormentors. One night the wall at the end of my room seemed to vanish, and a large open space appeared. At one side was a dais with steps which appeared to lead up to an exalted throne, half hidden by clouds. Before the dais a number of celestial beings stood in a semi-circle, and, apart from the rest, at the foot of the dais, was a terrible form. I knew this was the 'Prince of Darkness,' and I instinctively felt he was there as my accuser, and I seemed to have no advocate. This terrible vision at first seemed a confirmation of the spirit's threat, yet there was one essential difference. It was not, as they said, an avenging angel, but Satan, who accused me. I wanted to reflect on this vision and the new conditions environ- ing me, but spirit voices continually interrupted me, so that I could neither think nor pray, but only repeat to myself some such words as 'O Lord, in Thee have I trusted ; let me never be confounded.'
"I could not stop their verbal communications, their small but intensely clear voices followed me everywhere.
"The spirits told me that the torments of hell, in which I had
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not believed, awaited me, and that in the internal fires of the earth souls were in torment; and that the intensity of the pun- ishment was proportioned to the guilt of the offender. They declared that I should know by experience the reality of eternal punishment that very night. The fact that I was still in mortal flesh would not impede them; there appeared to be some truth in their threat that they could cause death — or rather, the cessa- tion of mortal existence, for they gave me an immediate and startling demonstration of their power in causing violent spasms and palpitations of the heart, while I was quite calm in mind. Indeed my imperturbable calmness caused them to remark that I was one of the bravest of mortals, but they would yet over- come me with greater terrors. But I ultimately found that they possessed no supreme power over the 'King of Terrors.' They then left me, and in the darkness and the silence of the night I waited, expectantly, believing that a terrible ordeal awaited me, for I knew that my enemies were powerful and malignant.
"The wall of my room again seemed to disappear, and I was conscious that a spirit had entered and touched me, and a voice declared that he who had entered was an administrator of jus- tice in the infernal regions. He demanded of me if I knew why he had been summoned to me.
"I replied that I only knew that my enemies accused me, and that if he was the servant of God I desired him to tell me what was the will of God that I should now do, for I desired only to know, and do that will.
"He answered in some such words as these : 'You are free ; you cannot come within my province. I only punish those who will not obey God, and now I leave you.'
"I was inexpressibly thankful to be delivered from such threatening peril, and that a powerful spirit had acknowledged that Divine Power overruled in hell, and that he acted in sub- serviance to it.
"All these spiritualistic manifestations were far from being the phantasmagoria of dream or fancy; they too evidently be- longed to the stern and abiding realities of life. They were manifestations of that great, and potent, and eternal realm of spiritual power which mortal vision may not yet behold. Throughout this ordeal I was calm, and possessed that intensifi- cation of consciousness that is aroused by tragic circumstances.
"I resolved that as I had encountered these unique and tragic conditions not from personal needs or seeking personal aims, the result of this experience should also have a wider range of influence.
"I had more to learn and to endure. I was even to learn that my deliverance from the power of demons, like my faith, was of an imperfect character.
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"The remainder of the night I passed in peace. In the morn- ing I recommenced the study of Holy Scripture; it became to me the most important concern of my life.
"But to my great distress the evil spirits immediately returned to me with ceaseless interruptions to prevent my study. They determined to keep me from the knowledge of a full deliverance.
"Thy compelled me to listen to their account of an insurrec- tion on earth against Divine power which they had long been planning, but which was ere long to be carried out. They as- serted that their mighty potentate and chief had obtained the vicegerency of earth, that he was the prince of this world, and that he would subjugate it as it never yet had been subjugated to his control, and that he would raise a storm of persecution against the followers of Christ. There was, in fact, to be a new putting forth of hellish influence upon the earth.
"I was compelled to hear from these spirits the unfolding of their diabolical scheme. They brought many proofs to substan- tiate the fact that their power on earth was already greatly in- creased and was increasing. The prospects, therefore, that seemed in store for the world overwhelmed me with dismay. They asserted that their great potentate — 'the god of this world' (Satan) — had so subverted Christendom that at least the great ecclesiastical systems known as the Roman, Greek and Anglican Churches would more entirely be subservient to him. I was in- clined to disbelieve their statements. I wished that they could have been disproved, but facts appeared to corroborate them. I then for the first time observed that the Church of Rome was gaining great power, and as for the Greek Church in Russia, it was then inflicting terrible persecutions on the true followers of Christ — Christians — who would not practise idolatry.
"It was now made apparent to me that these spirits who had hypocritically proffered their aid for the persecuted Christians had themselves instigated idolatrous Churchmen to persecute them. I gathered further that the servants of the great poten- tate of darkness had sown error and discord freely in the other churches in Christendom, and that these would advance in error and in distance from God ; that they had power to distract the attention and to deaden the perceptions of men who otherwise would arrest the progress of evil.
"The spirits then spoke with sardonic triumph of their school of materialistic philosophy and their teaching on Cosmogony as opposing that of the Book of Genesis — a system that modern science has found so acceptable as appearing to fit in with what the bowels of the earth have displayed, but which entirely leaves out of its thoughts the operation of God's hand in judgment at the fall of man, when not only man was morally and physically ruined, but that which was once pronounced Very good' fell
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with the first man, so that the 'whole creation' — material and immaterial — groans for deliverance.
"A spirit calling himself Lord Beaconsfield declared that he would aid me by dictating a work of fiction that should surpass all his earthly efforts and would produce a small fortune for me, and that I should thus obtain the reputation of being a great genius by simply acting as his amanuensis, and he added the more alluring temptation to me — that the spirits could and would confer on me such knowledge and power that I myself should be considered by the world as a brilliant writer, and win fame and fortune.
"Perhaps his offer has been made to and accepted by some of our present writers of brilliant but pernicious fiction, especially those who have popularized and dignified Satan himself; some of whom I know are students of Occultism.
"One spirit professed to be the originator of such systems as Theosophy and Agnosticism. They had previously declared that 'thought-reading' was under their domination and effected by them. I gathered, generally, though it was not very clearly ex- pressed, that mesmerism and hypnotism were likewise agencies in their hands.
"And now, as another confirmation of the ascendancy the spirits still had over me, they fulfilled their previous threat to call blaspheming demons to madden me. At their bidding these base spirits came and uttered horrible blasphemies until it seemed as if all hell was let loose upon me for a little "while. Then the spirits used one last awful device to overthrow me, and nearly succeeded. '
"In the midst of all these difficulties and dangers by which I was well-nigh overwhelmed, a commanding voice from an in- visible spirit called me, saying words to this effect, 'That I had become so environed and besieged by evil spirits that there was no deliverance for me on earth, and that he — an angel of the Lord — had descended from heaven to bear me this command from the Lord Jesus — that I must die by my own hand to * escape my persecutors, and that my soul should then find rest in heaven.' I had so strong a desire for life that nothing less than a Divine command, as I believed it, could have induced me to take my life.
"I did not question the words proceeding evidently from so high an authority. I could not conceive it possible that the spirits' would command mortals to die by using the sacred name of Christ. Yet it was the device of the Devil and I fell into it.
"I was perfectly calm in my mind and determined I would obey the Divine command, and trust in the Lord. Then, in the last prayer I thought to breathe on earth, I protested to the Almighty that I took my life believing I was acting at the bid-
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ding of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thereupon I drank a poisonous draft and quickly fell into a comatose state, but I did not awake in hell or in heaven, for I was allowed to recover, though only after much difficulty and suffering.
"But whilst I was recovering, the inexorable voice repeated the previous message, upon which I seized an instrument; the only instrument at hand was a very small dagger, with which, having failed to cut my throat, I severed the temporal artery. Determined to make death swift and sure this time, I endeav- ored to cut another artery, and with the blood streaming from my head I fell to the ground insensible.
"Again the spirits were foiled in their intention. The noise of my fall instantly brought assistance, and I recovered. My recovery was, I might almost say, a miracle. I am convinced that God did in a very remarkable way interpose His healing hand that I might be physically healed.
"But above all I was delivered from the tormenting presence and persecution of these demons. Christ, who when on earth healed those who were demonized, and 'healed all that were op- pressed of the devil,' mercifully healed me; He commanded them to leave me. I recognized the supreme need of a Re- deemer. I believed His Word that 'No man cometh unto the Father but by Me, and he that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.' I knew of the Blood. of Jesus which cleanses from all sin — of that one offering perfected on the Cross by which Christ has perfected His believing people. This blessed knowledge dawned upon my soul despite all the efforts of the powers of darkness to prevent me from obtaining it.
"I beg every reader of this to fly from Spiritualism. Do not play with tools such as 'Planchette,' 'thought-reading,' 'Ouija boards,' etc. I feel that my life has been preserved that I might use this personal experience and knowledge of Satanic power that I have passed through, and witness against the snares of Spiritualism, declare its Satanic nature, and the potency of Christ as a Deliverer from it."
The above shows something of the ingenuity and versatility of the demons. To some, on the contrary, they report that there is no hell. To Swendenborg they gave visions of seven hells and seven heavens, which helped him frame a new religion to entrap honest souls. How evidently we all need to "hold fast the faith- ful Word." The Apostle forewarned us we should specially need this "armor" as the "evil day" draws on.
"For this cause was the Gospel preached to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." (1 Pet. 4:6.) No Bible topic requires more careful discrimination in its study than does the subject of death. This is mainly because of the
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general confusion of mind which came upon Christendom during the long centuries of the Church's comparative darkness, when Bibles (the Lamp of God upon the Christian path), were scarce, and when few could read the truths of priceless value, that were chained to lecterns. In consequence of this confusion we hear intelligent people talk ignorantly and stupidly respecting death. They make confusion worse confounded by telling us of Adam's spiritual death and discussing "natural" death and "the death that never dies," etc., etc.
To get the Bible view of death we need to brush away such foolish babblings and confine ourselves to Bible language and the rational thought connected therewith. For instance, accord- ing to the Bible, there is no "natural death" — it is not natural for man to die. It is according to the Bible arrangement and man's nature that he, as well as angels, should live — live eter- nally, if obedient to the Divine commands. Death, therefore, is the unnatural thing! Do we think of angels as dying, and of Heaven as filled with cemeteries ? Have they doctors and under- takers there? Surely not! Yet it would be just as proper to speak of natural death amongst the angels as in respect to men. But neither is proper.
The term spiritual death so frequently used respecting Adam and his fall is wholly unscriptural. No such expression is found in the Bible; neither such a thought. Adam could not die a spiritual death, because he was not a spirit being. He was an earthly being — not an angel, but a man. As the Scriptures de- clare of Adam, "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels ; and crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands" ; "over the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air." — Het* 2:j; Psa. 8 : 5-8.
From the moment of disobedience and Divine condemnation Adam and his race have been judicially dead and gradually going down, down, down, in degradation and into the tomb.
Speaking of the dying race from the judicial standpoint our Savior called them all dead. He declared that none has even a reckoned life, except such as by faith accept Him as their Life- giver — Savior. His words are, "He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son shall not see life." Speaking to one who believed on Him the Savior said, "Let the dead bury their dead" ; go thou and preach the Gospel. (Matt. 8 : 22.) From the right standpoint His meaning is evident. Let the dead, the con- demned and legally dead world, look out for its own affairs. You become one of My followers and carry My message of life and love to as many as have ears to hear !
Consider now in the light of the foregoing, the meaning of St. Peter's words in 1 Peter 4 : 6. We perceive how the Gospel message from first to last has been preached to a dead world —
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to a world under sentence of death — to a world "dead in trespasses and in sin" and unworthy of Divine notice. Jesus, during His ministry, preached the Gospel amongst those judi- cially dead through trespasses and sins. A few had the hearing ear and accepted the good Message and gave their hearts to God and accepted the terms of discipleship — to walk in the Master's footsteps in the Narrow Way faithfully unto death — willingly offering, sacrincially, their little all in the service of God, His Truth, His righteousness, His people. These few, as we have seen, the Savior recognized as having life — as having "passed from death unto life."
By and by when all eyes and ears of understanding shall be opened and the blessing of the Lord through Messiah shall be world-wide, it will not be merely a calling to righteousness that will be extended. A command will be enforced by disciplines, "stripes," "corrections in righteousness," to the intent that the dead world in general may be blessed and be resurrected — lifted up, up, up, out of sin and death conditions to the human perfec- tion bestowed upon Adam and his race in creation. Only the unwilling and disobedient will die the Second Death, from which there will be no redemption, no resurrection.
"Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the un- just, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit, by which [two experiences — death and resurrection] He preached unto the spirits in prison." (1 Pet. 3: 18, 19.) This text has been made the basis for some peculiar presentations. From it some have deduced an inter- mediate state lasting between death and the resurrection. Others have claimed it as an authority for the doctrine of Purgatory. The difficulty in every case seems to be the failure to remember that the Bible always and everywhere teaches that the dead are really dead, that they know nothing, and that, therefore, it would be impossible to do any preaching to the dead humans. Un- doubtedly the theory that people are more alive after they die than when they were alive, is responsible for nearly all the fool- ish things which we have all at some time professed to believe.
Before dismissing the thought that these "spirits in prison" are human spirits, let us note the fact that to say, "human spirits," is an absurdity of itself, because human beings are not spirits, and- spirit beings are not humans. "Who maketh His angels spirits" is the Scriptural proposition. True, we do some- times speak of humans as possessing a spirit of life, but by this we merely mean that they possess the power or energy of life, and the same would be equally true of the lower orders of creation, beasts, fish, fowl, etc.
Again, we sometimes speak of the Church as spirit beings — begotten of the Holy Spirit. Thus the Apostle speaks of the
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natural man in contrast with the New Creature, a spirit being. To appreciate this statement we must remember that the Church class receives the begetting of the Holy Spirit to the end that, if faithful, they may attain unto a spirit resurrection and be- come spirit beings, like unto the angels and like to the Re- deemer. But we are not spirits yet, except by faith — by hope. However, the context shows that the Apostle had no reference to the Church, either; we were not in prison* we received the Message of salvation through the Apostles.
The spirits to whom the message was given had proven them- selves disobedient, says St. Peter. He even tells us the time of their disobedience; namely, that it was "in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing." Surely, if noticing these par- ticulars mentioned in the context, no one would be excusable for misunderstanding this Scripture and considering it in any way applicable to humanity in general. However, it is helpful to us to learn the full particulars of the matter. What was their disobedience, and when and how were they imprisoned?
Turning to Gen. 6: 1-5, we find there the cause of the dis- obedience of those angels, who for a time had been permitted to see what they could do for the uplift of humanity, or, rather, permitted to demonstrate that the downward tendency of sin is incurable except in the manner which God has already ar- ranged for through Messiah and His glorious reign of a thou- sand years.
Instead of those angels helping mankind out of sin they helped themselves into sin, and by so doing they increased the depravity amongst humanity, until the astounding record is that "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil contin- ually." The particular sin of those angels was that when they were granted the privilege of materializing — of taking human bodies for the sake of helping and instructing mankind — they misused this power and took to themselves the daughters of men for wives.
Thus these angels came gradually to prefer to live as men amongst men, and to rear earthly families, rather than to abide in the condition in which they were created — spirit beings, higher than humans. Not only was this wrong in the sense that it was taking a course in opposition to the Divine arrangement, but it was wrong also because the thing was done for the culti- vation and gratification of lust, and it led to their own moral defilement as well as having a baneful influence upon humanity ; for we can readily see that for the angels, of superior powers and intelligence, to become leaders in lustful practices would mean a great influence upon mankind toward sin and defilement of mind and body.
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We are particularly told that the offspring of this improper union between the angels and the daughters of men were giants, both physically and mentally superior to the fallen human family — "men of renown." And this statement, that they were "men of renown," was at a time when manhood's estate was reached at a hundred years, and implies that God did not interfere to hinder or stop the progress of sin for perhaps several centuries. In the meantime the race had become so corrupt that apparently only Noah and his family were uncontaminated — all others had more or less come under the. influence, directly or indirectly, of these fallen angels or their giant sons. Hence, of Noah it was written (not that he was a perfect man, but), "Now Noah was perfect in his generation" (uncontaminated) and his family ap- parently the same. Hence these alone were saved in the ark, while all the remainder, more or less contaminated, were de- stroyed by the flood.
It was then and there that God imprisoned those spirits, an- gels, who kept not their first estate, and are, therefore, called fallen angels, devils, demons. They wrere not imprisoned in some far-off world called hell, nor are they engaged there in stoking fires for the torture of poor humanity. Following the leading of the Scriptures we find that when the flood came they were not destroyed, because, while their fleshly bodies which they assumed might indeed perish, yet they would merely dema- terialize, or assume their spirit conditions again.
The record is that God cast them down, that He condemned them to an overthrow — that they might not any longer associate with the holy angels, but must be reserved in tartarus — our earth's atmosphere. Here they were imprisoned, not in a special place, but in the sense of having their liberties restrained, "in chains of darkness." They were no longer permitted to mate-, rialize, and thus to associate with humanity. These things are distinctly told us by St. Jude and St. Peter (Jude 6; 2 Pet. 2 : 4, 5) — an explanation in full harmony with the Genesis account of their fall.
We, of course, cannot know that all of those fallen angels are still in a disloyal condition of heart. On the contrary, in har- mony with our text, we may suppose that some of these fallen angels have since repented of their wrong course, and it would be none too strong a way to state the matter — that any such re- pentant ones would surely have terrible experiences as a result. To be obliged to be in close touch and relationship with the more evil and malignant ones, and to have knowledge of all their evil designs and efforts, would be a terrible experience, and, besides this, we may be sure that the rebellious would not hesitate to persecute the repentant ones in every conceivable manner, as they would be lawless, regardless of the Divine will.
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On the other hand, the repentant ones would be obliged to re- strain themselves and to not render evil for evil, knowing that this would be contrary to the Divine will. In other words, re- pentant ones amongst those fallen spirits, influenced by the preaching of Jesus, or otherwise, would have a kind of purga- torial experience, and the very thought calls forth our sympathy.
When imprisoned or cut off from the privilege of materializa- tion, many of the fallen spirits, we know not what proportion, continued their active opposition to God, after the manner of Satan. Hence they are spoken of as his angels, his messengers, his servants, and he is spoken of as Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons. Satan, who sinned much earlier than the others, and in a different way, the Scriptures tell us was an angel of a higher' rank, or a higher nature, and this superiority of his has made him the Prince or ruler over the hosts of fallen spirits.
The fight of Satan and his fallen angels is against God, against all who are in harmony with Him, against all the regu- lations of righteousness, and against all the channels and serv- ants whom the Lord may use. St. Paul's words along this line are forceful; he remarks that God's people contend not merely "with flesh and blood," but also "with wicked spirits in high positions/' and the question arises, "Who is sufficient for these things?" The reply is that none is sufficient; without the aid of the Redeemer His Church would be quite overcome and van- quished by evil.
Likewise, without the Redeemer's aid through His Kingdom, without the binding of Satan, without our Lord's releasing of the world from the bondage of sin and death, there would be no hope of the world's recovery from its present bondage. But with the Apostle we exclaim, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" — Rom. 8: 31.
Satan's original plan of attack was to bring our race under his influence by misrepresentation — by putting darkness for light and light for darkness — for instance, the temptation under which Mother Eve fell. Satan there represented himself as Eve's friend, giving her sound advice. He represented God as having a selfish motive behind His command that our first par- ents should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan declared that God had told an untruth when He said that the penalty for sin would be death. Satan declared that man cannot die.
And has he not since kept up the same line of falsification? And has he not deceived the whole world upon this very subject? Do not all peoples in every land believe that when a man dies he does not die, but gets more alive — exactly Satan's lie of the first instance? How few have believed God, even amongst His
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people who truly love Him, and who truly desire to believe the teachings of His Word ! We have all been under a kind of ''hoodoo. " "The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded" our minds on this subject. We are now coming to see that death is the penalty for sin, and that the resurrection is the salvation which God has promised and will provide.
Satan has had powerful allies and servants in the fallen an- gels, and it is through their persistence that his lie has triumphed over the Divine Word of Truth — "Dying, thou shalt die." These fallen spirits have made various manifestations in every land for centuries, and thereby have apparently substantiated the theory that a dead man is more alive than when he was alive. Knowing that mankind would have nothing to do with them if their real personality were known, they hide their personality, and represent themselves as our dead friends who desire to speak with us, either directly or through mediums.
A further desire of these angels is to obsess or to get posses- sion of a human being. Being chained, or restrained in the privilege of materialization, the next most desirable thing, in their estimation, is to gain control over a human being, and to use his body instead of their own. This is styled obsession, and persons so afflicted today are sent to an insane asylum, where, it is estimated, they constitute at least one-half of the entire num- ber. In the days of our Lord these were not mistakenly sup- posed to be insane, but rightly declared to be obsessed. All re- member the New Testament account that our Savior and His Apostles cast out fallen spirits from humanity.
We need not discuss this question with Bible students, for it is too well recognized to be disputed. We suggest a topical study of this subject by all of our readers. See how many times Jesus and the Apostles cast out demons, and note the particulars. Although we still have with us spirit mediums, and many ob- sessed, we cannot know whether the proportionate number is greater or fewer than in our Lord's day. Since the world's population today is so much larger, the same number of evil spirits (which do not increase) would show proportionately less. But, however that may be, we may assume that some fruitage resulted from the great sermons preached to these in connection with the death and resurrection of our Lord, respecting which St. Peter speaks. (1 Pet. 3:18, 19.) Additionally, St. Paul remarks, "Know ye not that the saints shall judge angels?" (1 Cor. 6:3.) We do know that the holy angels need no judg- ing, no trial, hence the Apostle must in some way refer to a trial or judgment or testing of these spirits in prison who were once disobedient, in the days of Noah. And if the judgment or test- ing is a part of the Divine Plan, it implies a hope for them, and in conjunction with St. Peter's statement in our text it gives the
170 Life — Death — Hereafter.
reasonable inference that the preaching which Jesus did to them was not wholly in vain.
Here arises another question: If Jesus was really dead, as the Scriptures declare, if "He poured out His soul unto death," and "made His soul an offering for sin," and His soul was not raised from the dead until the third day after His crucifixion, how could He in the meantime preach to spirits in prison, or to anybody else ? We reply that He could preach in the same way that the Apostle refers to, saying, "He, being dead, yet speak- eth" (Heb. 11:4); and again, in the same way that the blood of Abel is said to have cried to God — figuratively. Of one thing we are sure, namely, that Jesus gave no oral address while He was dead. He preached in the way we sometimes refer- to when we say, "Actions §peak louder than words."
It was the great object lesson which the fallen angels saw that constituted to them the great sermon that gave them a ground for hope. On several occasions the fallen spirits, when commanded to come out of human beings, declared that they knew Jesus. In the long ago they had known Him, when, as the Only Begotten of the Father, and His Representative, He had created them and all things that are made, and was also the Mouthpiece for all Divine orders and regulations. They real- ized that He had come into the world to be its Redeemer ; they perceived the great stoop that He had made from His lofty posi- tion on the heavenly plane to the servant position on the human plane. *They admired His loyalty and faithfulness to God, but doubtless believed Him to be foolish ; they never expected Him to rise from the dead. But when they perceived His resurrection on the third day, to glory, honor and immortality, "far above angels, principalities and powers and every name that is named," His sermon to them was complete, namely, that "the wages of sin is death," but that "the gift of God is eternal life." (Rom. 6:23.) And as they realized thus the power of God and the love of God for His human creatures, the Apostle's words imply that this constituted to them a message of hope. Perhaps if they would show full contrition God eventually would v have mercy upon them, even as He had had mercy and had provided for humanity.
The lesson is one for all. God's power is Infinite, so is His love, His mercy, His goodness. Nevertheless, every wilful sin will have its punishment, a just recompense of reward, and only the willing and obedient shall have the Divine favor and ever- lasting life. Let each apply the lesson to himself.