SPIRITUALISM IS DEMONISM

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 10 May 1913, Page 3

SPIRITUALISM IS DEMONISM

ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE.

PASTOR RUSSELL SAYS MEDIUMS ARK DECEIVED AS WELL AS THEIR FOLLOWERS (Published by Amm gem, nt.)

The above was Pawtor Russell's subject on Sunday. Be addressed a darge congregation 'from the text, "Th<? angels Which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He liatli reserved :n lasting restraints under the thick darkness, for a judgment of Great Day" i'Jude. s''. He *i\\d : Last Sunday we. discusred the fall of the angels, and saw that they suecumber to the leaven of sin, which was finst introduced by Satan's piid. and rebellion, and was continued and increased by man's disobedience and fall fmm Divine favour. Some might be inclined to ask, Why pr?ach about the angels and their fall? Whj not rather confine our consideration to man? The aiuM-er is that man's fall had to do with the fall of the aingels, as we have seen; and that 'since then the fallen much to do with man's furtheT~pervension mentally, morally, physically. St. Paul was not in error when hj: declared, We wrested not with flesh arid blood (merely), but with princi parities and ■powers—wicked spirits in high positions (Eph. vi. 12). I am aware that aome who hear and maaiy pikers <*mongst the millions who «ad my sermons in" the- news.-, papers will be inclined to laugh at what may.; be designated my superstitious belief -that fallen spirits be- : "ings are'in close propinquity with lmmanity—a. continual'power for evil, seductive and ensnaring, opposing God and Truth. I have no practical knowledge of Spiritism, because, obe '■dient to the Divine command, I avoid" everything occult. My knowledge of Spiritism comes mainly througn th?.. Bible, but is well supported by. t the testimony of many whom I haveFi"©-seuc-d from -the thraldom of. Spiritism —a .considerable number of these being at one time mediums. We should either take the Bible account as a whole, or should reject it ati a whole. In harmony with St. Paul, f have found it "worthy v of acceptation." It is my constant effort to bring my own thoughts and words and conduct as well as others into full alignmnit with the Divine instructions of the Bible. I believe any othfir. atttude to be dangerous in the extreme.

SPIRITISM—THE WORK OF DEMONS.

.Th<? Bible calls the fallen angels demons—rendered in -our Common 'Version, "devils."

We charge these demons, and not our forefathers, with having perverted the message of the Gospel. This thought is substantiated by the Apostle, who refers to their insidious tcaenktgs as "doctrines of demons." By every ineans they seek to put darkness for light and light for darkness. In the;doctrines of the Dark 'Ages, now discredited, these demons blasphemed/ God by teaching that He had prepared a tonnre chamber, and was overseering the everlasting torture of nearly a-Li humanity—all except the very ele<v —at the hands of ■ fireproof devils*! / Thus the h-iuaan mind was tunned against the Almighty in dread. Those fjii'perst'tions flourishiyj, and humanity learnt to think of Satan arid his associates as in s:>me far-off place—not near them. x,<nv,. as-greater en"fightnmerit conies, and humanity gradually ascertains'that the.ihecry of >a great torture place beyond the bound of time and space was a hoax, these demons would lead such seekers in an opposite direction, and convince them that as theire is no such torture chamber neither are there any demons. But the Bible all the while has ■been- telling/ its one, same story, which we do not properly heed. It has been telling ua that these evil spirits are near ;us, in our atmosphere; and that they have power over us in proportion as we yield our wills to the suggestions and our minds to sin. So far from telling of Satan's being far off, the Apostle declares thab he goes about through -the earth, seeking whom he may devour; and that his host of fallen angels are a present power for evil throughout the world. Similarly Jesus tells us to pray, "Deliver us from the Evil One" ; and also .that Satan "was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the.Truth" (John viii. 44). DEMONS PERSON-ATE THI! DEAD Invisible to men yet fully informed respecting all human affairs, demons can readily personate the dead. They use as .mediums such as they can deceive into being their servants, and Denominational teachings that the dead are not dead have helped along the deception. St. Peter tells us that the fallen angels iif the -time >of • the Deluge were cast dowira to Tartarus. Tin's word "tartarus" is used only once in the Bible, and is mistranslated "hell." It is generally conceded to refer to th.3 earth's atmosphere, though iv may he> used in a figurative way, much as we use the word "limbo," a prison,, a place or condition of restraint.

Wo are not to confound the Bible story of the fall of the angels and their restraint in chains of darkness with tho symbolic figure of Revelation, where' Satan and his angel* are referred to as being cast out of heaven. The Revelation picture is purely symbolical, as all admit, and does not refer to literal Heaven at all. .At some length, Pastor Russell showed that the very name Satan signifies "opponent of God," and that his mine •« well deserved, because he who was formerly known as Lucifer has .arrayed himself agahvst God and in opposition to every Mature of the Divine plan. He declared that the Almighty could have destroyed Sata-n at any time, hut that Ho has permitted him for the past six thousand yejirs to go on in his course, in order to demonstrate the evil.character of sin, amd to give opportunity, on the contrary, of demons-

trating the beauty of holiness. Eventually, when the lesson shall have been taught to angels and to men, Satan and all who love sin will bo utterly destroyed m the Second Death. THE FIRST LIE PERPETUATED. Note the persistency of Satah, and his effrontery, said Pastor Russell. God distinctly told Adam, and Eve that disobedience would bring upon them the p.nalty of death. Satan contradicted the Almighty poin. blank, declaring - ie 'shall not' surely die." 'When our race foumd the truth of God's statement borne in upon them by death, Satan still sought to pervert the Word of God and the minds of men by telling humanity that when they die thy do not die, but in appearance only, and that in reality a dead man is much more alive' than a living one. This absurdity has been repeated to our race century after century, until today heathens, Jews, and Christianssome with much and some v with less intelligence—may-be said, as a whole, to believe Satan's lie and to entirely discredit the Word of God. The way back to God and satw> ■ reasoning,* is the repudiation of Satan's falsehood and the acceptance of God'? Truth. "The dead know not anything." Their sons come to honour and they know it not; to dishonour and they perceive it not of them (Eccles. ix. 5; Job xiv. 21). Satan's original lie is the basis of all superstitions of religion in all the centuries. Tf mankind believed in God—that the dead are "dead, and that their only hope of a future life is bas:d on the resurrection —it would elear the world of a thousand suuerstitioiiß in a moment. How could "the dead suffer torment in a Protestant hell, or in a Gat-h----olio Purgat«ry,. if the d*ad know iwt ' as, the Bible decHres ? If tiie Truth prevailed, where would come in prayers and masses for the dead? and where would come m the belief of spiritists and others that they have communications with thew dead, friends? The Bible Trrtth is our never failing protection.