Whatsayscripturesspiritism_03
PART III
OBSESSION AT THE FIRST ADVENT
In the days of our Lord and the early Church the method of operations on the part of these demons had changed somewhat from the practices in the days of Saul, and we read nothing in the New Testament about witches, wizards and necromancy, but a great deal about persons possessed by devils - obsession. Apparently there were great numbers thus possessed throughout the land of Israel: many cases are mentioned in which our Lord cast out devils; and the power to cast them out was one of those conferred upon the twelve apostles, and afterward upon the seventy that were sent out. The same power was possessed and exercised by the Apostle Paul. - See Luke 9:1; 10:11; Acts 13:8-11; 16:18.
Mary Magdelene, we remember, had been possessed of seven devils (Luke 8:2), and being set free from their control, she became a very loyal servant of the Lord. Another instance is mentioned in which a legion of spirits had taken possession of one man. (Luke 8:30; 4:35,36,41.) No wonder that his poor brain, assaulted and operated upon by a legion of different minds, would be demented. This tendency of these fallen spirits to congregate in one person indicates the desire they have still to exercise the power originally given them; namely, the power to materialize as men. Deprived of this power they apparently have comparatively rare opportunities of getting possession of human beings. Apparently the human will must consent before these evil spirits have power to take possession. But when they do take possession apparently the will power is so broken down, that the individual is almost helpless to resist their presence and further encroachment, even tho he so desires. Our Lord intimates such a condition (Matt. 12:43-45), suggesting that, even after an evil spirit had been cast out and the heart swept an garnished, if it were still empty, there would be danger of the return of the evil spirit with others to re-possess themselves of the man; - hence the necessity for having Christ enthroned within, if we would be kept for the Master's use, and be used in his service.
Apparently these evil spirits have not the power to impose themselves, even upon dumb animals, until granted some sort of permission; for, when the "legion" was commanded to come out of the man whom they possessed, they requested as a privilege that they might have possession of the bodies of a herd of swine; and the swine being according to the law unclean to the Jew, and unlawful to eat, the Lord permitted them to have possession of them, doubtless foreseeing the results, and with a view to giving us this very lesson.
The same Apostle who speaks of these evil spirits as "lying wonders" and "seducing spirits" (1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Thes. 2:9; compare Ezek. 13:6; I Kings 22:22,23) tells us that the heathen sacrificed to these demons. (I Cor. 10:20.) And so, indeed, we find that in various parts of the world there are demon manifestations. Amongst the Chinese these demon powers are frequently recognized, and sacrifices are offered to them; so also in India and in Africa. Amongst the North American Indians in their savage state these evil spirits operated after much the same manner as elsewhere. An illustration is given by Missionary Brainard in a "Report to the Honorable Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge," explanatory of the difficulties and obstacles to the spread of Christianity among the Indians with whom he had been laboring, as follows: -
"What further contributes to their aversion to Christianity is the influence which their powaws (conjurers or diviners) have upon them. These are a sort of persons who are supposed to have a power of foretelling future events, or recovering the sick, at least oftentimes, and of charming, enchanting, or poisoning persons to death by their magic divinations. Their spirit, in its various operations, seems to be a Satanic imitation of the spirit of prophecy with which the Church in early ages was favored. Some of these diviners are endowed with the spirit in infancy; - others in adult age. It seems not to depend upon their own will, nor to be acquired by any endeavors of the person who is the subject of it....they are not under the influence of this spirit always alike, - but it comes upon them at times. Those who are endowed with it are accounted singularly favored.
"I have labored to gain some acquaintance with this affair of their conjuration, and have for that end consulted and queried with the man mentioned in my Diary, May 9, who, since his conversion to Christianity, has endeavored to give me the best intelligence he could of this matter. But it seems to be such a mystery of iniquity, that I cannot well understand it, and do not know oftentimes what ideas to affix to the terms he makes use of. So far as I can learn, he himself has not any clear notions of the thing, now his spirit of divination is gone from him.
"There were some times when this spirit came upon him in a special manner. Then, he says, he was all light, and not only light himself, but it was light all around him, so that he could see through men, and knew the thoughts of their hearts. These "depths of Satan" I leave to others to fathom or to dive into as they please, and do not pretend, for my own part, to know what ideas to affix to such terms, and cannot well guess what conception of things these creatures have at these times when they call themselves all light. But my interpreter tells me that he heard one of them tell a certain Indian the secret thoughts of his heart, which he had never divulged....
"When I have apprehended them afraid of embracing Christianity, lest they should be enchanted and poisoned, I have endeavored to relieve their minds of this fear, by asking them, Why their powaws did not enchant and poison me, seeing they had as much reason to hate me for preaching to them, and desiring them to become Christians, as they could have to hate them in case they should actually become such? That they might have an evidence of the power and goodness of God engaged for the protection of Christians, I ventured to bid a challenge to all their powaws and great powers to do their worst on me first of all; and thus I labored to tread down their influence." - Memoirs of Brainard, pages 348-351.
Three months since the New York Sun published the following account of the experiences of Capt. C. E. Denny, Indian agent for the Canadian Government among the Blackfeet Indians. Capt. Denny says: -
"On my arrival in the northwest territories with the northwest mounted police, in 1874, I was curious to find out how far these "medicine men" carried their arts, and also what these arts consisted of. I heard from Indians many tales of wonders done by them, but it was a long time before I got a chance to be present at one of these ceremonies. The Indians were reluctant to allow a white man to view any of their "medicine" ceremonies. As I got better acquainted with several tribes, particularly the Blackfeet, I had many chances to find out the truth regarding what I had heard of them, and I was truly astonished at what I saw at different times. Many of the medicine feats did not allow of any jugglery, the man being naked, with the exception of a cloth around his loins, and I sitting within a few feet of him.
"All Indians believe in their familiar spirit, which assumed all kinds of shapes, sometimes that of an owl, a buffalo, a beaver, a fox, or any other animal. This spirit it was that gave them the power to perform the wonders done by them, and was firmly believed in by them all.
"On one occasion I was sitting in an Indian tent alone with one of the "medicine" men of the Blackfeet Indians. It was night and all was quiet in the camp. The night was calm, with a bright moon shining. On a sudden the Indian commenced to sing, and presently the lodge, which was a large one, commenced to tremble; and the trembling increased to such a degree that it rocked violently, even lifting off the ground, first on one side and then on the other, as if a dozen pair of hands were heaving it on the outside. This lasted for about two minutes, when I ran out, expecting to find some Indians on the outside who had played me a trick, but, to my astonishment, not a soul was in sight, and what still more bewildered me was to find on examination that the lodge was firmly pegged down to the ground, it being impossible for any number of men to have moved and replaced the pegs in so short a time, I did not enter the lodge again that night, as the matter looked, to say the least, uncanny.
"On another occasion I visited a lodge where a 'medicine smoke" was in progress. There were about a dozen Indians in the lodge. After the smoke was over, a large copper kettle, about two feet deep, and the same or a little more in diameter, was placed empty on the roaring fire in the middle of the lodge. The medicine man who was stripped, with the exception of a cloth around his loins, was all this time singing a "medicine" in a low voice.
"The pot after a short while became red-hot, and a pole being passed through the handle, it was lifted in this state off the fire and placed on the ground, so close to me that the heat was almost unbearable. On the pole being withdrawn the medicine man sprang to his feet and, still singing his song, stepped with both naked feet into the red-hot kettle and danced for at least three minutes in it, still singing to the accompaniment of the Indian drums. I was so close, as I have before said, that the heat of the kettle was almost unbearable, and I closely watched the performance, and saw this Indian dance for some minutes with his bare feet in it. On stepping out he seemed none the worse; but how he performed the act was and is still a mystery to me."
Similar feats are performed by the fetish men of India "under control;" and tests given by "spirit mediums" "under control" sometimes include the handling of fire, red hot glass, etc., with bare hands without injury. God has protected his faithful in the flames (Dan. 3:19-27), and it seems that he does not always hinder Satan's use of such power.
Dr. Ashmore, of long experience as a missionary in China, says, -
"I have no doubt that the Chinese hold direct communications with the spirits of another world. They never pretend that they are the spirits of their departed friends. They get themselves in a certain state and seek to be possessed by these spirits. I have seen them in certain conditions invite the spirits to come and to inhabit them. Their eyes become frenzied, their features distorted, and they pour out speeches which are supposed to be the utterances of the spirits."
An old issue of Youth's Day Spring contains a letter from a missionary describing the condition of the Africans on the Gaboon river at the approach of death. He says,-
"The room was filled with women who were weeping in the most piteous manner, and calling on the spirits of their fathers and others who were dead, and upon all spirits in whom they believed, Ologo, Njembi, Abambo, and Miwii, to save the man from death."
A Wesleyan missionary, Mr. White, says, -
"There is a class of people in New Zealand called Eruku, or priests; these men pretend to have intercourse with departed spirits."
No part of humanity has been exempted from the attacks of these demons, and their influence is always baneful. India is full of it. So generally accepted at one time was the belief in demon-possession, that the Roman Catholic Church, through her priests, regularly practiced "exorcism," or casting out of demons.
The very earliest recorded spirit manifestation was in Eden, when Satan, desiring to tempt mother Eve, used or "obsessed" the serpent. Mother Eve claimed that she was deceived by the serpent's misrepresentations. God allowed the claim as true, and sentenced the serpent, which there became the symbolic representative of Satan. As the father of lies he there took possession of a serpent to deceive Eve and lead her to disbelieve God's command by the false assurance, "Ye shall not surely die!" so ever since, tho he has varied his methods and mediums, all of them are to deceive - to blind the minds of mankind, lest the glorious light of the goodness of God, as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord, should shine unto them.
Thanks be to God for the promise that, in due time, the Kingdom of God shall be established in the earth, in the hands of our Lord Jesus and his then completed and glorified Church, and that one of the first works of that Kingdom, preparatory to its blessing "all the families of the earth," will be the binding of that Old Serpent, the Devil and Satan, that he may deceive the nations no more for the thousand years of Christ's reign; until all men shall be brought to a clear knowledge of the truth, and to a full opportunity to avail themselves of the gracious provisions of the New Covenant, sealed at Calvary with the precious blood of Christ.
While the name Old Serpent includes Satan, "the prince of devils," it is here evidently used as a synonym for all the sinful agencies and powers which had their rise in him. It therefore includes the legions of "evil spirits," "familiar spirits," "seducing spirits."
Spiritism, as a deceiving influence under the control of Satan, is foretold by the Apostle Paul. After telling of the work of Satan in the great Apostasy of which Papacy is the head-center, the Man of Sin, the Mystery of Iniquity,* the Apostle draws his subject to a close by pointing out that Satan, toward the end of this age, will be granted special licence to deceive by peculiar arts, all who, having been highly favored with
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* See Studies In The Scriptures, Vol. II., Chap. 9, pages 267-366.
the Word of God, have failed to appreciate and use it. He says, - "For this cause God will send them strong delusion [a working deception], that they may believe a lie: that they may all be condemned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness [doctrinal or practical]." - 2 Thes. 2:11,12.
We shall not be at all surprised if some later manifestations of the powers of darkness, transformed to appear as the angels of light and progress, shall be much more specious and delusive than anything yet attempted. We do well to remember the Apostle's Words, - "We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with princely powers of darkness, with the spiritual things of the evil one." - Eph. 6:12.
In 1842, six years before "modern Spiritism" began to operate, Edward Bickersteth, a servant of God and student of his Word, wrote, -
"Looking at the signs of the times, and the long neglect and unnatural denial of all angelic ministration or spiritual influence, and at the express predictions of false Christs, and false prophets, who shall show signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they should deceive the very elect, and that when men receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they shall believe a lie; I cannot but think there is a painful prospect of a sudden recoil and religious revulsion from the present unbelief and misbelief, to an unnatural and undistinguishing credulity."
Satan is the inspirer and supporter of every Anti-Christ; and as he led those who had pleasure in error rather than the truth to the organization of the great Anti-Christ, Papacy, symbolically the "beast" of Rev. 13, and as he is now operating to produce a Protestant "image of the beast" with life, which will cooperate with the chief Anti-Christ, so in combination with these will be the powers of darkness, the powers of the air, the lying and seducing spirits, operating in some manner or in a variety of ways. - Spiritism, Christian Science, Theosophy, Hypnotism, etc.
"Rev. Father Coppens, M.D. [Roman Catholic], Professor in Creighton University," recently delivered a discourse on "Borderland of Science," from which we extract the following on the phenomena of Spiritism: -
"What must we think of the nature of Spiritism, with its spirit rappings, table-turning, spirit apparitions and so on? Can the facts, which are not imposture, but realities, be explained by the laws of nature, the powers of material agents and of men? All that could possibly be done by the most skilled scientists, by the most determined materialists who believe neither in God nor in demon, as well as by the most conscientious Christians, has only served to demonstrate to perfect evidence that effects are produced which can no more be attributed to natural agency than speech and design can be attributed to a piece of wood. One principle of science throws much light on the nature of all those performances, namely, that every effect must have a proportionate cause. When the effect shows knowledge and design, the cause must be intelligent. Now many of thes marvels evidently show knowledge and design, therefore the cause is certainly intelligent.
"A table cannot understand and answer questions; it cannot move at a person's bidding. A medium cannot speak in a language he has never learned, nor know the secret ailment of a patient far away, nor prescribe the proper remedies without knowledge of medicine. Therefore these effects when they really exist, are due to intelligent agents, agents distinct from the persons visibly present, invisible agents therefore, spirits of another world.
"Who are these agents? God and his good angels cannot work upon these wretched marvels, the food of a morbid curiosity, nor could they put themselves at the disposal of pious men to be trotted out as monkeys on the stage. The spirits which are made to appear at the seances are degraded spirits. Spiritualists themselves tell us they are lying spirits. Those lying spirits say they are the souls of the departed, but who can believe their testimony, if they are lying spirits as they are acknowledged to be? This whole combination of imposture and superstition is simply the revival in a modern dress of a very ancient deception of mankind by playing on men's craving for the marvelous. Many imagine these are recent discoveries, peculiar to this age of progress. Why, this spirit-writing is and has been for centuries extensively practiced in benighted pagan China, while even Africans and Hindoos are great adepts at table turning. It is simply the revival of ancient witchcraft, which Simon Magus practiced in St. Peter's time; which flourished in Ephesus while St. Paul was preaching the gospel there. It is more ancient still. These were the abominations for which God commissioned the Jews in Moses' time to exterminate the Canaanites and the other inhabitants of the promised land."