SPIRITUALISM AND THE BIBLE – LIFE AFTER DEATH.
“Spiritualism is the
belief or doctrine that the spirits of the dead, surviving after the mortal
life, can and do communicate with the living, especially through a person (a
medium) particularly susceptible to their influence.” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spiritualism).
Satan uses many successful agencies in order to seduce man
and spiritualism is one of these delusive teachings. The belief that spirits of the dead can
return and/or communicate with the living is a sacred channel through which
Satan works to accomplish his purpose.
The fallen angels who do Satan’s bidding appear as messengers.
Satan has the power to bring before men what appears to be
their departed friends. His counterfeits
are perfect in familiarity as far as looks, words, tone and demeanor. Satan comforts many with the false assurance
that their loved ones are enjoying bliss in heaven and he does this without any
suspicion of danger. Men give ear “…to
the seducing spirits and doctrines of devils”. (1 Timothy 4:1).
The these fallen spirits sometimes utter cautions and
warnings which prove to be correct. They
build confidence and then they present doctrines, by leading people to
misinterpret scriptures, which actually undermines the scriptures. They state some truths and this gives their
statements the appearance of reliability and the false teachings are believed
as implicitly as if they were the most sacred truths of the Bible.
He contradicts what the apostles wrote as documented in the
Bible and in this way he denies the truth of the Holy Spirit and the divine
origin of the Bible. In this way Satan
tears away the foundation of the Christian’s hope for eternal life and puts out
the truth that reveals the only path to salvation. This is ultimately Satan’s goal. The same way Satan tried to exalt himself…
“For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I
will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:” (Isaiah
14:13).
…and lost his place in heaven, he is now trying to do the same
thing to mankind.
Satan misleads people by exciting the ambition for
self-exaltation. In the place of
righteousness and perfection of the infinite God, he has substituted the
sinful, erring nature of man himself as the rule of judgement, standard, and character. Instead of progressing upward toward the
likeness of God, man is descending downward.
Spiritualism professes to teach Christ and the Bible. The problem is, the Bible is interpreted in a
manner that is pleasing to the ears of unrepentant men with un-renewed hearts. Love is upheld as the chief attribute of God,
but it is degraded with a weak sentimentalism and does not make a distinction
between what God and Jesus Christ view as good and evil. God’s denunciations of sin, the requirements
of His holy law and His justice are all kept out of site.
Satan, as sure as the sunrises in the east, is preparing for
his final effort to deceive the world.
He laid the foundation when he assured Eve in the garden “In the day ye
eat thereof, then you surely not die. In
the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as good
as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5-5).
God never intended man to determine "good and evil". That is why he told Adam and Eve, (...Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17).
God never intended man to determine "good and evil". That is why he told Adam and Eve, (...Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17).
