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Patriarchs and Prophets
they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and
unto wizards that peep and that mutter: should not a people seek unto
their God? for the living to the dead?”
Isaiah 8:19
.
This same belief in communion with the dead formed the corner-
stone of heathen idolatry. The gods of the heathen were believed to be
the deified spirits of departed heroes. Thus the religion of the heathen
was a worship of the dead. This is evident from the Scriptures. In the
account of the sin of Israel at Bethpeor, it is stated: “Israel abode in
Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters
of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods:
and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel
joined himself unto Baalpeor.”
Numbers 25:1-3
. The psalmist tells us
to what kind of gods these sacrifices were offered. Speaking of the
same apostasy of the Israelites, he says, “They joined themselves also
unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead” (
Psalm 106:28
); that
is, sacrifices that had been offered to the dead.
The deification of the dead has held a prominent place in nearly
every system of heathenism, as has also the supposed communion with
the dead. The gods were believed to communicate their will to men,
and also, when consulted, to give them counsel. Of this character were
the famous oracles of Greece and Rome.
The belief in communion with the dead is still held, even in pro-
fessedly Christian lands. Under the name of spiritualism the practice
of communicating with beings claiming to be the spirits of the departed
has become widespread. It is calculated to take hold of the sympathies
of those who have laid their loved ones in the grave. Spiritual beings
sometimes appear to persons in the form of their deceased friends, and
relate incidents connected with their lives and perform acts which they
performed while living. In this way they lead men to believe that their
dead friends are angels, hovering over them and communicating with
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them. Those who thus assume to be the spirits of the departed are
regarded with a certain idolatry, and with many their word has greater
weight than the word of God.
There are many, however, who regard spiritualism as a mere im-
posture. The manifestations by which it supports its claims to a su-
pernatural character are attributed to fraud on the part of the medium.
But while it is true that the results of trickery have often been palmed
off as genuine manifestations, there have also been marked evidences