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From Eternity Past
the dead” (
Psalm 106:28
), that is, sacrifices that had been offered to
the dead.
In nearly every system of heathenism, the dead were believed to
communicate their will to men, and also, when consulted, to give
them counsel. Even in professedly Christian lands, the practice of
communication with beings claiming to be the spirits of the departed
has become widespread. Spiritual beings sometimes appear in the
form of 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. With many
their word has greater weight than the Word of God.
Many regard spiritualism as a mere imposture. Its manifestations
are attributed to fraud. But while it is true that the results of trickery
have often been palmed off as genuine, there have also been marked
evidences of supernatural power. And many who reject spiritualism as
human cunning will, when confronted with manifestations which they
cannot account for, be led to acknowledge its claims.
Modern spiritualism and ancient witchcraft—all having commu-
nion with the dead as their vital principle—are founded upon that first
lie by which Satan beguiled Eve in Eden: “Ye shall not surely die: for
God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, ... ye shall be as gods.”
[497]
Genesis 3:4, 5
. Alike based upon falsehood, they are alike from the
father of lies.
God said: “The dead know not anything... . Neither have they
any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6
. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth;
in that very day his thoughts perish.”
Psalm 146:4
. The Lord declared
to Israel: “The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits,
and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my
face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.”
Leviticus 20:6
.
The “familiar spirits” were not the spirits of the dead, but evil
angels, the messengers of Satan. The psalmist, speaking of Israel, says
that “they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,” and in
the next verse he explains that they sacrificed them “unto the idols of
Canaan.”
Psalm 106:37, 38
. In their supposed worship of dead men,
they were, in reality, worshiping demons.