Can Our Dead Speak to Us?
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Those who oppose the teachings of spiritualism are assailing, not
men alone, but Satan and his angels. They have entered upon a contest
against principalities and powers and wicked spirits in high places.
Satan will not yield one inch of ground except as he is driven back
by the power of heavenly messengers. The people of God should be
able to meet him, as did our Saviour, with the words: “It is written.”
Satan can quote Scripture now as in the days of Christ, and he will
pervert its teachings to sustain his delusions. Those who would stand
in this time of peril must understand for themselves the testimony of
the Scriptures.
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Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils personating
beloved relatives or friends and declaring the most dangerous heresies.
These visitants will appeal to our tenderest sympathies and will work
miracles to sustain their pretensions. We must be prepared to withstand
them with the Bible truth that the dead know not anything and that
they who thus appear are the spirits of devils.
Just before us is “the hour of temptation, which shall come upon
all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”
Revelation 3:10
.
All whose faith is not firmly established upon the word of God will
be deceived and overcome. Satan “works with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness” to gain control of the children of men, and his
deceptions will continually increase. But he can gain his object only
as men voluntarily yield to his temptations. Those who are earnestly
seeking a knowledge of the truth and are striving to purify their souls
through obedience, thus doing what they can to prepare for the conflict,
will find, in the God of truth, a sure defense. “Because thou hast kept
the word of My patience, I also will keep thee” (
verse 10
), is the
Saviour’s promise. He would sooner send every angel out of heaven
to protect His people than leave one soul that trusts in Him to be
overcome by Satan.
The prophet Isaiah brings to view the fearful deception which will
come upon the wicked, causing them to count themselves secure from
the judgments of God: “We have made a covenant with death, and
with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall
pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our
refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.”
Isaiah 28:15
.
In the class here described are included those who in their stubborn
impenitence comfort themselves with the assurance that there is to