Chapter 14
Spiritism's False Prophecies
A REAL effort is now being made to convince mankind that in
Spiritism, especially in the utterances and automatic writings of spirit
mediums, we have a remanifestation of the gift of prophecy as possessed
and exercised by the prophets of olden time. Says the author of the Vale
Owen script:
"Inspiration, therefore, is of wide meaning and extent in
practice. The prophets of old time -- and those of today -- received
our instruction according to the 'quickening of their faculties. Some
were able to hear our words, some to see us."--"The Life
Beyond the Veil," book 2, p. 101.
"Looking at it from the spiritualistic standpoint, the
inspired Book sounds like a veritable record of mediumship."--"Are
the Dead Alive?" page 345.
"We wonder why it is that the denizens of earth will read and
think contrary to the teaching in their Holy Writ. It is only
necessary to read and calmly compare the phenomena of older days
chronicled therein and modern happenings to prove they are one and the
same, only given in different times of the world's history."--"The
Proofs of the Truths of Spiritualism," p. 203.
Whether these claims are made to elevate Spiritism or to degrade
prophecy, the claims are as far from the truth as the east is from the
west. There is no more similarity between the prophecies of the Bible
and the productions of spirit mediums than there is between light and
darkness. God does not teach us one thing through some of His prophets,
and contradict it through other prophets. He has declared through one
whom we know was a prophet:
"In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be
lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of
those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures
more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the
power thereof: from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3: 1-5.
Let us see what a Spiritist "prophet" predicts:
"We are watching, and we are guiding as we may and opportunity
is given us. If men respond to our prompting, there is an age to come
more full of light and the beauty of love and life than that just
passing away. And I think they will respond, for the new is better
than the old, and from behind us we feel the pressing of those of
higher wisdom and power as we look earthward."--"The Life
Beyond the Veil," book 2. page 84.
God's prophet speaks positively of the perils of the "last
days," and of their abounding wickedness; and the records of our
day show those prophecies in actual process of fulfillment. "Evil
men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived." 2 Tim. 3:13. The Bible prophet and the Spiritist
predictor contradict each other specifically, and we can believe only
one of the two. If we had only outward, tangible, present-day evidence
to guide us in our choice, we would choose the Bible prophet; for we see
his prophecies fulfilling every day, and the Spiritist predictions are
by the same evidence demonstrated to be false.
Professor Hyslop reports this prediction:
"March 2, 1887, I was asked by my mother to inquire the
whereabouts of two silver cups, heirlooms , which she had misplaced.
Said Dr. Phinuit [the spirit control of the medium], 'They are in your
house, in a room higher up than your sleeping-room, in what looks to
me the back part of the house, but very likely I am turned
around. You'll find there a large chest filled with clothing, and at
the very bottom of the chest are the cups. Annie [my mother's name]
placed them there, and will remember it.' Returning home, I went to a
room on the third floor at the front of the house, but remotest
from the stairway, found the chest (of which I knew), and the contents
(of which I was ignorant), both as described, but no silver. Reporting
the message to my mother, I learned that she had at one time kept the
cups in that chest, but more recently had removed them."--"Science
and a Future Life," p. 168.
In the days of ancient Israel, one of the descendants of Benjamin,
Kish by name, found that his asses had strayed away, and he sent his son
Saul to find them. In his unsuccessful search, Saul came to the place
where the prophet of God dwelt, met the prophet, and made his quest
known, that he might receive help to find the strayed asses. The Lord's
prophet told him:
"When thou art departed from me today, then thou shalt find
two men by Rachel's sepulcher in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and
they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are
found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and
sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? Then shalt thou
go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor,
and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one
carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and
another carrying a bottle of wine: and they will salute thee, and give
thee two loaves of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands.
After that thou shalt come to the hill of 'God, which is the garrison
of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come
thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming
down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe,
and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: and the Spirit of
the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them. . . .
And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God
gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that
day." I Sam. 10: 2-9.
Notice the wealth of detail here, wherein there were so many
opportunities for the prophet to make a mistake; but they all "came
to pass that day." How different it would seem to us if the record
read that when Saul reached Zelzah, he found that the two men he was to
meet there had been there the day before and gone; or we will suppose
that when he reached the plain of Tabor, the three men were not even in
sight, and he met them the following day, with only one
kid and with four loaves of bread, and the wine bottle empty; or
we will suppose that when he reached the garrison of the Philistines, he
found that the company of prophets had come down from the high place a
week before, and so he was entirely deprived of the opportunity of
joining them in their prophesying. But nothing of the kind took place.
The signs all came to pass just as the prophet of God declared they
would. What a difference between the two classes of predictions! Saul
found the asses at home when he reached home.
Of Dr. Phinuit, the spirit control who gave the false prophecy
concerning the lost cups, another psychic investigator reports:
"It was noticed that her [Mrs. Piper's] 'control,' the
so-called 'Dr. Phinuit,' was given to asking leading questions, and to
making glaringly false statements. '-- "Riddle of
Personality," Bruce, pp. 213-216.
What confidence could one have in the prophecies of the divine Book
if we were to read therein that the prophet Samuel, or the prophet
Isaiah, "was given to asking leading questions, and to making
glaringly false statements"! There is no such record. There is no
such fact.
"Foretellings are often given us by the spirits; but they
cannot be implicitly trusted. We have had several regarding successes
to be expected in the next morning's papers; sometimes they are right,
at other times there is nothing exactly like what they had
foretold."-- "The Proofs of the Truths of
Spiritualism," p. 39.
"With regard to spirits foreseeing events, Dr. Hooper writes
me as follows: 'My guides have always been honest and stated that they
cannot see anything definite six months ahead. The farther it is off,
the more hazy it seems.' "--Id., p. 109.
"Out of chaos and confusion there will come peace and order to
your earth. The wars of the nations are the birth-pangs of a new era,
the consciousness of the race will be lifted by the pain and agony of
the refiner's fire."-- Id., p. 110.
The statements made in the first two of these paragraphs ought to
prepare us for the false prophecy contained in the last one. The records
of our day prove it to be false, and the prophecies of the Bible have
forewarned us against believing any such statement. In the book of
Revelation the prophet is given a view of the days just preceding the
end of the world and the second coming of Christ. It is very different
from the prediction contained in paragraph three above. It tells of the
spirits of devils going out into all the world to gather the nations
"to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Rev. 16:14.
That is the battle of Armageddon (verse 16), the end of the world; for
verse 15 reads: "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame." The remainder of the chapter tells of the terrible
cataclysms that will close earth's history.
This prophecy and the spirit prophecy are diametrically opposed the
one to the other. The spirit prophecy is false; the Bible prophecy is
true; and in all the nations preparations are now going forward that
will eventuate in its complete fulfillment in the battle of Armageddon.
The prophecies of God's Word are history written in advance. The
prophecies of the book of Daniel and of the Revelation (and others as
well) are wonderfully accurate history, written before it took place,
some of it thousands of years before the events occurred. It is one of
the signs that God is God, that He is able thus to write earth's
history. He says of Himself:
"The former things are come to pass, and new things do I
declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them." Isa. 42:
9.
And this is the record that the enemies of Israel have left
concerning the prophet of God in Israel:
"The heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this
thing [because he could not entrap the king of Israel] ; and he called
his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is
for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O
king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of
Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber." 2 Kings
6: 11, 12.
This is unbiased testimony. Now let us see what one spirit, seemingly
more honest than the rest, has to say concerning the gift of prophecy in
Spiritism:
"Now as to future events we cannot tell you what will happen,
but, judging by circumstances that are around you at present, we
should say that success shall attend your efforts."-- "The
Proofs of the Truths of Spiritualism," pp. 157, 158.
"The Daily Mail (London) recalls the fact that Mr. W.
T. Stead, when in Constantinople last October (1911), made the
following prophecy regarding his own death: 'I know perfectly well how
I shall die. It has been revealed to me. I shall go to prison twice
more before I die, and I shall end by being kicked to death in the
streets of London. This makes my mind quite easy when I travel, and I
never insure myself against risks of any kind"-- Sydney Daily
Telegraph, May 25, 1912.
It is well known, of course, that Mr. Stead did not go to prison
twice more before he died; that he did not die in London; that he was
not kicked to death; that he was not immune from dangers in traveling;
but that he went down with over fifteen hundred others in the Atlantic
Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, when the "Titanic"
crashed on an iceberg and foundered. This shows the intrinsic
worthlessness of spiritistic predictions.
Mr. Stead had had other experiences with spiritistic prophecy, which
should have warned him against putting any confidence in the prediction
concerning his death.
"In obedience to a very high spirit 'control,' he [Mr. Stead]
embarked upon a certain journalistic enterprise, being assured that
the 'workers' on the other side would see him through. Indeed, they
predicted for it an absolute success. Mr. Stead went forward, only to
encounter one of the worst disasters of his life. . . . Certain
messages have been sent to me by alleged inhabitants of the beyond. In
only one case has event tallied with the prediction."-- Frederick
C. Spurr, in Australian Christian World, Feb. 20, 1920.
As to the value of spiritistic prophecy, in comparison with the
prophecy of the divine Word, the following is pointed testimony:
"Suppose that we have two classes of predictions, each one
hundred in number, and relating to events which lie equally beyond the
reach of mere human foresight. Of one class, but one in the whole
hundred is fulfilled in any form. Of the other, not one in the hundred
fails in any particular. What higher evidence can we have that the
intelligence which originated the latter class differs, not in degree,
but in kind, from that which originated the former? the one being
possessed of the most infallible, and the other of the most erring,
foresight? Such, precisely, is the character of the predictions
recorded in the Bible, and those put forward by Spiritualists to
sustain the claims of their system. . . . In all respects the miracles
of Scripture stand in absolute contrast to the so-called mysteries set
forth by the advocates of Spiritualism."--"Modern
Mysteries," Mahon, p. 335.
From the evidence produced it is abundantly demonstrated that
Spiritism has no valid claim to the possession of the gift of prophecy;
that its predictions are worse than valueless, because persons, through
such predictions, are led to embark upon enterprises which bring them
disappointment and disaster. Spiritism is therefore as false in this
claim as in others which we have considered in this treatise.
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