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The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4 - Contents
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    V. Rochester “Rappings” to Become World encircling Delusion

    The year 1848 likewise witnessed some strange developments or manifestations in the secluded village of Hydesville, New York, and then in nearby Rochester. These, Ellen White predicted, were destined to assume world-wide proportions and to take on definitely religious connotations. This development has since become popularly known as Spiritualism. But in 1848 it consisted only of a certain mysterious signal code of “rappings,” or “knockings,” as the localized fad of the Fox sisters was then called.PFF4 1001.1

    When it first began with these crude communications, it was regarded by the learned as largely a fraud or trick, a humbug or delusion that would soon die out and be forgotten. Many churchmen had an aversion to it; others were simply amused by it. It had not yet been dignified by a name, and had no semblance of a religious character, much less of a church. Years passed before that aspect became predominant. But on March 24, 1849, Ellen White stated that she had received a revelation regarding this mysterious phenomenon, declaring it would become more and more common, and would come to assume a religious garb. Here is her first statement, in 1849:PFF4 1001.2

    “I saw that the mysterious knocking in N.Y.... was the power of Satan; and that such things would be more and more common, clothed in religious garb, to lull the deceived to more security; and to draw the minds of God’s people, if possible, to those things and cause them to doubt the teachings, and power of the Holy Ghost.” 14E. G. White, letter in The Present Truth, August, 1849, p. 21; also quoted in Early Writings, 43.PFF4 1001.3

    Then in August, 1850, Mrs. White again saw that “many in the churches” would accept this development as the “power of God“:PFF4 1001.4

    “I saw that soon ... it would spread more and more, that Satan’s power would increase.... I was shown that by the rapping and mesmerism these modern magicians would yet account for all the miracles wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ, and that many would believe that all the mighty works of the Son of God when on earth were accomplished by this same power.” 15E. G. White, Early Writings, 59 (published in 1851 in her Christian Experience and Views, p. 47).PFF4 1001.5

    Once more Ellen White wrote:PFF4 1002.1

    “I saw the rapping delusion—what progress it was making, and that if it were possible it would deceive the very elect. Satan will have power to bring before us the appearance of forms purporting to be our relatives or friends now sleeping in Jesus. It will be made to appear as if these friends were present; the words that they uttered while here, with which we were familiar, will be spoken, and the same tone of voice that they had while living will fall upon the ear.” 16Early Writings, 87 (published in 1854, in the pamphlet Supplement to the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White, 5, 6).PFF4 1002.2

    All this was recorded when spiritism was little known, with no one dreaming it would later number its adherents by the million. This was before the materialization of spirits, trances, and spirit messages had become characteristic, which have since become the chief phenomena of Spiritualism. It has not only permeated the thinking of many in the churches, but has set itself up as a religious “reformation,” destined to correct theological errors.PFF4 1002.3

    But here again Seventh-day Adventists believed that “the dead know not anything” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) while awaiting the resurrection, and that the last-day activity of “seducing spirits” and the “spirits of devils” was a matter of recorded Bible prophecy (1 Timothy 4:1; Revelation 16:13, 14). Thus fortified by Scripture they avoided the widespread acceptance of the spiritistic claims and developments. Mrs. White’s prediction, however, was not regarded as the enunciation of something new, but simply as the identification of latter-day spirit manifestations already foretold in Scripture. On the contrary, many in other churches, believing in the consciousness of the dead, became susceptible to its baleful teachings.PFF4 1002.4

    The 1949 Year Book of American Churches lists the International General Assembly of Spiritualists, their largest organization; The National Christian Spiritual Alliance, which “believes in supernormal and impersonal manifestations and in intercommunication between denizens of different worlds”; and the National Spiritualist Association, which proclaims its membership to be “believers in communication with the so-called dead.” 17Yearbook of American Churches (1949), pp. 87, 88. Spiritism’s spread has been phenomenal. Within a few years the number of mediums practicing in the United States was said to be forty thousand. 18Within ten years after the development of Spiritualism, newspapers estimated the number of avowed adherents at one and one-half million, with one thousand public advocates, and forty thousand public and private mediums. (R. M. Devens. American Progress, p. 346.) And by the 1880’s the cult had “extended to the remotest bounds of the known world,” and had “challenged the scrutiny and excited the wonder of monarchs, savants, popes, philosophers, divines, councils and synods.” Thus Spiritualism’s present-day claims bear out fully Mrs. White’s predictions of 1849-1854, in applying the basic Bible prophecies. (See Appendix F for supplemental evidence.)PFF4 1002.5

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