A Miracle-Working Power

Whenever God has sent a message of reform to prepare His people for some great crisis, the archenemy has always tried to counterfeit it. When Moses was sent to deliver Israel from Egypt, Jannes and Jambres withstood his message by counterfeiting his miracles. (Exodus 7:10-13, 22; 8:6, 7; 2 Timothy 3:8, 9.) And so it was when the message of Christ’s first coming was given. In these last days God has promised to send a message in the power and spirit of Elijah to prepare His people for “the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” (Malachi 4:5) The devil knows this, and so he will counterfeit this message. The prophet, in speaking of the United States, says: “He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men [as Elijah did]. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast, ... and he causeth all ... to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads.” Revelation 13:13-16. Thus we see that this country was to become a miracle-working power.FAFA 307.4

It was here in the United States that modern Spiritism originated in 1848. And it is working miracles. But what is the source of this miraculous power? We will let the leaders of Spiritism answer this question. In Spiritten [a Norwegian Spiritist periodical], for December 15, 1889, page 2, we read:FAFA 308.1

“Spiritism is the serpent in Paradise offering man to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”FAFA 308.2

To understand this statement we must remember that God told man not to eat of this tree or he would “surely die,” but Satan assured Eve: “Ye shall not surely die.” Genesis 2:17; 3:4. And Spiritists have based their belief on the devil’s words, claiming that people at death do not actually die, but simply pass into the spirit world. Moses Hull, a leading teacher and lecturer among them, makes this point clear. He says:FAFA 308.3

“A Truthful Snake.... In answer to the question, ‘Who, then, are we to believe - God or Satan?’ 1 answer, The facts, in every case in the Bible, justify us in believing Satan, he has ever been truthful; that is more than can be said of the other one.... It was not the devil, but God who made the mistake in the Garden of Eden.... It was God, and not the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning.” — “The Devil and the Adventists,” pp. 15, 16. Chicago: 1899.FAFA 308.4

I must ask pardon of the readers for quoting such blasphemous words, but the only fair way of revealing the true nature of Spiritism is to allow its followers to speak for themselves. In later years, however, Spiritism. has changed its face, but not its heart, by professing Christianity; and in that garb has succeeded in getting into the churches. Some startling revelations have been unearthed of late years regarding the work of Spiritism in the different churches all over the world. Many in these churches have felt the emptiness of formalism, and have craved spiritual power, but have been unwilling to get it by the way of the cross. Humble confession, heartfelt repentance, and straightening up of wrongs done to neighbors is a road too narrow for many to walk; unpopular truths, which ‘cut across their selfish path of ease, are unwelcome to them; but Spiritism in its Christian form offers the desired power without such sacrifices, and the easy road is accepted with eagerness by many. (Compare Mark 8:34, 38; Acts 5:32; Matthew 4:3-10; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11; Matthew 24:24) They mistakenly accept spiritual power and miracles as evidence of their being right with God (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:55), but God’s children cannot thus prove whether a movement is true or false, for the enemy can work miracles. Judge I. W. Edmonds, a noted Spiritist, says of his daughter:FAFA 309.1

“She knows no other language than her own native tongue, the English, except a little French she learned in the girls’ school; and yet she has talked in nine or ten different languages, often a whole hour at a time, with the same ease as a native. Quite often strangers in their native tongue hold conversation with their spirit friends through her.” — “Spiritualism Before the Judgment Seat of Science,” p. 42.FAFA 309.2

In the near future Spiritism will influence people in America to form a union of church and state. When this is accomplished, the Papacy will step in and take charge of it. Thus every effort to form this union is helping the Papacy to power. This is so strikingly pictured by the prophet Zechariah that we must take the space here to refer to it.FAFA 309.3