The BIBLE-Word of God

-Versus Errors of-

"Spiritualism"

---GOD---CHRIST---HOLY SPIRIT---
---SIN---REDEMPTION---SALVATION---RETRIBUTION---

They received the WORD with all readiness of mind,
and searched the SCRIPTURES daily, whether those things were so. Acts 17:11

G O D

The Bible

PERSONALITY OF THE GODHEAD ... in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1: 1).

He is God; there is none else beside him (Deuteronomy 4:35). God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus (I Timothy 2:5).

Go . . . and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Jesus was baptized; the Spirit descended; the Father spoke (Matthew 3:16-17). Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech (Genesis 11:7). From the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, has sent me (Isaiah 48:16).

Spiritualism

Spiritualism is the science, philosophy, and religion of continuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication, by means of mediumship, with those who live by the spirit world.
Infinite intelligence pervades and controls the universe, is without shape or form, and is impersonal, omnipresent, and omnipotent.
It teaches that the spark of divinity dwells in all ("What Spiritualism Is and Does," Spiritualist Manual, 1940).
The doctrine of the trinity seems to have no adherents in advanced circles of the spirit world. The divinity of Christ as a co-equal with the Father is universally denied.
Just as I am, nor poor, nor blind,
Nor bound by chains in soul or mind
For all of Thee within I find
0 God of Love, I come, I come. -- Spiritualistic Hymnal

J E S U S C H R I S T

The Bible

o In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God (John 1:1). When, as His mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1: 18).

o Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

o God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the nations, believed on in the world, received up into glory (I Timothy 3:16).

o And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth (John 1: 14).

o No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him (John 1:18).

o And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of' holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4).

o And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain (I Corinthians 15:17). Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).

o This same Jesus . . . shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into Heaven (Acts 1: 11; cf. John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Spiritualism

o Christ himself was nothing more than a medium of high order.

o The teaching of spirits supersedes and is an advance upon the teachings of Christianity. (Spiritual Telegraph, No. 37).

o Jesus Christ was not divine. He is now an advanced spirit in the sixth sphere. He never claimed to be God manifest in the flesh and does not at present (Weisse, Demonology or Spiritualism, p. 141).

o Jesus did not claim for himself more than he held out for others.

o His identification with the Father was the oneness of mediumship. He was a medium or "mediator." (Colville, Universal Spiritualism, p. 234).

o Jesus Christ was indeed the Son of God, as also are we sons of God (Many Mansions, p. 107).

o The miraculous conception of Christ is merely a fabulous tale (Weisse, Spiritualism, p. 141).

o Spiritualism sees in the death of Jesus an illustration of the martyr spirit, of that unselfish and heroic devotion to humanity which ever characterized the life of Jesus, but no special atoning value in his sufferings and death (The A.B.C. of Spiritualism, Q. 19).

o Spiritualism accepts him as one of many Saviour Christs, who at different times have come into the world to lighten its darkness and show by precept and example the way of life to men. It recognizes him as a world Saviour but not as "the only name" given under heaven by which men can be saved (The A.B. C, of Spiritualism, Q. 17).

H O L Y S P I R I T

The Bible

§ When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, he shall testify of me (John 15:26).

§ When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8).

§ When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth (John 16:13).

§ The Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, he shall teach you all things (John 14:26).

§ His spirit that dwells in you (Romans 8:11).

§ Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18; see also I Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 3:16).

§ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Romans 8:9; see also vv. 14, 16).

Spiritualism

§ Denies the Personality of the Holy Spirit.

§ The Holy Spirit from God is the spirit of some holy person who has once been in the flesh (Hastings, p. 91).

S I N

The Bible

§ There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3: 1 0).

§ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

§ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us ( I John 1: 10).

§ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ( I John 1:8).

§ Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4).

§ All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death ( I John 5:1 7)

§ Whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).

§ Therefore, to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin (James 4:17).

Spiritualism

§ Man never had a fall.

§ Whatever is, is right. Evil does not exist. Evil is good. No matter what man's path may be, good or bad, it is the path of divine ordination and destiny. (Childs, Whatever Is, Is Right).

§ A lie is the truth intrinsically: it holds a lawful place in creation; it is a necessity. (Andre, The True Light, p. 162).

§ We believe in intelligent and ignorant spirits. No being is naturally bad-evil always originates in ignorance.

§ Death is not a violent result of sin. It was neither friend nor enemy. It is a part of the divine purpose (SM, 1940

R E D E M P T I O N

The Bible

§ We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7).

§ You were not redeemed with corruptible things . . . but with the precious blood of Christ (I Peter 1: 1 8-19).

§ Unto him that loves us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us a kingdom of priests unto God and his Father (Revelation 1:5-6).

§ Without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22).

§ Made peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20).

§ This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. . . . For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10: 12, 14).

Spiritualism

§ There is no atoning value in the death of Jesus Christ (Childs, Whatever ls, Is Right).

§ Salvation by vicarious atonement is a wicked and soul destroying delusion (Ethics of Spiritualism, p. 99).

§ Teaches the continuity of life and the eternal progression of man toward perfection in the spirit realm. That every soul will progress through the ages to heights sublime and glorious, where God is Love and Love is God ("What Spiritualism Is and Does," SM, 1940).

§ There are not two worlds at all; there (is) but one interblended, interrelated world, closely interwoven by memory and the love of life. Consciousness could not die. Personality could not be destroyed (Bach, They Have Found a Faith, p. 116).

§ Life on the spirit plane is evolvement, like the ascent in a spiral, the growth of moral affection to higher and higher "heavens."

S A L V A T I O N

The Bible

§ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house (Acts 16:31).

§ But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12).

§ He that believes on him is not condemned; but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the . . . only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).

§ He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see life (John 3:36).

§ Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

§ For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God-not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

§ Justified freely . . . through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).

§ Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes (Romans 10:4).

Spiritualism

§ We affirm the moral responsibility of the individual, and that he makes his own happiness or unhappiness as he obeys or disobeys Nature's physical and spiritual laws.

§ Man becomes a spirit after death, doing both evil and good, but he may be saved as he progresses from one spirit level to the next. We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any human soul, here or hereafter (Declaration of principles, Nos. 7 and 8). Leaving the physical body does not change the condition of the spirit, which is the actual personality. It must learn to desire and to progress to higher and better conditions, just as we do on earth (SM, p. 182). Each must work out his own salvation; each has an equal opportunity to do this when he shall have atoned for the wrongs and overcome the temptations and allurements to the sense gratification of earth life (SM, p. 184).

§ Even the most degraded personality can in time attain the greatest heights. It is easier, however, to begin progression in the earth life (SM, p. 184).

R E T R I B U T I O N

The Bible

§ The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

§ Those who sleep in the dust . . . shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame, and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).

§ And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

§ And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. . . . And the dead were judged out of those things . . .written in the books, according to their works (Revelation 20:12).

§ The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven . . . in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel. . . ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

§ If your foot offend you, cut it off; it is better for you to enter lame into life than, having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched (Mark 9:45).

Spiritualism

§ Hell does not exist and never will.

§ All spirit people of wisdom, knowledge, and love know there is no hell and no devil.

§ No resurrection-no judgment.

§ When you believe in spiritual manifestations, you will feel far happier than you do now. You will not fear the threats of damnation and hell . . . such doctrine is wrong (Doyle, The New Revelation, 1918, p. 68).

§ We do not believe in such places as Purgatory and Hell.

§ Communicating spirits have merely graduated from this form of life into another. That life can be heaven or hell-like, just as each spirit chooses to make it; the same applies to our life here (SM, p. 183).

Quotations are from standard writings and leading teachers of the sects. Initials in parentheses are abbreviations of aforementioned book and magazine titles. Scripture quotations are from the New Scofield Reference Bible(New York: Oxford University Press, 1967). Outline and statement summaries are a compilation from various reference works and authors.

Please see suggested readings.

FIRST and FOREMOST :

The Bible

ALSO:

Ahmanson, John. - Secret History. Trans. Gleason Archer. Chicago:Moody, 1984

Fraser, Gordon H. - Is Mormonism Christian? Rev. ed.

Chicago: Moody, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1977.

Geer, Thelma. - Mormonism, Mama, and Me. Chicago: Moody, 1986.
Hoekema, Anthony A - The Four Major Cults. Grand Rapids: Erdmann, 1963.
Lewis, Gordon R. - Confronting the Cults. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1966.
Martin, Walter R. - Jehovah of' the Watchtower. Rev. ed. Chicago: Moody, 1953, 1974.
Martin, Walter R. - Kingdom of the Cults. Rev. ed. Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1968.
Petersen, William J. - Those Curious New Cults. New Canaan, Conn.: Keats, 1973.
Robertson, Irvine. -What the Cults Believe. Rev. ed. Chicago: Moody, 1966, 1979.
Tanner, Jerald and Sandra. - The Changing World of Mormonism.