Warren sheaf., 1911-02-23

|
| W h at the Bible
| teaches respecting spirit phenomena. Yet,
| on the other hand, there is a class grow
ingly large. which, under the name of
spiritism and psychic phenomena, are be-
| Ing carried away. deceived by wicked spir-
] Its who personate the dead and who give.
through spirit mediums. clairvoyants ETC..
various demonstrations Of intelligence and
| OF acquaintance with human affairs. This
class, within the last ten years. has gath
cred to its number the names of some
| prominent scientists. both In America and
Great Britain. These are telling the world
that they are not spiritualists, but scien-
| lists, and that they are scientifically dem
onstrating gradually. with more and more
! OF satisfaction, that they are in touch
| with superhuman tntelligences
! Giving these scientists and the spirit
mediums whom they use full credit for all
| that they claim in the way Of manifesto
/ tton and full credit for sincerity, Pastor
| Russell holds that the Bible gives bet
/, ter explanation of the phenomenal more
rational one and, in his opinion, the only
satisfactory explanation of the findings
| Of spiritualists and scientists along these
| lines.
| In heather lands magic and black art
! are practised and, to considerable extent
| the demons are worshipped. In China, for
instance, our ordinary frecrackers are
manufactured and used in great quantities
| in endeavor to rid themselves of intrud-
| ing spirits, who harass their lives and
even make some Of them insane through
| obsession; many of the insane of civilized
! lands are likewise merely obsessed. st.
! Paul tells us that the gods whom the
! heather worship are demons and not gods
!, q Corinthians <, 2O). Again he tells of
doctrines of demons" Il Timothy iv. u.
! All over heathendom these false doctrines
| have been more or less established, taking
one form or another to suit the condi-
| tions and prejudices of the people And
who will say that Christendom has not
had its share Of these doctrines of de-
mons? Who will say that some Of these
false doctrines did not get worked into all
of creeds of the dark ages" both
Catholic and Protestant?
Jesus Cast Out Demons
The Scriptures tell us that not only
Jesus cast out demons. but that as an
evidence of their authority and his au-
/ thOrity he gave this power to his Apostles
when he sent them out to preach. Every
one Is familiar with the Bible narratives
respecting these demons-some of them
/ very startling. For instance. our Lord 8
visit to the country of the Gadarenes.
! where he was met by a crazed man,
4
| dressed. not the man. but the demons of
whom a legion had taken possession,
Grazing their victim by their various and
| contradictory suggestions and commands
A legion of them were in him and they
requested that if they must come out they
be granted opportunity to go into the
| herd of swine nearby-so anxious were
| they for earthly, sensuous life. Jesus
granted their request. because swine
|
! the Law The effect of the demoniacal
obsession of the swine was to craze the
| herd until they ran violently down steep
place and were choked in the sea. The
object of the demons may have been a de-
sire to reside in and obsess the swine. or,
possibly, by destroying the swine. to
arouse indignation against Jesus mark
v, LID.
Another remarkable instance was the
one when ST. Paul commanded the evil
spirits to come out of the obsesSed wo-
| man, who was a soothsayer or fortune
teller and prophesied that Paul and Silas
were servants of God. Although the mes
sage was an endorsement of them. st.
Paul realized that an endorsement from a
demonac source was unworthy of his
1 Master and of his Gospel (Acts xvi 16-1s).
Spirits today. including mediums, freely
/ acknowledge that many of the spirits
WHICH cOIIlIuUUlcdlc tIeIi di Z
wicked spirits and "seducing spirits, -
just as ST. Paul said q Timothy 4: y.
But believing the spirits. that they repre-
sent dead human beings, the mediums
naturally suppose some Of them good.
The Bible alone tells that they are all
false, and that they are not human spir-
its at all; that dead men are dead and
know nothing and can communicate moth
ing, so long as they are dead. and that
49, I'LL tI,n
rection morning, when the sleeping hosts
of humanity will hear the voice Of the
Son of Man.
Demons Once Holy Angels
! AT one time, said Pastor Russell, all the
angels were holy. Satan being first to de-
fleet Early in mans experience as q
sinner the holy angels We're permitted to
have fellowship with him for a two-fold
purpose;
Q} To give them the opportunity to dc
all in their power to lift up the fallen
race, so that, subsequently,, it might be
I seen that this was impossible and that the
Plan devised by God is not only the best
but the only plan of salvation for man
kind
(2) Additionally, God wished to prove OF
test the holy angels in respect to their
loyalty to him and the principles of his
government as they never had been test
ed previously. because everything was
harmonious and sinless.
In ancient times the angels appeared a.
men. assuming human bodies and cloth
j ing, etc. Note for instance. those whs
came to Abraham at Mamre and who att
with him, and talked with him. but whom
he knew not to be angels until the con
clusion Of their visit Genesis xviiD
And there are many other Scriptural &c
counts of similar import. Be It noted
however, that all the accounts of sucl
materializations after the flood were b.
holy angels, because from that time on
ward, the unholy angels, on account o
sin, were deprived by the Almighty of tn
power of naturalization. They We're pu
under restraints of darkness. invisibility
, AS the Apostle says. Those angels whicl
!, kept not their first estate, He cast dow
to tdrtaras and reserved them In chains o
darkness until the Judgment Of the grea
day uI Peter ii. 4; Jude. s.. Elsewher
they are referred to as having been dis
obedient in the days of Noah, while tn
ark was preparing q Peter iii. 20).
The Sin of the Fallen Angels
Tho Anostl, declares that their Gin x,,a