The Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism

THEY DENY THE COMING OF CHRIST

Said the Saviour, while discoursing of his coming and the end of the age, “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matthew 24:23, 24. NTMS 52.4

Some talk as though they supposed this was fulfilled in those who preach the near coming of the Lord; but there are many reasons why it cannot apply to them, but must apply to another class. All believers in the advent believe also in the personality of Christ, and, of course, cannot possibly proclaim that Christ is here, either in the desert, or in the secret chamber; but they teach exactly what the Scriptures say, that his coming is future, and will be personal, and visible to all, even as the lightning that shineth from one end of heaven to the other. NTMS 52.5

But we think this scripture is now being fulfilled. There is a class, very numerous at present, and fast increasing in numbers, who do thus teach. There are false christs and false prophets, showing great signs and wonders, and preaching that the Lord is come. See the following from the Spiritual Telegraph, under the head of “Important Announcement to the World“:— NTMS 53.1

“Hearken, then, to the voice of wisdom, O ye inhabitants of the earth, and be not blinded as to your Lord’s appearing; for he is already in your midst.” NTMS 53.2

But if Christ is come, how is he come? We have not seen him; our friends still sleep in the dust; and as Peter said of David, so we can say of them: they are dead and buried, and their sepulchers are with us to this day. The above “important announcement” we cannot believe, until we can be assured that the events connected with his coming have taken place; but they have not. This leads us to remark that it must be utterly impossible for false christs to deceive those who have correct views of Christ and of his coming. And this deception could never have flourished as it has if the world and the church had not turned away from the doctrine of the Lord’s coming. Those who firmly believe that Christ is a Priest on the throne of his Father, and that when he leaves that throne he will descend with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God, and that at his coming the righteous dead will be raised, the living changed, and all caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, while the wicked will be slain all over the earth; those, we say, who firmly believe these facts, cannot receive the testimony of false christs. NTMS 53.3

But many who profess to believe the word of God only ask for a manifestation of supernatural power, or superhuman intelligence, to give full credit to the testimony of the power or spirit communicating. But if no false or spurious manifestations of power could be given, this scripture would never be fulfilled. Hence, it is not sufficient proof of their truthfulness, that signs and wonders are wrought; for the false christs and false prophets will show them even as Jannes and Jambres imitated the miracles wrought through Moses. From all this it is plain that before any can successfully proclaim themselves christs, they must destroy confidence in the exalted nature and position of Christ, or so pervert the testimony of Scripture as to make Christ such an one as themselves. This, Spiritualists have done. NTMS 54.1

Says Joel Tiffany:— NTMS 54.2

“I must look for the coming of my Lord in my own affection. He must come in the clouds of my spiritual heavens, or he cannot come for any benefit to me.” NTMS 54.3

The testimony of Dr. Hare, before quoted, shows a complete fulfillment of this prophecy:— NTMS 54.4

“He said that he had been protected from deception by the spirits of Washington and Franklin, and that they had brought Jesus Christ to him, with whom he had also communicated. He had first repelled him as an impostor; but became convinced afterward that it was really him.” NTMS 54.5

According to Dr. Hare, Christ came and was in the “secret chamber” at that time. NTMS 54.6

In the Banner of Light, Nov. 18, 1865, the controlling spirit testified through Mrs. Conant:— NTMS 54.7

“This second coming of Christ means simply the second coming of truths that are not themselves new, that have always existed.... He said, ‘When I come again I shall not be known to you.’ Spritualism is that second coming of Christ.” NTMS 55.1

As Christ is the exalted Son of God, the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of his person, and the Father’s sole representative to man, to make Spiritualism, with its falsities, its Atheism, and its licentiousness, identical with the coming of Christ, is the most horrid blasphemy. NTMS 55.2

We have remarked that we cannot be made to believe that Christ has already come, because the voice of the Archangel has not been heard, and the dead in Christ have not risen. Spiritualists, however, easily dispose of this to their own satisfaction, for NTMS 55.3