SPIRITUALISM.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 191, 14 August 1922, Page 7

SPIRITUALISM.

A MASTER DELUSION. LECTURE BY PASTOR KENT. The foundation upon which Spiritualism is rca.red is supposed, contact with the dead, said Pastor J. \Y. Kent, in his lecture upou Spiritualism, at the Palace Theatre, last night. To a large audience that tilled the theatre, the speaker declared -that Spiritualism is the work of demons. It originated with the lie that Satan told Eve when he declared that she would not die for eating of the forbidden tree. This stiiu-ment flatly contradicted God's warning, "Ye shall surely die.'' Evidently Christ had this lie in mind when he denounced Satan as "a liar from the beginning. - ' When Spiritualism is tested hy the divine criterion, ita revelations and pretensions vanish into the air. Its communications arc no more like the messages of the prophets and apostles than ;i falsehood is like the truth. A careful consideration of the two settles at once their rival claims. Tlie Bible definitely declares that tbe dead do nut return. In 11. Sam. 12, 23, David declared that he could not bring back the dead. Yet a witch or a medium whom Cod has cursed can do this, or at least Spiritualism says so. "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to inc." so said Is-rael's king. The plain testimony of the Scripture regarding the condition of man in death, sweeps away the whole foundation of Spiritualism, since the Bible declares that the dead arc sleeping till the mom of the Resurrection, and that they know untiling. 1 Thcss. 4, 10, 17; dohn 5, _X, _!l. anil l'-.ccl. !•. 5. (i. with -lob U, 21, were cited in proof of this. In withering language, Cod cursed Spiritualism ' and its antecedents. • fcln.vah has declared it to be an unclean lliinp- spiritually and morally. -lis people were not to touch the defiling thin-. Th,- lecturer gave the testimony ,;f it- leading votarie.. to show that the lower tin- morality of the medium, the greater Ihe display of psychic forces. It proclaimed the divinity of man and denied the divinity of Christ. It may open its meetings with prayer and hymns. ;lm | claim Christ as its leader, bill tiiis was done the Ix'ttcr to deceive. In rca'.itv it denies the atonement and go-pel "f Chri-'i.. This. the speaker claimed, could be proved from its own »orks. From a Spiritualistic work cut it led: "Whatever is. is right.'' he read a- follow-: "What is evil? Evil d ■"- not c\i.-t. evil is good. What is a lie. A lie is the truth intrinsically, it holds a lawful place in creation: it Is a necessity. What is vice? Vice and yirtuc. 100. arc beautiful in the eyes of the soul. What is virtue? Virtue is .rood and sin is good. The woman who came to the well of Sychar was just as pure in spirit before she met l hrist. even though she was harlot, as she was afterwards when she went to live a different, life. There is no difler-cn-e between ller.xl. the mirrdercr of the billies in Bethlehem, and Christ the -avioiir of men. What are evil spiritsr There are no evil spirits. There is no devil and n« Christ. Christ and the devil are both alike" The lecturer concluded by saying the miracles of Spiritualism could not be denied, hut the P.iblc warned that these wit:, the result of "the spiri_s of devils working miracles.'' Pcv. 111. 11. The ectnplasmi.' materialisations photographed by the camera were not the spirits of our departed friends, but the incarnation of Ihe spirits of demons. He c\li..r:ed his audience to keep close to the teaching of the Scripture in all t'lin:.'-. then they would be clear of Spiritualism.