Sunday: The Deadly Consequences of Spiritualism
Daily Lesson for Sunday 2nd of June 2024
The fable that death is really just entrance to a new stage of life is based on the concept of the soul’s natural immortality. This pagan idea infiltrated the church early on as it moved away from its biblical foundations in an attempt to make its faith understandable to the wider Roman world. “The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 549.
“ ‘And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell’ ” (Matthew 10:28, NKJV).
What should this verse alone tell us about the supposed immortality of the soul?
Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com
The Lord forbade His people from involvement in occultism of any kind. They were not to tolerate among them “a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead” (Deuteronomy 18:11, NKJV). Such people were to be stoned to death (Leviticus 20:27). The punishment seems incredibly harsh, but it was designed to protect Israel from worshiping false gods.
Witchcraft is demonic. It seduces people into false worship and counterfeits a genuine relationship with God, but it can never satisfy the deepest needs of the heart. Spiritualism is at the heart of Satan’s plan to take the world captive. But Jesus, by His grace and power, sets captives free from the chains of evil that bind them.
Read Ecclesiastes 9:5; Job 7:7-9; and Isaiah 8:19-20. What do these Bible passages teach us about death and communication with the dead?
Though unbliblical, the belief that the dead go right to heaven at death has been around for so long and is so firmly entrenched that it’s very difficult for people to let go of it. People use a few texts that are taken out of context to try to justify the belief. But this false teaching leaves them with no protection against the deceptions Satan can foist on them, especially in the final crisis.
What has been your experience with trying to explain the state of the dead to other Christians? What, if anything, have you found effective?
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It probably comes as no surprise that is a secular society such as the one I live in, Spiritualism per se is something we rarely hear about. People who claim clairvoyance or who are involved in seance activity are regarded as a bit unusual at best or manipulative and corrupt at worst. If I was to take a poll among my secular friends about their belief in the afterlife, most of them would say, "You have got to be joking! When you die you are dead. The chemistry stops and you cease to exist."
In light of this attitude, our belief in the resurrection and eternal life is treated with the same disdain. So it does not make sense for us to be critical of those who believe differently.
We do have a message of hope in eternal life but it only effective if we live as though we are participants in that life now. Making a difference in the lives of others now is a worthwhile precursor to sharing our belief in eternity.
Note: I am aware that other countries are not as secular as Australia and that discussing and developing strategies for countering overt spiritualism may be useful. But, even in those countries, the centrality of Jesus in our message is still our most important argument.
Connecting this lesson with our previous weeks’ lessons about the Day of Atonement and God‘s desire to purify us…
Many in today’s New Age-style religions don’t believe there’s any sin…but they do believe that humanity is not fully “awakened“. They describe sin as being in a state of “unconsciousness“. Often Jesus‘s own words are used to back this up, when He said on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.“ This false doctrine defines “unconscious” as “they know not what they do”. Innocent ignorance. Or at least excusable. “Be generous, no one is perfect” is the idea.
So if there’s no right and wrong, it’s just a gentle progression of learning and awakening. And since some people seem to not be fully awake by the time of their death, they follow-up idea is that death is not final. A person reincarnates over as many lifetimes as they need to become awake. In this worldview, it’s impossible to be separated from God or “Source”…, so death has very little meaning.
It all seems to be a very gentle model of personal growth. Satan is so crafty… It appears to be a kinder doctrine than the truth. And, just like Christ’s model where the true doctrines unite - “ repent and be saved for the hour at hand and you have only your one life now to choose” - the false doctrines unite - “stay present in the moment, enjoy the now, center and grow as you like, and don’t worry about unconscious behaviors too much, you have plenty of lifetimes to figure it out. You are part of God/Source/the Universe…there’s no separation possible.“
The truth is more urgent by far! Prophecy is telling us that time is running out. Each person needs to choose Jesus ASAP and let Him cleanse them from sin. This is the Day of Atonement period of history. Not only that, but we only have this life time to be cleansed. There are no reincarnations or future lifetimes to choose Jesus or to become more Christlike in character…, a state of being that other worldview calls becoming “awakened”. The parable of the 10 virgins is telling us to wake up now….it’s the midnight hour. Ephesians 5:14 says, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” We’re slumbering at the border of the Promised Land. Jesus is ready to come back…. wanting to shine on us. We are not to take sin lightly or to be indulgent with the rebellion against trusting in Jesus that we find in our own hearts.
Which world view brings more inner peace? My answer…. The false doctrine seems more peaceful, but it’s like the violins playing sweetly as the people on the Titanic went down. The true doctrine is stressful, spiritual warfare is stressful….,the idea of “probation” closing for loved ones who resist Jesus is stressful….unless I am fully submitted to Jesus. Truth agitates half-hearted belief. As Paul said, we are of all people most miserable if we don’t believe in a resurrected Savior who has power to save us - and all whom we know and love- from sin (1 Corinthians 15:19).
Lord, help me to surrender fully to You without delay. Help me to use my lifetime to work with you (John 9:4). 🙏🏻
Thought-provoking. Thank you, Esther!
In this weeks lesson it is good to remember the lessons of 4th quarter 2022. Death, Dying, and Christ death and resurection. A concise understanding of our belief is in the link below. It helps to understand the state of the dead along with the elequant discussion presented by Omwenga yesterday.
https://www.adventist.org/death-and-resurrection
How time flies. I remember back in the mid 80s having a group conversation with Christian coworkers from various different religious backgrounds over this very topic, the immortality of the the soul. It got quite heated, as the same scriptures in this week's lesson we're presented. This truth is almost an enigma to non- Adventists. To make my point, I asked, "the seance of woman of Endor recorded in I Samuel 28:8, is it of the Lord or of Satan?"
Imagine my dismay that someone thought that God had brought Samuel to life as a punishment for Saul's life of disobedience. This is the level of unbelief that confronts us in 2024.
We should be mindful to avoid sensationalism when teaching the topic of Spiritualism. At its core, it is a religious belief with the central tenet that the dead communicate with the living. We may not be fooled by this directly, but we can spend far too much time identifying spiritualism instead of identifying Jesus. Modern spiritualism includes a range of other spiritual experiences not directly ascribed to the dead, embracing conspiracies, guides, energies, powers, angels, and healing techniques. Even Christians can be fooled into spending more time knowing about the Devil than knowing Jesus.
The Devil wants those not directly attracted to spiritualism to embrace his deceptions as harmless fun, entertaining and exciting distractions. Time spent, even while teaching about them, can have unintended consequences. We must teach soberly, avoiding tales of vast conspiracies, spirits, ghosts and manifestations, so people are not caused by our lack of discretion to seek yet more excitement and drift away from Christ.
Important reminders, thanks Russell! God wants us “to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (Romans 16:19). Less understanding of deception and demonic force and more understanding of truth and God’s character is a protection against getting sucked into glorifying evil power. Desiring knowledge of both good and evil is what got us into a mess in the first place (Gen. 3:5-7). I would rather focus on "Greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world" 1 John 4:4. Our spiritual armor is truth, faith, salvation, righteousness, the gospel, the Holy Spirit, prayer.
There is a town in Mexico called "La Santa Muerte." In English it means "The Holy Death." Right in the middle of that town is a statue of a skeleton with a black robe with its hands stretched out as if to mimic "The Cross of Jesus Christ," and as if to make out that even Jesus' death was the most "Holy of Deaths" to then also make an idol of it right in the middle of the town and even name that town "The Holy Death." I, myself, would only visit that town if God somehow empowered me with His Holy Spirit to somehow preach about "The True Holy death but more so the Resurrection of Jesus and for also the true Salvation for them through this Bible Gospel Message and Truth.
While we may be becoming a more secular society, spiritualism is alive & thriving in Movies, TV, video games, board games, social media, & books. The Libraries are now full of books about witches, wizards, & witchcraft, and just sit through the trailers for a movie and at least one (but usually more) will have blatant spiritualistic messages.
Secular society as well as Christians are feeding on all of this media. We must watch & be vigilant or we could be influenced by this media. I see in our schools that the children talk all the time about these kinds of things and they are drawn to them like a magnet. Children's programming is loaded with spiritualistic & new age thinking. We must make them aware & be aware ourselves and pray, pray, pray, that their eyes will be opened.
I am alarmed at what parents are allowing their children to watch & play. We have become very complacent & comfortable with the spiritualism being promoted all around us. We need to wake up and protect ourselves and our children from the direct access Satan has to them. "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:12-13
We need to teach our children (and ourselves) to turn toward God and run from these things, not run to them.
It needs faith strong enough to stay connected to Christ and His truth, otherwise the devil is crafty and can play serious mind games with God's people .Let's be watchful and pray!
Gen.2:7 - ”And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
If we consider ourselves in this light, then it is not possible to separate body and soul during our life time here on earth.
I believe the 'Living soul' to be the construct of our Creator to enable man in his body to know Him and be known by Him; to be enabled to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. As a 'Living soul', we are called to accept Him as our God vested with all authority and power over His Creation.
As we need our body in order to be able to know God and interact with Him, to understand the purpose why we have been created, then, being created as a 'Living soul', we are the only life form which can comprehend its singular purpose of knowing and seeking fellowship with its Creator as He works out His chosen plan for us.
I urge everyone to keep our Christian faith simple – love God with all your heart and dedicate your love for Him to be expressed through the love of your fellow man - Matt.22:37-40; there is no danger in this – all our needs are met! We do not need to seek comfort through/from other sources.
What is the meaning of Matthew 10:28?
Thank you for your question, Riga.
One practical paraphrase for modern times might be … Get fear of people out of your life. Don’t fear what people around you think or say or do re: you. And then , body vs. soul….Which place is more dangerous for your child to live in, for example? A place where they can get blown up by a grenade in the streets or die of malaria…but have a solid faith in Jesus modeled and nurtured? Or, a place with an education system and home life that’s largely atheistic and materialistic where half the teens are on depression medicines and can’t see a reason to live? Death of the conscience and inability to know right from wrong and hear God’s voice is more serious than death of the body. And a place that is dangerous to both body and conscience is most dangerous of all.
Jesus urges His disciples not to respond to this persecution with misplaced fear. More specifically, he tells them to respond with proper fear. He tells them not to waste their concern on those in authority who can only kill their bodies but cannot kill their souls. Instead, they should reserve their fear for the one who can kill both body and soul in hell. I don't know if my understanding is okay, Mathew 10:28
Matt 10:28 Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell. NLT
If you are saved, your body can be destroyed, but you can have eternal life in heaven. If you are not saved, your body can be destroyed and your soul will be destroyed in hell fire. God is in control. He is to be feared (reverenced).
Not too long ago I attended a seminar at the local Baptist church. I was surprised to hear the pastor warn the attendees about the anti-Biblical nature of communicating with the dead. The Pastor declared that any such communication would inevitably be with demonic beings (citing Bible texts from Leviticus & Deuteronomy & Samuel). However, he then asserted that the souls of the righteous dead are nevertheless in Heaven, but they are constrained by God to not communicate with earth.
My take-away from this experience with my Baptist friends is that we, as Adventists, should not automatically conflate the distinctly different constructs of "spiritualism" and "soul immortality".
Jeff - 'not automatically conflating the distincly different constructs of "spiritualism" and "soul immortality"' - is an interesting point.
I have never heard about that "the souls of the righteous dead are nevertheless in heaven, but they are constrained by God to not communicate with earth."
Did the pastor elaborate on which Scriptural source his understanding is based on?
Interestingly, the Faith Baptist pastor used exactly the same Bible texts (see SS lesson citations) we use to condemn "communicating with the dead", but then used the standard Protestant arguments based on their understanding of Scripture to assert "soul immortality".
A quick internet search identified other Baptist pastors that espouse the same arguments:
https://g3min.org/should-i-talk-to-my-dead-relative/
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/should-we-consult-with-dead-ancestors
There’s no such thing as “ souls of the righteous dead in Heaven, but constrained.”
This is just another deeper/deceptive way of agreeing with “you shall not surely die.”
They might cite the very same scripture we do as biblical SDAs but that in no way is different with lucifer quoting Ps 91.
Exploring the deadly consequences of spiritualism reveals the dark side of seeking connections beyond our world. It's a cautionary tale that underscores the importance of discernment and caution.
The lesson was very educative and reminding us not to fear the one who kills the body rather fear the one who both destroy soul and body.