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Chapter 14
Spiritism's False Prophecies
A REAL effort is now being made to convince mankind that in Spiritism,
especially in the utterances and automatic writings of spirit mediums, we have a
remanifestation of the gift of prophecy as possessed and exercised by the prophets of
olden time. Says the author of the Vale Owen script:
"Inspiration, therefore, is of wide meaning and extent in practice. The prophets
of old time -- and those of today -- received our instruction according to the
'quickening of their faculties. Some were able to hear our words, some to see us."--"The
Life Beyond the Veil," book 2, p. 101.
"Looking at it from the spiritualistic standpoint, the inspired Book sounds like a
veritable record of mediumship."--"Are the Dead Alive?" page 345.
"We wonder why it is that the denizens of earth will read and think contrary to
the teaching in their Holy Writ. It is only necessary to read and calmly compare the
phenomena of older days chronicled therein and modern happenings to prove they are one and
the same, only given in different times of the world's history."--"The Proofs
of the Truths of Spiritualism," p. 203.
Whether these claims are made to elevate Spiritism or to degrade prophecy, the claims
are as far from the truth as the east is from the west. There is no more similarity
between the prophecies of the Bible and the productions of spirit mediums than there is
between light and darkness. God does not teach us one thing through some of His prophets,
and contradict it through other prophets. He has declared through one whom we know was a
prophet:
"In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such
turn away." 2 Tim. 3: 1-5.
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Let us see what a Spiritist "prophet" predicts:
"We are watching, and we are guiding as we may and opportunity is given us. If men
respond to our prompting, there is an age to come more full of light and the beauty of
love and life than that just passing away. And I think they will respond, for the new is
better than the old, and from behind us we feel the pressing of those of higher wisdom and
power as we look earthward."--"The Life Beyond the Veil," book 2. page
84.
God's prophet speaks positively of the perils of the "last days," and of
their abounding wickedness; and the records of our day show those prophecies in actual
process of fulfilment. "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived." 2 Tim. 3:13. The Bible prophet and the Spiritist predictor
contradict each other specifically, and we can believe only one of the two. If we had only
outward, tangible, present-day evidence to guide us in our choice, we would choose the
Bible prophet; for we see his prophecies fulfilling every day, and the Spiritist
predictions are by the same evidence demonstrated to be false.
Professor Hyslop reports this prediction:
"March 2, 1887, I was asked by my mother to inquire the whereabouts of two silver
cups, heirlooms , which she had misplaced. Said Dr. Phinuit [the spirit control of the
medium], 'They are in your house, in a room higher up than your sleeping-room, in what
looks to me the back part of the house, but very likely I am turned around. You'll
find there a large chest filled with clothing, and at the very bottom of the chest are the
cups. Annie [my mother's name] placed them there, and will remember it.' Returning home, I
went to a room on the third floor at the front of the house, but remotest from the
stairway, found the chest (of which I knew), and the contents (of which I was ignorant),
both as described, but no silver. Reporting the message to my mother, I learned that she
had at one time kept the cups in that chest, but more recently had removed them."--"Science
and a Future Life," p. 168.
In the days of ancient Israel, one of the descendants of Benjamin, Kish by name, found
that his asses had strayed away, and he sent his son Saul to find them. In his
unsuccessful search, Saul came to the place where the prophet of God dwelt, met the
prophet, and made his quest known, that he might receive help to find the strayed asses.
The Lord's prophet told him:
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"When thou art departed from me today, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel's
sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses
which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses,
and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? Then shalt thou go on forward
from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three
men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves
of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine: and they will salute thee, and give thee
two loaves of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands. After that thou shalt come
to the hill of 'God, which is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass,
when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming
down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before
them; and they shall prophesy: and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou
shalt prophesy with them. . . . And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from
Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day." I
Sam. 10: 2-9.
Notice the wealth of detail here, wherein there were so many opportunities for the
prophet to make a mistake; but they all "came to pass that day." How different
it would seem to us if the record read that when Saul reached Zelzah, he found that the
two men he was to meet there had been there the day before and gone; or we will suppose
that when he reached the plain of Tabor, the three men were not even in sight, and he met
them the following day, with only one kid and with four loaves of
bread, and the wine bottle empty; or we will suppose that when he reached the garrison of
the Philistines, he found that the company of prophets had come down from the high place a
week before, and so he was entirely deprived of the opportunity of joining them in their
prophesying. But nothing of the kind took place. The signs all came to pass just as the
prophet of God declared they would. What a difference between the two classes of
predictions! Saul found the asses at home when he reached home.
Of Dr. Phinuit, the spirit control who gave the false prophecy concerning the lost
cups, another psychic investigator reports:
"It was noticed that her [Mrs. Piper's] 'control,' the so-called 'Dr. Phinuit,'
was given to asking leading questions, and to making glaringly false statements. '-- "Riddle
of Personality," Bruce, pp. 213-216.
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What confidence could one have in the prophecies of the divine Book if we were to read
therein that the prophet Samuel, or the prophet Isaiah, "was given to asking leading
questions, and to making glaringly false statements"! There is no such record. There
is no such fact.
"Foretellings are often given us by the spirits; but they cannot be implicitly
trusted. We have had several regarding successes to be expected in the next morning's
papers; sometimes they are right, at other times there is nothing exactly like what they
had foretold."-- "The Proofs of the Truths of Spiritualism," p. 39.
"With regard to spirits foreseeing events, Dr. Hooper writes me as follows: 'My
guides have always been honest and stated that they cannot see anything definite six
months ahead. The farther it is off, the more hazy it seems.' "--Id., p. 109.
"Out of chaos and confusion there will come peace and order to your earth. The
wars of the nations are the birth-pangs of a new era, the consciousness of the race will
be lifted by the pain and agony of the refiner's fire."-- Id., p. 110.
The statements made in the first two of these paragraphs ought to prepare us for the
false prophecy contained in the last one. The records of our day prove it to be false, and
the prophecies of the Bible have forewarned us against believing any such statement. In
the book of Revelation the prophet is given a view of the days just preceding the end of
the world and the second coming of Christ. It is very different from the prediction
contained in paragraph three above. It tells of the spirits of devils going out into all
the world to gather the nations "to the battle of that great day of God
Almighty." Rev. 16:14. That is the battle of Armageddon (verse 16), the end of the
world; for verse 15 reads: "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth,
and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." The remainder
of the chapter tells of the terrible cataclysms that will close earth's history.
This prophecy and the spirit prophecy are diametrically opposed the one to the other.
The spirit prophecy is false; the Bible prophecy is true; and in all the nations
preparations are now going forward that will eventuate in its complete fulfilment in the
battle of Armageddon.
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The prophecies of God's Word are history written in advance. The prophecies of the book
of Daniel and of the Revelation (and others as well) are wonderfully accurate history,
written before it took place, some of it thousands of years before the events occurred. It
is one of the signs that God is God, that He is able thus to write earth's history. He
says of Himself:
"The former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they
spring forth I tell you of them." Isa. 42: 9.
And this is the record that the enemies of Israel have left concerning the prophet of
God in Israel:
"The heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing [because he could
not entrap the king of Israel] ; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye
not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my
lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the
words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber." 2 Kings 6: 11, 12.
This is unbiased testimony. Now let us see what one spirit, seemingly more honest than
the rest, has to say concerning the gift of prophecy in Spiritism:
"Now as to future events we cannot tell you what will happen, but, judging by
circumstances that are around you at present, we should say that success shall attend your
efforts."-- "The Proofs of the Truths of Spiritualism," pp. 157, 158.
"The Daily Mail (London) recalls the fact that Mr. W. T. Stead, when in
Constantinople last October (1911), made the following prophecy regarding his own death:
'I know perfectly well how I shall die. It has been revealed to me. I shall go to prison
twice more before I die, and I shall end by being kicked to death in the streets of
London. This makes my mind quite easy when I travel, and I never insure myself against
risks of any kind"-- Sydney Daily Telegraph, May 25, 1912.
It is well known, of course, that Mr. Stead did not go to prison twice more before he
died; that he did not die in London; that he was not kicked to death; that he was not
immune from dangers in travelling; but that he went down with over fifteen hundred others
in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, when the "Titanic" crashed
on an iceberg and foundered. This shows the intrinsic worthlessness of spiritistic
predictions.
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Mr. Stead had had other experiences with spiritistic prophecy, which should have warned
him against putting any confidence in the prediction concerning his death.
"In obedience to a very high spirit 'control,' he [Mr. Stead] embarked upon a
certain journalistic enterprise, being assured that the 'workers' on the other side would
see him through. Indeed, they predicted for it an absolute success. Mr. Stead went
forward, only to encounter one of the worst disasters of his life. . . . Certain messages
have been sent to me by alleged inhabitants of the beyond. In only one case has event
tallied with the prediction."-- Frederick C. Spurr, in Australian Christian World,
Feb. 20, 1920.
As to the value of spiritistic prophecy, in comparison with the prophecy of the divine
Word, the following is pointed testimony:
"Suppose that we have two classes of predictions, each one hundred in number, and
relating to events which lie equally beyond the reach of mere human foresight. Of one
class, but one in the whole hundred is fulfilled in any form. Of the other, not one in the
hundred fails in any particular. What higher evidence can we have that the intelligence
which originated the latter class differs, not in degree, but in kind, from that which
originated the former? the one being possessed of the most infallible, and the other of
the most erring, foresight? Such, precisely, is the character of the predictions recorded
in the Bible, and those put forward by Spiritualists to sustain the claims of their
system. . . . In all respects the miracles of Scripture stand in absolute contrast to the
so-called mysteries set forth by the advocates of Spiritualism."--"Modern
Mysteries," Mahon, p. 335.
From the evidence produced it is abundantly demonstrated that Spiritism has no valid
claim to the possession of the gift of prophecy; that its predictions are worse than
valueless, because persons, through such predictions, are led to embark upon enterprises
which bring them disappointment and disaster. Spiritism is therefore as false in this
claim as in others which we have considered in this treatise.
