1 Samuel 28:7-25 Then said Saul to his servants, Seek me a woman that has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her… I. I LEARN FIRST FROM THIS SUBJECT THAT SPIRITUALISM IS A VERY OLD RELIGION. What does God think of all these delusions? He thinks so severely of them that he never speaks of them but with livid thunders of indignation. He says: "I will be a swift witness against the sorcerer." He says: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." And lest you might make some important distinction between Spiritualism and witchcraft, God says, in so many words: "There shall not be among you a consulter of familiar spirits, or wizard, or necromancer; for they that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." II. STILL FURTHER: WE LEARN FROM THIS TEXT NOW IT IS THAT PEOPLE COME TO FALL INTO SPIRITUALISM. Saul had enough trouble to kill ten men. He did not know where to go for relief. After awhile he resolved to go and see the witch of Endor. It was his trouble that drove him there. And I have to tell you now that, spiritualism finds its victims in the troubled, the bankrupt, the sick, the bereft. III. I LEARN STILL FARTHER FROM THIS SUBJECT, THAT SPIRITUALISM AND NECROMANCY ARE AFFAIRS OF THE DARKNESS. Why did not Saul go in the day? He was ashamed to go. Besides that he knew that this spiritual medium, like all her successors, performed her exploits in the night. IV. STILL FURTHER, THAT SPIRITUALISM IS DOOM AND DEATH TO ITS DISCIPLES. King Saul thought that he would get help from the "medium;" but the first thing that he sees makes him swoon away, and no sooner is he resuscitated than he is told he must die. Spiritualism is doom and death to everyone that yields to. It ruins the body. Spiritualism smites first of all, and mightily, against the nervous system, and so makes life miserable. V. I INDICT SPIRITUALISM ALSO, BECAUSE IT IS A SOCIAL AND MARITAL CURSE. The worst deeds of licentiousness and the worst orgies of obscenity have been enacted under its patronage. VI. I FURTHER INDICT SPIRITUALISM FOR THE FACT THAT IT IS THE CAUSE OF MUCH INSANITY. VII. I BRING AGAINST THIS DELUSION A MORE FEARFUL INDICTMENT: IT RUINS THE SOUL IMMORTAL. The whole system, as I conceive it, is founded on the insufficiency of the Word of God as a revelation. God says the Bible is enough for you to know about the future world. God has told you all you ought to know, and how dare you be prying into that which is none of your business? You cannot keep the Bible in one hand and spiritualism in the other. One or the other will slip out of your grasp, depend upon it. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. |
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