What is Spiritism?

James H. Cagle

“And there shall not be found among you any one . . . that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord” (Deut. 18: 10-12 KJV).

Divination “is the act of attempting to foresee or foretell, of guessing something hidden.” And, “the attempt to discover what is obscure or the foretelling of future events, as by supernatural means.”

Spiritism (not spiritualism) is the New Age term to describe the occult and its many tools used to supposedly communicate with the dead. This includes astrology, horoscopes, numerology, palmistry, tarot cards, Ouija boards, crystal balls, magis (also majick), and séances to name a few.

The modern resurgence of spiritism came when Kate and Margaret Fox, the daughters of John D. Fox, in 1848, claimed to have successfully contacted the spirit of a dead peddler. They would call out letters of the alphabet and would listen for a knocking response that meant either “yes” or “no.” “This so-called communication with the dead created a nationwide frenzy, and public interest in talking to the dead skyrocketed.”

Soon inventors came up with strange creations designed to communicate with the dead. The one that emerged as the most popular was the Ouija Board (meaning “yes, yes” – oui in French and ja in German). The Ouija Board is not called a game, but a tool, for opening doorways into the dark dimensions by those of the occult.

Those who seek to communicate with the dead employ a medium, an occultist, who will hold a séance and purportedly conjure up the spirit of the dead to speak to them.

Hillary Clinton is an occultist and held séances in the White House when her husband Bill was president. Her hero is Eleanor Roosevelt, and she has claimed to have communicated with her and Mahatma Gandhi through her medium Jean Houston. Bill Clinton in a commencement speech in 2012, reminded his audience that his wife Hillary was in constant communication with Eleanor Roosevelt. (Search “Séance Hillary”).

There are psychics who claim they can communicate with the spirits of dead pets, and can convey to their previous owners that they are at peace and everything’s all right. (Whatever that means.) There are psychics that claim they can communicate with ET’s as well.

Seeking to communicate with the dead is strictly forbidden by God (Lev. 20: 27; 1 Tim. 5: 1, 2 et al.). That is because what messages are received from the spirit-world are not from the souls of those who have passed through the veil, but from demons who impersonate them (Job 7: 9, 10; Ecc. 7: 5, 6).

Spiritist leaders are anti-Christian. Sir Author Conan Doyle (1859-1930), an early leader in spiritism said, “The whole doctrine of original sin, the Fall, the vicarious Atonement, the placation of the Almighty by blood; all this is abhorrent to me. The spirit guides do not insist upon these aspects of religion.”

But can we really communicate with the spirits of the dead? Not according to the Bible. “The story of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk. 16: 19-31) reveals the fact that communication with spirits of our departed dead, is not only unnecessary, but isn’t permitted. It’s not necessary because we have Moses and the Prophets (Holy Scripture) to give us all we need to know of the state of the dead. And it’s not permitted, or Lazarus, or the rich man himself, would have been allowed to return to earth to warn his brethren. The inevitable conclusion drawn from this story is that the spirit of good men “may not,” and the spirit of bad men “cannot” return to the earth. If this is true, and it is, then Spiritism is a fraud, and is one of the devices of Satan in these latter days to lead astray the unwary. Those who dabble in Spiritism are in great danger of having their “understanding darkened” (Eph. 4: 17-19) and come under the power and control of Demons.”