The Sin of Witchcraft

V. But who are these familiar spirits?

To this question two answers have been returned.

1. They are the spirits of our dead friends. 2. They are the fallen angels who imitate or counterfeit them. One of the answers must be true; both of them cannot be; which, therefore, shall we except as the truth?

If we could believe the familiar spirits themselves, the first answer must be true; for they profess to be the spirits of the dead, and they claim to bring up any of the dead who are called for. But there are some reasons for distrusting their testimony. 1. In the case which the Bible gives at length, as a specimen of their works, the familiar spirit which consorted with the witch of Endor professed to bring up the dead at pleasure, and to enable them to speak; yet we have found this to be a false pretense; for the familiar spirit did all the speaking, and dead Samuel had nothing to say. 2. The Bible warns us against them all as wicked and deceitful. Deut. 18. Their testimony as to their own personality, therefore, is entitled to no weight.

But the doctrine that the familiar spirits are the spirits of the dead, in ancient times rested upon the following propositions: 1. That the spirits of the dead are now in a state of conscious existence. 2. That they are now endowed with superior intelligence. 3. That they inhabit a region within the earth itself.

In modern times, however, the same doctrine is supported thus: 1. That the souls of men are immortal. 2. That death is the gate to endless joy. 3. That they enter upon their reward at death. 4. That they are in death endowed with superior intelligence. 5. That they are ministering spirits to the living, having their abode, either in Heaven or upon earth, at pleasure.

The modern doctrine is an improvement upon the theology of the days of Saul. But the Bible sweeps away this cunningly-devised fable of ancient days, and with it the doctrine that dead men can hold converse with the living. Thus that sacred volume teaches us:—

1. That God made man of the dust of the ground, and gave him life from his own breath. Gen. 2.

2. That he warned him that for transgression he should be deprived of life, and turned again into dust. Gen. 2:16, 17; 3:17-19.

3. That all men are now under the sentence of death, and are both mortal and corruptible. Heb. 9:27; Job 4:17; Rom. 1:23.

4. That those who seek immortality shall receive it at the resurrection, from Him who is its only source. Rom. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:51-55; 1 Tim. 6:15, 16.

5. That death came into the world by sin; that it is the last enemy; that Satan has had the power of it; and that death and Satan shall both be destroyed in the lake of fire. Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:26; Heb. 2:14; Rev. 20.

6. That in death there is no remembrance of God. Ps. 6:5.

7. That in the day of death the thoughts perish. Ps. 146:4.

8. That the dead know not anything; and that their love, and envy and hatred, is now perished. Eccl. 9:5, 6.

9. That the dead do not praise God. Ps. 115:17.

10. That sheol or hades, the under-ground abode of the dead, is a place where there is no work, device, knowledge, nor wisdom; a place of silence, secrecy, darkness, corruption, and death. Eccl. 9:10; Job 14:10-15; 17:13-16.

11. That the righteous are not to be with Christ till he comes back after them. John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15; 32; 1 Thess. 4.

12. That men are neither rewarded nor punished till they have first been judged. 2 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 22:12; Matt. 16:27.

13. That the dead, both righteous and wicked, are now asleep. Dan. 12:2; Job. 14:12. 1 Thess. 4:14 1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20, 51.

14. That the keys of death and hades are not in the hands of familiar spirits, but in those of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rev. 1:18.

These facts are certainly sufficient to show that the familiar spirits do not come from the dead themselves, and that they do not, and cannot, bring up any of the dead. Who, then, are the familiar spirits? We need not deny their existence, nor can we without denying the Bible. Nor should we pronounce it an inexplicable mystery that our dead friends, whose very thoughts have perished, and who sleep quietly in the silent dust, are by them apparently made to speak in so wonderful a manner. There is an agency competent to do this work. That the familiar spirits are the fallen angels will appear from the following facts:—

1. The Scriptures inform us that Satan, who was once an obedient servant of the God of Heaven, long since raised the standard of revolt against him. John 8:44; 1 John 3:8; Eze. 28.

2. That a large body of the angels joined in this revolt. 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Rev. 12:7-9.

3. That these wicked spirits are not now in torment, but that they await the day of Judgment, when with wicked men they shall be sent into everlasting fire. Jude 6; Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20; Matt. 8:29; James 2:19.

4. That this vast body of fallen angels have been engaged during the whole history of our race in the most mighty efforts to involve mankind in ruin. 1 Pet. 5:8, 9; Job 1 and 2; Luke 22:31; Rom. 8:38, 39; Eph. 6:11, 12.

5. That hypocrisy, deception, and fraud have been the chief of the ways in which they have ruined mankind. 2 Cor. 11:14, 15; Gen. 3; John 8:44; Rev. 12:9; 20:3, 8.

6. The Old Testament plainly teaches that the work of the familiar spirits is false, deceitful, and ruinous. The New Testament shows who they are that deceive, seduce, and ruin, mankind. It is the fallen angels, with Satan at their head.

We cannot, therefore, avoid the conclusion that the familiar spirits of the Old Testament are the fallen angels of the New. And hence it is that the "seducing spirits" of Paul, and the "unclean spirits" of John, are called devils, or spirits of devils. 1 Tim. 4:1; Rev. 16:13. We need not, therefore, think it strange that the Scriptures warn us so faithfully against seeking knowledge at their hands.