By: Dr. Richard M. Nies - 1975 Transcribed (with permission), Edited, and Presented By: Haydn k. Piper - 1985
* * STUDY #3 - Part I * *
- - O U T L I N E - -
SCENES BEHIND THE SCENES
REFERENCES
Olson: The Crises Ahead Ch. 8.
Chaij: Preparation For The Final Crises
White: The Great Controversy 492-562.
Early Writings 262-269.
SPIRITISM AND DECEPTIONS : OCCULT & ESP
The Essence of Spiritism: Deception of the Senses
Extra Sensory Perception
Clairvoyance
Telepathy
Pre-Cognition
DOP : Dermal-Optical Perception
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SPIRITISM AND DECEPTIONS
The setting is the Garden of Eden, and it is our contention that two trees were placed in the midst of the Garden, as a form of protection for our first parents, to prevent Satan from around the clock bombardment of them.
Satan had contended that God's Modus Operandi, His method of running things, was inadequate; and he had a better plan. And that plan was, that each creature, made in the image of God, really is very much like God, and should have no constraints placed by God. And if he were to run things, everyone would be free from any kind of constraint; which is another way of saying, "everyone should feel free to do their own thing."
And Satan says that no one is really going to adhere to a universe of constraints. Give anyone the chance, and they will rebel; and the reason that the rest of the universe has not rebelled, is because they were afraid.
So God created at this time an independent race of Beings made expressly in His image, with creative potential. The human race was a new and unique order of Being. It was Satan's contention that if he could have unbiased Beings, he could win them to his mode of government. And so God placed Himself in a position to meet this challenge so that the Universe could have the opportunity to understand Him and make an intelligent decision.
And so here was this independent pair of Beings, who, depending on the choices they make, are going to pass on to their offspring, who in turn are going to be made in their image, the characteristics that they develop through the choices they make. Now the question that the universe is asking is: "Will God find Beings who can trust Him, on the basis of the quality of Hid character?" He must not bribe them, He must not scare them, there must be no extrinsic force that propels them; it must be on the native attraction of His character.
And so a test was devised, requiring that man eat of one tree and not of another. There was no apparent reason for this as far as man could see, except that God had spoken. Everything depends on what they think of God. If God is really an O.K. person then there must be some basic reason why He would ask them to do this and not to do something else? But that was not apparent, they had to take it on faith. It is Satan's purpose to dissuade man from living by trust, by companion-ship. The only reason man could make such a choice is he had such a conception of God, he had such an adoration for Him, that he could say; "God that's O.K. if that is what you want, then I will do this for you." But if he has any question about God, if God is pulling a fast one on him then there might be a basis for rebellion and Satan could say; "See no one serves you because of your character."
And so we find that Satan approaches them through the medium of the most gorgeous of all creatures then, in what the scripture speaks of as a serpent.
Geneses 3:1-5.
1 " Now, the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God say, `You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, least ye die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Now, there are two very points to be made in this scripture. One is that you can really get by very nicely without God; life will go on, life will not become extinct. But further more if you really want to live, if you really want to be like God, it is not a matter of character, it's a matter of doing your own thing. Notice this attack on fellowship! If you will set out on your own, if you will live by your own whim, you will have an immediate experience that will open your eyes, that will give you an awareness, an experience that will be like God. God doesn't really want you to be like Him. He's really holding something back from you. Native to your very being, is the capacity to transcend this earthly state, and have an experience what God is limiting you to, so break away.
Now, I want to read a very provocative comment on this experience:
Patriarchs and Prophets 55:
"The serpent plucked of the forbidden tree, and placed in the hand of the half reluctant Eve. Then he reminded her of her own words, that God had forbidden them to touch it lest they die. She would receive no more harm from eating the fruit, he had already placed it in her hand.) Perceiving no evil results from what she had done, Eve grew bolder. When she saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat. It was grateful to the taste. And as she ate, she seemed to feel a vivifying power, and imagined herself entering upon a higher state of existence."
This awareness that was promised; this eye opening experience was an ecstasy. It was an euphoric, some inner state of activity that would be very pleasant. And what Satan was really saying to them was, not to trust, not to love, but to feel.
"Without a fear she plucked and ate. (You'll notice that first he put it in her hand and she ate and it seemed to be great, she felt fantastic, now she reaches out and takes one herself.) Now, having herself transgressed, she became the agent of Satan in working the ruin of her husband. In a state of strange, unnatural excitement, with her hands full of the forbidden fruit she sought his presence and related all that had occurred. An expression of sadness came over the face of Adam, he appeared astonished and alarmed; to the words of Eve he replied that this must be the foe against which they had been warned, and by the divine sentence she must die. In answer she urged him to eat, repeating the words of the serpent, that they should not surely die, and she reasoned that this must be true."
Notice that this feeling aligned her thinking, pulled in her thinking, to reinforce that which she had experienced.
"She reasoned that this must be true because she felt no evidence of God's displeasure." She couldn't feel anything wrong with this. "But on the contrary realized a delicious, exhilarating influence, thrilling every faculty with new life. Such she imagined as inspired the heavenly messengers."
Now that is the essence of Spiritism! We have thought that Spiritism is captured largely in the occult; I want to say to you today, that is only a special manifestation of this more central issue. We will get into that later in this discussion; but I want you to see that the basic approach that the satanic forces make to human experience, is that the great reality is to have some kind of ecstasy, to feel good, and then if you have this you don’t need God. And this really is the basis of life eternal; to do your own thing, to live by your own whims, to have your own ecstasy. And if anything can supplement this experience, then that is really living. It is his mission to facilitate that ecstatic process.
The deception of the senses is the essence of Spiritism! I want you to remember that statement, because we will refer to it again.
The deception of the senses is the essence of Spiritism!
If you have read the suggested material, you will have found that Mrs. White said several times, that the last deception that is to be given to the world, is the deception of the senses.
We are going to deal with that concept in a little broader context than we usually deal with in this matter of Spiritism; the deception of the senses.
Because, if Satan can so construe the experience of a person, so that reality is not some objective fact about life that God has spoken, but how we feel about it. And if he can get an individual to believe only that which can be sensed and that which can be felt, in that person; then that person is demon possessed.
Anything which breaks down the capacity to perceive, so that we can only believe that which we can feel is an instrument for the satanic. I would also point out to you that this is the experience, which is referred to as mental illness. People who are mentally ill can only go by the feelings that they have. If they feel that someone is out to hurt them, contrary to any objective fact to whether this is true or not, they act upon these feelings. Can you see what this would do to God's program for companionship? If we can only relate to other persons on the basis of the way we feel about them? What if we don't have good feelings for them, how could we love them?
You see then persons derive their worth in terms of the feelings they can give us. Do they make us feel important, do they titillate us, do they please us? Do we get any gratification from them? Can we get something out of them? And thus individuals are personalized into components that they can contribute to someone else's titillation.
This was the nature of all the temptations to our Lord, those in the wilderness. He was hungry, He wanted to have a certain biological drive fulfilled; and after not eating for almost six weeks, Satan approaches Him and says. See these little round stones lying on the ground? They look like Hebrew bread. Why don't you snap your fingers and make them into loaves? The way to be the Messiah, the way to get people to follow you is to fill their bellies, to satisfy their sensations, to help them to feel good, to relieve their primitive drive, people want bakers not saviors. The way is not through the cross; it is through your guts. So do that which satisfies you now and you then You can become the prototype of how people should live. And he never stopped harassing Him on that point. See our Lord in Gethsemane, and see the feelings that He had that Satan initiated. The feeling that He was worthless, that He was lost. It became so agonizing that He should have died under the pressure. We are told that He should have died Thursday night; and had He not been supernaturally strengthened, He would have died. But that would have been relief. And so we see Him live on so that He can die and experience it, so the universe can see what the issues in the great controversy is really all about. And we see Him hanging on the cross, have such inner experiences that defy the imagination. And He senses aloneness, alienation, that He can only describe in a desperate cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And if we ask, "Where was the father?" we are told He was right there at the cross, suffering with His Son. That's the reality. But He didn't feel it, He felt eternally lost, and the only thing He has to go by is a naked faith in a person, even when He can't feel it; and that's what faith is. To have that kind of trust in the validity of a person even when you can't feel it. Hadn't He just prophesied that if you destroy this Temple then in three days He would raise it back up, speaking of His own body? But now He can't feel it, His senses deceive Him.
Let me tell you, if His senses were deceived, don't think that you or I am going to be spared. Our senses will deceive us, and unless we have some perspective of reality that go beyond some momentary experience, we are going to be sucked into the grandest deception of all time.
Now that's the essence of Spiritism, the deception of the senses. I want to consider some of those aspects with you. But now you say, `What does that have to do with Hobgoblins and rapping's and the occult and poltergeist's and ghosts and talking to the dead? What's the connection?" And an even more important question to ask: "What sophisticated, intellectual in their right mind is going to buy that kind of stuff?" Have you ever wondered bout this? How are scientists going to accept such apparent nonsense? How are the communists, or Moslems going to buy this apparent deception?
Let me suggest an answer. I want to read three statements from Mrs. White's writings, the first one from the suggested reading:
Great Controversy, 561-562.
"Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to deceive the world. The foundation of his work was laid by the assurance given to Eve in Eden, `Ye shall not surely die, In the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' Little by little he had prepared the way for his masterpiece of deception, in the development of spiritualism. He has not yet reached the full accomplishment of his design, but it will be reached in the last remnant of time."
How, it seems so weird!
GC, 553-554.
"The Prince of Darkness, who has so long bent the powers of his master mind to the work of deception, skillfully adapts his temptations to all men of all classes and conditions."
So, to those who are not inclined to accept spooks, he is not going to present spooks. To a Seventh-day Adventist, who is saturated with the idea that the dead are unconscious, how far do you think Satan is going to get sending some simulation of some departed relative? What if he sent some simulation of someone whom is still alive? I'll suggest other ways. So he...
"... Skillfully adapts his temptations to men of all classes and conditions. To persons of culture and refinement, he presents spiritualism in its more refined and intellectual aspects, and thus succeeds in drawing many into his snare."
It's not going to be as weird as you might think! It's not going to be as dumb as you might think! It could be very sophisticated. And now the third statement, which is probably the most provocative of the three that we are reading, is from ...
Signs of the Times, Nov.6 1884.
Dr. Neis says he read this statement long before he entered his field of study, and was concerned that the field of study he had chosen was going to be used by Satan. So, he said that he tucked that thought away and said to himself; "I am going to keep my eyes open, and I'm going to see if I can find out how this field which I am making my life's work, is going to be the basis for laying the foundation of spiritualism. That's quite a remarkable charge."
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