Thank you very much indeed. As one of the elders said to me as I come in tonight, welcome home. And of course, that would be right. I was thinking back on the days when I was in the Youth Fellowship in what was then the old Ravenhill Church. I think it was somewhere around the end of 65, beginning of 66. That's 1965, 66, not 18, don't go back too far. But those were great days. In those days, the minister was the president of the Youth Fellowship. For three years, I think it was, I had the great privilege, and it was a privilege, of being vice president. I really enjoyed that time. We had some tremendous meetings. A lot of the young folk at that time came into the Lord's work. Some went to the mission field, and others went into the ministry. We always look back in those days with great joy and delight. I think I followed the Reverend Ron Johnson. It used to be in those days, as you say, the young people voted for who they wanted to be Vice President of the Fellowship. And the year that Ron and me and I stood together, he beat me by one vote. But I think he rigged it. However, he became the vice president. Of course, he went out to train for the mission field. Well, folks, this is a very big subject, and it's certainly an interesting topic at this time of the year. As I came through Belfast tonight, I never saw sights like it in all my life. grown men, I'm not talking now about children and young teenagers, I'm talking about men and women, all dressed up like Dracula and Frankenstein. Maybe that was just the way they were normally, I don't know. But it was crazy, and the town's just heaving with people. But they're not in a church, and they've no interest, of course, in a church, but it's amazing that this falls in this particular time. Halloween in all its origins, of course, is part of the occult in a way. It's part of the wickedness that we're going to be thinking about, particularly tonight on the subject that has to do with the occult. I'm thinking mainly of Spiritism. and I'll explain that as best as I can. Before I read the scripture, if you haven't got Dr. Kearns's theological dictionary, you should get a hold of it. There's a lovely, under the name Spiritism, there's a very good definition, and it's brief. And he just says this, and I'm quoting, the belief and the system of doctrines based on the belief that the spirits of the dead can communicate with the living through the office of a medium, and that this communication is beneficial to the living, a source of helpful information from the superior spirit world. Spiritistic beliefs are of a pantheistic nature, with their assertion of infinite intelligence, of which the phenomena of nature are expressions. Spiritism denies the possibility of forgiveness. Right away you see it hits at the very center of the gospel. It identifies heaven and hell with the here and now. It is thoroughly anti-biblical and anti-Christian, and the scripture injunctions against it are clear. Then he gives a list of some scriptures. The wrath of God is denounced on it. and its devotees. And that's what he says. And that's really a very succinct but excellent summary of what Spiritism is. But I want to read, first of all, from the book of Deuteronomy, please, chapter 18. I'm sure you're familiar with the passage. We're going to read from verse nine of Deuteronomy chapter 18. And then we read some verses from 2 Corinthians 12. Deuteronomy 18 verse 9. When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or 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. And because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God, for these nations which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times and unto diviners, but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. Now if you would turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, a very well-known portion of scripture. Of course, the experience of the Apostle Paul. He says here in verse one of chapter 12 of 2 Corinthians, "'It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. "'I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. "'I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, "'whether in the body I cannot tell, "'or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, "'such in one caught up to the third heaven. "'And I knew such a man, whether in the body "'or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, "'how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such in one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in thine infirmities." We'll end our reading there, knowing the Lord will bless His truth to all of our hearts for His name's sake. We bow, please, just in a wee word of prayer. Our Father, we thank Thee tonight that we have the sure word of God before us. We will not be led astray by the isms and the systems of religion in this old world, for we believe the word of God. This book, Lord, is the beacon of our hope, and we pray that we will be guided tonight of God. We will turn to see what the Lord would say, what the Lord has said concerning these issues. Give help to the preacher with all his infirmity and weakness, and bless the people, the dear folk that have gathered, Lord, in thy house, that they might hear the good word of God. And listen to what the preacher has got to say and determine in their own hearts whether this is of God or not. Answer prayer. Come among us tonight. We thank thee for the church here and for the many memories we have over the years. We thank thee, Lord, for the ministry of your servant who's now pastoring in this place. We pray you'll bless him, Lord, and his family and the congregation. May they all grow in the Lord and in the knowledge of him. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Spiritism, and I'm going to deal with that mainly tonight. We have read in the Scriptures what God forbids, what God permits, and we just want to start to have a starting point. And this particular thing, Spiritism, is known by two names, Spiritualism or Spiritism. I think the latter one is the more accurate. One of the oldest religious systems in the world, goes way back far into history. It has been called the cult of antiquity. Now the great appeal of this thing, and the great appeal of the occult in general, is its professed ability to receive messages from departed loved ones. There was a very famous magician years ago whose name really is synonymous with magic, Houdini, Harry Houdini. And he spent a long time after his mother's death trying to communicate with her. And of course was hoodwinked and fooled, but he never really accepted that he was able to do this. And of course he wasn't able to do it because God forbids it in the scriptures. But if you get a message from a departed loved one that tells you that they're doing well and they're in a wonderful place and everyone's happy and content, well, it's a feel-good factor about it. The fact that it's totally spurious and altogether false doesn't seem to bother those who profess to be mediums, these communicators with the dead. It's a very, very interesting thing. Made popular, actually, by two little girls. And really, parents need to listen to this. You need to be sure you know what your children are doing. where your children really are. Margaret and Kate Fox, 12 and nine years old, these wee girls were. They lived a way back a long, long time ago. There was a prophet of the movement whose name was Andrew Jackson Davis. He published some of his spirit messages under the title, Principles of Nature, a Divine Revelation, still regarded by modern day occultists and spiritists as one of the great prophets of the movement. It was through his writings that Sir William Crookes, who was a renowned scientist, accepted spiritism as a genuine thing. But it began, as far as modern times is concerned, with the Fox family in 1848, A place called Hydesville in New York. These folk had been annoyed by mysterious rappings. Their house was regarded by locals as haunted. You say to me, preacher, do you believe there's such a thing? Well, I certainly believe that there are events that take place that you can't really figure unless you put it down to the account. I remember years ago, The three ministers of our church, I was one of them, was asked to go to a home in a town in the county down because strange and weird things were happening in that house. A young fellow would be standing in the middle of the room, a room full of people. They all saw that, all witnessed it. And they heard footsteps coming across the room. and stopped where the young man was, and then a blast of cold air just hit him on his neck. Can you imagine if you were there, you'd jump out of your shoes, wouldn't you? We went to that home, and there certainly were strange things going on, things that couldn't be naturally explained. And what we did was we went into every room in the house and simply prayed and claimed the blood, for there was Christian people involved in this that were in this home. And as far as I remember, I heard no more about it for a long time. It came all right, if you like. But yes, those things happen. There are strange things that take place. It's very difficult to say this is not true. This never happened. But remember this, folks. When things happen like that, you can put it down right away to the devil. Because just as surely as there's a spirit world that you and I can communicate with. We read of it in 2 Corinthians 12 when Paul himself was caught. The ministry of prayer engages you and I in a spiritual exercise to reach a world that's not this natural world. Now, there's always a counterfeit to everything that's genuine from God. It should be no shock to you that there's this world of the occult. But these strange wrappings in the Fox household were very distinct. They sometimes appeared to come from the cellar, and the children, Margaret at 12 and Kate at nine, said they felt something heavy, like a dog lying at their feet, as if a cold hand then was pressed on her face. Indeed, their mother asked the question, how old is Margaret? 12 knocks followed. Margaret and Kate both went on to become well-known mediums. That's why you need to keep an eye on your children. Don't think the Ouija board and things like that are harmless fun. They're most certainly not. Don't think that reading the horoscope is something you should do just for a laugh. It certainly shouldn't be. I don't even look at the horoscope in the local paper. Don't even let my eyes rest upon it usually. Just avoid it. It's not right. If you turn to a dictionary and ask for a definition, an explanation of what it is, it will tell you this, a religious belief that the spirits of the dead can communicate with living people. And as I say, folks, the Bible very clearly tells us that this world is not the only world. The world in which we live, there is an unseen world. Hebrews 12, 22 to 24 will tell you something about that. And parallel with this unseen world of good, there runs the unseen world of evil. Ephesians 6, 10 to 13, John 8, 44, Jude verse 6. We even read of Judas Iscariot and Luke's gospel that Satan entered into him, entered into him, not just oppressed, but possessed him. Judas, of course, was never a child of God at all. But Spiritism, as it developed, it grew. It got stronger. It became a worldwide thing. The National Spiritist Association adopted this following definition, quote, Spiritism or spiritualism is the science, philosophy, and religion of continuous life based upon the demonstrated fact of communication by means of mediumship with those who live in the spirit world." Now you and I as Christians tonight, we can and we should communicate with the unseen world of holiness and purity. Every time we pray, we gain an immediate access into the presence of God. We have that great privilege. But you know, there are people who practice the same ministry of prayer, but they're not praying to God. I remember a young nurse from one of the hospitals in Ulster. was passing by a side ward. And she noticed that there was a lady lying in the bed who was engaged in the attitude of prayer. Her lips were moving, she was praying. And the young lady went into her and she said, I'm glad to see that you believe in prayer. Oh yes, she says, I believe in prayer, all right. And the young girl says, well I'm a Christian myself and I believe in prayer. And the girl said, the woman said, just a minute. I don't pray to your God. I pray to my King Lucifer." And do you know what she said? She said, I'm praying for the destruction of Christian marriages. People who are preachers and prominent Christians, I'm praying to Lucifer, my God, my King, the one that I worship, that he will see to it that marriages fail, particularly of prominent Christian people. Folks, that's tragic, but it's true. These folk, actually in this manual of 1940 of the Spiritist Movement said, and calling it one of its titles, it's the great redeemer. Think of that. It's the great redeemer, the emancipator. that releases human souls from the bondage of superstition and ignorance and lifts the clouds of error that have so long enshrouded the world. They believe firmly that you can communicate with the other side. They say that infinite intelligence, not God, pervades and controls the universe. This intelligence is impersonal, omnipresent, and omnipotent. They believe that good deeds which spring from a good heart have a creative force in building pleasant abodes and spirit life. Man makes his own happiness or unhappiness as he obeys or disobeys nature's psychic laws. You can see already, folks, that the whole concept of this thing, of what we term the occult, is anti-God. It's contrary to everything that Scripture teaches. And you will see in a moment or two actually what doctrines are even denied by these folk. And if we can communicate with our world of good and holiness and beauty when we engage in prayer, so too do they engage in prayer. The Bible tells us very clearly that God did come and commune with his people. Look what Jesus said in Revelation 3 and 20. He's standing at the door. He's knocking. The door is open. He will come in. He will fellowship. He will eat. He will commune with those that know and love him. The world of darkness can also be contacted. but, and friends, it's a big but, God has forbidden any such contact. Deuteronomy 18 shows that. In the book of Leviticus, it's always good to just take the moment to actually read the text in situations like this. Leviticus 20 verse six, The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a-whoring after them. Notice how God describes this thing, a-whoring. I will even set my face against that soul. God's against this, and against the person that practices it. And we need to understand this, and we'll cut him off from among his people. Oh, folks, say, you know, this is only an old superstitious thing. When I grew up, at least I think I have grown up, in a place called Taggers Bay, there was a wee woman by the name of Mrs. Moore, and she had this tremendous gift of reading tea leaves. You don't have that so much now because they don't make proper tea anymore, it's all in teabag. But it didn't used to be. And the women folk used to drain the cup so that the leaves would stick to the side of the cup, and this wee woman. And listen, they were queued down the street sometimes and around the corner, and I know, for my mother did this. She queued up when she was foolish and ignorant to get her tea leaves ready. You'd meet a tall, dark stranger. In Tigers Bay, that usually happened. It was a police officer. That's who they would have met. But people swore by what this woman told them and built their lives and their behavior on what she was telling them from the tea leaves. There's not much difference between that and the so-called tarot cards, when at the turn of a card determines your future, or the horoscope in the local paper. or going to Rosie Lee and Blackpool's promenade and getting your fortune told. You shouldn't do it. It's not harmless fun. It's an abomination. It's evil. It's sinful and God says you're not to do it. He will oppose those who do it. Read that text there in Acts 19 verses 18 to 20. You see God, friends, listen. forbids all horoscopes, fortune telling, charming, crystal gazing. It's not just foolishness. It's devilish. And it's human curiosity that caused men to seek after it, especially when it comes to the death of a loved one. You remember the story well, I'm sure, in Luke chapter 16. The rich man was not permitted not allowed even to talk to his brothers that they might be prevented from going to hell. He wasn't allowed to leave that world and go to his brothers and communicate. He wanted to be a soul winner because every soul in hell tonight are believers. They all now believe. They didn't when they died. The Bible makes it clear. The death causes a complete break with all that belongs to this old world. Think about that. Your wife, you as her husband, vice versa, you don't live in that relationship in heaven. Mormons believe you do, of course, and you have a whole pile of ways. Can you imagine spending eternity with a whole lot of different ways? Eternity would be difficult, wouldn't it? That was the case. That all ceases. Jesus Christ, our Savior, made that abundantly clear. And in both Old and New Testaments, it's so clear. There's a complete break. That book of Job that we're all so familiar with, let me just read you from the book of Job. in Job chapter 10 and the verse 21. Listen to this. Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, I shall not return. There's no coming back from eternity. Job chapter 7 verses 9 and 10. as the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away. So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more." 2 Samuel. Again, you'll be familiar with 2 Samuel 12. I just want to read one verse, verse 23 of 2 Samuel chapter 12. David said, now he is dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. Oh, it's so, isn't it so very, very clear. We often read at the funeral services of God's people that tremendous passage in 1 Thessalonians 4, where the Lord shall descend and the dead in Christ shall rise and so on. And what does the last verse say? Wherefore comfort one another with these words. That's our comfort. We don't need to communicate with our departed loved one. We know where they are if they died in Christ. And what comforts us, what comforts me about my parents tonight, what comforts me about my little sister that I never knew tonight, is this. They're with the Lord. And we'll see them again. We'll meet them again. We'll embrace them again. That's the comfort I have. not to try and communicate with them. What a tragic thing, and yet people are so desperate that that's what they seek to do. You know, in our doctrine, we believe in what is, to me, fundamental in the Trinity. Lord Dowding said, who was a Spiritist, the first thing which the Orthodox Christian has to face is that the doctrine of the Trinity seems to have no adherence in advanced circles of the spirit world, unquote. Of the deity of Christ, in one of their publications they say, any just and perfect being is Christ. It is an absurd idea that Jesus was any more divine than any other. For the virgin birth, they say, the miraculous conception of Christ is merely a fabulous tale of the vicarious atonement of God's Son. They say advanced spirits do not teach the atonement of Christ, nothing of the kind. Your doctrine of the atonement is the very climax of a deranged imagination and one that is of the unrighteous and immoral tendency. Think of that, the center of the gospel. the essence of our redemption, the atoning work of God's Son. It's a deranged imagination. They deny, of course, the bodily resurrection. They deny the inspiration and authority of Scripture. They deny the existence of hell. Their philosophy is this. Ultimately, everyone is happy. Everyone is content. Everyone finds some kind of joy. How do they communicate, allegedly, with the dead? Well, the medium is the instrument through which knowledge is given at a seance. They all get together and meet in a darkened room. Houdini found out in his examination of it that most of it, all that he could find, was fraud and was just something that was worked at. could have been done by anyone with the intelligence and the stickability to find out how to do it. He found nothing, nothing from the other side. That Ouija board that we mentioned with the inverted tumbler or glass often introduces a game. Letters and words are placed around the table and it's usual to address the spirit of the glass. What is considered a more advanced method is when the medium goes into a trance, then reports what is seen, and coming out of the trance, there's no recollection of what has been said or done. The medium appears to be exhausted. Folks, there's a biblical answer, as there is for all of these things. No matter what cult, religion, fraudulent thing that you study or you look at in this world, scripture has the answer to it. The Bible teaches that death causes a complete break. That text in Job reminds us, as the cloud is consumed and vanished away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall the place know him any more. Thou prevailest forever against him, Job 14, and he passes. Thou changest his countenance and sendest him away. What did Paul say? Here's the words that bring comfort to the child of God. He said, we are confident. Here's holy confidence. Willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. That rich man in hell maybe had this notion that, well, perhaps Lazarus could go into the world. Maybe he could get back and bring this message to my Brothers, but even Lazarus didn't do it. It's the word of God that brings us comfort, beloved. You know that they actually teach, and these occultists teach, that Christ was clairvoyant. You remember he said in Matthew, go into the village over against you and straightway you shall find an ass tied and a coat, loose them and bring them to me. They say that was clairvoyance at work. He was also telepathic. In John 4, he was able to tell the woman, thou hast five husbands, and he whom thou hast is not thy husband. And they attribute these mediumistic powers to Jesus Christ, not to his omniscience, not to his omnipresence, not to the fact that he's the second person of the Trinity. No, no, that the word of God would bring comfort, that's the key. And no child of God should ever be involved in anything of that nature at all. Just imagine, and we live in a time, and at this time of the year in particular, do you know, I'm sure you do of course, that the whole concept of Halloween has occult origins. The pumpkin going for apples in the water. Going trick or treat, the Druids used to do that. And if you didn't give them what they wanted, they'd put a curse on you. All those things are bathed in that idea. And yet we treat it today just as harmless fun. It's just the kids having a good time, but it's not, friend. It's far more serious, far more evil, far more wicked than that. We need to be so very, very careful. One day, our God is going to eliminate this thing. The Bible, you know, talks about a place called hell prepared for the devil. That's what hell was prepared for, for the devil and his angels. There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire or that uses divination. I remember having an argument with someone one time years ago about divining. And they were talking about, is it all right to go around the country and divine for water? And I said, well, I'll not just go into the details of that, but I'll tell you what I saw once. And I saw it myself. It was a panorama program. And they had a huge map of the countryside spread all over the studio floor. And they had this man, and he had the stick, and he divined for water off the map. Now you can't tell me that that aspect of it is of God. I'm not saying about people who can, it seems that some can, when they go around the country in the ground, and they can, the hazel twig as it will go mad. I'm not saying about that, for I don't know enough about that. But I'm saying this, if you do it over a map spread on a floor, you're not doing something that God has sanctioned, or that God would allow or permit. And the list's all here. It'll all meet with God's judgment. First Samuel Course 28 is the text that is foundational to these people who communicate with the dead. Remember Saul? Now I believe, and I may tramp on a few theological toes here, I don't know, but I actually believe that it was Samuel. that was brought up that day. Some of my colleagues and some eminent ones are here tonight, but some of my colleagues don't believe that, and we've talked about it. But I believe it's the only instance in Scripture of that nature where God permitted this. Because the woman herself, the witch of Endor, she didn't expect to see Samuel. Although she was expecting to fool the man who was Saul, and she near died off when she saw who it was. Shall I bring him up unto thee?" Samuel had the form of an old man. This, say the Spiritists, the occultists, this was a seance. But the woman was not in control of the situation as a medium would be. She is obviously alarmed and afraid. She disappears from the whole scene. I tell you, This is something we all need to pay awful close attention to, for you never know what's going to happen. You never know what your children are at, you know, and that. What Samuel said that day was the truth. The devil is not known for speaking the truth, and the devil doesn't generally speak in rebuke sin, as Samuel did here. I think we need to have great discernment in these days. What may appear harmless, people just out for a laugh. Oh, you know in Blackpool and Morecambe, that's what they all go to Gypsy Rose Lee for, just to laugh. Just a lot of old nonsense. But is it? I read a couple of books by a German theologian, he's a Lutheran actually, Dr. Kurt Koch. And he really goes into this thing in great detail. And he shows very clearly why it's wrong and contrary to Scripture. I tell you, folks, you need to know what Abraham said to the rich man says it all. There's a great gulf fixed. And if they don't believe Moses and the prophets, they'll not believe even if one should rise from the dead. But people still need to be convinced. I tell you folks, the only means of redemption, as we know, the only hope for men and women, is the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ. It's to have done, as the people in the Acts did, it is done with all of the occult, of all of the black arts and the darkness that's in this old world, and it's just a looking to Christ, that's all. The Lord delivers people from this. I have heard testimony from people who were delivered from this thing, but they really were delivered. And what they used to be able to do, they can no longer do because they're indwelt now by another spirit, the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ. And that's what we need. Now we can go on and on, but always remember this. Jesus said that the devil is a liar. The devil's not about to tell you truth. And I'm amazed that I meet sometimes highly intelligent people, clever people, educated people, who fall for all this stuff. And some professional people, doctors, scientists, lawyers, are up to their eyes. in this occult practice, this necromancy, trying to communicate with the dead, going into all those things that God has put a ban on, that God has said very definitely, no, you can't go there. You must not go there. Well, we could go on, as you know, but I think there's been enough said to show us all that there is a terrible darkness in this thing. The blinded men and women, and listen, it goes on. When I was in Dungannon Church, right opposite the church, there used to be a wee cottage just across the street. And a man one day stopped me in the town and he said, how are you getting on with your new church across the street from you? And I said, what are you talking about? Well, he says, there's witches and people in the occult that are meeting in that wee cottage just 10 yards from your church door. I was amazed. And I went across with my father-in-law one dark evening with a couple of torches, and we entered, no doubt illegally, the premises. And in the living room, if you could call it a living room, there was the big, Is it the pentagram? Is that what you call it? Yes, that's what you call it. Painted over the soil or sprinkled to have that resemblance. I remember my father-in-law taking his feet and kicking it all out of the road and covering it all over. I had no idea that was going on. And those things were being practiced 10 yards from my church door until we reported it and it seemed to be stopped then after that. But it's just going on, folks. There's something sinister in that world of darkness. We need to stand for the truth as it is in Christ. I think nearly 40 minutes is enough. I'm going to stop. I haven't got hymn. Maybe, Mr. O'Brien, would you come close in prayer for me, sir? And if the folk here have any questions, I tell them to go to your good self and you can explain everything to them. We close in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that again we can call upon Jesus' name. We know that His is the name who breaks the prisoners' fetters and does set the captive free. We thank Thee that His blood makes the foulest clean. That blood most certainly availed for me. We praise Thee that we can stand upon redemption ground And we can take on to ourselves, we are told in Ephesians 6, that classic passage of the armor of God. We can take on to us the whole armor of God, whereby we can be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We thank Thee for the reminder in Scripture that while around us there is darkness and increasing darkness, and this darkness traveling at breakneck speed to outer darkness. But Lord, we thank thee that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. There may be forces that we cannot give account for. Scarcely know what is going on. But we thank thee the Holy Spirit of God is infinite in power. and he can bring all of the energy of Calvary to bear him upon every enemy of the cross. Under his shelter, we hide. In his refuge, we find our defense. And in his praise, our highest joy. May our minds be filled with Christ. May our thoughts soar heavenward. And may we always pray for the blessing and the protection of God upon his church. And we thank thee that our Lord has said, I will build my church. And that's making alliances for all the powers of hell. I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Lord, may those gates yield unto the force of the gospel. Many souls, young people, older folks, who have given their curiosity and then more to follow in this path. May they be ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, and then from them who but his praise can sing. Answer prayer, do us good, bless the message onto our heart tonight, and may we be further and closer drawn to Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. I am out.