Two recent online articles—one on a liberal Adventist website [1], the other on CNN [2]—offer a telling commentary on the extent to which those within our communion who deny our classic faith would rather close their ears to unwelcome evidence—the very peril of which they accuse their theological opponents—than consider the possibility that the faith whose doctrinal and moral commands they despise might actually retain serious relevance in our contemporary world.

Few things irk theological liberals in the Seventh-day Adventist Church more than the end-time scenario of crisis, deception, and persecution set forth in Scripture and the writings of Ellen White, the latter often called the Spirit of Prophecy. The executive editor of a prominent online conduit of disbelief in this scenario—and so much more that his church represents—has now added classic denominational warnings against the demonic nature of spiritualism to the rejection pile.

Mere Human Trickery?

Faulting a recent Adventist Review article affirming the supernatural content of spiritualistic phenomena [3], the article in question appears to equate all such occurrences with mere human trickery. The infamous Fox sisters—based on their own inconsistent testimony—are said to have “made up” the tale of the mysterious rapping, alleging in later years that the sounds in question came simply from “popping foot joints and an apple tied to a toe” [4]. Similar explanations—noises from beneath the mediums’ skirts, wires holding up phosphor-painted speaking trumpets, roses, or fans, moving tables operated by knees or various mechanical contrivances—are all advanced as the true sources of the supposedly supernatural happenings associated with spiritualism [5].

One marvels that the author in question is prepared to accept the incoherent word of two self-acknowledged tricksters over the very consistent, unequivocal commentary of one who both passes the Biblical tests of a prophet and whose lifelong witness for the Christian faith was one of faithfulness to Scripture and the exaltation of the Christ there revealed. Faced with the choice between the testimony of the Fox sisters and that of Ellen G. White, it seems baffling that any honest Bible-believing Christian would have trouble embracing the witness of the latter.

What is frankly shocking is that the author of this article makes a partial reference to an Ellen White statement which, when read without the ellipses he inserted, offers a very balanced picture of spiritualistic happenings, as distinct from the all-or-nothing endorsement of the supernatural explanation which he ascribes to Ellen White. Here is the statement as quoted by the article in question:

Many endeavor to account for spiritual manifestations by attributing them wholly to fraud and sleight of hand on the part of the medium. … The mysterious rapping with which modern spiritualism began was not the result of human trickery or cunning, but was the direct work of evil angels, who thus introduced one of the most successful of soul-destroying delusions. Many will be ensnared through the belief that spiritualism is a merely human imposture; when brought face to face with manifestations which they cannot but regard as supernatural, they will be deceived, and will be led to accept them as the great power of God [##6|Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 553.##].

After quoting the above statement, with the ellipses here noted [7], the author in question states:

In short, if people believe that spiritualistic manifestations are merely tricks, they will be fooled when the devil really shows up! Our journalists in Silver Spring think the same: they want you to believe that spiritists’ “signs and wonders” are necessarily Satanic [8].

But now let’s consider the above Ellen White statement as she wrote it, without the ellipses:

Many endeavor to account for spiritual manifestations by attributing them wholly to fraud and sleight of hand on the part of the medium. But while it is true that the results of trickery have often been palmed off as genuine manifestations, there have been, also, marked exhibitions of supernatural power. The mysterious rapping with which modern spiritualism began was not the result of human trickery or cunning, but was the direct work of evil angels, who thus introduced one of the most successful of soul-destroying delusions. Many will be ensnared through the belief that spiritualism is a merely human imposture; when brought face to face with manifestations which they cannot but regard as supernatural, they will be deceived, and will be led to accept them as the great power of God [##9|White, The Great Controversy, p. 553.##].

Notice how Ellen White acknowledges that mere human trickery has “often been palmed off as genuine manifestations” of supernatural power [##10|——The Great Controversy, p. 553 (italics supplied).##]—not merely occasionally. The discoveries of such as the magician Houdini, referenced by the article in question [11], together with similarly fraudulent occurrences, are thus not dismissed either as merely incidental or non-existent by the counsel of Ellen White. Had the article in question included the entirety of the above paragraph from The Great Controversy, the author’s attempt to discredit Ellen White’s testimony regarding the sources of spiritualistic phenomena would have been seriously weakened.

One notes with interest that the Adventist Review article, faulted by the article in question, cites the above paragraph from Ellen White in its totality [12], with its candid acknowledgement of mere human trickery as an aspect of spiritualism. Ellen White does not, in other words, leave us with the choice between a fully supernatural explanation of spiritualism and a fully human one. But she is clear that to write off such manifestations as mere incidents of tangible fraud leaves us open to deception when manifestations of this kind cannot be accounted for except through supernatural means.

A “Town Full of Mediums”

A scant few days after the article in question appeared online, an online news report offered evidence that interest in spiritualism and its claim to contact the dead remain very real in today’s world, even among professedly born-again Christians. This report appeared—not in the National Enquirer, not in some other credulous outlet, nor in some untraceable source carelessly referenced by an overzealous Adventist evangelist (of which, sadly, there have been some through the years)—but on none other than CNN.

The report states:

Roughly 50 miles from Orlando’s theme parks, Cassadaga is a bucolic Central Florida enclave where the streets are tunneled with oak trees draped in Spanish moss, and brightly-painted Victorian-style homes are decorated with stained glass sunflowers, peace signs and statues of angels.

And an outsized share of the residents are mediums who claim they can communicate with the dead [13].

The town in question is home to the Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, a community dating back to 1894 that—according to the report—“believes in God, Jesus and the Bible,” but not in a “’Savior-God philosophy’ that involves the devil or ‘falling from grace’” [14]. One recent visitor to the camp, who claims to be a born-again Christian [15], described his experience in attending the Colby Memorial Temple in Cassadaga, where spiritualistic services are held [16]. He “said it was like no spiritual experience he’d had before. ‘You’re not judged, it’s just an easy relaxed feeling’” [17].

The community is replete with allegedly haunted hotels [18], gift shops selling gemstones for spiritualistic purposes [19], healing circles [20], “Encounter the Spirits” Night Tours [21], and sessions with local mediums where one can either walk in off the street or book an appointment in advance [22]. One intersection in town is marked by “Spiritualist Street” and “Mediumship Way” [23]. (In light of what Scripture says about the eternal destiny of such persons (Rev. 21:8; 22:15), more apt names for streets in such a town might be Brimstone Boulevard or Lake of Fire Lane.)

According to the CNN report, between 15,000 and 17,000 people visit Cassadaga each year, “and they come from all over the world” [24].

Those so willing to discard the teachings and predictions of Ellen White’s writings would do well to compare such statements as the above with the following statement from The Great Controversy regarding modern spiritualism:

Even in its present form, so far from being more worthy of toleration than formerly, it is really a more dangerous, because a more subtle, deception. While it formerly denounced Christ and the Bible, it now professes to accept both. But the Bible is interpreted in a manner that is pleasing to the unrenewed heart, while its solemn and vital truths are made of no effect. Love is dwelt upon as the chief attribute of God, but it is degraded to a weak sentimentalism, making little distinction between good and evil. God’s justice, His denunciations of sin, the requirements of His holy law, are all kept out of sight [##25|White, The Great Controversy, p. 558.##].

The person cited above who claims to be a born-again Christian attended a Sunday-morning service “where mediums connect with people they choose from the crowd for an impromptu reading” [26]. According to him, “I went in kind of like, ‘okay prove to me what you’re doing,’” [27]. But after the service he reported:

“My son and I did the readings and we both had somebody come through,” he said, recognizing his deceased father in the medium’s detailed description [28].

While the report in question acknowledges “plenty of skeptics” regarding the alleged supernatural manifestations [29], no documented debunking of the spiritualist claims described is included in the report. Reference is made to the Fox sisters and their role in the founding of modern spiritualism [30], but unlike the liberal Adventist screed cited in the present article, no reference is made to the Fox sisters supposedly being fraudulent or repudiating their earlier claims.

Preparing to Be Deceived

The liberal Adventist article in question writes as follows:

Fake supernaturalism can be done in the name of God. If you’ve ever attended or even watched on television a pentecostal healing service where the evangelist can tell the woman who comes forward just what it is God is revealing to him about her, and then assures her that her cancer is gone when the preacher shouts Jesus’ name and strikes her on the forehead, you’ve seen both trickery (assistants gather information from vulnerable seekers before the meeting and convey it to the healer) and skillful psychological manipulation in a controlled setting [31].

Earlier it states:

It seems to me there is more danger in this belief than the other, however. The danger is that naive believers in supernatural powers, when there are perfectly rational explanations at hand, will become fearful, credulous dupes. They will be unable or unwilling to believe sensible explanations for things they don’t understand and instead see supernatural manifestations around every corner [32].

But the author nowhere seems to consider the possibility of “perfectly rational explanations” no longer sufficing in the face of what objective evidence would prove to be genuine supernatural phenomena. What happens when a patient terminally ill with cancer, whose medical records are available to objective witnesses, attends a meeting where one claiming to be a departed loved one pronounces the terminal patient well, with the latter returning to his or her physician and being declared cancer-free? What happens when persons confined to wheelchairs with paralysis, or diabetic amputees—persons whose condition is well known to family and friends—show up at such a gathering and see their disabilities vanish, their bodies restored to youthful vigor, their amputated limbs extending strong and new?

Ellen White warns, regarding the appearance of beings claiming to be departed loved ones:

Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils personating beloved relatives or friends, and declaring the most dangerous heresies. These visitants will appeal to our tenderest sympathies and will work miracles to sustain their pretensions. We must be prepared to withstand them with the Bible truth that the dead know not anything, and that they that thus appear are the spirits of devils [##33|White, The Great Controversy, p. 560.##].

Without question the world has seen phony faith healers, whose deceptions have been exposed by careful and conscientious investigation. But just as Ellen White acknowledged the many fraudulent claims to supernaturalism by certain ones in the spiritualist movement, while simultaneously warning of “marked exhibitions of supernatural power” [##34|——The Great Controversy, p. 553.##], the same must be said of claims involving supernatural healing. Those who convince themselves that spiritualistic manifestations and alleged faith healings can all be accounted for through mere human trickery or cunning, are preparing to be deceived.

The Essence of Spiritualism and the Ultimate Safeguard

The author of the liberal Adventist article in question claims:

I don’t know about Satanism, but evil is common enough. And the greatest danger isn’t in séances. Anger and dishonesty and violence and cheating cause a lot more misery than Ouija boards. Sin shows up in our broken families, our addictions, our loneliness and unhappiness.

We see it in church whenever defending doctrine and saving the organization becomes more important than caring about people. When the end justifies the means in pressuring people to get baptized. When doctrinal purity and eating the right foods causes people to hate those who disagree with them [35].

Indeed, much of what the author describes here does in fact qualify as evil as defined in Holy Scripture, though he can’t seem to avoid gyrating beyond the Biblical guardrails by lashing at his theological opponents for their insistence on doctrinal and lifestyle faithfulness. What he seems not to understand is that the essence of spiritualism is not Ouija boards or séances, dangerous as these manifestations surely are. At the bottom line, spiritualism places trust in what the senses perceive, what the experience finds agreeable, rather than what God’s written counsel says (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11).

This is how Mother Eve was fooled, thus unleashing the flood tide of sin in our world. God had told her that if she ate the forbidden fruit, she would die (Gen. 2:17). But the serpent declared, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:4), giving as proof against God’s Word the fact that he was eating the fruit and wasn’t dead. God’s Word said one thing, but Eve’s experience and the witness of her senses told her something else. Thus she was fooled, as a result beguiling her husband and her descendants by her example.

We see Eve’s experience repeated in that of the professedly born-again Christian cited earlier, who with his son was persuaded that he had contacted a deceased loved one [36]. Ellen White describes the basic problem of experience-driven spirituality, by which the mother of our race was duped:

Eve was beguiled by the serpent and made to believe that God would not do as He had said. She ate, and, thinking she felt the sensation of a new and more exalted life, she bore the fruit to her husband. The serpent had said that she should not die, and she felt no ill effects from eating the fruit, nothing which could be interpreted to mean death, but, instead, a pleasurable sensation, which she imagined was as the angels felt. Her experience stood arrayed against the positive command of Jehovah, yet Adam permitted himself to be seduced by it [##37|White, Counsels on Health, pp. 108-109.##].

She goes on to say, on the following page:

In the face of the most positive commands of God, men and women will follow their own inclinations, and then dare to pray over the matter, to prevail upon God to allow them to go contrary to His expressed will. Satan comes to the side of such persons, as he did to Eve in Eden, and impresses them. They have an exercise of mind, and this they relate as a most wonderful experience which the Lord has given them. But true experience will be in harmony with natural and divine law; false experience arrays itself against the laws of nature and the precepts of Jehovah [##38|——Counsels on Health, p. 109.##].

This will be the ultimate test posed by spiritualism in the last days—the testimony of God’s Word versus the testimony of personal experience. Those who in times of comparative prosperity choose the siren song of experience over the written Word are preparing to be taken in by spiritualism. Today’s liberal Adventists may think they can’t be fooled by Ouija boards, séances, or mysterious rappings, but once they allow the quest for an experiential comfort level to exert veto power over the written Word, they render themselves vulnerable to manifestations against which the written Word has plainly warned us.

It is God’s eternal, transcendent Word, not psychological or other scholarly analysis, that is to guide Christians through the spiritual minefields that lie before us. The author in question rightly scorns what he calls the “dumb lies about Jesuit infiltrators in Silver Spring and microchips in your vaccine” [39], for the inspired writings require us to believe in neither. But they do require us to acknowledge the reality of demonic supernaturalism and its role in the events of the last days, and how we can eschew the ultimate deception this power will bring. In the modern prophet’s words:

Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures, and who have received the love of the truth, will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive [##40|White, The Great Controversy, p. 625.##].

REFERENCES

1. Loren Seibold, “Is Spiritualism Real? The Adventist Review Thinks So,” Adventist Today, Oct. 17, 2023 https://atoday.org/is-spiritualism-real-the-adventist-review-thinks-so/

2. Terry Ward, “This Florida town full of mediums has been luring believers, the curious and the skeptical for more than a century,” CNN, Oct. 30, 2023 https://www.cnn.com/travel/cassadaga-florida-spiritualist-camp-mediums/index.html

3. Adam Ramdin, “Same, Same, but Different,” Adventist Review, Oct. 2, 2023, pp. 18-21. https://adventistreview.org/magazine-article/same-same-but-different/

4. Seibold, “Is Spiritualism Real? The Adventist Review Thinks So,” Adventist Today, Oct. 17, 2023 https://atoday.org/is-spiritualism-real-the-adventist-review-thinks-so/

5. Ibid.

6. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 553.

7. Seibold, “Is Spiritualism Real? The Adventist Review Thinks So,” Adventist Today, Oct. 17, 2023 https://atoday.org/is-spiritualism-real-the-adventist-review-thinks-so/

8. Ibid.

9. White, The Great Controversy, p. 553.

10. Ibid (italics supplied).

11. Seibold, “Is Spiritualism Real? The Adventist Review Thinks So,” Adventist Today, Oct. 17, 2023 https://atoday.org/is-spiritualism-real-the-adventist-review-thinks-so/

12. Ramdin, “Same, Same, but Different,” Adventist Review, Oct. 2, 2023, p. 21. https://adventistreview.org/magazine-article/same-same-but-different/

13. Ward, “This Florida town full of mediums has been luring believers, the curious and the skeptical for more than a century,” CNN, Oct. 30, 2023 https://www.cnn.com/travel/cassadaga-florida-spiritualist-camp-mediums/index.html

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. White, The Great Controversy, p. 558.

26. Ward, “This Florida town full of mediums has been luring believers, the curious and the skeptical for more than a century,” CNN, Oct. 30, 2023 https://www.cnn.com/travel/cassadaga-florida-spiritualist-camp-mediums/index.html

27. Ibid.

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Seibold, “Is Spiritualism Real? The Adventist Review Thinks So,” Adventist Today, Oct. 17, 2023 https://atoday.org/is-spiritualism-real-the-adventist-review-thinks-so/

32. Ibid.

33. White, The Great Controversy, p. 560.

34. Ibid, p. 553.

35. Seibold, “Is Spiritualism Real? The Adventist Review Thinks So,” Adventist Today, Oct. 17, 2023 https://atoday.org/is-spiritualism-real-the-adventist-review-thinks-so/

36. Ward, “This Florida town full of mediums has been luring believers, the curious and the skeptical for more than a century,” CNN, Oct. 30, 2023 https://www.cnn.com/travel/cassadaga-florida-spiritualist-camp-mediums/index.html

37. White, Counsels on Health, pp. 108-109.

38. Ibid, p. 109.

39. Seibold, “Is Spiritualism Real? The Adventist Review Thinks So,” Adventist Today, Oct. 17, 2023 https://atoday.org/is-spiritualism-real-the-adventist-review-thinks-so/

40. White, The Great Controversy, p. 625.

Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan