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| EARTH'S EARLIEST AGES |
| Posted:
July 25, 2012 by G. H. Pember  The
seventh and most
fearful characteristic
of the days of Noah
was the unlawful
appearance among men
of beings from another
sphere. This, many
would quickly reply,
is certainly an event
which has not yet
startled our age,
strange as our
experiences may be: we
have still something
at least to wait for
before the completion
of that fatal circle
of influences which
ruined the old world.
But a diligent
comparison of
Scripture with the
things that are now
taking place among us
will give a very
different impression,
and induce a strong
conviction that the
advanced posts of this
last terrible foe have
already crossed our
borders.
For
it is no longer
possible to deny the
supernatural character
of the apostacy called
Spiritualism, which is
spreading through the
world with unexampled
rapidity, and which
attracts its votaries,
and retains them
within its grasp,
solely by continual
exhibitions of the
miraculous. It is vain
to speak of that power
as mere jugglery which
has convinced some of
the elite of the
literary world, which
has caught in its
meshes many scientific
men, who at first only
troubled to
investigate for the
purpose of refutation.
Nor indeed can
anything be more
dangerous than utter
incredulity: for the
wholly incredulous, if
suddenly brought face
to face with the
supernatural, is of
all men the most
likely to yield entire
submission to the
priests of the new
wonder. Better far is
it to prayerfully
inquire whether these
things are possible,
and if so, in what
light the Bible
teaches us to regard
them. We shall thus be
armed against all the
wiles of the Devil.
But
an exposition of the
nature and history of
Spiritualism of
sufficient length to
exhibit its apparent
identity with the
antediluvian sin is a
serious matter, and
must not be commenced
at the end of a
chapter.
The open interference of evil spirits with our world might be reasonably expected.
The
mere mention of the
supernatural is often
received with a smile
of incredulous
contempt. And there
are not a few
professing Christians
who manifest great
anxiety to limit the
number and extent of
past miracles, and to
obscure the
possibility of their
recurrence in the
present time, though
they do not venture
upon an absolute
denial of God’s
power to suspend or
change His own laws.
But that Satan can
work wonders they will
never allow: nay, in
many cases they even
refuse him a personal
existence.
Surely
such a state of mind
must proceed either
from ignorance or
unbelief. For does not
Paul speak of the
working of Satan as
being with all power
and signs and wonders
wrought in support of
a lie?[i]
And the simple
assertion of
Scripture, that the
air which envelops our
earth swarms with
rebellious spirits,
ought at least to
prepare us for their
occasional
manifestation and open
interference.
Undoubtedly God has
forbidden them either
to communicate
directly with man or
to influence him for
evil. Yet, since they
are disobedient, and
are not at present
restrained by force,
it is reasonable to
believe that they
sometimes break the
former commandment
even as they are
continually defying
the latter. And this
supposition is
confirmed by
Scripture: for we find
numerous allusions to
dealings between men
and demons in the Old
Testament, while in
the New witchcraft is
treated as one of the
manifest works of the
flesh.[ii]
The Mosaic laws against witchcraft referred to no mere imposture, but to an actual connection with fallen spirits.
“Thou
shalt not suffer a
witch to live,”[iii]
was the injunction of
the Lord by Moses. And
that this law is not
concerned with
mere superstition or
deception, but points
to a wilful fellowship
with the powers of
evil, we may learn
from the severity of
the punishment. Yet
many would persuade us
that the numerous
Biblical terms applied
to the practisers of
forbidden arts are
merely intended to
indicate different
forms of imposture.
One example will
suffice to prove the
folly of such an
opinion.
In
the twentieth chapter
of Leviticus we find
the following
enactment;—“A man
also or woman that
hath a familiar
spirit, or that is a
wizard, shall surely
be put to death: they
shall stone them with
stones: their blood
shall be upon them.”[iv]
How, then, could an
Israelitish judge
decide in the case of
a person arraigned
under this law? Would
not the whole issue
depend upon the proof
that the accused
really had an
attendant spirit? And
is not the law an
express declaration,
not merely of the
possibility, but also
of the actual
occurrence of such
connections?
Scripture never denies the actual existence of the Heathen gods. Indeed
the Bible, as we have
already seen, mentions
many things which have
no place in modem
philosophies, and,
among them, one which
is of the utmost
importance to our
subject. For it
plainly recognises
spiritual existences
behind the idols of
Heathenism, and
affirms that these
existences are demons.
An attempt has been
made to disprove this
statement on the
ground that two Hebrew
words, the one
signifying
“nothings” and the
other “vanities,”
are used as
appellations of the
Pagan gods, and that
by such terms their
non-existence is
necessarily implied.
But the fallacy of
this inference may be
exposed by a glance at
the same words in
other connections.
“Woe
to the shepherd of
nothing that forsaketh
the flock !”[v]
exclaims Zechariah.
And certainly he does
not speak of a purely
imaginary shepherd,
but of a worthless
one, who is not what
he pretends to be.
Similarly Job, when he
calls his friends “
physicians of
nothing,”[vi]
does not mean to tell
them that they are
non-existent, but
merely, as our version
has expressed it, that
they are “physicians
of no value.” The
Jewish idea of the
word as applied to
Heathen deities may be
seen in the Septuagint
version of the
ninety-sixth Psalm,
where it is rendered
by Baif.i6via. Hence
the fifth verse is
made to mean, “For
all the gods of the
nations are demons;
but the Lord made the
heavens.”[vii]
Again;
the singular of the
word for
“vanities” is Abel,
the name which Eve
gave to her second
son. But she had no
intention of thereby
denying the reality of
his being. Nor when
the preacher cries,
“Vanity of vanities;
all is vanity,”[viii]
can we understand him
to be affirming the
non-existence of the
universe.
It
is, therefore, evident
that these terms when
applied to the Heathen
gods do not dispute
the fact of their
being, but the truth
of their pretensions.
Real powers they are,
but only finite ones;
and hence they have no
just claim to the
title of gods.
On the contrary, the Old Testament treats them as real potencies.
Scripture,
then, contains nothing
to disprove the
existence of false
gods, but, on the
contrary, asserts and
assumes it as a fact.
For instance, when
foretelling the death
of the first-born of
both man and beast,
the Lord
signified His
intention of also
punishing the gods of
Egypt.[ix]
And, in reference to
the same event, Moses
subsequently
wrote;—“For the
Egyptians buried all
their first-born,
which the Lord had
smitten among them:
upon their gods also
the Lord executed
judgments.”[x]
Again; in the tenth chapter of Deuteronomy we have the expression, “For Jehovah your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords.”[xi] And numerous are the Scriptural assertions that Jehovah is highly exalted above all gods, to be feared above all gods, and so on.
If,
then. He executed
judgment upon the gods
of Egypt, they must
have been living
beings: if He is
contrasted with other
gods, they must be
real existences.
And plainly indicates that they are demons. The seirim and shedim.
Nor
does the Old Testament
omit to hint at the
nature of these
so-called deities, as
the following verses
will show.
“And
they shall no more
offer their sacrifices
unto demons (Heb. seirini), after whom they have gone a whoring.”[xii]
“They
sacrificed unto demons
(Heb. shedim),
not to God; to gods
whom they knew not, to
new gods that came
newly up, whom your
fathers feared not.”[xiii]
“And
he ordained him
priests for the high
places, and for the
demons (Heb. seiriin), and for the calves which he had made.”[xiv]
“Yea,
they sacrificed their
sons and their
daughters unto demons
(Heb. shedim).”[xv]
 In
the place of the word seirim—which
originally signified
goats, and was
afterwards used of
wood-demons or
satyrs—the
Septuagint has rois
uaraiols, that is,
“vanities”: but in
two passages of Isaiah
it translates the same
noun by Saipovia,
“demons.”[xvi]
And this latter
rendering is
authoritatively
confirmed in the New
Testament by the
passage in the
eighteenth chapter of
the Apocalypse which
is parallel to that in
the thirteenth chapter
of Isaiah.[xvii]
Shedim—literally
“mighty ones,”
“lords”—is
invariably interpreted
in the Septuagint by Saipovia.
Thus, of the two
words, the first
appears to have been
applied either to the
Heathen idols or to
the spiritual powers
behind them, the
second only to the
demons themselves. |
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