."

[Illustration: PHARAOH'S SORCERERS COUNTERFEITING THE WORK OF GOD

"Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their
enchantments." Ex. 7:11.]

As mankind departed from right and lost the knowledge of God, dead
heroes were deified as gods, and much of the pagan worship consisted in
sacrifices to the spirits of the dead, supposed to be living still and
concerned with affairs in the land of the living. When Israel fell away
from God and joined the Moabites in the worship of Baal-peor, the record
says of the nature of the service:

"They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of
the dead." "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto
devils." Ps. 106:28, 37.

Instead of dealing with the spirits of the dead, the idolatrous
worshipers were really putting themselves in direct touch with the
agencies of Satan, the fallen angels.

Divine Warnings

This explains the severity of the divine warnings against the ancient
practice of necromancy, or mediumship. The Lord said:

"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards,
to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God." Lev. 19:31.

[Illustration: DEMONISM IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST

"He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." Mark 5:8.]

"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 any one 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." Deut. 18:9-12.

The ancient seance, where the living sought unto the dead for knowledge,
was denounced by the prophet Isaiah:

"When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits
and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people
seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the
dead?" Isa. 8:19, A.R.V.

"To the law and to the testimony!" the prophet cries. To seek unto the
dead for knowledge is to turn from the law and the testimony, and to
take the counsel of the direct agencies of Satan, the great deceiver.

Modern Spiritualism

What Spiritualism is may best be understood by the prophetic warnings
concernin