a complete and never-ending blotting out of all existence. There will be no survival after this “second death” any more than there was after the former Adamic death. There will be no resurrection from the fiery lake, Gehenna, as there was from the common grave, Sheʹol or Haʹdes. Thus Satan the original Serpent together with all his “seed,” human and spirit, will be irremediably bruised at the head in a thorough way, as foretold in the paradise of Eden.—Gen. 3:15.

²⁹ The loyal, obedient ones of perfected mankind will survive on earth. They will be rewarded for successfully passing this heart-penetrating test, not with the gift of immortality, but with being justified or declared righteous for everlasting life in the new world, with having their names written in Jehovah’s “book of life,” to enjoy happiness unendingly amid His perfect provisions for them in their earthly paradise. “And death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.”—Rev. 20:9 to 21:4, NW.

DEFENSE AGAINST FATAL DECEPTION

30, 31. Why is accurate Bible knowledge about the human soul and spiritism vitally necessary now?

³⁰ The position of the Holy Scriptures against the false teaching of “survival after death” has been clearly established. However, very few persons know what the Scriptures have to say against soul survival after death. This accounts for it that more and more people grieved by losing friends and loved ones or distressed by world fears and perplexity are falling victim to spiritism, which is demonism. The prophecies of Scripture foretold that, in spite of the plaguelike declaration of God’s judgments against this wicked world, selfish men would “not repent of the works of their hands, so that they should not worship the demons and the idols of gold and silver and copper and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their spiritistic practices nor of their fornication nor of their thefts.” (Rev. 9:20, 21, NW) In spite of the progress in human knowledge, man would “fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons,” thus to become the prey of the demons to their eternal injury. In fact, all the people of all nations, under the leadership of their rulers, whether in the White House or in the royal palace or in the Communist Kremlin, would be led to their destruction at the battle of Armageddon. The Revelation, by which the glorified Jesus Christ has ‘preached to the spirits in prison,’ foresaw that out from the Dragon ruler of the demons and out through his visible beastly organization there would go “expressions inspired by demons . . . and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty. . . . And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Ma·gedʹon.” (Rev. 16:14-16 and; 1 Tim. 4:1, NW) None of such demon-led ones will survive Armageddon.

³¹ All peoples, so-called Christian as well as heathen, stand in the greatest peril of assault by demons to their own destruction. You dare not trust in Christendom. She has proved to be no protection against spiritism, but in her realm spiritism spreads the same as in heathendom. Why? Because Christendom, Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic as well as Protestant, teaches the unchristian doctrine of the “immortality of the human soul,” the doctrine that is the basis for spiritism and that lays its believers wide open to the appeals and deceptions of spiritism. Roman Catholicism may say it is the most powerful bulwark against spiritism, yet its teaching exposes Catholics to the evil power of the demons. For example:

32. How does the Roman Catholic Church answer questions about (a) spiritualism’s claims (b) spiritistic phenomena, and (c) messages ‘from humans who have died’?

³² In answer to the question (318), “Is there any truth in the claims of Spiritualism?” over the Roman Catholic broadcasting station 2SM, Sydney, Australia, Doctor Rumble, Missionary of the Sacred Heart, said:

“There is truth in the claim that the soul is distinct from, and can survive the body. All men instinctively know this, and as they lose faith in Protestantism, this fundamental truth of reason remains. Many of them therefore turn to Spiritualism. Thus this new phase gains ground among non-Catholics. As a religious system Spiritualism is the outcome of human effort, and is in vogue among certain men for a time. . . . ”

In answer to the question (319), “Why precisely does your Church condemn Spiritualism?” he answers:

“The Catholic Church certainly believes in the existence of the spiritual world, of God, of good and evil created spirits, and in the continued existence of the souls of men. But the phenomena of Spiritualism are due at best to natural causes; at times to imposture; very often to evil spirits. Certainly any effects due to the influence of spirits are not due to the intervention of good spirits. The medium acts under uncanny and feverish excitement; the effects are evil only too often; and messages received, as well as the methods adopted, are openly blasphemous and immoral, and quite unworthy of God.”

In answer to the question (320), “Has the Catholic Church ever been in communication with spirit beings from the next world?” he says:

“In the history of the Catholic Church there are many accounts of messages received from the souls of the departed. The truth of these accounts is subject to the ordinary laws of historical criticism, and some accounts have certainly been proved doubtful. Others leave no room for prudent doubt. As a rule, God permits a soul only occasionally to communicate momentarily a warning, or a request for prayers, but nothing fantastical. Likewise, the messages are spontaneous, and not due to the curious efforts of people seeking the truth from the dead. The Church tests the messages received, or claimed as received, in order to discern whether good or evil spirits are responsible for the communication. (1) The message must in no way conflict with Catholic teaching or moral principles. Gal. I.,9. . . .”—Pages 73, 74 of the book Radio Replies, by Rumble and Carty, with the Imprimatur of Archbishop J. G. Murray, of St. Paul, Minnesota, February 11, 1938, and with a Preface by Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen, D.D. (9th printing of 1939)

33-36. (a) Can one sensibly rely on Roman Catholicism as a shield against the perils of spiritism’s advance? (b) What published testimony confirms the soundness of your answer?

³³ Is such official Catholic teaching as the above an impenetrable defense against the invasion of spiritism? No! It is an invitation to spiritism, and the conditions in Roman Catholic lands, such as Peru, Costa Rica, Cuba and Haiti, show Roman Catholicism to be no bulwark against this spreading peril. In such lands the Catholic people, even up to 90 per cent, mix spiritism or voodooism right in with Roman Catholicism, practicing both at the same time with no objection or penalty by the priests. It comes as no surprise that one Johannes Greber, a former Catholic clergyman, has become a spiritualist and has published the book entitled “Communication with the Spirit World, Its laws and Its Purpose.” (1932, Macoy Publishing Company, New York) In its Foreword he makes the typical misstatement: “The most significant spiritualistic book is the Bible; for its principal contents hinge upon the messages of the beyond to those existing in the present.”

³⁴ Said Jean Brierre, a Haitian undersecretary of state, concerning visitors to his land of Haiti: “Most of them cannot realize that Voodoo, or Vodun as we also call it, isn’t black magic at all but a benign religion practiced by more than ninety per cent of our people—a religion which in their view does not prevent their being also good Catholics. A Haitian who goes to a Voodoo houmfort, or temple, on a Saturday evening participates in the rites all night, then goes to a Catholic church and attends Mass early the following morning. . . . If you’ll look into it, you’ll find that many of the Voodoo gods and goddesses, or loas, as we call them, have their counterpart in Catholic saints.” (True (The Man’s Magazine), of October, 1949) That includes the “Virgin Mary,” and everywhere the cross is used, especially to try to ward off evil spirits.

³⁵ Said M. G. Consuegra in articles in the September 1 and 15, 1934, issues of the magazine Rosenda, of Matanzas, Cuba: “In Cuba there exists an enormous percentage of spiritists. In few countries has spiritism conquered as many proselytes as in Cuba, naturally in accordance with the density of its population. And as a proof of this we affirm the undeniable fact that to speak of spiritism is not now something that provokes ridicule or censureship by others and that every one, including the Catholic priests (their natural enemy), respects it more with the passing of each day, and that it is safe to say that within a few years spiritism will be a predominating belief in the ‘Pearl of the Antilles.’”

³⁶ Many more examples could be given to show the widespreadness of spiritualism or demonism mingled with the predominant religion in Roman Catholic lands, but space does not allow here.

37. In these “critical times” why should sensible, God-fearing persons avoid looking to any part of Christendom for help against demon aggression?

³⁷ No, Christendom, as led and dominated by the Roman Catholic religious system, has failed as a protection against demonism in this crucial “time of the end,” when Satan and his demons have been hurled down from heaven to the earth and are filled with wrath and are leading Christendom and heathendom with them to total destruction at the battle of Armageddon. For good reason, then, the cry has rung out from heaven: “Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”—Rev. 12:12, NW.

38-40. (a) What written testimony alone is our safeguard against the practice of spiritism? (b) How, in figurative description, does Paul counsel us for triumphing against the enraged hordes of unseen wicked ones?

³⁸ Where, then, is our protection against the schemes of the demons to cause God to execute all mankind at Armageddon for lack of integrity toward Him and his kingdom? Our protection is in the antispiritualist Book, the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Bible. In it alone we find God’s teaching and testimony and of it Jesus said to God: “Your word is truth.” (John 17:17, NW) To us it comes in this critical day with the words of the prophet Isaiah, who is a prophetic figure of Jesus Christ: “Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. And when they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the wizards who chirp and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! Surely for this word which they speak there is no dawn. They will . . . be thrust into thick darkness.” (Isa. 8:16, 19-22, RS) Consulting the living God by consulting his teaching and testimony in His written Word—this is our source of light and our unfailing protection against the death-dealing operations of the malicious demons.

³⁹ Now that utter destruction at Armageddon is impending over both Christendom and heathendom and the unseen demons are slyly leading worldly rulers and their peoples to this destruction there, we are indeed living in a wicked day. Everywhere the “works of the flesh” abound and these works include the “practice of spiritism,” concerning which the apostle Paul warns “that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s kingdom.” (Gal. 5:19-21, NW) Neither will the practicers of spiritism be allowed to exist in the “new earth” under God’s kingdom by Christ. (Rev. 21:8; 22:14, 15, NW) If we put the greatest value upon life in the new world, then we need to fight constantly against the unseen enemies of our gaining it. The apostle Paul exposes those real enemies and at the same time he encourages us to use the only effective means to beat back these foes and come off victorious as winners of everlasting life in God’s righteous new world. He says:

⁴⁰ “Put on the complete suit of armor from God that you may be able to stand firm against the machinations of the Devil; because we have a fight, not against blood and flesh, but against the governments, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places. On this account take up the complete suit of armor from God, that you may be able to resist in the wicked day and, after you have done all things thoroughly, to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, with your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and with your feet shod with the equipment of the good news of peace. Above all things, take up the large shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the wicked one’s burning missiles. Also accept the helmet of salvation, and the sword of this spirit, that is, God’s word, while with every form of prayer and supplication you carry on prayer on every occasion in spirit.”—Eph. 6:11-18, NW.

41. In practically applying Paul’s sound counsel, how do we effectively “stand firm against” the foes’ attacks (a) upon mind and heart?

⁴¹ It is high time to follow this advice. So gird your mental loins about with the truth of God’s Word. Then you will not weaken in the fight against all the untruthful propaganda of the wicked spirit forces in the unseen places of attack. Let your mind feed upon the truth of the resurrection of the dead. Then you will hold firm and steady against the untruth of the immortality of the human soul and “survival after death.” Also by having on the breastplate of righteousness, your heart will be protected against the sentimental appeals of spiritualism and against its rejection of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is the only means for us sinners to have our sins counterbalanced and to gain everlasting righteousness that will make us worthy of eternal life in the world of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness is to dwell.

42. —(b) to trip or entrap us?

⁴² With your feet shod with the equipment of the good news of peace, you will avoid responsibility for any of the turmoil of this world and you will not be gathered by the unseen demons to the side of the rulers of this entire inhabited earth at Armageddon for a suicidal war against God Almighty and his reigning King Jesus Christ. You will promote peace and reconciliation with God.

43. —(c) to burn up, as in a suddenly kindled, blaze our exclusive obedience to Jehovah and his reigning King?

⁴³ Taking up the large shield of faith, you will be able to stop and extinguish all the flaming faith-destroying missiles shot out by the enemy and guard yourself against the faithless course of this world. By your faith-inspired obedience to God and his King Jesus Christ you will overcome this world and keep on pleasing God, who rewards those who hold fast their faith with life.

44. —(d) to wreck our power to reason as sensible, united and hopeful doers of the will of God?

⁴⁴ Accepting the helmet of salvation, you will keep your hope of God’s kingdom from being cracked or mashed in, you will reason with God concerning his way of salvation through Jesus Christ and the theocratic government of the new world. You will sensibly work out your own salvation according to God’s provisions and his requirements, making a “public declaration of our hope” by joining in with Jehovah’s witnesses in preaching “this good news of the kingdom” in all the earth for a witness.

45. —(e) to intimidate or fatally pierce us with false philosophy or seductive appeals?

⁴⁵ Accepting the sword of the spirit, that is, God’s Word, you will be able to parry the worldly sword of the word of demons, utterances inspired by the demons, religious traditions and materialistic philosophies of men. You will be able to meet the enemy swordsman in close combat and thrust him through, rendering him powerless in argument and influence and delivering yourself from him by quoting and relying upon God’s written Word, as Jesus did when tempted by the Devil in the wilderness.

46. —(f) to sever or block the line of communication between ourselves (collectively and individually) and Jehovah, the Fountain of our everlasting strength?

⁴⁶ Offering every form of prayer and supplication in the thick of this theocratic fight against the wicked spirits in the invisible realm, you will be keeping God in mind and be depending upon your unfailing Protector and Helper and not upon any arm of flesh. At every suggestion to you of spiritism and against the occult spells that spiritists try to cast upon you, you will appeal to God to give you the victory over the wicked spirits, their deception and their opposition, and that God’s holy angels may serve as ministering spirits in your behalf. You will be thinking not merely of yourself but also of your fellow Christians who are engaged in the same fight against superhuman powers of wickedness. You will be obeying Jesus’ instruction and praying for God’s name Jehovah to be hallowed or sanctified and for His kingdom to come and put the wicked spirit forces completely out of operation and make manifest the universal sovereignty of Jehovah, bring peace to mankind, restore paradise to the earth, resurrect the dead from the memorial tombs and bless all faithful, obedient families of the earth with eternal life in human perfection. God’s answers to our Scriptural prayers are just as necessary to our overcoming the wicked spirit forces as are the various pieces of the complete suit of armor from God.

47, 48. What will result to Jehovah, to his enthroned King and to us through our faithfully continuing on Jehovah’s side by our diligent use of knowledge gained in this study?

⁴⁷ Thus praying and thus fighting in God-given armor we shall not be found at Armageddon with the demon-controlled opposers of Jehovah God and his kingdom by Christ. We shall be found on the side of the living God, and he will do the fighting there for us and vindicate his own sovereignty and preserve us into his glorious new world. The wicked heavens composed of Satan and his wicked spirit forces will be destroyed and the wicked earth composed of the human society that these spirit forces have invisibly controlled and misled will be wiped out, and the new world with Jesus Christ and his glorified congregation as the new heavens will be ushered in.

⁴⁸ With the help of this information, which is based upon God’s Word the Scriptures, you have been able to follow the apostle John’s instruction: “Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world.” (1 John 4:1, NW; AT) The testing of the inspired expressions of spiritualism has shown that they do not originate with God but with his enemies, the demons and their ruler Satan the Devil. Hence spiritualism is antichristian and its champions are antichrists. Abide now by the results of this test. For your life and to God’s glory resist spiritualism and thus resist Satan and his wicked spirit forces. No longer follow the inspired expressions of demons. Follow the written Word of God, which is the expression inspired by his holy spirit. Then, whether by survival of the battle of Armageddon or by a resurrection after it, you will be rewarded with life in God’s new world rather than be deceived into destruction by the false hope of “survival after death.”

Questions From Readers

● What if a publisher refuses to stop associating with a disfellowshiped person? I do not mean a member of the same family and who must dwell in the same house, but one who insists that he can continue associating with the ousted one, perhaps saying the disfellowshiping action was wrong.—A. P., Cuba.

The apostle Paul says “to quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that is a fornicator or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man.” (1 Cor. 5:11, NW) If a publisher refuses to do this and ignores the prohibition on associating with the disfellowshiped one, that publisher is rebelling against the congregation of Jehovah, and “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim.” By siding with the guilty one and breaking with the congregation over this issue, the publisher is causing a division. Paul says: “Keep your eye on those who create divisions and causes for stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and avoid them.”—1 Sam. 15:23, AS; Rom. 16:17, NW.

He should be strongly admonished, being impressed with the fact that by associating with the disfellowshiped one he is a companion of wickedness and that by his course of action he is dividing himself from the congregation to be with the wrongdoer. If after sufficient warning the publisher persists in associating with the disfellowshiped person instead of aligning himself with Jehovah’s organization he also should be disfellowshiped. By openly sympathizing with a disfellowshiped person the sympathizer makes it harder for the ousted one to appreciate his wrong and hinders this one’s deep repentance and ultimate reinstatement in the congregation. The rebellious course works hardship to both persons involved.

Delinquency Diagnosed

Judge Luther W. Youngdahl, former governor of Minnesota, recently gave three far-reaching reasons why parents have delinquent children: “They don’t discipline their children wholesomely, they are apathetic and indifferent to their youngsters, they don’t provide a Christian example for them.”