The evening world. Newspaper, June 3, 1922, Page 9

, \ | | { Ei Gr aera ¥ —_—. THE EVENING WORLD, SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1922. ConanDoyles Spirits'‘Demons -says Voliva The Evening World Asked Voliva, Over- seer of Zion City, to Discuss Conan Doyle and His Claims of “Spirit Materializa- tion.” Voliva’s Article, Specially Tele- graphed to The Evening World, Follows. By Wilbur Glenn. Voliva. Copyright, 19 HE claims of this man In recent addresses delivered in New ty York and Chicago in the name of that system called spiritualism contain nothing new. His general claim is that he and others have had communications wth the spirits of the departed dead through the agency of mediums, and by signs and so forth. He has pre sented certain messages claimed to have been received, through certain mediums, from loved ones and other persons who have l'ved on this earth but who are now numbered among the departed dead, He has repeated cer tain statements which he claims have come from the spirits of the de parted with reference to their pres ent place of abode and also their oc cupation. In considering these clams, {t is first of all necessary to settle the question whether or not any com munications from spirits have been received, and, if so, then to determine the commun cations. While we know that there is a great deal of fraud practised on t part of so-called mediums in spirit ualism, yet we unhesitatingly admit that, after eliminating all fraud, there fea reality in spiritu m, But do the communications come from the spirits of the departed dead, or from some other spirits? We answer em phatically that the communications are from the demons, through me diums who, exercising their free will open the door for these demons who are ever seeking re enter in and take complete oossession nbodiment, to of their spirits, soule, and bodies ‘These demons impersonate the de- parted dead, and, through the med- jums, who ure their willing tools, grossly drive men and women who, in absolute disobedience to the plain word of God, seck to communicate with the epirits of their de parted loved ones. Spiritualism is as old as the devil himself. The devil, being the "Prince of the Demons" (Matthew xii, -30), sends them forth to prey upon men and women who are willing to be come their victims. In the Old Testa ment these demons are cailed “famil- far spirits.” Read Leviticus xx.,6 and 27. Read Deuteronomy xvill., 10 to 2. Read Isaiah viil,, 19. From these passages of Scripture you will see that Spiritualism—communication with “familiar spirits’ ly the same then that which is now in dulged in by who are tricked and deceived into be- Meving that they are getting com- munications from the spirits of their departed loved ones. was prec Conan Doyle and others In the New Testament the same beings are called “familiar spir- its'’ and ‘'seducing demons."’ In Luke vill, verses 26 to 33, Jesus held a conversation with a demon, and the demon showed that he possessed cer tain knowledge, namely, that Jesus was the Son of God and that, at some time, he, with his fellow-demons, would be subjected to torment Through the Apostle Paul in first Timothy, the fourth chapter, God plainly predicted that, at the close of the Christian dispensation, Spiritual ism, or demonism, would have a great revival, and this prophecy is being literally fulflled—and, sad to say, Conan Doyle, terribly deceived by these lying demons, fs one of the principal agents In spreading these diabolical doctrines, which can only result in the damnation of multitudes now of people. Who are these demons that upon humanity? Personally, we be lieve they are the disembodied spirits prey of inhabitants of the preadamite earth, and that the chief place of their abode is the bottomless pit, from which they come forth as di- regted by their Commander in Chief, the Devil. These spirits, having been disembodied as a judgment for thelr sins, now seek to re-embody them- selves in human beings, even being Willing to embody themselves in homes, as we are told in Matthew, vill, 81-32, The plain prophecy in First Tim- othy the Fourth Chapter is, “That in the latter times—that !s, the close of the Christian dispensation—some shali depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of @emons; speaking Mes in bypoc- (New York Bvening World) by Press Publishing Co. risy; having their conscience seared with a hot tron; forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats.” Conan Doyle is “giving heed to the ¢ trines of seducing demons. and Spiritualism, In many places and at different times, has advocated, tn fulfilment of this prophecy, free love and vegetarianism The doctrines as set forth in the so-called messages presented by Cc nan Doyle are a direct contradiction of the whole revealed word of God; and, furthermore, these messages are absolutely silly, and are a disgrace to a seventh rate intelligence Let it be noted that the rank and file of spiritualistic mediums are women, and that they must work in Voliva Cherges— the bottomless pit. telligence. the dayk, So surrounding themselves with all paraphernalia possible in order to maintain their claims, no matter how much deceit and fraud they are compelled to practise in or- der to do so. Doyle's statement that fun of Spiritualism when you you make may be making fun of your own mother need not worry anybody in the least Your mother, when living on the earth, would not have been on the sume side of the street with these eld hags of mediums through whom D aims your mother, now de- parted, Is sending a message to you Those who dabble in Spiritualism are playing with the insane asylum and with hell fire. Poor Doyle is to he and all the Christians in this and other lands should earnestly pray that he may be delivered from the demons who now possess and control him; that he may be brought to a sincere repentance, accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God, experience the new birth, and take his stand for God, and for the Bible as the inspired Word of God. pitted, “These communications come from demons who are ever asking re-embodiment. “These demons impersonate the departed dead through the mediums who are their willing tools. “They are the disembodied spirits of the pre- Adamite earth and the chief place of their abode is “Conan Doyle is ‘giving heed to the doctrines of seducing demons.’—These messages are abso- lutely silly, and are a disgrace to a seventh-rate in- en Will Attract GOOD SPIRIT " It Is Wicked People Who Attract Wicked Spirits, Says Conan Doyle---Good Men Will Attract Good Spirits dead. him. He has kissed me. "Wicked People Will Attract WICKED SPIRITS “ Conan Doyle Maintains— “I have talked with and seen twenty of my “I have seen my dead son and have talked with He has placed his hands on my shoulders. “Don’t be afraid of evil spirits—if they come through—do your best to reform them. Far from being antagonistic to religion, this psychic movement is destined to revivify religion. “Spiritualism is the religion of the future. gives new assurance to New Testament truths. “If these truths (of Spiritualism) are of the devil he never made a bigger mistake in his life. sign that he’s falling down on the job.” Conan Doyle’s Claims, swersto Such Critics as Voliva, Together With Extracts From His Various Writ- ings on the Subject of Spiritualism, Are Article. Set Down in Thi and His An- By Marguerite Mooers Marshall. Copyright, 1992 know that religious leaders have gone so far to say these truths’ (of spiritualism) “are of the devil My answer is that If (his were so, he never made a bigger mistake In his life. It's a sign that he’s falling down on his job.” Phat is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own answer, as he gave it to me just after his arrival in this country, to such critics as Wilbur Glenn Voliva, overseer of Zion City, who charges that Sir Conan is a “tool of the devil” and that his spiritualistic faith in life after death and in the communication between the dead and the living is the work of demons and unclean spirits. ‘These are some of Sir Conan's most remarkable assertions, challenges: as which Voliva It It’s a “T have talked with and seen twenty of my dead, “IT have seen my dead son and have talked with him. He has Placed his hands on my shoulders. He has kissed me. “I know absolutely what I am going to get after death—happiness. I know better what ‘will happen in the next world plane than I do tf I were to be carried and dropped into the wilds of Asia or Africa, knowing as I do the tribes and conditions. “Spiritualism is the religion of the future, It gives new assurance of New Testament truths.” As against the arguments of Mr. Voliva, Sir Conan Doyle declares that there is a close analogy between the phenomena of the early days of Christianity and of the early days of spiritualism. He maintains that “Christ himself is the greatest ex- ponent of psychic power that ever appeared on earth.” And in his book, The Vital Message,” he quotes chapter and verse of the Bible to sup- port his posttion—just as Voliva brings forward the Bible on his aide. But first, take the charge that the communications through mediums vome from bad spirits—‘demons,” to use Voliva's word. When shown this deolaration by the Zion City overseer, Air Conan an swered, simply: “Good men who take up spiritualism will attract good spirits, and doubtless wicked people who take up spiritualism will attract wicked spirits,” He goes into the matter at greater length in his book, which ia published by Doran. In speaking of automatic writing, he compares it to the tele- phone and admits, frankly, that “You have no assurance as to who is at the other end." “You may have wildly false mes- sages suddenly interpolated among truthful ones,"* he continues; ‘mes sages so detailed in their mendacity that {t 1s impossible to think that they are not deliberately false. “When once we have accepted the entral fact that spirits change little n essentials when leaving the body, and that in consequence the world 's infested by many low and mischievous types, one can understand that these untoward incidents are rather a con- firmation of Spiritualism than an irgument against it “Personally, I have received and have been deceived by several such messages. At the same time I can say that after an experience of thirty years of such communications I have never known a blasphemous, an ob- reene or an unkind sentence come rough. “I admit, however, that I have heard of such cases, Like attracts like and one should know one's human company before one joins in such tnt! mate and reverent rites. In clairvoy ance the same sudden inexplicable de- eptions appear.’’ New York Evening World) by Press Publishing Co In another passage Doyle says, in effect: Don't be afraid of evi] spirits if they come through, do your best to reform them!" “A word should be said,"’ he pointe out, “as to that fear of friends and evil spirits which appears to have so much weight with some of the crities of this subject. When one looks more closely at this emotion it seems some. what selfish and cowardly “These creatures are, tn truth, our own backward brothers, bound for the samo ultimate destination as our- selves, but retarded by causes for which our earth conditions may have been partly responsible. “Our pity and our sympathy should go out, to them and if they do in- deed manifest at a seance, the proper Christian attitude is, as it seems to me, that we should reason with them and pray for them in order to help them upon their difficult way. Those who have treated them in this way have found a very marked difference in the subsequent communications."’ And then Sir Conan tells of a re markable personal experience of his, own in quieting one of these bad spir its. “In a recent case," he says, “I was called to endeavor to check a very noisy éntity which frequented an old house in which there were strong rea- sons to believe that crime had been committed and also that the criminal was earthbound. Names were given by the unhappy spirit which proved to be correct and a cupboard. wax described which was duly found, though it had never before been sus- pected. “On getting in tough with the spirit I endeavored to reason with it and to explain how selfish it was to cause misery to others in order to satisfy any feelings of revenge which it might have carried over from earth life, “We then prayed for its welfare exhorted it to rise higher and re celved a very solemn assurance, tilted out at the table, that it would mend its ways. I have very gratifying re- ports that it has done so and that all is now quiet in the old house.’* While Volvia finds Biblical texts condemning spiritualistie practices Doyle quotes St. Paul: “Our gospe came unto you not in word only, but also in power," and adds that Paul evidently is referring to the vibrations that accompany psychic phenomena Admitting that we have no record of the methods by which the early Christians communicated with spirtts Doyle goes on: ‘The words of John, ‘Brothers, belteve not every spirit, but ty the spirits whether they are of Ged,’ show very clearly that spirit communion was a faiillar idea, and ulso that they were plagued, as we are, by the intrusion of unwelcome spiritual elements in their intercourse. Some have conjectured that the ‘An- gel of the Church,’ who is alluded to {1 terms which suggest that he was a human being, was really a medium sanctified to the use of that particular congregation.”* And Doyle points out that various orthodox Jews who had themselves acen Christ's miracles, or talked with. witnesses, ‘declared roundly that the whole thing was of the devil," while others put no credence in them. ‘The same two classes” of opponents, the scoffers and the diabolists, face us to- day," adds Doyle. Finally, as against Voliva's denun- clation of mediums, this is what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has to say on the subject: “As to the personality of mediums they have seemed to me to be very average specimens of the community nelther. markedly better nor mark edly worse, I know many. “In the two finest seances I ever attended the psychic, c abe @ man of moderate means, was reso lutely determined never diregtly or indirectly to profit by his gift, thous) it entafled very exhausting physica conditions, I have not heard of & clergyman of any denomination wl has attained such a pitch of altrulam nor t# it reasonable to expect it," He names four of the best mediums in England—all men—and says that one is a collector of old books, an other is employed loading canal barges, a third is a weaver, a fourth ts a working coal miner “Most mediums,” he adds, “take responsibilities very seriously view cheir work in a religious A temptation to which several great mediums have succumbed is that of drink, This comes about in a very natural way, for overworking the power leaves them in a state of physical prostration and the stimulus of alcohol affords a welcome relief and may tend at last to become a cus. tom and finally a curse, Aleoholtsm always weakens the moral sense, 8 that these degenerate mediums yield themselves more readily to fraud Tippling and moral degeneration are by no means confined to psychics. “IT have a great respect for the church and its teachings,” sums up Sir Conan Doyle. ‘Far from being antagonistic to religion, this psychic movement {s destined to revivity re gion. We come upon what {s sane. what {s moderate, what 1s reasonable, what {s consistent with gradual evo- Jution and with the benevolence of God. This new wave of inspirating has been sent Into the world by God.