The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 552

Chap. 34 - Can Our Dead Speak to
Us?
The ministration of holy angels, as presented in the Scriptures, is
a truth most comforting and precious to every follower of Christ. But
the Bible teaching upon this point has been obscured and perverted by
the errors of popular theology. The doctrine of natural immortality,
first borrowed from the pagan philosophy, and in the darkness of the
great apostasy incorporated into the Christian faith, has supplanted the
truth, so plainly taught in Scripture, that “the dead know not anything.”
Multitudes have come to believe that it is spirits of the dead who are the
“ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation.” And this notwithstanding the testimony of Scripture to the
existence of heavenly angels, and their connection with the history of
man, before the death of a human being.
The doctrine of man’s consciousness in death, especially the belief
that spirits of the dead return to minister to the living, has prepared the
way for modern spiritualism. If the dead are admitted to the presence
of God and holy angels, and privileged with knowledge far exceeding
what they before possessed, why should they not return to the earth to
enlighten and instruct the living? If, as taught by popular theologians,
spirits of the dead are hovering about their friends on earth, why should
they not be permitted to communicate with them, to warn them against
evil, or to comfort

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