WAS CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON A CLAIRVOYANT?

SANCTIFYING A CLAIRVOYANT

Simon the sorcerer was much-admired as “the great power of God” until Peter exposed him as a fraud, charlatan and a demon inspired clairvoyant. (Acts 8:9-11).

Like him many false apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, pastors and missionaries are today hailed as true men and women of God . . . but, are they?

When someone predicts something correctly does it mean they are inspired prophets of God?

And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. (Acts 16:16-18).

Believe it or not, even a demon is quite capable of telling the truth concerning the Gospel of salvation.

Walfoord and Zuck (The Bible Knowledge Commentary) explains this passage as follows:-

The deliverance of the sooth­sayer. 16:16-18. Some men were exploit­ing a demon-possessed slave girl for her ability to predict the future. The English words, a spirit by which she predicted the future, translate two Greek words, “a spirit, a python.”

This concept goes back to the Greek city of Delphi where the god Apollo was believed to be embodied in a python snake.

The original priestess at Delphi was purported to be possessed by Apollo and thereby able to predict the future; therefore anyone possessed by the python spirit could foretell coming events.

No doubt an actual demon gave such a person predictive powers. Demons took advantage of people’s worship of false gods (cf. 17:23; 1 Cor. 10:20).

[Thomas says: Calvinists worship a false god which makes it abundantly clear why a “python spirit” was able to take advantage of Charles Haddon Spurgeon to predict things truthfully].

The girl attached herself to Paul and the others and was shouting (imperf. tense) who they were (servants of the Most High God) and what they preached (the way to be saved).

Though her statements were true, the gospel of Christ would be damaged by an association with a demon-possessed slave girl. So after many days Paul exorcised the demon, speaking directly to the spirit.

(Other cases of victory over the occult in Acts are recorded in 8:9-24; 13:6-12; 19:13-20.)

So, what does this prove? It proves that anyone who predicts things, although they are true, is not necessarily advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ because it is not the Holy Spirit who reveals these truths to the person but a “python spirit (Satan or a demon).”

God often allows false prophets to come among his sheep to test them and see whether they love Him.

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;

Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3).

Please bear in mind that Calvinism proclaims another Gospel, another Jesus and another spirit (2 Corinthians 11:4) which is nothing else than saying “Let us go after other gods.”

Many Christians believe that the so-called apostolic and prophetic ministries of well-known WOF, Pentecostal and Charismatic preachers are a continuation of the five-fold ministry which Paul describes in Ephesians 4:10-14,

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; (Ephesians 4:11-14).

However, in their fervor to practice and promote the gift of prophecy as it was practiced and experienced in the Old Testament and the early church, they have opened themselves to demonic activity and woefully accepted their doctrines.

The Bible warns against all kinds of divination (false prophecy, fortune-telling, foresight, premonition and sundry clairvoyant practices).

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: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

Despite the very serious warning in Deuteronomy 18 multitudes of preachers and ministers in the Pentecostal, Charismatic, WOF and NAR churches are practicing their clairvoyant “gift.”

But who could have imagined that a Calvinist, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (“the Prince of Preachers”), was a clairvoyant?

I wouldn’t have believed it myself until a lady who goes by the pseudonym of bethraham referred me to an article written by the late Rev. Philip Powell, “Cessationism vs Biblicism Cessationism under the biblical spotlight.” (Other sources: “When a Cessationist Prophesies, or, What are we to make of Charles Spurgeon?”; Jack Deere: Surprised by the Voice of God: How God Speaks Today Through Prophecies, Dreams and Visions.

He wrote the article in support of continualism (the notion that all five of the ministries in Ephesians 4 and all nine of the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 have not ceased) as opposed to cessationism (the notion that the apostolic and prophetic ministries in Ephesians 4 and the gifts in 1 Corinthians 14 have ceased).

To prove that prophecy has not ceased Powell quotes, among others, Spurgeon, explaining how the “Holy Spirit” often inspired him to prophesy.

During a “sermon at Exeter Hall in which he [Charles Spurgeon] suddenly broke off from his subject, and pointing in a certain direction, said, ‘Young man, those gloves you are wearing have not been paid for: you have stolen them from your employer'”. (Tom Lessing: God never exposes the sins of an individual in the hearing of an entire congregation of people, unless a corporate people are involved in the same sin like Israel of old.).

At the close of the service, a young man, looking very pale and greatly agitated, came to the room, which was used as a vestry, and begged for a private interview with Spurgeon.

On being admitted, he placed a pair of gloves upon the table, and tearfully said, ‘It’s the first time I have robbed my master, and I will never do it again. You won’t expose me, sir, will you? It would kill my mother if she heard that I had become a thief’.” (1)

“On another occasion while he was preaching, Spurgeon said there was a man in the gallery who had a bottle of gin in his pocket. This not only startled the man in the gallery who had the gin, but it also led to his conversion.” (2)

“While preaching in the hall, on one occasion, I deliberately pointed to a man in the midst of the crowd, and said, ‘There is a man sitting there, who is a shoemaker; he keeps his shop open on Sundays, it was open last Sabbath morning, he took nine pence, and there was four pence profit out of it; his soul is sold to Satan for four pence!'”

A city missionary, when going his rounds, met with this man, and seeing that he was reading one of my sermons, he asked the question, “‘Do you know Mr Spurgeon?’

‘Yes,’ replied the man ‘I have every reason to know him, I have been to hear him; and under his preaching, by God’s grace I have become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Shall I tell you how it happened?

I went to the Music Hall, and took my seat in the middle of the place: Mr Spurgeon looked at me as if he knew me, and in his sermon he pointed to me, and told the congregation that I was a shoemaker, and that I kept my shop open on Sundays; and I did, sir.

I should not have minded that; but he also said that I took nine pence the Sunday before, and that there was four pence profit; but how he should know that, I could not tell.

Then it struck me that it was God who had spoken to my soul through him, so I shut up my shop the next Sunday.

At first, I was afraid to go again to hear him, lest he should tell the people more about me; but afterwards I went, and the Lord met with me, and saved my soul.'” (3)

“I could tell as many as a dozen similar cases in which I pointed at somebody in the hall without having the slightest knowledge of the person, or any idea that what I said was right, except that I believed I was moved by the Spirit to say it; and so striking has been my description that the persons have gone away, and said to their friends,

“Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; beyond a doubt, he must have been sent of God to my soul, or else he could not have described me so exactly.’

And not only so, but I have known many instances in which the thoughts of men have been revealed from the pulpit.

I have sometimes seen persons nudge their neighbours with their elbow, because they had got a smart hit, and they have been heard to say, when they were going out, ‘The preacher told us just what we said to one another when we went in at the door.'” (4) (Emphasis added throughout)

A SPIRIT FILLED PROPHET OF GOD OR A CLAIRVOYANT?

There are several problems with Spurgeon’s alleged prophecies.

The persons who were allegedly convicted of their sin by Spurgeon’s “divine revelations” (prophecies) were more concerned about what other people may say about their sins than what God Himself thought about it.

The man who stole his employer’s gloves said, “You won’t expose me, sir, will you? It would kill my mother if she heard that I had become a thief.” It would have been much better if he told his mother how God saved him [that’s if he were truly saved] from certain destruction in hell and to encourage her to repent so that she too may escape the pangs of hell.

The physical death of his mom seems to have been more of an issue with him than her eternal destination. Anyone who truly gets saved by the grace of God will only be too eager and happy to tell others of their conversion, especially their mothers and next of kin.

The shoemaker was afraid to go again to hear Spurgeon “lest he should tell the people more about me.” Here again his so-called conviction of sin was sparked by a fear of man and not by a holy fear of God who alone has the power to cast sinners into hell. (Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4).

Their own reputation counted more to them than anything else. The Holy Spirit didn’t seem too care too much about King David’s reputation when He splashed his sins of adultery and murder across the pages of Holy Writ and exposed it to the entire world. King David himself said that his sins were against God and not man.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.   (Psalm 51:4).

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the readers referred me to Peter who exposed Ananias’ and his wife, Sapphira’s sin of lying to the Holy Spirit to validate Spurgeon’s alleged gift of prophecy. The common view is that the Holy Spirit told Peter by divine revelation that they had sinned.

There is no evidence in chapter 5 and no categorically stated proof that it was the Holy Spirit who told Peter by a special divine revelation that the couple conspired to lie to Peter and the Holy Ghost. Someone else could have told him.

Those who believe that the Holy Spirit inspired Peter, usually refer to verse 31 in the previous chapter 4, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”

Peter having been filled with the Spirit, they say, enabled him to expose Ananias’ and Sapphira’s sin. However, all the other disciples were equally filled with the Holy Spirit and none of them ever exposed the sins of others in the way Peter did.

Peter exposed the sins of two people only once in his life and never again. Therefore, we cannot take his example in the exposure of sins as a standard procedure for Christians throughout the centuries.

DID SPURGEON KNOW HOW TO PINPOINT THE ELECT BY DIVINE REVELATION?

If it were true that Spurgeon revealed the sins of unbelievers through a special gift of revelatory prophecy he must also have known that the sinners whose sins he exposed were the elect, even before he knew about the sins they had been guilty of.

Why would he have ventured to expose the sins of unbelievers in his meetings if he knew beforehand they were not the elect?

He was a Calvinist who believed that fallen man does not have a free-will and that only the elect had been predestined by God’s sovereign decree, even before the foundation of the world, to be regenerated first and then be given the gift of faith.

Therefore, it would have been extremely deceitful of Spurgeon to have exposed by revelatory knowledge the sins of the non-elect with an intent to bring them to Christ whilst he did not know whether they were the non-elect.

Common sense tells us there was no purpose in exposing the sins of the non-elect in his public meetings unless he also knew by divine foreknowledge that the sinners whose sins he exposed in public, without having met them before, were indeed all elect persons.

Having heard that those whose sins he exposed in his public meetings were all allegedly saved, subsequent to his exposure of their sins, it follows that they must all have been the elect because only the elect are saved according to Calvinism.

The question, however, is, whether Spurgeon knew they were elect before he exposed their sins. Had he not known, his exposure of the sins of the non-elect was a resounding successful farce.

If it were true that the Holy Spirit inspired Charles Spurgeon to expose and reveal the sins of people who attended his sermons, He would also have pointed out to him the elect and the non-elect in his audiences.

Surely. the Holy Spirit would never have revealed the sins of the non-elect to Spurgeon whilst they could never be led to Christ for their salvation. Don’t Calvinists believe that God only draws the elect? (John 6:44)?

So, what’s the point in exposing the sins of the non-elect whilst they have no chance in hell of ever being drawn to Jesus Christ?  Deceit is NOT a trait of the Holy Spirit but of the devil and his demons.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit will never deceive the non-elect into coming to Jesus Christ for their salvation whilst He, together with the Father and the Son chose them unto damnation in hell, even before the foundation of the world. That’s just plain ludicrous, to say the least.

THE ABSURDITY OF EXPOSING IN PUBLIC THE SINS OF THE ELECT AND THE NON-ELECT

The reason why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, as He once said, is to reprove or convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. (John 16:8-11). Most people do not readily admit that they are guilty of sin.

Yes, they may freely admit to failures or vices or even crimes [like the two men in Spurgeon’s prophetic utterances mentioned above] but never that they had been sentenced to hell (that they are lost).

All Sins are against God (Psalm 51:4) and people usually suppress the truth of God (Romans 1:18, 21, 25, 28). Only the mighty work of the Holy Spirit can convince and convict sinners of their desperate plight.

Whenever man tries to convict sinners of their sins, albeit it through prophetic utterances, those sinners will in utter amazement extol the preacher’s ability to know everything they had done and even experience guilt feelings instead of extolling God in whose sight nothing is hidden (Hebrews 4:13).

However, sinners who experience guilty feelings because their sins have been exposed to others in public arenas, as we’ve seen above, are often more concerned about what other people and family members may say if their crimes were exposed. (2 Corinthians 7:10).

They may even experience a “conversion” to Christ but we need to ask, which Christ – the Christ of the Bible or the one of Calvinism or a Christ of divination? It may be appropriate to remind our readers at this stage what Spurgeon thought of Calvinism.

And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the addition of something to the work of the Redeemer? Every heresy, if brought to the touchstone, will discover itself here. I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism.

[Thomas says: Whenever Paul preached “Christ and Him crucified” he did so because he believed that Christ died for all men an not only a so-called elect].

It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. (5)

[Thomas says: So, everyone who is not a Calvinist is a reprobate and therefore irretrievably lost].

I do not believe we can preach the gospel if we do not preach justification by faith without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing unchangeable eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross. (6).

… and I will go as far as Martin Luther, in that strong assertion of his, where he says, ‘If any man doth ascribe of salvation, even the very least, to the free will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright.’

It may seem a harsh sentiment; but he who in his soul believes that man does of his own free will turn to God, cannot have been taught of God, for that is one of the first principles taught us when God begins with us, that we have neither will nor power, but that He gives both; that he is ‘Alpha and Omega’ in the salvation of men. (7)

You must first deny the authenticity and full inspiration of the Holy Scripture before you can legitimately and truly deny election. (8)

George Whitefield said, “We are all born Arminians.” It is grace that turns us into Calvinists. (9)

[Thomas says, This is extremely blasphemous because it suggests that the name of a man, John Calvin, is the key to the dispensation of God’s grace and not Jesus Christ. When you are saved you become a Calvin-ist and not a Christ-ian.]

Calvinism did not spring from Calvin. We believe that it sprang from the great Founder of all truth. (10)

[Thomas says: This again is sheer blasphemy because it suggests that the “Founder of all truth’s” Truth was completely lost and unknown for many centuries until the serial killer, John Calvin, unearthed it and expounded it to its fullest glory in his “Institutions of the Christian Religion.” May I remind Spurgeon wherever he may be right now, that John Calvin did not base his Institutions of the Christian Religion on God’s immutable truth but on the Roman Catholic, Augustine’s, interpretation of the Bible. I would also like to remind him of Isaiah 5:20.].

We declare on scriptural authority that the human will is so desperately set on mischief, so depraved, so inclined to everything that is evil, and so disinclined to everything that is good, that without the powerful, supernatural, irresistible influence of the Holy Spirit, no human will ever be constrained toward Christ. (11)

[Thomas says: Could it be that Spurgeon’s Bible did not contain Acts 10 which tells us about “A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always” and yet was not saved – at least until Peter preached the Gospel to him and his household and all of them were saved. Please explain to me Mr. the Prince of Preachers, how Cornelius was able to do good even to the extent that his prayers and his alms ascended as a memorial before God, if he was so disinclined to everything that is good? That’s just plain nonsense and, in fact, reeks of a false humility].

A man is not saved against his will, but he is made willing by the operation of the Holy Ghost. A mighty grace which he does not wish to resist enters into the man, disarms him, makes a new creature of him, and he is saved. (2)

[Thomas says. Oxymorons are replete in Calvinism. There is not a single instance in the entire Bible where we are told that the Holy Spirit imposes his will on the elect. Some may argue that the Holy Spirit does not impose his will on the elect but merely and ever so gently bends the will of the elect to will their salvation. Making someone willing to will your will is nothing else than coercion. When Spurgeon asked Susannah’s hand in marriage did he say to her, “Will you marry me? If you have any doubts, don’t worry because I will bend your will ever so gently to make you willing to marry me.”]

. . . those great truths, which are called Calvinism . . . are, I believe, the essential doctrines of the Gospel that is in Jesus Christ. Now I do not ask whether you believe all this [Calvinism].

It is possible you may not. But I believe you will before you enter heaven. I am persuaded that as God may have washed your hearts, He will wash your brains before you enter heaven. (14)

[Thomas says, According to the great Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the washing away of your sins by the blood of Jesus Christ is not enough to allow you entrance into God’s Kingdom; your brain needs to be brainwashed with the doctrines of the serial killer, John Calvin, called Calvinism. If this is not blasphemy, I don’t know what is].

If the doctrines of Calvinism on predestination and election unto salvation were true it follows that the conviction of sin or the exposure of the sins of the non-elect through a preacher’s revelatory knowledge is completely superfluous.

If predestination and election unto damnation are the sole determinatives to decide who goes to hell or not, then the non-elect need not be convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

Why would He want to convict the non-elect of sin, righteousness, and judgment whilst He, together with the Father and the Son never chose them and knows that they have no chance in hell of ever being saved because they were never chosen unto salvation, even before the foundation of the world?

That’s ridiculous. Imagine saying to someone, “You are not chosen to be saved because it pleases God to send you to hell and therefore I must convict you of sin, righteousness, and judgment.”

The word “elenxei” translates the words “convict . . . of guilt” and means to present or to reveal to the guilty party the condition of his heart and his hopelessly lost condition and to urge him to confess his sins in order to be saved.

That’s why Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter. Why would the Holy Spirit want to comfort the non-elect when He knows they are doomed to eternal perdition in hell because it pleases God? Will the Holy Spirit want to rob God of his pleasures in comforting and urging the non-elect to repent?

There is absolutely no comfort and consequently no sense in the conviction of sinners who have no chance of ever being saved.

At any rate, the Holy Spirit was sent to reprove the entire world of sin righteousness and judgment. If “world” refers only to the elect, as Calvinists eagerly proclaim, then they, by their own admission, agree that the conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment can only be applied to the elect.

COMPULSORY AND PUBLIC CONFESSIONS OF SIN

There is not a single instance in the Bible where the disciples, Paul or any of the other apostles revealed or exposed the sins of unbelievers in public by means of revelatory knowledge or prophecy.

When Paul rebuked Peter for his hypocrisy in the presence of the other disciples because he refused to eat with Gentiles for fear of those of the circumcision, he did not receive a revelation from the Holy Spirit.

In fact, he saw that they (Peter and Barnabas) walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. (Galatians 2:11-14). Paul rebuked a fellow-believer in Christ and not an unbeliever in a public arena like Spurgeon.

A genuine confession of sin and subsequent conversion are the result of a deep conviction which only the Comforter can accomplish in a sinner’s life and never ought to come from compulsion or the prodding of a preacher, least of all through an alleged revelatory knowledge of what a sinner has done.

Furthermore, the confession of sin should be made to God and not to a preacher unless the sin was against the preacher himself. Confession should never be made under the stimulus of any compulsory emotion.

It should be the deliberate act of the sinner’s volition in choosing to do the right thing, and the putting things right, according to the will of God. Public confessions of sin regardless of the nature of the sins and against whomsoever it may have been committed is a breeding ground for Satan’s accusatory lies.

It provides him with an evil opportunity to pin a stigma upon the sinner whose sins had been exposed in public for the remainder of his life.

THE SAMARITAN WOMAN

What about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well when He and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem? Didn’t He expose her sins in the same way Spurgeon revealed the sins of so many people in his greatly attended meetings?

Besides the fact that Jesus Christ is God and Spurgeon is/was not, the difference between Jesus and Spurgeon was that He did not rudely point at the woman and say, “Young woman . . . . Yes, you there my dear. I am talking to you. You’d better remove the skeletons from your closet before it’s too late. You are living in sin with a man who is not your husband. In fact, you have previously been living with four more lovers.”

Unlike Spurgeon who rudely pointed to someone and told him he had a bottle of gin in his pocket, Jesus was a real gentleman who gently led the Samaritan woman into a conversation during which she herself admitted that she was not married to the man she was living with and only then did Jesus confront her with her sins.

Jesus did not tell her outright that she was living with a man with whom she was not married. He asked her to bring her husband to Him when she asked Him to give her the Living Water He had spoken of. Only then did she confess that she was not married and living in sin.

By the way, what is more sinful – carrying a bottle of gin in your coat pocket or smoking cigars to the detriment of the temple of God?

The Prince of Preachers who was well-known for his smoking and drinking habit was once confronted by a gentleman who “had heard he smoked, but could not believe it to be true,” and asked Mr. Spurgeon to satisfy him, Spurgeon said: “I cultivate my flowers and burn my weeds.”

Note carefully, the man did not confront him by way of revelatory knowledge or prophecy. He heard from someone else that Spurgeon was a drinking and smoking prophet.

Hopefully, he didn’t burn his weeds while he stood in his pulpit telling his congregates what it meant to be an elect or why there was such an abomination as TULIP or why God only loves the elect etc. etc. I call this “Prophetic Spurgeon Hypocrisy.”

Was Spurgeon the prophet who sparked a habit among Calvinists to sit and listen to their false teachers in church with their lungs heaving and wheezing with smoke and after the service light up a pipe, cigarette or cigar (if you’re rich and can afford it) as soon as they stepped outside?

Spurgeon who had the chutzpah to tell a shoemaker that he sold his soul for four pence to the devil, was himself guilty of selling his soul for much more pence each time he bought a box of cigars or some wine to burn his weeds and to satisfy his drinking habit.

It sounds a lot like today’s loyal Calvinists who had scarcely left a church service on Sunday, to put up their legs, open a bottle of wine or can of beer, light a cigarette or a cigar (if you’re rich and can afford it) and listen to their favourite hard rock music or rap music by their favourite Calvinist rap artists. Why shouldn’t they, when their most favourite clairvoyant set the example of Calvinistic hypocrisy?”:

THE SUPPOSED CONVICTION OF SIN BY DECEIVING SPIRITS

In her book “War on the Saints” Jessie Penn-Lewis relates the following example of how evil spirits can deceive people into a false confession of sins. She refers to a person who experienced the influence of demons when he joined a group of Christians who earnestly sought God’s blessings.

I united with a number of brethren and sisters one whole week every month, in prayer to God to pour out more of His Spirit, gifts and power. After having done this for some time with great earnestness, such powerful and wonderful manifestations of God and His Holy Spirit (apparently) took place that we no longer doubted God had heard our prayer, and His Spirit had descended into our midst, and on our gathering.

Amongst other things this spirit, which we thought to be the Holy Spirit, used a 15-year-old girl as his instrument, through whom everyone belonging to our gathering, and having any sin or burden of conscience, had it revealed to the gathering.

Nobody could remain in the meeting with any burden of conscience without it being revealed to the meeting by this spirit. For example: A gentleman of esteem and respect from the neighbourhood came to the meeting, and all his sins were exposed in the presence of the gathering by the 15-year-old girl.

Thereupon he took me into an adjoining room, so broken down, and admitted to me, with tears, that he had committed all these sins which the girl had exposed. He confessed this and all other sins known to him.

Then he came again into the meeting, but hardly had he entered when the same voice said to him, ‘Ha! You have not confessed all yet, you have stolen 10 gulden that you have not confessed.’ In consequence, he took me again into the adjoining room and said, ‘It is true, I have also done this . . . This man had never seen this 15-year-old girl in his life, neither she him.

With such events, was it astonishing that a spirit of holy awe came over all at the meeting, and there was one controlling note which can only be expressed in the words, ‘Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?’

Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. There was a most earnest spirit of adoration, and who could doubt when even the strong were broken down, and nobody dared remain in the meeting if they were a hindrance.

And, yet we had to unmask this spirit which had brought about these things ­­- and which we took to be the Holy Ghost – as a terrible power of darkness.

I had such an uneasy feeling of distrust which could not be overcome . . . As I made this known for the first time to an older brother and friend . . . he said, “Brother Seitz, if you continue to foster unbelief, you can commit the sin against the Holy Ghost which will never be forgiven.”

These were terrible days and hours for me, because I did not know whether we had to do with the power of God or a disguised spirit of Satan, and one thing only was clear to me, viz., that I and this meeting should not let ourselves be led by a spirit when we did not have clear light, and confirmation whether this power was from above or below.

Thereupon I took the leading brethren and sisters to the uppermost room of the house, and made known to them my position, and said we must all cry and pray that we may be able to prove whether it was a power of light or darkness.

As we came downstairs the voice of this power said, using the 15-year-old girl as his instrument, “What is this rebellion in your midst? You will be sorely punished for your unbelief.” I told this voice that it was true we did not know with whom we had dealings.

But we wanted to be in that attitude, that if it was an angel of God, or the Spirit of God, we would not sin against Him, but if it was a devil we would not be deceived by him. “If you are the power of God, you will be in accord as we handle the Word of God.” ‘Try the spirits whether they be of God.'”

We all knelt down and cried and prayed to God in such earnestness, that He would have mercy upon us, and reveal to us in some manner, whom we had dealings with. Then the power had to reveal itself on its own accord.

Through the person which he had been using as his instrument he made such abominable and terrible grimaces, and shrieked in such a piercing tone, “Now I am found out, now I am found out . . .” (13)

“COME, SEE A MAN THAT TOLD ME ALL THINGS THAT EVER I DID”

“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29).

These were the words the Samaritan woman used when she told her neighbours and friends in Samaria that Jesus told her everything she had done. Earlier in her conversation with Jesus, she said, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” (John 4:25). Note carefully:

1. Her words were an acknowledgment that Jesus Christ is omniscient and therefore God incarnate.
2. She was so overwhelmed by Jesus Christ’s precise revelation of the things she had done that she immediately returned to her hometown and told her fellow-citizens “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” Our first business, when we have found the Saviour, should be to make him known also to others. Although Spurgeon boasted to having had a similar experience with those whose sins he allegedly exposed when they said, “Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; beyond a doubt, he must have been sent of God to my soul, or else he could not have described me so exactly” the two gentlemen who were afraid he might reveal their sins to family and friends did not make it their business to tell others. Moreover, it was downright arrogant and even blasphemous of Spurgeon to apply the Samaritan women’s words to describe Jesus Christ’s omniscience to himself.
3. Do preachers have to expose peoples’ sins before they can be acknowledged as being messengers sent by God? Surely, the preaching of the unadulterated Word of God is sufficient to identify a man or a woman as God-sent messengers of his love, mercy, and grace. The question is, however, whether Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached the unadulterated Word of God. Was he a true messenger of God’s love, mercy, and grace? Hardly, because he proclaimed the doctrines of a serial killer (John Calvin) who believed that God does not love everyone without distinction, that his Son did not die on the cross for all mankind, that he chose an elect and damned a non-elect people because it pleases Him to send the non-elect to hell.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was undoubtedly a clairvoyant and with that, I rest my case.

I never could understand why Calvinists love to follow a serial killer (John Calvin) and a clairvoyant (Charles Spurgeon).

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1. Susannah Spurgeon and Joseph Harrald (compiled by, rev. ed.), C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: Vol. 2, The Full Harvest. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1973, p60. I was alerted to this incident by Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God, p89.
2. Y. Fullerton, Charles H. Spurgeon. Chicago: Moody, 1966, p206, in Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God, p89.
3. Charles H. Spurgeon, The Autobiography of Charles Spurgeon (Vol 2). Curtin & Jenkins, 1899, pp226-227, in Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God, pp89-90.
4. Ibid, in Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God, pp90-91.
5. The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon, Curts & Jennings, Cincinnati — Chicago — St. Louis, 1898, Vol. I, p. 172)
6. Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Vol. 1, 1856.
7. H. Spurgeon from the sermon “Free Will A Slave”, 1855.
8. Charles Spurgeon, Sermons, Vol. 3, p.130.
9. Charles Spurgeon, Sermons, Vol. 2, p. 124.
10. Charles Spurgeon, Sermons, Vol. 7, p. 298.
11. Charles Spurgeon, Sermons, Vol. 4, p.139.
12. H. Spurgeon, Sermons, Vol. 10, p. 309
13. Jessie Penn Lewis, War on the Saints, 309 Ninth Edition; Thomas E. Lowe, Ltd. New York
14. (Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vols 1 and 2, “The Peculiar Sleep of the Beloved” (Grand Rapids,  MI: Baker Books, 1999), 48).