| The Treacherous
Influence of Spirit Power
Years before the fusion began, Ellen G.
White had much to say about the treacherous influence of spirit power on
the affairs of men and the combinations of religious groupings to be
formed at the "time of the end."
"As Spiritualism more closely
imitates the nominal Christianity of the day," she warned
prophetically, "it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan
himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear
in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of
spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and
many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will
profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of
the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine
power."—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, page 588.
And bringing in the amalgamation of the
three religious powers, she adds, "The Protestants of the United
States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to
grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp
hands with the Roman power: and under the influence of this threefold
union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the
rights of conscience."—Ibid.
Both Pope John XXIII and Cardinal
Cushing have publicly stated that the gulf separating Protestantism and
Catholicism should be bridged, a desire shared by many a Protestant
leader.
It is White's statement, however, that
"Protestants will be foremost in grasping the hand of
spiritualism," that causes the greatest concern, for it is
precisely within the smoldering alliance of these religious powers that
today's supernatural phenomena have found a home.
It was the late Arthur Ford, ordained
clergyman and internationally known Spiritualist medium, who became the
single most important agent to advance the fulfillment of this prophecy.
It began quite innocently, yet from the very moment of its inception,
the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, brainchild of Arthur Ford, confirmed
the validity of Ellen White's vision. Formed in 1956, principally by
three men, Albin Bro, missionary and educator, Paul Higgins, a Methodist
pastor, and Arthur Ford, it advocated the "encouragement of study
within the Churches of psychic phenomena as related to personal
immortality, spiritual healing, and prayer."
"When we explore the psychic
faculties, we are not dabbling in something new and strange,"
commented Arthur Ford at the group's spring conference in 1958. "We
are just trying to remind the people in the churches of something that
has always been part of the Christian gospel, but has been neglected for
centuries." Comprising more than half of its executive counsel of
24 members are clergymen of the Presbyterian, Methodist,
Congregationalist, Episcopalian, Baptist, and other churches, but in its
principles, the organization is merely a front for the promulgation of
spiritualistic doctrines.
So popular was Arthur Ford among
Protestant and Catholic clergy that at one of his 7:00 a.m. breakfast
meetings in Greenwood, South Carolina, it was reported that no less than
174 men had turned out to hear him speak on the connection between
psychic phenomena and religion. It is highly significant that within the
Bible Belt stronghold, every local Protestant minister and Roman
Catholic priest was present at the breakfast.
But Arthur Ford died, and since then
the influence of his organization has greatly diminished. To some it
probably seemed as if the initial stages of fulfillment regarding the
three unclean spirits of Revelation 16 was being held back, but viewed
from a cosmic distance, the process of realization continued
uninterruptedly. Even before Ford's death, steps had been taken to
assure its continuation, for no sooner did the Spiritual Frontiers
Fellowship eclipse than the gift of tongues moved in, setting the world
churches on fire with a spiritual revival, so enticing and so
influential that it has already been called the greatest spiritual
awakening since the early apostolic church!
That the Protestant and Catholic church
leaders had long felt the need for a "unifying force" is by
now a matter of public record. Rare is the man who today is against this
force.
The
Public Record |
