Beware of Spiritism????

Read the Article here
http://enlighteningtimes.co.uk/php/forum/viewthread.php?forum_id=5&threa...
it is attached to the thread.

So here I am sitting at my kitchen table preparing the songbooks for the local Spiritualist Church, of which I am affiliated even though I am neither a Christian or a Spiritualist, and a knock at the door disturbs me from my calm reverie. After I wade through the debris discarded by my 11month old son David, I find an older lady and a very young girl standing, looking rather apprehensive, holding copies of the Watchtower and Awake.

The Lady introduces herself as Elizabeth and asks me if I would be interested in reading their magazines, to which I politely decline. She then proceeds to request that there may be information significant to my life in the article about making a marriage work, and asks me if I would read it and give her my opinion next time she calls. Not wishing to debate the matter any further in case I return to find that David has eaten our new kitten, I say "Yes, OK, I'll do that for you"

The two magazines lie on the table in the kitchen for about half an hour until I decide to make a cup of tea. The front cover looks innocent enough until I notice the snippet.

"Why you should be beware of Spiritism"

So without further ado, I turn to page 10 to see what I should beware of. Apparently, "Spiritism does for the demons what lures do for fishermen." So I read the full article and.....

Wow! That smarts. Now, I always try to maintain a healthy skepticism, objectivity, and an open mind when reading material written by various religious sects, but this was offensive in the extreme.

Considering that I am a Medium in training, and according to this particular literature I am being influenced by wicked demons who are misleading me by "averting my attention away from my true purpose in life; which is to develop a personal relationship with our creator", and that my actions will inevitably lead to "divine disapproval, hopelessness and eventual destruction"

When my scanner decides to work I will copy the article and attach it so that you can read it and tell me what you think about it.

In truth, I sense there must be a decline in the interest in all branches of the Church, as this visit was preceded by two separate visits by young men touting the Mormon faith, in the last week alone.

I told them the same thing that I told the ladies from the Jehovas Witnesses, which is that I don't ascribe to the notion of a personal God, and that it is logical to me that if people devoted more time to finding out who they really are and promoting tolerance of ANY FAITH, instead of being led by the nose into doctrines that do nothing but slander those who happen to disbelieve their particular religious set of laws and rules,that there might be a little less discontent in the world.

The part I disliked most about the article was the underlying message, which was simply propaganda against Mediumship, Spiritualist movement and Mediums. The idea that having anything to do with the supernatural makes you a sinner is ridiculous. Furthermore I am not entirely sure of the difference between Spiritism and Spiritualism but I would hazard a guess that the fundamentals are fairly similar. I yearn for the day when people can just accept each other as fellow human beings, whatever their religious persuasion, and promote tolerance instead of brandishing the heretic label because of a difference of opinion about faith.

Religion, in my opinion, is "man" made and has nothing to do with divinity or otherwise; control and conversion being its sole purpose, and if you happen to do any significant research into the history of such subjects as the crusades, then you possibly may find yourself horrified by the actions taken to change a person's natural inclinations into whichever law had been decreed at that time.

Please read the article for yourself, have a think about how you feel regarding the subject, and ask yourself.......Would the society in which we find ourselves benefit, or degrade if we were allowed freedom of expression.... as long as they did not degrade, hurt or insult another, and the promotion of individual spirituality rather than enforced religion.

Self development, and global awareness as opposed to dictated indoctrination and rigid ideological belief structures. We are all different, so it goes without saying that there will be many different needs, for many different faiths.

I confess therefore, that I must be "detestable to Jehovah", for I practice divination, magic, looking for omens, and not only consulting a medium, but actually training to be one!

Anyway, point me in the direction of the nearest stake?

© 2008 Jade Ashcroft