All the physical or psychical manifestations of Spiritism and Spiritualism is the deceptive work of the Devil... most of them are "lies", and "the Devil is the father of lies", so, they are also of the Devil. - Harry Houdini, discovered the tricks of all the mediums willing to be tested...

- The magazine "Scientific American", in 1923 offered $5,000 to any medium who could satisfy a committee of scientists, and $5,000 at that time was big money... nobody could earn the award, all of them were found to be frauds.

Spiritualistic churches have codified their beliefs in "7 Principles":

   1- The Fatherhood of God.
   2- The Brotherhood of Man.
   3- Continuous Existence.
   4- Communion of Spirits and Ministry of Angels.
   5- Personal Responsibility.
   6- Compensation or Retribution Hereafter for Good or Evil Done on Earth.
   7- A Path of Endless Progression.

   The first two are exactly the same as those of Masonry... besides, they have "9 Articles", but also in so general terms, that it looks like almost anything can be validated with them.

The "séance", is a gathering of spiritualists to receive messages from the spirits, usually in small groups, but also in churches. It is the essence of spiritualism, talking with or receiving information from the death.

- Most of it is fraud, unpredictable, but very interesting. Most of the people attend a séance for curiosity, or for comfort, the desire to communicate with a loved one who died...

... Th New Age influenced people are not seeking comfort, but power and money... don't attend a séance, it is of the Devil, and you are going to get deceived and burned!.

- In a "séance": The participants sit quietly in a circle, in dimly lit surroundings. Lights may appear, ghosts may materialize, a trumpet may convey the message of disembodied speech, objects may levitate...

... The "Medium", is the center of the stage: He is a person on earth who is sensitive to vibrations from the spirit world and is able to convey messages between that world and this one and to produce other spiritualist phenomena: He may start with the "ectoplasm", the foul-smelling, milky-white substance that exudes as an umbilical cord from the medium's mouth, and it is said to be an energy form that will not function properly without darkness.

... Or the Medium may be taken over by a "spirit control", who is a spirit that answers through the Medium all inquires of those gathered.

... A "spirit guide", is usually a departed human being who speaks through the Medium.

- In the New Age terminology, the name "Medium" has been substituted by the word "Channeler", a more contemporary, scientific term, who is like a human telephone connecting the living to the spirit world.

- There are reports of other physical and psychical phenomena, most of them a fake: ...

"Poltergeists", are ghosts making much noise, moving objects; "levitation" of objects or persons; "Apport" is the production of objects without physical means or the passing of objects or humans through walls...

... "Materialization", is the appearance of a spirit in matter; "telepathy" is the communication of ideas through other than physical means; "clairvoyance" is seeing through means other than the physical eye; "clairaudience" or hearing without the ears; "psychometry" is to foretell a person's future by possessing an object belonging to that person ... and lately, there has been an explosion of "spirit healings", or "spirit helpers" to get rich, or famous, or to solve any problem... anything that can bring money!...

- For Spiritualism, a "spirit" is the essential part of man. After the death of the body the spirit lives on. The "spirit world" is the world of spirits without bodies.

The Séance in the churches usually mimics Christian services, they are boring, not so much fraud but hysteria... but always the work of Satan.

- The services, resemble the church gatherings of small Christian denominations. The furniture may include a pulpit, pews, a crucifix, and an organ. But members receive "spirit greetings". The presiding minister's sermon may be delivered while in a trance. Psychic readings replace prayer, and familiar hymns such as "Just As I Am" and "Holy, Holy, Holy" have subtle lyric changes to avoid affirming Christian doctrine.

- The services are very variable: Usually, a small group of middle-aged women make the bulk of the audience. After a set number of hymns, they settle down to the address of clairvoyance given by the visiting medium, who talks about vibrations, astral bodies, and she begs the hearers to make themselves receptive to the loved ones on the other side... nothing could be more pathetic or boring!...

- They are generally not devious individuals, though many are enticed into the darker realm of black magic. They are often kindly people, who make warm friends and bow to promote morality for the common good... but their good intentions can not remove the fact that Spiritualism is always the work of the Devil, and they can not remove the sting of death, the result of sin!... only through repentance and faith can the resurrection of Christ offer hope.

Most ancient civilizations practiced Spiritism.

- Kate Fox (1848):

Although spiritualistic practices seem to be widespread, they were virtually unknown in modern civilized society until March 1848 when odd happenings were reported at the house of a farmer named Fox in the small town of Hydesville, in the New York state, USA: Previous occupants of thee house had been disturbed by unexplained raps at night. Kate Fox, the youngest daughter, was said to have successfully challenged the supposed spirit to repeat the number of times she flipped her fingers. Once communication had apparently been established a code was agreed upon which the raps given could answer questions: One rap means "yes", two raps means "no"... and the spirit identified himself as a man who had been murder in the house. His name was Mr. Splitfoot, and later a skeleton was dug up in the basement.

- Two other sisters joint Kate: Margaret and Leah. In 1855 Kate and Margaret publicly admitted at the New York Academy of Music that they themselves had caused the rapping noises with their toes. Later they retracted this confession, claiming to have been bribed into making it originally. Both sisters died alcoholics with dipsomania. They gave much of their lives to acting as mediums in the USA and England, and Spiritism flourished through the world.

- The tale of the Fox sisters spurred immediate interest, and the revival of Spiritualism was underway. Four years later, in 1852, a Spiritualist Convention was held in Cleveland with additional impetus, with the help of Horace Greeley, the editor of the "New York Tribune".

- Much of this activity was motivated by mere curiosity and the fascination of the supernatural, but it had a more serious intention. Many inquirers wished to convince themselves as to human survival of bodily death; others felt comfort to communicate with their departed love ones; others wanted information about the future life...