No man gets power from God to raise disturbance in any Branch of the Church. Such power is obtained from an evil source. 9.93.
We may be within the pale of the Kingdom of God on earth, yet we are liable to be overcome of evil. There are many spirits who have gone abroad in the world, and men are overcome by false spirits, and led astray from the path of truth. They will begin by doing some evil thing out of sight, and say, "O, it is nothing, it is a mere trifle, and the Lord is merciful and forgiveth sin." The sins which are considered trifles lay the foundation for greater evils, and expose men to be tempted, and buffeted by Satan, and they will be overcome little by little, until by and by they are overtaken in a fault which is more aggravating in the sight of justice, which lays the foundation for another trial more severe, and to be buffeted more by the Devil, for they lay themselves more liable to his power. 2:121.
Suppose I were to teach you a false doctrine, how are you to know it if you do not possess the Spirit of God? As it is written, "The things of God knoweth no man but by the Spirit of God." 18:72.
Our doctrine is right—there is no deception in it. It requires no argument, for it is a self-evident fact. Still, when we meddle with that which we know nothing about, we are apt to fall into error and differ; but we have so much which we do know, and think about and talk about, that we have no time to speculate about that which we do not know. We know that God lives. 10:327.
What is called spirit-rapping, spirit-knocking, and so forth, is produced by the spirits that the Lord has suffered to communicate to people on the earth, and make them believe in revelation. 7:239.
When we go into the world we find quite a portion of the people who belong' to a class called Spiritualists. They would like to have it considered that "Mormonism" is nothing but Spiritualism. A great many want to know the difference between the two. I will give one-feature of the difference, and then set the whole scientific world to work to see if they can ever bring to bear the same feature in Spiritualism. Take all who are called Spiritualists and see if they can produce the order that is in the midst of this people. Here are system, order, organization, law, rule, and facts. Now see if they can produce any one of these features. They cannot. Why? Because their system is from beneath, while ours is perfect and is from above; one is from God, the other is from the Devil, that is all the difference. 13:266.
Spiritualism is a mass of confusion, it is a body without parts and passions, principle or power. 13:266.
There is evil in the world, and there is also good. Was there ever a counterfeit without a true coin? No. Is there communication from God? Yes. From holy angels? Yes; and we have been proclaiming these facts during nearly thirty years. Are there any communications from evil spirits? Yes; and the Devil is making the people believe very strongly in revelations from the spirit world. This is called Spiritualism, and it is said that thousands of spirits declare that "Mormonism" is true; but what do that class of spirits know more than mortals? Perhaps a little more in some particulars than is known here, but it is only a little more. They are subject in the spirit world to the same powers they were subject to here. 7:240.
Mesmerism is an inverted truth; it originated in holy, good and righteous principles, which have been inverted by the power of the Devil. 3:156.
The principle of animal magnetism is true, but wicked men use it to an evil purpose. Speaking is a true gift, but I can speak to the glory of God, or to the injury of his cause and to my condemnation, as I please; and still the gift is of God. The gift of animal magnetism is a gift of God, but wicked men use it to promote the cause of the Devil, and that is precisely the difference. 3:370.